Difference between revisions of "Elijah"

<p> ("God-Jehovah".) (&nbsp;1 Kings 17:1, etc.). "The Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead." No town of the name has been discovered; some explain it as "Converter." His name and designation mark his one grand mission, to bring his apostate people back to [[Jehovah]] as THE true God; compare &nbsp;1 Kings 18:39 with &nbsp;Malachi 4:5-6. In contrast to the detailed genealogy of Samuel, Elisha, and other prophets, [[Elijah]] abruptly appears, like [[Melchizedek]] in the patriarchal dispensation, without father or mother named, his exact locality unknown; in order that attention should be wholly fixed on his errand from heaven to overthrow [[Baal]] and [[Asherah]] (the licentious Venus) worship in Israel. This idolatry had been introduced by Ahab and his idolatrous wife, Ethbaal's daughter [[Jezebel]] (in violation of the first, commandment), as if the past sin of [[Israel]] were not enough, and as if it were "a light thing to walk in the sins of Jeroboam," namely, the worship of Jehovah under the symbol of a calf, in violation of the second commandment. (See [[Ahab]] ; [[Aaron]] </p> <p> Ahab and his party represented Baal and Jehovah as essentially the same God, in order to reconcile the people to this further and extreme step in idolatry; compare &nbsp;1 Kings 18:21; &nbsp;Hosea 2:16. Elijah's work was to confound these sophisms and vindicate Jehovah's claim to be God [[Alone]] to the exclusion of all idols. Therefore, he suddenly comes forth before Ahab, the apostate king, announcing in Jehovah's name "As the Lord God of Israel liveth (as contrasted with the dead idols which Israel worshipped) before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." The shutting up of heaven at the prophet's word was, Jehovah's vindication of His sole Godhead; for Baal (though professedly the god of the sky)and his prophets could not open heaven and give showers (&nbsp;Jeremiah 14:22). The socalled god of nature shall be shown to have no power over nature: Jehovah is its SOLE Lord. </p> <p> Elijah's "effectual" prayer, not recorded in 1 Kings but in &nbsp;James 5:17, was what moved God to withhold rain for three years and a half; doubtless, Elijah's reason for the prayer was jealousy for the Lord God (&nbsp;1 Kings 19:10; &nbsp;1 Kings 19:14), in order that Jehovah's chastening might lead the people to repentance. In "standing before the Lord" he assumed the position of a [[Levitical]] priest (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 10:8), for in Israel the Levitical priesthood retained in Judah had been set aside, and the prophets were raised up to minister in their stead, and witness by word and deed before Jehovah against the prevailing apostasy. His departure was as sudden as his appearance. Partaking of the ruggedness of his half civilized native [[Gilead]] bordering on the desert, and in uncouth rough attire, "hairy (&nbsp;2 Kings 1:8, Hebrew: "lord of hair") and with a girdle of leather about his loins," he comes and goes with the suddenness of the modern Bedouin of the same region. </p> <p> His "mantle," ''''''Adereth''''' , of sheepskin, was assumed by Elisha his successor, and gave the pattern for the "hairy" cloak which afterwards became a prophet's conventional garb (&nbsp;Zechariah 13:4, "rough garment".) His powers of endurance were such as the highlands of Gilead would train, and proved of service to him in his after life of hardship (&nbsp;1 Kings 18:46). His burning zeal, bluntness of address, fearlessness of man, were nurtured in lonely communion with God, away from the polluting court, amidst his native wilds. After delivering his bold message to Ahab, by God's warning, he fled to his hiding place at Cherith, a torrent bed E. of [[Jordan]] (or else, as many think, the wady Kelt near Jericho), beyond Ahab's reach, where the ravens miraculously fed him with "bread and flesh in the morning ... bread and flesh in the evening." (See [[Cherith]] .) </p> <p> Carnivorous birds themselves, they lose their ravenous nature to minister to God's servant, for God can make the most unlikely instruments minister to His saints. It was probably at this time that Jezebel, foiled in her deadly purpose against Elijah, "cut off Jehovah's prophets" (&nbsp;1 Kings 18:4; &nbsp;1 Kings 19:2). The brook having dried up after a year's stay he retreated next to [[Zarephath]] or Sarepta, between [[Tyre]] and Sidon, where least of all, in Jezebel's native region, his enemies would have suspected him to lie hid. But apostates, as Israel, are more bigoted than original idolaters as the Phoenicians. From &nbsp;Joshua 19:28 we learn Zarephath belonged to Asher; and in &nbsp;Deuteronomy 33:24 Moses saith, "let [[Asher]] dip his foot in oil." At the end of a three and a half years of famine, if oil was to be found anywhere, it would be here, an undesigned coincidence and mark of genuineness. </p> <p> At God's command, in the confidence of faith, he moves for relief to this unpromising quarter. Here he was the first "apostle" to the [[Gentiles]] (&nbsp;Luke 4:26); a poor widow, the most unlikely to give relief, at his bidding making a cake for him with her last handful of meal and a little oil, her all, and a few gathered sticks for fuel; like the widow in the New [[Testament]] giving her two mites, not reserving even one,: nor thinking, what shall I have for my next meal? (&nbsp;Luke 21:2.) So making God's will her first concern, her own necessary food was "added" to her (&nbsp;Matthew 6:33; &nbsp;Isaiah 33:16; &nbsp;Psalms 37:19; &nbsp;Jeremiah 37:21); "the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the oil fail until the day that the Lord sent rain upon the earth." Blessed in that she believed, she by her example strengthened Elijah's faith in God as able to fulfill His word, where all seemed hopeless to man's eye. </p> <p> Her strong faith, as is God's way; He further tried more severely. Her son fell sick, and "his sickness was so sore that no breath was left in him." Her trial brought her sins up before her, and she regarded herself punished as unworthy of so holy a man's presence with her. But he restored her son by stretching himself upon the child thrice (as though his body were the medium for God's power to enter the dead child), and crying to the Lord; hereby new spiritual life also was imparted to herself, as she said, "by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth." Toward the close of the three and a half years of famine, when it attacked [[Samaria]] the capital, Ahab directed his governor of the palace, the Godfearing Obadiah who had saved and fed a hundred prophets in a cave, to go in one direction and seek some grass to save if possible the horses and mules, while he himself went in the opposite direction for the same purpose. </p> <p> Matters must have come to a crisis, when the king set out in person on such an errand. It was at this juncture, after upward of two years' sojourn at Zarephath, Elijah by God's command goes to show himself to Ahab. Overcoming the awestruck Obadiah's fear, lest, when he should tell the king, Behold Elijah is here, meanwhile the Spirit should carry him away, Elijah, whom Ahab's servants had been seeking everywhere in vain for three years, now suddenly stands before Ahab with stern dignity. He hurls back on the king himself the charge of being, like another Achan, the troubler of Israel; "I have not, troubled Israel, but thou and thy father's house, in that ye have spoken the commandments of Jehovah, and thou hast followed Baalim." On Carmel the issue was tried between Jehovah and Baal, there being on one side Baal's 450 prophets with the 400 of Asherah, "the groves"), who ate at Jezebel's table under the queen's special patronage; on the other side Jehovah's sole representative, in his startling costume, but with dignified mien. (See [[Carmel]] ; [[Ashtoreth]] </p> <p> Amidst Elijah's ironical jeers they cried, and gashed themselves, in vain repetitions praying from morning until noon for fire from their god Baal, the sun god and god of fire (!), and leaped upon (or up and down at) the altar. [[Repairing]] Jehovah's ruined altar (the former sanctity of which was seemingly the reason for his choice of Carmel) with 12 stones to represent the tribes of all Israel, and calling upon the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to let it be known that He is the Lord God, he brought down by prayer fire from heaven consuming the sacrifice, wood, stones, and dust, and licking up the water in the trench. The idolatrous prophets were slain at the [[Brook]] Kishon, idolatry being visited according to the law with the penalty of high treason against God the king of the national theocracy (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 13:9-11; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 13:15; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 18:20). Then upon the nation's penitent confession of God follows God's removal of the national judgment. </p> <p> The rain, beginning with the small hand-like cloud, and increasing until the whole sky became black (&nbsp;Luke 12:54; &nbsp;Luke 13:19), returned as it had gone, in answer to Elijah's effectual prayer, which teaches us to not only pray but also wait (&nbsp;James 5:17-18; &nbsp;1 Kings 18:41-45). Ahab rides in his chariot across the plain 16 miles to Jezreel, in haste lest the rainflood of the [[Kishon]] should make the [[Esdraelon]] or [[Jezreel]] plain impassable with mud; Elijah, with Spirit-imparted strength from "the hand of the Lord upon" him, running before, but no further than the entrance of the city, for he shrank from the contamination of the court and its luxuries. Jezebel's fury upon hearing of the slaughter of her favorite prophets knew no bounds: "so let the gods do to me and more also, if I make not. thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow" (&nbsp;1 Kings 19:2). Elijah fled for his life to [[Beersheba]] of Judah, with one attendant, and leaving him there went a day's journey into the wilderness. </p> <p> His not having heretofore moved to the neighboring land of godly Jehoshaphat, and his now fleeing to its most southerly town, farthest from Ahab's dominion, and thence into the desert, at first sight seems strange. But upon closer search into [[Scripture]] it is an undesigned propriety that he avoids the land of the king whose one grand error was his marrying his son Jehoram to Athaliah, Ahab's and Jezebel's daughter, at least as early as the sixth or seventh year of [[Jehoshaphat]] and the tenth or eleventh of Ahab (Blunt's Undesigned Coincidences); thereby he became so closely allied to the ungodly Ahab that at the [[Ramoth]] Gilead expedition he said to the latter, "I am as thou art, my people as thy people" (&nbsp;1 Kings 22:4). In this flight Elijah's spirit of