Encyclopedia
Elijah
, also Elias
, Ilia
, Ilie , is a prophet of the
Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. His name has been variously translated as "
the Lord is God", "whose God is
the Lord", "God the Lord", "the strong Lord", "God of the Lord", "my God is the Lord", "the Lord is my God", and "my God is Jehovah".
In the Hebrew Bible
Elijah is first introduced in
1 Kings 17:1 as delivering a message from God to Ahab, king of Israel in the first half of the ninth century BC. He is sometimes known as "The Tishbite", being from the town of Tishbe.
Having delivered his message to Ahab, he retired at the command of God to a hiding-place by the brook Cherith, beyond
Jordan, where he was fed by
ravens. When the brook dried up God sent him to the widow of Zarephath, a city of
Zidon, from whose scanty store he was supported for the space of two years. During this period the widow's son died, and was restored to life by Elijah .
During these two years a famine prevailed in the land. At the close of this period of retirement and of preparation for his work, Elijah met Obadiah, one of Ahab's officers, whom he had sent out to seek for pasturage for the cattle, and bade him go and tell his master that Elijah was there. The king came and met Elijah, and reproached him as the "troubler of Israel". It was then proposed that sacrifices should be publicly offered, for the purpose of determining whether
Baal or the Israelite God was the true God. This was done on
Mount Carmel; the result was that a miracle took place convincing those watching that Baal was false and that the Israelite God
YHWH , was the true and only God. The prophets of Baal were then put to death by the order of Elijah.
Jezebel, enraged at the fate that had befallen her priests of Baal, threatened to put Elijah to death . He therefore fled in alarm to
Beersheba, and went alone into the wilderness, and sat down in despondency under a
juniper tree. As he slept, an angel touched him, and said unto him, "Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee." He arose and found a cake and a crust of water. Having partaken of the provision, he went forward on his way for forty days to Horeb, where he took residence in a cave. Here God appeared to him and said, "What dost thou here, Elijah?" In answer to Elijah's despondent words God manifests to him his glory, and then directs him to return to
Damascus and anoint
Hazael king over the
Arameans ,
Jehu king over Israel, and Elisha to be prophet in his room .
Some six years after this, he warned Ahab and Jezebel of the violent deaths they would die . He also, four years afterwards, warned Ahaziah, who had succeeded his father Ahab, of his approaching death . During these intervals he probably withdrew to some quiet retirement, no one knew where. His interview with Ahaziah's messengers on the way to Ekron, and the account of the destruction of his captains with their fifties, suggest the idea that he may have been in retirement at this time on Mount Carmel. The
Carmelites have a tradition that they were founded by Elijah at this time.
The time now drew near when he was to be succeeded. In harmony with Elijah’s action in appointing Elisha years earlier, the time comes when Elijah must transfer the mantle of this prophetic office to Elisha.. He went down to Gilgal, where there was a school of the prophets, and where his successor Elisha resided. Elisha was solemnized by the thought of his master's leaving him, and refused to be parted from him. "They two went on", and came to Bethel and
Jericho, and crossed the Jordan, the waters of which were "divided hither and thither" when smitten with Elijah's mantle. Before leaving Elijah says“Ask what I should do for you before I am taken from you." .Elisha asks for "two parts in your spirit",the inheritance of a first born son.Arriving at the borders of
Gilead, which Elijah had left many years before, it "came to pass as they still went on and talked" they were suddenly separated by a chariot and horses of fire; and "Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. Elisha saw him go up and cried "The Chariots and horses of Israel!" "Elisha receiving his mantle, which fell from him as he ascended.Elijah's chosen successor was the prophet Elisha; Elijah designated Elisha as such by leaving his mantle with him.
Elijah did not die at this time nor did he go into the invisible spirit realm. Elijah is simply transferred to another assignment, to wicked King Jehoram of Judah.Here he writes a letter to the King expressing God's condemnation which soon is fulfilled.We know These events take place after Elijah leaves Elisha due to the fact that King Jehoram ruled after the seperation of Elijah and Elisha;for eight years starting from 913 B.C.E. at the age of 32. This is in harmony with the fact that Elisha did not mourn for Elijah as was the custom for the dead in his day.
This also harmonizes with what Jesus said while he was on Earth, that none before him had ascended into heaven.
Jews believe that the prophet Elijah will return to foretell the coming of the promised Messiah due to what the Prophet Malachi had said.
