Elijah

Elijah, name means "Yahweh is my God". God's special messenger to the northern kingdom of Israel during the great apostasy under Ahab (c. 874—853 b.c.) and Jezebel, when Baal worship practically supplanted the worship of the true God. He is identified only as "the Tishbite" (1 Ki 17:1). A man of great faith in God and bold zeal for God, Elijah easily qualifies among the greatest of the prophets.

The high esteem in which the Jews of later centuries held Elijah is evident from the popular expectation, based on the prediction of Mal 4:5, 6 that the prophet would return to earth to herald the imminent appearance of the Messiah (see Mt 17:10—12). Jesus identified the ministry of John the Baptist with that predicted by Malachi (ch 11:14), having already declared that there was none greater than John (v 11). So far as is known, Elijah was the only person, except Enoch, ever honored by translation to heaven without seeing death (2 Ki 2:11, 12). He was also chosen to accompany Moses, the great lawgiver, at the transfiguration of Christ (Mt 17:3).

When Ahab began his reign, a little more than half a century had passed since the death of Solomon and the division of the kingdom, since which time Israel, the northern kingdom, had rapidly lapsed into apostasy. But Ahab "did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him," in that he married Jezebel, daughter of a Phoenician king, and adopted her religion, thus becoming a worshiper of Baal (1 Ki 16:30, 31). Not only so, but he erected a temple to Baal in Samaria (vs 32, 33) and thus "Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him" (v 33). Such were conditions when the Lord commissioned Elijah to visit Ahab at court and announce a severe drought of unspecified duration (ch 17:1) as remedial punishment.

The intensity of the famine and the gravity with which Ahab viewed the situation are reflected in the apprehensive reaction of Obadiah, the officer over Ahab's house, to whom Elijah presented himself (vs 7—14). Ahab's initial challenge upon meeting Elijah, "Art thou he that troubleth Israel?" was promptly silenced by the divine indictment that Ahab himself was to blame for the plight of the nation, and by the order for the king to appear forthwith on Mount Carmel, together with all the prophets of Baal and Asherah (1 Ki 18:17—19).

On Carmel the issue of Baal versus the Lord as the true God was put to a dramatic test designed to bring king and people to a decision in the matter (vs 20—40). The people acknowledged the Lord as the true God, and at the command of Elijah slew all the prophets of Baal (vs 39, 40). Then, to prove that the drought had been a divine judgment upon the land, and as a sequel to the people's admission that the Lord is the true God, an abundance of rain fell (vs 41—46).

Enraged at the turn of events, Jezebel threatened the prophet's life, with the result that he took refuge in hasty flight southward to the Wilderness of Sinai, where he lodged in a cave once more he was miraculously sustained (1 Ki 19:1—9). When summoned by the Lord to account for his inglorious flight from the threat to his life by Jezebel, Elijah protested that he alone of all Israel had remained loyal to God, and that now even his life was in jeopardy (vs 10—14). Thereupon God tactfully rebuked His erring prophet and appointed him further tasks—the anointing of Jehu as king of Israel in the place of Ahab, of Hazael as the scourge of Israel because of its apostasy, and of Elisha as Elijah's successor (vs 15—21).