faith temporarily gave way. </p> <p> After the excitement of the victory over the Baal priests, and the nervous tension which under God's mighty hand sustained him in running to Jezreel, there ensued a reaction physically and an overwhelming depression of mind; for the hope which had seemed so bright at Carmel, of a national repentance and return to God, the one ruling desire of his soul, was apparently blighted; his labors seemed lost; the throne of iniquity unshaken; and hope deferred made his heart sick. [[Sitting]] under a juniper ( '''''Retem''''' , rather broom) he cried in deep despondency: "It, is enough; now, [[O]] Lord, take away my life." God, with tender considerateness, first relieved his physical needs, by sending to his exhausted frame "tired nature's kind restorer, balmy sleep," and then, by His angel, food; and only when nature was refreshed proceeds to teach him spiritually the lesson he needed. </p> <p> By God's command, "in the strength of that meat" (the supernatural being based on the natural groundwork) he went, Moses like, 40 days and 40 nights unto a cave at [[Horeb]] where he "lodged" for the night (Hebrew '''''Lun''''' ). It was the same wilderness which received Moses fleeing from Pharaoh, and Elijah now fleeing from Ahab, and lastly Paul escaping from the Judaic bondage of ritualism. The lonely wilderness and awful rocks of [[Sinai]] were best fitted to draw the spirit off from the depressing influences of man's world and to raise it up to near communion with God. "He sought the ancient sanctuary connected with the holiest, grandest memories of mankind, that his spiritual longings might be gratified, that he might have the deepest sense of the greatness and nearness of God. He wished to be brought down from the soft luxuriant secondary formations of human religion ''(The [[Halting]] Between Two Opinions, Between The Luxurious Baal [[Worship]] And The Uncompromising [[Holy]] Worship Of Jehovah)'' to the primary stratification of God's religion ... to the naked, rugged, unyielding granite of the law" (Macmillan, The [[Garden]] and City). </p> <p> Jehovah there said, "What doest thou here, Elijah?" thou whose name implies thy calling to witness for God Jehovah, away from the court and people whom thou wast called to reprove! Elijah pleads his "jealousy for Jehovah God of hosts," and that with all his zeal he is left. the sole worshipper of Jehovah, and that even his life they seek to take away. God directs him to "go forth and stand upon the mountain before the Lord," as Moses did when "the Lord passed by." There by the grand voice of nature, the strong wind rending the rocks, the earthquake, and the fire, (in none of which, though emanating from God, did He reveal Himself to Elijah,) and lastly by "a still small voice," God taught the impatient and desponding prophet that it is not by astounding miracles such as the fire that consumed the sacrifice, nor by the wind and earthquake wherewith God might have swept away the guilty nation, but by the still small voice of God's Spirit in the conscience, that Jehovah savingly reveals Himself, and a revival of true religion is to be expected. </p> <p> Those astounding phenomena prepared the way for this, God's immediate revelation to the heart. [[Miracles]] sound the great bell of nature to call attention; but the Spirit is God's voice to the soul. [[Sternness]] hardens; love alone melts. A John the Baptist, Elijah's antitype, the last representative of the Sinaitic law, must be followed by the [[Messiah]] and His Spirit speaking in the winning tones of &nbsp;Matthew 11:29. The still small voice constrained Elijah to wrap his face in his mantle; compare Moses, &nbsp;Exodus 3:6; &nbsp;Isaiah 6:2. A second time to the same question he gives the same reply, but in a meeker spirit. Jehovah therefore cheers him amidst despondency, by giving him work still to do for His name, a sure token that He is pleased with his past work: "Go, return ... to the wilderness of Damascus, and anoint [[Hazael]] king over Syria, [[Jehu]] ... over Israel, and Elisha ... prophet in thy room. </p> <p> Yet (adds the Lord to cure his depression by showing him his witness for God was not lost, but had strengthened in faith many a secret worshipper) I have left Me 7,000 in Israel who have not bowed unto Baal," etc. Elisha he first sought out and found in [[Abel]] Meholah in the valley of the Jordan on his way northward, for spiritual companionship was his first object of yearning. [[Casting]] his mantle on him as the sign of a call, he was followed by Elisha, who thenceforth became his minister, and who executed subsequently the former two commands. (See [[Elisha]] .) [[Apostasy]] from God begets injustice toward man. [[Puffed]] up with the success of his war with Syria, and forgetting the Lord who had given him victory (1 Kings 20), Ahab by Jezebel's wicked hardihood, after vainly trying to get from Naboth the inheritance of his fathers, had him and his sons (&nbsp;2 Kings 9:26, compare &nbsp;Joshua 7:24) slain for falsely alleged blasphemy, and seized his property as that of a criminal forfeited to the crown; the elders of Jezreel lending themselves to be Jezebel's ready instruments. (See [[Naboth]] .) </p> <p> With Jehu and [[Bidkar]] his retinue riding behind, he proceeded to take possession of the coveted vineyard on the following day (compare "yesterday," ''''''Emesh''''' , "yesternight," the mock trial and murder of Naboth having taken place the day before); but, like a terrible apparition, the first person he meets there is the enemy of his wickedness, whom his conscience quails before, more than before all other foes. "Hast thou found me (compare &nbsp;Numbers 32:23) O mine enemy? .... I have found thee, because thou hast sold thyself (as a captive slave bound) to work evil," etc. The dogs should lick his blood "in the place" where they licked Naboth's (fulfilled on his son Jehoram, Ahab's repentance causing judgment to be deferred); Jezebel and Ahab's posterity should be (what Orientals regard with especial horror) the food of dogs and birds (&nbsp;1 Kings 21:19-24). [[Twenty]] years later Jehu remembered the very words of the curse, so terrible was the impression made by the scene, and fulfilled his part of it (&nbsp;2 Kings 9:7-10; &nbsp;2 Kings 9:25-26; &nbsp;2 Kings 9:33-37). </p> <p> Three years later, part of the judgment foretold came to pass upon Ahab, whose blood, after his fall in the battle of Ramoth Gilead, the dogs licked up while his chariot was being washed in the pool of Samaria. His successor [[Ahaziah]] after a two years reign, during which [[Moab]] rebelled, fell from a lattice and lay sick. Sending to consult concerning his recovery the [[Philistine]] oracle of [[Baalzebub]] at Ekron, he learned from his messengers that a man met them saying, "Is it not because there is not a God in Israel that thou sendest to inquire of Baalzebub the god of Ekron? therefore thou shalt not come down, .... but shalt surely die" (&nbsp;2 Kings 1:6). As usual, Elijah's appearance was sudden and startling, and he stands forth as vindicating Jehovah's honor' before the elect nation. Ahaziah, with his mother's idol-mad vindictiveness, sent a captain with fifty to arrest this "lord of hair" (Hebrew text: &nbsp;2 Kings 1:8) whom he at once guessed to be Elijah. </p> <p> Emerging from some recess of Carmel and taking his seat on "the hill" or "mount" (Hebrew), he thence met the captain's demand, "Man of God, the king saith, come down," with "If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty." So it came to pass. Again the same occurred. The third, however, escaped by begging him to hold his life precious and to spare him. Elijah went down, under God's promised protection, and spoke the same message of death to the king in person as he had previously spoken to the king's messenger. This was his last interview with the house of Ahab, and his last witness against Baal worship. The severity of the judgment by fire is due to the greatness of the guilt of the [[Israelite]] king and his minions who strove against God Himself in the person of His prophet, and hardened themselves in idolatry, which was high treason against God and incurred the penalty of death under the theocracy. </p> <p> It is true the Lord Jesus reproved the fiery zeal of James and John, "the sons of thunder," as ignorant of the true spirit of His disciples, when they wished like [[Elias]] to call down fire to consume the [[Samaritans]] who would not receive Him. But the cases are distinct. He was not yet revealed to the half-pagan Samaritans as clearly as Jehovah had been through Elijah to Israel, the elect nation. His life was not sought by the Samaritans as Elijah's was by Israel's king and his minions. Moreover, the temporal penalties of the theocracy, ordained by God for the time, were in our Lord's days giving place to the antitypes which are abiding. </p> <p> [[Shortly]] afterward Elijah wrote a letter ( '''''Miqtab''''' ) which came subsequently "to Joram," son of the pious Jehoshaphat: "Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father (of whom thou art proving thyself so unworthy a successor), because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor... of Asa, king of Judah, but hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of [[Jerusalem]] to go a whoring like ... the house of Ahab, and hast slain (Elijah writes foreseeing the murder, for his translation was before Jehoshaphat's death, &nbsp;2 Kings 3:11, after which was the murder) the brethren of thy father's house which were better than thyself, behold with a great plague will the Lord smite thy people, thy children, thy wives, and all thy goods, and thou shalt have great sickness ... until thy bowels fall out" (2 Chronicles 21). </p> <p> [[Already]] in Elijah's lifetime [[Joram]] had begun to reign jointly with his father Jehoshaphat (&nbsp;2 Kings 8:16; &nbsp;2 Kings 8:18) and had betrayed his evil spirit which was fostered by [[Athaliah]] his wife, Ahab's daughter. Jehoshaphat in his lifetime, with worldly prudence, while giving the throne to Joram, gave Joram's brethren "great gifts and fenced cities." But Elijah discerned in Joram the covetous and murderous spirit which would frustrate all Jehoshaphat's forethought, the fatal result of the latter's carnal policy in forming marriage alliance with wicked Ahab. Therefore, as Elijah had committed to Elisha the duty laid on himself by God of foretelling to Hazael his elevation to the [[Syrian]] throne (Elisha being Elijah revived in spirit), so Elijah committed to him the writing which would come after Elijah's translation to Joram with all the solemnity of a message from Elijah in the unseen world to condemn the murder when perpetrated which Elijah foresaw he would perpetrate. </p> <p> The style is peculiarly Elijah's, and distinct