Other Biblical Elijahs
The Elijah spoken of in 2 Chronicles 21:12-15 is by some supposed to be a different person from the foregoing. He lived in the time of Jehoram, to whom he sent a letter of warning , and acted as a prophet in Judah; while the Tishbite was a prophet of the northern kingdom. But there does not seem any necessity for concluding that the writer of this letter was some other Elijah than the Tishbite. It may be supposed either that Elijah anticipated the character of Jehoram, and so wrote the warning message, which was preserved in the schools of the prophets till Jehoram ascended the throne after the Tishbite's translation, or that the translation did not actually take place until after the accession of Jehoram to the throne . The events of 2 Kings 2 may not be recorded in chronological order, and thus there may be room for the opinion that Elijah was still alive in the beginning of Jehoram's reign.
How deep the impression which Elijah made "on the mind of the nation" of Israel may have been, can be judged from the fixed belief, which rested on the words of Malachi , which many centuries after, prevailed that Elijah would again appear for the relief and restoration of the country.
When Jesus asks who people say the Son of Man or Christ is, his
disciples replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others,
Jeremiah or one of the prophets" , which was referring to the belief of some of the Jews at the time that Jesus was, in fact, Elijah returned from heaven.
New Testament references
None of the old prophets is so frequently referred to in the
New Testament as is Elijah. The priests and Levites said to
John the Baptist , "Why, then, dost thou baptize, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elijah?"
Paul refers to an incident in his history to illustrate his argument that God had not cast away His people that He foreknew. James finds in him an illustration of the power of prayer.
John the Baptist shared several characteristics with Elijah: the reproofs of both were noted for their sternness and power ; and according to , John the Baptist was the Elijah that "was to come" . The also had"the same connection with a wild and wilderness country; the same long retirement in the desert; the same sudden, startling entrance on his work ; even the same dress, a hairy garment, and a leathern girdle about the loins ."
Elijah appears in the Synoptic Gospels at the
Transfiguration of Jesus. Jesus became vividly bright, and was accompanied by both
Moses and Elijah. This event was witnessed by the apostles Peter, John, and James.
Many Eastern orthodox theologians, along with modern Christian theologians of a conservative, pre-millennial perspective, believe that Elijah must return to physically die here on earth eventually, as one of the 'two witnesses' in the
Book of Revelation. The second witness, according to Orthodox tradition, is the prophet Enoch, who like Elijah, did not taste death in his life, and so will taste death at the hands of Antichrist before the second coming of Christ. This plays into many
eschatological scenarios, for these two are deemed forerunners to the second coming of Christ. Conservatives who come from amillennial or preterist positions would see John the Baptist as a fulfillment of this expectation. Christian theologians of a more liberal persuasion would interpret Elijah's eschatological significance in a less literal sense. Still others may cite
Moses as the other witness,
because it was he, not Enoch, who 'witnessed' the Transfiguration of Jesus along with Elijah in Luke 9:28-30.
They may also cite Revelation 11:6 as further evidence: "These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will." Moses could, and did, both turn water to blood and smite the earth with plagues using
Aaron's rod in the book of Exodus.
Elijah in other traditions
In the
Qur'an, Elijah is a prophet known as Ilyas in Arabic. The Turks believe that Elijah and Job were buried at Eyyup Nebi, near Viransehir.
Members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints also acknowledge Elijah as a prophet. Latter-Day Saints believe that in 1836 an angelic Elijah visited the founder of their church,
Joseph Smith, Jr. in the
Kirtland Temple in
Kirtland, Ohio and gave him the sacred power to seal families together, and restored to the earth the "keys" that would lead the hearts of the children to turn to their fathers in gathering records of genealogy and family history.
As Elijah was described as ascending into heaven in a fiery chariot, the Christian missionaries who converted Slavic tribes likely found him an ideal analogy for
Perun, the supreme Slavic god of storms, thunder and lightning bolts. In many Slavic countries Elijah is known as Elijah the Thunderer , who drives the heavens in chariot and administers rain and snow, thus actually taking the place of
Perun in popular beliefs.
Elijah is mentioned in the
Bahá'í Writings and is considered a lesser prophet. Bahá'ís also believe that He has returned as the Báb, the Forerunner of
Bahá'u'lláh, Founder of the
Bahá'í Faith. The Báb is buried on Mount Carmel, where Elijah was wont to dwell. Bahá'ís also accept that Elijah returned in Biblical times as John the Baptist.
External links
- Details various events in the life of Elijah and relates Elijah to the Passover/Pesach story.
- - Mentions the story of Elijah being carried up to heaven in a flaming chariot as an inspiration for human flight
- Extensive dictionary style article.
- Elijah redivivus: The role of Elijah in New Testament eschatology
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