from the narrative context. So Isaiah foretold concerning Cyrus' future kingdom (Isaiah 44-45); and [[Ahijah]] concerning [[Josiah]] (&nbsp;1 Kings 13:2). Fairbairn makes it be called "a letter from Elijah" because he was ideal head of the school of prophecy from which it emanated, and his spirit still rested upon Elisha. But the language, &nbsp;2 Chronicles 21:12, implies in some stricter sense it was Elijah's writing delivered by Elisha, his successor, to Joram. But see Lord A. C. Hervey's view [[Jehoram]] . Elijah's ministry was now drawing to its close. Symptoms appear of his work beginning to act on the nation, in the increased boldness of other prophets to the king's face, besides Elijah himself: e.g. &nbsp;1 Kings 20:35-36; again, Micaiah, 1 Kings 22. Hence, we find not less than fifty called "sons of strength" at Elijah's translation (&nbsp;2 Kings 2:3; &nbsp;2 Kings 2:7); and these settled at Bethel, one of the two head quarters of idolatry. </p> <p> To these sons of the prophets, as well as to Elisha, it was revealed that their master Elijah was about to be caught up front them. Elijah sought that privacy which he felt most suitable to the coming solemn scene; but Elisha would not leave him. To [[Gilgal]] (the one on the W. border of the [[Ephraimite]] hills), Bethel, and [[Jericho]] successively, by the Lord's mission, Elijah went, giving probably parting counsels to the prophets' schools in those places. Finally, after parting asunder the Jordan with his mantle, he gave Elisha leave to ask what he would, and having promised that he should have a double portion of Elijah's spirit, a chariot and horses of fire parted the two, and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven. The "hardness" of Elisha's request, and its granting being dependent on his seeing Elijah ascend, imply that it is to be got from God not (&nbsp;Matthew 19:26) man; that therefore he must look up to Him who was about to translate Elijah, not to Elijah himself. </p> <p> The "double portion" is not "double" what Elijah had, for Elisha had not tidal; but, as the firstborn son and heir received two portions, and the other children but one, of the father's goods (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 21:17), so Elisha, as Elijah's adopted son, begs a preeminent portion of Elijah's spirit, of which all the other "sons of the prophets" should have their share (Grotius); compare &nbsp;Deuteronomy 21:15. But the comparison in the context is not with other prophets but with Elijah. Double, literally, "a mouth of two," is probably used generally for the spirit in large or increased measure, the spirit of prophecy and of miracles. Elisha performed double as many miracles, namely, 16 as compared with Elijah's eight; and the miracles of a like kind to Elijah's; compare &nbsp;1 Kings 17:17-24 with &nbsp;2 Kings 4:29-37; &nbsp;1 Kings 17:16 with &nbsp;2 Kings 4:1-7. Elisha, when getting his choice, asked not for gains, honors, or pleasures, but for spiritual gifts, with a view, not to his own glory, but to the glory of God and the edification of the church. </p> <p> [[Seeing]] that the national evils were so crying, he sought the only remedy, an increased measure of the Spirit, whose power had already began somewhat to improve the state of the nation. As Elijah's ascension was the forerunner of Elisha's possessing an influence such as Elijah had not, Elisha becoming the honored adviser of kings whereas Elijah had been their terror, Elisha on his deathbed being recognized as "the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof" by king [[Joash]] just as Elijah had been by Elisha, so Christ's ascension was the means of obtaining for the church the Holy Spirit in full measure, whereby more souls were gathered in than by Jesus' bodily presence (&nbsp;John 16:6-15; &nbsp;Ephesians 4:8-14). When the Old Testament canon was being closed, Malachi, its last prophet, threw a ray over the dark period of 400 years that intervened until the New Testament return of revelation, by announcing, "Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord. </p> <p> And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." Our Lord declares that John the [[Baptist]] was the Elias to come (&nbsp;Matthew 11:14; &nbsp;Matthew 17:12). This is explained in &nbsp;Luke 1:11; &nbsp;Luke 1:17, which refers to &nbsp;Malachi 4:5-6; "he shall go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers (Jacob, Levi, Moses, Elijah, &nbsp;Malachi 1:2; &nbsp;Malachi 2:4; &nbsp;Malachi 2:6; &nbsp;Malachi 3:3-4; &nbsp;Malachi 4:4, who had been alienated as it were by their children's apostasy) to the children (made penitent through John's ministry), and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just." John was an Elijah, but not the Elijah, from whence to the query (&nbsp;John 1:21), "Art thou Elias?" he answered, "I am not." "Art thou that prophet?" "No." </p> <p> Elijah is called by Malachi "the prophet," not the Tishbite, as he here represents the whole series of prophets culminating in the greatest, John (though he performed no miracles as Elijah). The [[Jews]] always understood a literal Elijah, and said, "Messiah must be anointed by Elijah." As there is a second consummating advent of Messiah, so also of His forerunner (possibly in person as at the transfiguration, &nbsp;Matthew 17:3, even after which He said (&nbsp;Matthew 17:11), "Elias shall first come and restore all things," namely, at "the times of restitution of all things"), possibly a prophet clothed with Elijah's miraculous power of inflicting judgments, which John had not. The miracles foretold of the two witnesses (&nbsp;Revelation 11:4-5, "fire out of their mouth," i.e. at, their word; &nbsp;1 Kings 17:1; &nbsp;2 Kings 1:10; "power to shut heaven that it rain not," &nbsp;James 5:17; &nbsp;Luke 4:25; and "to turn the waters to blood and smite the earth with all plagues ") are the very ones characteristic of Moses and Elijah. </p> <p> The forerunning "the great and dreadful day of Jehovah" can only exhaustively refer to Messiah's second coming, preceded by a fuller manifestation of Elijah than that of John before Messiah's first coming. Moses and Elijah's appearance at the transfiguration in glorified bodies is a sample of the coming transfiguration (Moses, buried by the Lord, of the sleeping saints; and Elijah, translated without death, of living saints) and of their reign with Christ over the earth in glorified bodies, as Peter, James, and John are a sample of the nations in the flesh about to be reigned over. </p> <p> The subject of Moses' and Elijah's discourse with Jesus on the mount was His decease, for this is the grand center to which the law as represented by Moses, and the prophets represented by Elijah, converge. Elijah's translation was God's witness for His faithful servant to the apostate postdiluvial world, as Enoch's to the antediluvial, against their unbelief. God's voice, "This is My beloved Son, hear Him," attests that the servants must bow to the Son for whose coming they prepared the way (compare &nbsp;Revelation 19:10 end). Rome's barefooted [[Carmelites]] have many absurd traditions as to the derivation of their order from Elijah himself, and as to the "cloud out of the sea" typifying the [[Virgin]] Mary, to whom a chapel is dedicated on the imaginary site of Elijah's seeing the cloud! </p>

<p> Elijah or Elias, a prophet, was a native of Tishbe beyond Jordan in Gilead. Some think that he was a priest descended from Aaron, and say that one Sabaca was his father; but this has no authority. He was raised up by God, to be set like a wall of brass, in opposition to idolatry, and particularly to the worship of Baal, which Jezebel and Ahab supported in Israel. The Scripture introduces Elijah saying to Ahab, &nbsp;1 Kings 17:1-2 , A.M. 3092, "As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." It is remarkable, that the number of years is not here specified; but in the New Testament we are informed that it was three years and six months. By the prohibition of dew as well as ruin, the whole vegetable kingdom was deprived of that moisture, without which neither the more hardy, nor more delicate kinds of plants could shoot into herbage, or bring that herbage to maturity. The Lord commanded Elijah to conceal himself beyond Jordan, near the brook Cherith. He obeyed, and God sent ravens to him morning and evening, which brought him flesh and bread. Scheutzer observes, that he cannot think that the <em> orebim </em> of the Hebrew, rendered "ravens," means, as some have thought, the inhabitants of a town called <em> Oreb, </em> nor a troop of Arabs called <em> orbhim; </em> and contends that the bird called the raven, or one of the same genus, is intended. [[Suppose]] that Elijah was concealed from Ahab in some rocky or mountainous spot, where travellers never came; and that here a number of voracious birds had built their nests upon the trees which grew around it, or upon a projecting rock, &c. These flying every day to procure food for their young, the prophet availed himself of a part of what they brought; and while they, obeying the dictates of nature, designed only to provide for their offspring, [[Divine]] providence directed them to provide at the same time for the wants of Elijah. What, therefore, he collected, whether from their nests, from what they dropped, or under a supernatural influence, brought to him, or occasionally from all these means, was enough for his daily support. "And the <em> orebim </em> furnished him bread or flesh in the morning, and bread or flesh in the evening." But as there were probably several of them, some might furnish bread and others flesh, as it happened; so that a little from each formed his solitary but satisfactory meal. To such straits was the exiled prophet driven! Perhaps these <em> orebim </em> were not strictly ravens, but rooks. The word rendered <em> raven, </em> includes the whole genus, among which are some less impure than the raven, as the rook. Rooks living in numerous societies, are supposed by some to be the kind of birds employed on this occasion, rather than ravens, which fly only in pairs. But upon all these explanations we may observe, that when an event is evidently miraculous, it is quite superfluous, and often absurd, to invent hypotheses to make it appear mere easy. After a time the brook dried up, and God sent Elijah to Zarephath, a city of the Sidonians. At the city gate he met with a widow woman gathering sticks, from whom he desired a little water, adding, "Bring me, I pray thee, also a morsel of bread." She answered, "As the Lord liveth, I have no bread, but only a handful of meal, and a little oil in a cruse; and I am gathering some sticks, that I may dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die." Elijah said, "Make first a little cake, and bring it me, and afterward make for thee and thy son: for thus saith the Lord, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth." His prediction was fully accomplished, and he dwelt at the house of this widow. Some time after, the son of this woman fell sick, and died. The mother, overwhelmed with grief, intreated the assistance and interposition of Elijah, who taking the child in his arms, laid him on his own bed, and cried to the Lord for the restoration of the child's life. The Lord heard the prophet's petition, and restored the child. </p> <p> <strong> 2. </strong> After three years of drought, the Lord commanded Elijah to show himself to Ahab. The famine being great in Samaria, Ahab sent the people throughout the country, to inquire after places where they might find forage for the cattle. Obadiah, an officer of the king's household, being thus employed, Elijah presented himself, and directed him to tell Ahab, "Behold, Elijah is here!" Ahab came to meet the prophet, and reproached him as the cause of the famine. Elijah retorted the charge upon the king, and his iniquities, and challenged Ahab to gather the people together, and the prophets of Baal, that it might be determined by a sign from heaven, the falling of fire upon the sacrifice, who was the true God. In this the prophet obeyed the impulse of the Spirit of God; and Ahab, either under an influence of which he was not conscious, or blindly confident in the cause of idolatry, followed Elijah's direction, and convened the people of Israel, and four hundred prophets of Baal. The prophets of Baal prepared their altar, sacrificed their bullock, placed it on the altar, and called upon their gods. They leaped upon the altar, and cut themselves after their manner, crying with all their might. Elijah ridiculed them, and said, "Cry aloud, for he is god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is on a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked." When midday was past, Elijah repaired the altar of the Lord; and with twelve stones, in allusion to the twelve tribes of Israel, he built a new altar. He then laid his bullock upon the wood, poured a great quantity of water three times upon the sacrifice and the wood, so that the water filled the trench which was dug round the altar. After this he prayed, and, in answer to his prayer, the Lord sent fire from heaven, and consumed the wood, the burnt sacrifice, the stones, and dust of the place, and even dried up the water in the trench. Upon this, all the people fell on their faces, and exclaimed, "The Lord, he is the God." Elijah then, having excited the people to slay the false prophets of Baal, said to Ahab, "Go home, eat and drink, for I hear the sound of abundance of rain;" which long-expected blessing descended from heaven according to his prediction, and gave additional proof to the truth of his mission from the only living and true God. </p> <p> <strong> 3. </strong> Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, threatened Elijah for having slain her prophets. He therefore fled to Beersheba, in the south of Judah, and thence into [[Arabia]] Petrea. In the evening, being exhausted with fatigue, he laid himself down under a juniper tree, and prayed God to take him out of the world. An angel touched him, and he arose, and saw a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse of water; and he ate and drank, and slept again. The angel again awakened him, and said, "Rise and eat, for the journey is too great for thee;" and he ate and drank, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights, unto Horeb, the mount of God. Here he had visions of the glory and majesty of God, and conversed with him; and was commanded to return to the wilderness of Damascus, to anoint Hazael king over Syria, and Jehu king over Israel, and to appoint Elisha his successor in the prophetic office. Some years after, Ahab having seized Naboth's vineyard, the Lord commanded Elijah to reprove Ahab for the crime he had committed. Elijah met him going to Naboth's vineyard to take possession of it, and said, "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall they lick thy blood, even thine. And the dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel." Both of which predictions were fulfilled in the presence of the people. Ahaziah, king of Israel, being hurt by a fall from the platform of his house, sent to consult Baalzebub, the god of Ekron, whether he should recover. Elijah met the messengers, and said to them, "Is it because there is no God in Israel, that ye go to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? Now, therefore, saith the Lord, Thou shalt surely die." The messengers of Ahaziah returned, and informed the king, that a stranger had told them he should certainly die; and Ahaziah knew that this was the [[Prophet]] Elijah. </p> <p> The king, therefore, sent a captain with his company of fifty men, to apprehend him; and when the officer was come to Elijah, who was sitting upon a hill, he said, "Thou man of God, the king commands thee to come down." Elijah answered, "If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty." The prophet's words were followed with the effect predicted. The king sent another captain, who was also consumed; but a third captain going to Elijah, intreated him to save him and his people's lives, and Elijah accompanied him to the king. By these fearful miracles he was accredited to this successor of Ahab as a prophet of the true God, and the destruction of these companies of armed men, was a demonstration of God's anger against the people at large. </p> <p> Elijah could not in this case act from any other impulse than that of the Spirit of God. </p> <p> <strong> 4. </strong> Elijah, understanding by revelation that God would soon translate him out of this world, was desirous of concealing this fact from Elisha, his inseparable companion. He therefore said to Elisha, "Tarry thou here, for the Lord hath sent me to Bethel." But Elisha answered, "I will not leave thee." At Bethel, Elijah said, "Tarry thou here, the Lord hath sent me to Jericho;" but Elisha replied, he would not forsake him. At Jericho Elijah desired him to stay; but Elisha would not leave him. They went therefore together to Jordan, and fifty of the sons of the prophets followed them at a distance. When they were come to the Jordan, Elijah took his mantle, and with it struck the waters, which divided, and they went over on dry ground. Elijah then said to Elisha, "Ask what I shall do for thee before I be taken away from thee." "I pray thee," said Elisha, "let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me;" that is, obtain the gift of prophecy from God for me, in the same measure that thou possessest it. [[Double]] may signify like; or the gift of prophecy, and of miracles, in a degree double to what thou dost possess, or to what I now possess. Elijah answered, "Thou hast asked me a very hard thing; yet, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so." As they journeyed, a fiery chariot, with horses of fire, suddenly separated them, and Elijah was carried in a whirlwind to heaven; while Elisha exclaimed, "My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and the horsemen thereof!" </p> <p> <strong> 5. </strong> Elijah was one of the most eminent of that illustrious and singular race of men, the Jewish prophets. Every part of his character is marked by a moral grandeur, which is heightened by the obscurity thrown around his connections, and his private history. He often wears the air of a supernatural messenger suddenly issuing from another world, to declare the commands of heaven, and to awe the proudest mortals by the menace of fearful judgments. His boldness in reproof; his lofty zeal for the honour of God; his superiority to softness, ease, and suffering, are the characters of a man filled with the Holy Spirit; and he was admitted to great intimacy with God, and enabled to work miracles of a very extraordinary and unequivocal character. These were called for by the stupid idolatry of the age, and were in some instances equally calculated to demonstrate the being and power of Jehovah, and to punish those who had forsaken him for idols. The author of [[Ecclesiasticus]] has an encomium to his memory, and justly describes him as a prophet "who stood up as fire, and whose word burned as a lamp." In the sternness and power of his reproofs, he was a striking type of John the Baptist, and the latter is therefore prophesied of, under his name. &nbsp; Malachi 4:5-6 , has this passage: "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord." Our [[Saviour]] also declares that Elijah had already come in spirit, in the person of John the Baptist. At the transfiguration of our Saviour, Elijah and Moses both appeared and conversed with him respecting his future passion, &nbsp;Matthew 17:3-4; &nbsp;Mark 9:4; &nbsp;Luke 9:30 . Many of the Jews in our Lord's time believed him to be Elijah, or that the soul of Elijah had passed into his body, &nbsp;Matthew 16:14; &nbsp;Mark 6:15; &nbsp;Luke 9:8 . In conclusion, we may observe, that to assure the world of the future existence of good men in a state of glory and felicity, and that in bodies changed from mortality to immortality, each of the three grand dispensations of religion had its instance of translation into heaven; the patriarchal in the person of [[Enoch]] the Jewish in the person of ELIJAH, and the [[Christian]] in the person of [[Christ]] </p>

<p> [[Elijah]] ( ''E-Lî'Jah'' ), ''My God Is Jehovah.'' 1. That most renowned prophet of Israel who, with no introduction as to his birth or parentage, or even account of the divine commission given to him, bursts forth in sacred story as the stern denouncer of judgment on apostate Israel, and who, after his marvelous course of miracle and bold vindication of God's authority, is translated without tasting death. He first appears as a messenger from God to Ahab, the wicked king of Israel, probably in the tenth year of his reign. He was sent to prophesy three years' drought in the land of Israel. After delivering this startling and distressing prophecy, he was directed to flee to the brook Cherith, where he was miraculously fed by ravens. When the brook had dried up he was sent to a widow woman of Zarephath, and again the hand of the Lord supplied his wants and those of his friends. He raised the widow's son to life. &nbsp;1 Kings 17:1-24. After the famine had lasted the predicted period, Elijah encountered Ahab, and then ensued the magnificent display of divine power and of human trust upon the ridge of Carmel. &nbsp;1 Kings 18:1-46. See Ahab. The reaction from such a mental strain left the prophet in a weak, nervous condition, and in a fit of despondency he fled from Jezebel into the "wilderness" and desired death. In Mount Sinai the downcast man of God was witness of Jehovah's strength and experienced Jehovah's tenderness in a very remarkable vision. &nbsp;1 Kings 19:9-18. He anointed Elisha to be prophet in his room. &nbsp;1 Kings 19:1-21. He then retired into privacy, but after the dastardly murder of Naboth he suddenly appeared before the guilty king and announced the judgment of Jehovah against the royal pair. &nbsp;1 Kings 21:1-29. Several years after occurred the prophecy of Ahaziah's death. &nbsp;2 Kings 1:1-1 See Ahaziah. The slaughter by fire of the two companies of troops sent to take Elijah must have greatly increased the popular awe of the prophet. Elijah was translated to heaven in a miraculous manner. &nbsp;2 Kings 2:1-25. The character of Elijah made a deep impression upon the Jews. He was expected to return to earth as the forerunner of Messiah; an expectation encouraged by the remarkable prophecy, &nbsp;Malachi 4:5-6, already referred to. The prophecy was indeed fulfilled, but not in the way they imagined. John Baptist, though not personally Elijah, &nbsp;John 1:21, was to go before the Messiah in the spirit and power of the ancient prophet, &nbsp;Luke 1:17; and thus our Lord himself explained the matter to his disciples. &nbsp;Matthew 17:10-13. There was, it is true, a personal appearance of Elijah with Moses, when the two in glory stood beside the transfigured Saviour on the holy mount, and talked with him of his coming death—a proof how both the law and the prophets pointed to a [[Redeemer]] suffering ere he was triumphant. &nbsp;Matthew 17:1-8; &nbsp;Mark 9:2-8; &nbsp;Luke 9:28-36. There are those who believe that the prediction of Elijah's coming has not yet had its full accomplishment; and they expect, before the second appearing of the Lord, that the old stern prophet of Gilead, who never died, will tread the earth again. Such a question, however, cannot be discussed here. </p>

<li> The Elijah spoken of in &nbsp;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 (Compare &nbsp; 1 Chronicles 28:19; &nbsp;Jeremiah 36 ), 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 till after the accession of Jehoram to the throne (&nbsp;2 Chronicles 21:12; &nbsp;2 Kings 8:16 ). The events of &nbsp;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. <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton [[M.A., DD]]  Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Elijah'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/e/elijah.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>

<p> &nbsp;1 Kings 17:1 (c) He is a type of CHRIST as Lord, as King, as the Lion, and as the Eagle. The word means "GOD is the Lord." </p>

<p> ''''' ē̇ ''''' - ''''' lı̄´ja ''''' ( אליּהוּ , <i> ''''' 'ēlı̄yāhū ''''' </i> or (4 times) אליּה , <i> ''''' 'ēlı̄yāh ''''' </i> , "Yah is God"; [[Septuagint]] Ἠλειού , <i> ''''' Ēleioú ''''' </i> , New Testament Ἠλείας , <i> ''''' Ēleı́as ''''' </i> or <i> ''''' Elı̄́as ''''' </i> , the King James Version of New Testament Elias ): </p> <p> I. The Works of Elijah </p> <p> 1. The [[Judgment]] of [[Drought]] </p> <p> 2. The [[Ordeal]] by [[Prayer]] </p> <p> 3. At Horeb </p> <p> 4. The [[Case]] of Naboth </p> <p> 5. Elijah and Ahaziah </p> <p> 6. Elijah [[Translated]] </p> <p> 7. The Letter to Jehoram </p> <p> II. The Work of Elijah </p> <p> III. Character of the Prophet </p> <p> IV. Miracles in the Elijah Narratives </p> <p> V. Elijah in the New Testament </p> <p> Literature </p> <p> (1) The great prophet of the times of Ahab, king of Israel. Elijah is identified at his first appearance (&nbsp;1 Kings 17:1 ) as "Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead." Thus his native place must have been called Tishbeh. A T ishbeh (Thisbe) in the territory of [[Naphtali]] is known from [[Tobit]] 1:2; but if (with most modern commentators) the reading of the Septuagint in 1 Ki is followed, the word translated "sojourners" is itself "Tishbeh," locating the place in Gilead and making the prophet a native of that mountain region and not merely a "sojourner" there. </p> I. The Works of Elijah <p> In &nbsp;1 Kings 16:29-34 we read of the impieties of Ahab, culminating in his patronage of the worship of the Tyrian Baal, god of his Tyrian queen Jezebel (&nbsp; 1 Kings 16:31 ). &nbsp;1 Kings 16:34 mentions as another instance of the little weight attached in Ahab's time to ancient prophetic threatenings, the rebuilding by [[Hiel]] the [[Bethelite]] of the banned city of Jericho, "with the loss" of Hiel's eldest and youngest sons. This is the situation which calls for a judgment of Yahweh, announced beforehand, as is often the case, by a faithful prophet of Yahweh. </p> <p> 1. The Judgment of Drought </p> <p> Whether Elijah was already a familiar figure at the court of Ahab, the narrative beginning with &nbsp;1 Kings 17:1 does not state. His garb and manner identified him as a prophet, in any case (&nbsp; 2 Kings 1:8; compare &nbsp;Zechariah 13:4 ). Elijah declared in few words that Yahweh, true and only rightful God of Israel, whose messenger he was, was even at the very time sending a drought which should continue until the prophet himself declared it at an end. The term is to be fixed, indeed, not by Elijah but by Yahweh; it is not to be short ("these years"), and it is to end only when the chastisement is seen to be sufficient. Guided, as true prophets were continually, by the "word of Yahweh," Elijah then hid himself in one of the ravines east of ("before") the Jordan, where the brook Cherith afforded him water, and ravens brought him abundant food ("bread and flesh" twice daily), &nbsp;1 Kings 17:2-6 . As the drought advanced the brook dried up. Elijah was then directed, by the "word of Yahweh," as constantly, to betake himself beyond the western limit of Ahab's kingdom to the Phoenician village of Zarephath, near Sidon. There the widow to whom Yahweh sent him was found gathering a few sticks from the ground at the city gate, to prepare a last meal for herself and her son. She yielded to the prophet's command that he himself should be first fed from her scanty store; and in return enjoyed the fulfillment of his promise, uttered in the name of Yahweh, that neither barrel of meal nor cruse of oil should be exhausted before the breaking of the drought. (Josephus, <i> Ant </i> , VIII, xiii, 2, states on the authority of Menander that the drought extended to [[Phoenicia]] and continued there for a full year.) But when the widow's son fell sick and died, the mother regarded it as a Divine judgment upon her sins, a judgment which had been drawn upon her by the presence of the man of God. At the prayer of Elijah, life returned to the child (&nbsp;1 Kings 17:17-24 ). </p> <p> "In the third year," &nbsp;1 Kings 18:1 (&nbsp; Luke 4:25; &nbsp;James 5:17 give three years and six months as the length of the drought), Elijah was directed to show himself to Ahab as the herald of rain from Yahweh. How sorely both man and beast in Israel were pressed by drought and the resulting famine, is shown by the fact that King Ahab and his chief steward Obadiah were in person searching through the land for any patches of green grass that might serve to keep alive some of the king's own horses and mules (&nbsp; 1 Kings 18:5 , &nbsp;1 Kings 18:6 ). The words of Obadiah upon meeting with Elijah show the impression which had been produced by the prophet's long absence. It was believed that the Spirit of God had carried Elijah away to some unknown, inaccessible, mysterious region (&nbsp;1 Kings 18:10 , &nbsp;1 Kings 18:12 ). Obadiah feared that such would again be the case, and, while he entreated the prophet not to make him the bearer of a message to Ahab, appealed to his own well-known piety and zeal, as shown in his sheltering and feeding, during Jezebel's persecution, a hundred prophets of Yahweh. Elijah reassured the steward by a solemn oath that he would show himself to Ahab (&nbsp;1 Kings 18:15 ). The king greeted the prophet with the haughty words, "Is it thou, thou troubler of Israel?" Elijah's reply, answering scorn with scorn, is what we should expect from a prophet; the woes of Israel are not to be charged to the prophet who declared the doom, but to the kings who made the nation deserve it (&nbsp;1 Kings 18:17 , &nbsp;1 Kings 18:18 ). </p> <p> 2. The Ordeal by Prayer </p> <p> Elijah went on to challenge a test of the false god's power. Among the pensioners of Jezebel were 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah - still fed by the royal bounty in spite of the famine. [[Accepting]] Elijah's proposal, Ahab called all these and all the people to Mt. Carmel (&nbsp;1 Kings 18:19 , &nbsp;1 Kings 18:20 ). Elijah's first word to the assembly implied the folly of their thinking that the allegiance of a people could successfully be divided between two deities: "How long go ye limping between the two sides?" (possibly "leaping over two thresholds," in ironical allusion to the custom of leaping over the threshold of an idol temple, to avoid a stumble, which would be unpropitious; compare &nbsp;1 Samuel 5:1-5 ). Taking the people's silence as an indication that they admitted the force of his first words, Elijah went on to propose his conditions for the test: a bullock was to be offered to Baal, a bullock to Yahweh, but no fire put under; "The God that answereth by fire, let him be God." The voice of the people approved the proposal as fair (&nbsp;1 Kings 18:22-24 ). Throughout a day of blazing sunshine the prophets of Baal called in frenzy upon their god, while Elijah mocked them with merciless sarcasm (&nbsp;1 Kings 18:25-29 ). About the time for the regular offering of the evening sacrifice in the temple of Yahweh at Jerusalem, Elijah assumed control. Rebuilding an ancient altar thrown down perhaps in Jezebel's persecution; using in the rebuilding twelve stones, symbolizing an undivided Israel such as was promised to the patriarch Jacob of old; drenching sacrifice and wood with water from some perennial spring under the slopes of Carmel, until even a trench about the altar, deep and wide enough to have a two- <i> ''''' ṣe'āh ''''' </i> (half-bushel) measure set in it, was filled - the prophet called in few and earnest words upon the God of the fathers of the nation (&nbsp;1 Kings 18:30-37 ). The answer of Yahweh by fire, consuming bullock, wood, altar and the very dust, struck the people with awe and fear. [[Convinced]] that Yahweh was God alone for them, they readily carried out the prophet's stern sentence of death for the prophets of the idol god (&nbsp;1 Kings 18:38-40 ). Next the prophet bade Ahab make haste with the meal, probably a sacrificial feast for the multitude, which had been made ready; because rain was at hand. On the mountain top Elijah bowed in prayer, sending his servant seven times to look out across the sea for the coming storm. At last the appearance of a rising cloud "as small as a man's hand" was reported; and before the hurrying chariot of the king could cross the plain to Jezreel it was overtaken by "a great rain" from heavens black with clouds and wind after three rainless years. With strength above nature, Elijah ran like a courier before Ahab to the very gate of Jezreel (&nbsp;1 Kings 18:41-46 ). </p> <p> 3. At Horeb </p> <p> The same night a messenger from Jezebel found Elijah. The message ran, "As surely as thou art Elijah and I am Jezebel" (so the Septuagint), "so let the gods do to me, and more also" (i.e. may I be cut in pieces like a sacrificed animal if I break my vow; compare &nbsp;Genesis 15:8-11 , &nbsp;Genesis 15:17 , &nbsp;Genesis 15:18; &nbsp;Jeremiah 34:18 , &nbsp;Jeremiah 34:19 ), "if I make not thy life as the life of one of" the slain prophets of Baal "by to-morrow about this time." [[Explain]] Elijah's action how we may - and all the possible explanations of it have found defenders - he sought safety in instant flight. At Beersheba, the southernmost town of Judah, he left his "servant," whom the narrative does not elsewhere mention. Going onward into the southern wilderness, he sat down under the scanty shade of a desert broom-bush and prayed that he might share the common fate of mankind in death (&nbsp;1 Kings 19:1-4 ). After sleep he was refreshed with food brought by an angel. Again he slept and was fed. In the strength of that food he then wandered on for forty days and nights, until he found himself at Horeb, the mountain sacred because there Yahweh had revealed Himself to Moses (&nbsp;1 Kings 19:5-8 ). The repetition of identical words by Elijah in &nbsp;1 Kings 19:10 and &nbsp; 1 Kings 19:14 represents a difficulty. Unless we are to suppose an accidental repetition by a very early copyist (early, since it appears already in the Septuagint), we may see in it an indication that Elijah's despondency was not easily removed, or that he sought at Horeb an especial manifestation of Yahweh for his encouragement, or both. The prophet was bidden to take his stand upon the sacred mount; and Yahweh passed by, heralded by tempest, earthquake and thunderstorm (&nbsp; 1 Kings 19:9-12 ). These were Yahweh's fore-runners only; Yahweh was not in them, but in the "still small voice," such as the prophets were accustomed to hear within their souls. When Elijah heard the not unfamiliar inner voice, he recognized Yahweh present to hear and answer him. Elijah seems to be seeking to justify his own retreat to the wilderness by the plea that he had been "very jealous," had done in Yahweh's cause all that mortal prophet could do, before he fled, yet all in vain! The same people who had forsaken the law and "covenant" of Yahweh, thrown down His altars and slain His prophets, would have allowed the slaughter of Elijah himself at the command of Jezebel; and in him would have perished the last true servant of Yahweh in all the land of Israel (&nbsp;1 Kings 19:13 , &nbsp;1 Kings 19:14 ). </p> <p> Divine compassion passed by Elijah's complaint in order to give him directions for further work in Yahweh's cause. Elijah must anoint Hazael to seize the throne of Syria, Israel's worst enemy among the neighboring powers; Jehu, in like manner, he must anoint to put an end to the dynasty of Ahab and assume the throne of Israel; and Elisha, to be his own successor in the prophetic office. These three, Hazael and his Syrians, Jehu and his followers, even Elisha himself, are to execute further judgments upon the idolaters and the scorners in Israel. Yahweh will leave Himself 7,000 (a round number, a limited but not an excessively small one, conveying a doctrine, like the doctrine of later prophets, of the salvation of a righteous remnant) in Israel, men proof against the judgment because they did not share the sin. If Elijah was rebuked at all, it was only in the contrast between the 7,000 faithful and the one, himself, which he believed to number all the righteous left alive in Israel (&nbsp;1 Kings 19:15-18 ). </p> <p> 4. The Case of Naboth </p> <p> The anointing of Hazael and of Jehu seems to have been left to Elijah's successor; indeed, we read of no anointing of Hazael, but only of a significant interview between that worthy and Elisha (&nbsp;2 Kings 8:7-15 ). Elijah next appears in the narrative as rebuker of Ahab for the judicial murder of Naboth. In the very piece of ground which the king had coveted and seized, the prophet appeared, unexpected and unwelcome, to declare upon Ahab, Jezebel and all their house the doom of a shameful death (1 Ki 21). There was present at this scene, in attendance upon the king, a captain named Jehu, the very man already chosen as the supplanter of Ahab, and he never forgot what he then saw and heard (&nbsp;2 Kings 9:25 , &nbsp;2 Kings 9:26 ). </p> <p> 5. Elijah and Ahaziah </p> <p> Ahab's penitence (&nbsp;1 Kings 21:28 , &nbsp;1 Kings 21:29 ) averted from himself some measure of the doom. His son Ahaziah pulled it down upon his own head. [[Sick]] unto death from injuries received in a fall, Ahaziah sent to ask an oracle concerning his recovery at the shrine of Baal-zebub in Ekron. Elijah met the messengers and turned them back with a prediction, not from Baal-zebub but from Yahweh, of impending death. Ahaziah recognized by the messengers' description the ancient "enemy" of his house. A captain and fifty soldiers sent to arrest the prophet were consumed by fire from heaven at Elijah's word. A second captain with another fifty met the same fate. A third besought the prophet to spare his life, and Elijah went with him to the king, but only to repeat the words of doom (2 Ki 1). </p> <p> 6. Elijah Translated </p> <p> A foreboding, shared by the "sons of the prophets" at Beth-el and Jericho, warned Elijah that the closing scene of his earthly life was at hand. He desired to meet the end, come in what form it might, alone. Elisha, however, bound himself by an oath not to leave his master. Elijah divided Jordan with the stroke of his mantle, that the two might pass over toward the wilderness on the east. Elisha asked that he might receive a firstborn's portion of the spirit which rested upon his master. "A chariot of fire, and horses of fire" appeared, and parted the two asunder; "and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven" (&nbsp;2 Kings 2:1-11 ). </p> <p> 7. The Letter to Jehoram </p> <p> In &nbsp;2 Chronicles 21:12-15 we read of a "writing" from Elijah to Jehoram, son of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. The statements of &nbsp; 2 Kings 3:11 , &nbsp;2 Kings 3:12 admit of no other interpretation than that the succession of Elisha to independent prophetic work had already occurred in the lifetime of Jehoshaphat. It has been pointed out that the difficult verse, &nbsp; 2 Kings 8:16 , appears to mean that Jehoram began to reign at some time before the death of his father; it is also conceivable that Elijah left a message, reduced to writing either before or after his departure, for the future king of Judah who should depart from the true faith. </p> II. The Work of Elijah <p> One's estimate of the importance of the work of Elijah depends upon one's conception of the condition of things which the prophet confronted in Northern Israel. While it is true that the reign of Ahab was outwardly prosperous, and the king himself not without a measure of political sagacity together with personal courage, his religious policy at best involved such tolerance of false faiths as could lead only to disaster. [[Ever]] since the time of Joshua, the religion of Yahweh had been waging its combat with the old Canaanite worship of the powers of Nature, a worship rendered to local deities, the "Baalim" or "lords" of this and that neighborhood, whose ancient altars stood "upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree" (&nbsp;Deuteronomy 12:2 ). The god imported from Phoenicia by Jezebel bore also the title Baal; but his character and his worship were worse and more debasing than anything that had before been known. [[Resistance]] offered by the servants of Yahweh to the claims of the queen's favored god led to persecution, rightly ascribed by the historian to Jezebel (&nbsp;1 Kings 18:4 ). In the face of this danger, the differences between the worship of Yahweh as carried on in the Northern [[Kingdom]] and the same worship as practiced at Jerusalem sank out of sight. The one effort of Elijah was to recall the people from the Tyrian Baal to Yahweh, the God of their fathers. The vitality of the true religion in the crisis is shown by the fidelity of such a man as Obadiah (&nbsp;1 Kings 18:3 f), or by the perseverance of a righteous remnant of 7,000, in spite of all that had happened of persecution (&nbsp; 1 Kings 19:18 ). The work begun by Elijah was finished, not without blood, by Jehu; we hear no more of the worship of the Tyrian Baal in Israel after that anointed usurper's time (2 Ki 9; 10). To say that Elijah at Horeb "learns the gentleness of God" (Strachan in <i> HDB </i> ) is to contradict the immediate text of the narrative and the history of the times. The direction given Elijah was that he should anoint one man to seize the throne of Syria, another to seize that of Israel, and a prophet to continue his own work; with the promme and prediction that these three forces should unite in executing upon guilty Israel the judgment still due for its apostasy from Yahweh and its worship of a false god. Elijah was not a reformer of peace; the very vision of peace was hidden from his eyes, reserved for later prophets for whom he could but prepare the way. It was his mission to destroy at whatever cost the heathen worship which else would have destroyed Israel itself, with consequences whose evil we cannot estimate. Amos and Hosea would have had no standing-ground had it not been for the work of Elijah and the influences which at Divine direction he put in operation. </p> III. Character of the Prophet <p> It is obvious that the Scripture historian does not intend to furnish us with a character-study of the prophet Elijah. Does he furnish even the material upon which such a study may profitably be attempted? The characterization found in &nbsp;James 5:17 , "Elijah was a man of like passions (margin, "nature") with us," is brief indeed; but examination of the books which have been written upon the life of Elijah leads to the conclusion that it is possible to err by attaching to events meanings which those events were never intended to bear, as well as by introducing into one's study too much of sheer imagination. It is easy, for example, to observe that Elijah is introduced <i> to the reader </i> with suddenness, and that his appearances and disappearances <i> in the narrative </i> seem abrupt; but is one warranted in arguing from this a like abruptness in the prophet's character? Is not the sufficient explanation to be reached by observing that the historian's purpose was not to give a complete biography of any individual, whether prophet or king, but to display the working of Yahweh upon and with the kingdoms of Israel and Judah through the prophets? Few personal details are therefore to be found recorded concerning even such a prophet as Elijah; and none at all, unless they have a direct bearing upon his message. The imagination of some has discerned a "training of Elijah" in the experiences of the prophet; but to admit that there must have been such a training does not oblige us to discover traces of it in the scenes and incidents which are recorded. </p> <p> Distrusting, for the reasons above suggested, any attempt at a detailed representation of the prophet's inner life, one may seek, and prize, what seems to lie upon the surface of the narrative: faith in Yahweh as God of Nature and as covenant God of the patriarchs and their descendants; consuming "zeal" against the false religion which would displace Yahweh from the place which must be His alone; keen vision to perceive hypocrisy and falsehood, and sharp wit to lash them, with the same boldness and disregard of self that must needs mark the true prophet in any age. </p> IV. Miracles in the Elijah Narratives <p> The miraculous element must be admitted to be prominent in the experiences and works of Elijah. It cannot be estimated apart from the general position which the student finds it possible to hold concerning miracles recorded in the Old Testament. The effort to explain away one or another item in a rationalistic way is wholly unprofitable. Elijah's "ravens" may indeed be converted by a change of vowel-points into "Arabians"; but, in spite of the fact that Orientals would bring offerings of food to a holy hermit, the whole tenor of the narrative favors no other supposition than that its writer meant "ravens," and saw in the event another such exercise of the power of Yahweh over all things as was to be seen in the supply of meal and oil for the prophet and the widow of Zarephath, the fire from heaven, the parting of the Jordan, or the ascension of the prophet by whirlwind into heaven. Some modern critics recognize a different and later source in the narrative of 2 Ki 1; but here again no real difficulty, if any difficulty there be, is removed. The stern prophet who would order the slaughter of the 450 Baal prophets might well call down fire to consume the soldiers of an apostate and a hostile king. The purpose and meaning of the Elijah chapters is to be grasped by those who accept their author's conception of Yahweh, of His power, and of His work in Nature and with men, rather than by those who seek to replace that conception by another. </p> V. Elijah in the New Testament <p> Malachi (&nbsp;Malachi 4:5 ) names Elijah as the forerunner of "the great and terrible day of Yahweh," and the expectation founded upon this passage is alluded to in &nbsp;Mark 6:15 parallel &nbsp; Luke 9:8; &nbsp;Matthew 16:14 parallel &nbsp; Mark 8:28 parallel &nbsp; Luke 9:19; &nbsp;Matthew 27:47-49 parallel &nbsp; Mark 15:35 , &nbsp;Mark 15:36 . The interpretation of Malachi's prophecy foreshadowed in the angelic annunciation to [[Zacharias]] &nbsp;Luke 1:17 ), that John the Baptist should do the work of another Elijah, is given on the authority of Jesus Himself (&nbsp;Matthew 11:14 ). The appearance of Elijah, with Moses, on the Mount of Transfiguration, is recorded in &nbsp;Matthew 17:1-13 parallel &nbsp; Mark 9:2-13 parallel &nbsp; Luke 9:28-36 , and in &nbsp;Matthew 11:14 parallel &nbsp; Mark 9:13 Jesus again identifies the Elijah of Malachi with John the Baptist. The fate of the soldiers of Ahaziah (2 Ki 1) is in the mind of James and John on one occasion (&nbsp; Luke 9:54 ). Jesus Himself alludes to Elijah and his sojourn in the land of Sidon (&nbsp;Luke 4:25 , &nbsp;Luke 4:26 ). Paul makes use of the prophet's experience at Horeb (&nbsp;Romans 11:2-4 ). In &nbsp;James 5:17 , &nbsp;James 5:18 the work of Elijah affords an instance of the powerful supplication of a righteous man. </p> <p> (2) A "head of a father's house" of the tribe of [[Benjamin]] (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 8:27 , the King James Version "Eliah"). </p> <p> (3) A man of priestly rank who had married a foreign wife (&nbsp;Ezra 10:21 ). </p> <p> (4) A layman who had married a foreign wife (&nbsp;Ezra 10:26 ). </p> Literature <p> The histories of Israel and commentaries on Kings are many. Those which tend to rationalizing tend also to decrease the importance of Elijah to the history. F. W. Robertson, <i> Sermons </i> , 2nd series, V; Maurice, <i> Prophets and Kings of the Old Testament </i> , [[Sermon]] VIII; Milligan, <i> Elijah </i> ("Men of the Bible" series); W. M. Taylor, <i> Elijah the Prophet </i> . </p>

<p> Eli´jah (Jehovah is God). This wonderworking prophet is introduced to our notice like another Melchizedek , without any mention of his father or mother, or of the beginning of his days. From this silence of Scripture as to his parentage and birth, much vain speculation has arisen. Some suppose that Elijah is called a Tishbite from Tishbeh, a city beyond the Jordan. The very first sentence that the prophet utters is a direful denunciation against Ahab; and this he supports by a solemn oath: 'As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew or rain these years (i.e. three and a half years,; ), but according to my word' . Before, however, he spoke thus, it would seem that he had been warning this most wicked king as to the fatal consequences which must result both to himself and his people, from the iniquitous course he was then pursuing: and this may account for the apparent abruptness with which he opens his commission. </p> <p> We can imagine Ahab and Jezebel being greatly incensed against Elijah for having foretold and prayed that such calamities might befall them. For some time they might attribute the drought under which the nation suffered to natural causes, and not to the interposition of the prophet. When, however, they saw the denunciation of Elijah taking effect far more extensively than had been anticipated, they would naturally seek to wreak their vengeance upon him as the cause of their sufferings. But we do not find him taking one step for his own preservation, till the God whom he served said, 'Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan: and it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there' . Other and better means of protection from the impending danger might seem open to him; but, regardless of these, he hastened to obey the divine mandate, and 'went and dwelt by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan' . </p> <p> A fresh trial now awaits this servant of God (B.C. 909), and in the manner in which he bears it, we see the strength of his faith. For one year, as some suppose, God had miraculously provided for his bodily wants at Cherith; but the brook which, heretofore, had afforded him the needful refreshment there, became dried up. [[Encouraged]] by past experience of his heavenly Father's care of him, the prophet still waited patiently till He said, 'Arise , get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.' He then, at once, set out on the journey, and now arrived at Zarephath, he, in the arrangement of God's providence, met, as he entered its gate, the very woman who was deputed to give him immediate support. But his faith is again put to a sore test, for he found her engaged in a way which was well calculated to discourage all his hopes; she was gathering sticks for the purpose, as she assured him, of cooking her last meal, and now that the famine prevailed there, as it did in Israel, she saw nothing before her and her only son but starvation and death. How then could the prophet ask for, and how could she think of giving, a part of her last morsel? The same Divine Spirit inspired him to assure her that she and her child should be even miraculously provided for during the continuance of the famine: and also influenced her heart to receive, without doubting, the assurance! The kindness of this widow in baking the first cake for Elijah was well requited with a prophet's reward she afforded one meal to him, and God afforded many to her (see ). While residing here God accordingly saw fit to visit the family with a temporary calamity. 'And it came to pass that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick: and his sickness was so sore that there was no life left in him' . contains the expostulation with the prophet of this bereaved widow; she rashly imputes the death to his presence. Elijah retaliates not, but calmly takes the dead child out of the mother's bosom, and lays it on his own bed , that there he may, in private, pray the more fervently for its restoration. His prayer was heard, and answered by the restoration of life to the child, and of gladness to the widow's heart. </p> <p> Since now, however, the long-protracted famine, with all its attendant horrors, failed to detach Ahab and his guilty people from their abominable idolatries, God mercifully gave them another opportunity of repenting and turning to Himself. For three years and six months the destructive famine had spread its deadly influence over the whole nation of Israel. The prophet was then called by the word of the Lord to return to Israel. Wishing not to tempt God by going unnecessarily into danger, he first presented himself to good Obadiah . This principal servant of Ahab was also a true servant of God; and on recognizing the prophet he treated him with honor and respect. Elijah requested him to announce to Ahab that he had returned. Obadiah, apparently stung by the unkindness of this request, replied, 'What have I sinned, that thou shouldest thus expose me to Ahab's rage, who will certainly slay me for not apprehending thee, for whom he has so long and so anxiously sought in all lands and in confederate countries, that they should not harbor a traitor whom he looks upon as the author of the famine,' etc. Moreover, he would delicately intimate to Elijah how he had actually jeoparded his own life in securing that of one hundred of the Lord's prophets, and whom he had fed at his own expense. Satisfied with Elijah's reply to this touching appeal, wherein he removed all his fears about the Spirit's carrying himself away (as;; ), he resolves to be the prophet's messenger to Ahab. Intending to be revenged on him, or to inquire when rain might be expected, Ahab now came forth to meet Elijah. He at once charged him with being the main cause of all the calamities which he and the nation had suffered. But Elijah flung back the charge upon himself, assigning the real cause to be his own sin of idolatry. Regarding, however, his magisterial position, while he reproved his sin, he requests him to exercise his authority in summoning an assembly to Mount Carmel, that the controversy between them might be decided, whether the king or the prophet was the troubler of Israel. Whatever were the secret motives which induced Ahab to comply with this proposal, God directed the result. Elijah offered to decide this controversy between God and Baal by a miracle from Heaven. As fire was the element over which Baal was supposed to preside, the prophet proposes (wishing to give them every advantage) that, two bullocks being slain, and laid each upon a distinct altar, the one for Baal, the other for Jehovah, whichever should be consumed by fire must proclaim whose the people of Israel were, and whom it was their duty to serve. The people consent to this proposal. Elijah will have summoned not only all the elders of Israel, but also the four hundred priests of Baal belonging to Jezebel's court, and the four hundred and fifty who were dispersed over the kingdom. [[Confident]] of success, because doubtless God had revealed the whole matter to him, he enters the lists of contest with the four hundred and fifty priests of Baal. Having reconstructed an altar which had once belonged to God, with twelve stones—as if to declare that the twelve tribes of Israel should again be united in the service of Jehovah—and having laid thereon his bullock, and filled the trench by which it was surrounded with large quantities of water, lest any suspicion of deceit might occur to any mind I the prophet gives place to the Baalites—allows them to make trial first. In vain did these deceived and deceiving men call, from morning till evening, upon Baal—in vain did they now mingle their own blood with that of the sacrifice: no answer was given—no fire descended. </p> <p> Elijah having rebuked their folly and wickedness with the sharpest irony, and it being at last evident to all that their efforts to obtain the wished-for fire were vain, now, at the time of the evening sacrifice, offered up his prayer. The prayer of the Baalites was long, that of the prophet was short—charging God with the care of His covenant, of His truth, and of His glory—when, behold, 'the fire came down, licked up the water, and consumed not only the bullock, but the very stones of the altar also.' The effect of this on the mind of the people was what the prophet desired: acknowledging the awful presence of the Godhead, they exclaim, as with one voice, 'Jehovah He is the God! Jehovah He is the God!' Seizing the opportunity while the people's hearts were warm with the fresh conviction of this miracle, he bade them take those juggling priests and destroy them; and this he might lawfully do at God's direction, and under the sanction of His law . Ahab having now publicly vindicated God's violated law by giving his royal sanction to the execution of Baal's priests. Elijah informed him that he may go up to his tent on Carmel to take refreshment, for God will send the desired rain. In the meantime he prayed earnestly for this blessing: God heard and answered: a little cloud arose out of the Mediterranean sea, in sight of which the prophet now was, diffused itself gradually over the entire face of the heavens, and then emptied its refreshing waters upon the whole land of Israel. Here was another proof of the Divine mission of the prophet, from which, we should imagine, the whole nation must have profited; but subsequent events would seem to prove that the impression produced by these dealings of God was of a very partial and temporary character. Impressed with the hope that the report of God's miraculous action at Carmel might not only reach the ear, but also penetrate and soften the hard heart of Jezebel; and anxious that the reformation of his country should spread in and about Jezreel also, Elijah, strengthened, as we are told, from on high, now accompanies Ahab thither on foot. How ill-founded the prophet's expectation was, subsequent events too painfully proved. Jezebel, instead of receiving Elijah obviously as the messenger of God for good to her nation, now secretly conceived and openly declared her fixed purpose to put him to death. Dreading the vile woman's design, and probably thinking that there was no hope of producing any reformation among the people, he fled into the wilderness, and there longed for death. But God is still gracious to him, and at once touches his heart and corrects his petulancy by the ministration of His angel, and by an awful exhibition of His Divine power. And having done this, revealing Himself in the gentle accents of a still voice, He announces to him thathe must go and anoint Hazael king over Syria, Jehu king over Israel, and Elisha prophet in his own place, ere death can put a period to his labors. When God had comforted His prophet by telling him of these three instruments he had in store to vindicate his own insulted honor, then he convinced him of his mistake in saying 'I only am left alone,' etc. by the assurance that there were seven thousand in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal. </p> <p> Leaving the cave of Horeb (B.C. 906), Elijah now proceeded to the field where he found Elisha in the act of plowing, and he cast his prophet's mantle over him, as a symbol of his being clothed with God's spirit. The Divine impression produced upon the mind of Elisha by this act of Elijah made him willing to leave all things and follow him. </p> <p> For about six years from this calling of Elisha we find no notice in the sacred history of Elijah, till God sent him once again to pronounce sore judgments upon Ahab and Jezebel for the murder of unoffending Naboth (, etc.). How he and his associate in the prophetic office employed themselves during this time we are no told. We need not dwell upon the complicated character of Ahab's wickedness (1 Kings 21), in winking at the murderous means whereby Jezebel procured for him the inalienable property of Naboth [[[Ahab; Naboth]]]  When he seemed to be triumphing in the possession of his ill-obtained gain, Elijah stood before him, and threatened him, in the name of the Lord (. inclusive), that God would retaliate blood for blood, and that not on himself only—'his seventy sons shall die, and Jezebel shall become meat for dogs.' Fearing that these predictions would prove true, as those about the rain and fire had done, Ahab now assumed the manner of a penitent; and, though subsequent acts proved that his repentance was not permanent, yet God rewards his temporary abasement by a temporary arrest of judgment. We see, however, in after parts of this sacred history, how the judgments denounced against him, his abandoned consort, and children, took effect to the very letter. </p> <p> Elijah again retired from the history till an act of blasphemy on the part of Ahaziah, the son and successor of Ahab, causes God to call him forth. Ahaziah met with an injury, and, fearing that it might be unto death, he, as if to prove himself worthy of being the son of idolatrous Ahab and Jezebel, sent to consult Baalzebub, the idol-god of Ekron; but the angel of the Lord told Elijah to go forth and meet the messengers of the king , and assure them that he should not recover. [[Suddenly]] reappearing before their master, he said unto them, 'Why are ye now turned back?' when they answered, 'There came a man up to meet us, and said unto us, Go, turn again unto the king that sent you, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord: Is it not because there is no God in Israel that thou sendest to inquire of Baalzebub, the god of Ekron? [[Wherefore]] thou shalt not come down from that bed on which thou art gone up, but shalt surely die.' [[Conscience]] seems to have at once whispered to him that the man who dared to arrest his messengers with such a communication must be Elijah, the bold but unsuccessful reprover of his parents. [[Determined]] to chastise him for such an insult, he sent a captain and fifty armed men to bring him into his presence; but at Elijah's word fire descended from [[Heaven]] and consumed the whole band. Attributing this destruction of his men to some natural cause, he sent forth another company, on whom though the same judgment fell, this impious king is not satisfied till another and a similar effort is made to capture the prophet. The captain of the third band implored and found mercy at the hands of the prophet, who at once descended from Carmel and accompanied him to Ahaziah. Fearless of his wrath, Elijah now repeats to the king himself what he had before said to his messengers, and agreeably thereto, the sacred narrative informs us that Ahaziah died. </p> <p> The above was the last more public effort which the prophet made to reform Israel. His warfare being now accomplished on earth, God, whom he had so long and so faithfully served, will translate him in a chariot of fire to Heaven. Conscious of this, he determines to spend his last moments in imparting divine instruction to, and pronouncing his last benediction upon, the students in the colleges of Bethel and Jericho; accordingly, he made a circuit from Gilgal, near the Jordan, to Bethel, and from thence to Jericho. Wishing either to be alone at the moment of being caught up to Heaven; or, what is more probable, anxious to test the affection of Elisha (as Christ did that of Peter), he delicately intimates to him not to accompany him in this tour. But the faithful Elisha, to whom, as also to the schools of the prophets, God had revealed His purpose to remove Elijah, declares his fixed determination not to forsake his master now at the close of his earthly pilgrimage. [[Ere]] yet, however, the chariot of God descended for him, he asks what he should do for Elisha. The latter, conscious of the complicated and difficult duties which now awaited him, asks for a double portion of Elijah's spirit. Elijah, acknowledging the magnitude of the request, yet promises to grant it on the contingency of Elisha seeing him at the moment of his rapture. Possibly this contingency was placed before him in order to make him more on the watch, that the glorious departure of Elijah should not take place without his actually seeing it. While standing on the other side of the Jordan, whose waters were miraculously parted for them to pass over on dry ground, angels descended, as in a fiery chariot, and, in the sight of fifty of the sons of the prophets and Elisha, carried Elijah into Heaven. Elisha, at this wonderful sight, cried out, like a bereaved child, 'My Father, my Father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof;' as if he had said, Alas! the strength and savior of Israel is now departed! But it was not so; for God designed that the mantle which fell from Elijah as he ascended should now remain with Elisha as a pledge that the office and spirit of the former had now fallen upon himself. </p>