Elijah the Tishbite

ELIJAH is one of the most colorful personalities of the Old Testament. He was a faithful servant of God and an outstanding prophet. The New Testament identifies him and some of his important works as being of a typical nature. And yet, the only information the Scriptures give us as to his background is that he was a Tishbite, “of the inhabitants of Gilead.” He is referred to in the Bible five times as Elijah the Tishbite. It is thus that he is introduced to us in I Kings 17:1.

The name Elijah signifies, “My God is Jehovah,” and it is difficult to think of a name more appropriate for this courageous servant of Jehovah. We first find him standing before the wicked King Ahab of Israel, saying, “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.”—I Kings 17:1

Physically, Elijah stood before Ahab when he uttered these words; but he looked beyond this wicked king, in faith believing that in a more important sense he was standing before Jehovah. Thus he acknowledged the authority of Jehovah and displayed his defiance of the Baal-worshiping kings who had departed from their worship of the true God of Israel.

Ahab was angry over Elijah’s announcement that there would be no rain except by his “word,” and at once this wicked king determined that he would kill the prophet. But the Lord protected his servant, saying to him: “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.”—vss. 3,4

The Lord fulfilled his promise. Safe in his retreat by the side of the brook Cherith, Elijah was fed by ravens night and morning, and he drank from the brook. This continued for a considerable time. The record does not say just how long. According to the marginal translation of verse seven, at “the end of days” the brook dried up. The expression “end of days” suggests a definite time period.

In James 5:17 we learn that the total period during which by Elijah’s “word” it did not rain in Israel was three and one-half years. His fleeing from Ahab and Jezebel and finding shelter by the brook Cherith was apparently at the beginning of this period, and the drought continued until the prophet’s victorious challenging of the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel.

During all this time Elijah was in a “wilderness,” in the sense of being isolated, and was protected from the wrath of Ahab and Jezebel. When the brook Cherith failed, the Lord instructed the prophet to go elsewhere and indicated that he would continue to protect him. The Lord said, “Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.”—vs. 9

Elijah obeyed but discovered that the widow to whom the Lord sent him was virtually without food, having no bread, and only a “handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse.” (vs. 12) When Elijah found her she was about to make up the last cake possible with her bit of meal and few drops of oil, with the idea that she and her son would eat it and thereafter die of starvation.

So now it was time for another miracle. Through the power of Jehovah, who had caused the ravens to feed Elijah by the brook, the meal and oil continued to increase sufficiently for the needs of the widow and her son and the prophet as well. Elijah said to the widow: “Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.” (vs. 14) In fulfillment of this promise the family had food

After the “full year” mentioned in the marginal translation of verse 15, the widow’s son became ill, and it proved to be a sickness unto death. “His sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.” (vs. 17) Then the widow said to Elijah, “What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?”—vs. 18

Life Restored

Elijah offered no explanation but took the dead child to his own bedchamber and put him on his own bed. In prayer he asked the Lord: “Host thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.”—vss. 19-22

A wonderful miracle! The power which creates life had restored life. But a word of explanation is in order here. An inappropriate translation gives the impression to many that the boy’s “soul” was a personality, separate from his body, which escaped when the child died but was forced to return by the miracle which restored life. But this is not the case. The word soul here is translated from the Hebrew word nephesh, which literally means “living creature.” However, this word also, according to Prof. Strong, means, abstractly, “vitality.”

What the record states, properly translated, is that when, through Elijah, the life-giving breath was forced into the lungs of the child, he began to breathe, and the vitality which had left him returned. Thus he again became a living creature. It is only because of traditional misunderstanding concerning the meaning of the word soul that its use in this passage conveys the wrong thought to many readers.

The Test on Mount Carmel

With the awakening of the widow’s son from the sleep of death, Elijah’s sojourn in Zarephath seems to have been nearing its end. The next chapter opens with the statement: “It came to pass after many days, that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year [of the drought], saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.”—ch. 18:1

Elijah proceeded to obey. On the way he met Obadiah, governor of Ahab’s house, one of the few in Israel who continued to reverence Jehovah. Prior to this, when Jezebel had ordered the destruction of all the Lord’s servants, Obadiah had concealed, and thus saved, a hundred of them from death. Now he was searching throughout the land for possible springs of water.

“And as Obadiah was in the way, behold Elijah met him.” (vs. 7) Elijah requested Obadiah to notify Ahab that he was ready to meet him. Ahab had been searching in many places for Elijah in order to have him slain; and now it seemed incredible to Obadiah that this much sought after prophet of the Lord would voluntarily present himself before the king. But Elijah assured him that this was exactly what he intended to do; so Obadiah complied with his wishes.

But Elijah was not surrendering to the king. It was at this meeting that he proposed a test to demonstrate to the people that Jehovah was the true God. He called upon Ahab to summon all the prophets of Baal (of which there were 450) and 400 prophets of the groves to Mount Carmel and have them prepare a sacrifice to their god. Elijah proposed that two bullocks be provided by the people and that the prophets of Baal should choose one and he would take the other. Baal’s prophets were to offer their bullock first, and then Elijah would offer his.

Elijah said to the prophets of Baal: “Call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.” (vs. 24) Just previous to this Elijah had said to the people: “How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word.”—vs. 21

Long under the domination of the Baal-worshiping kings of Israel and deceived by an outward show of strength by the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, the people were hesitant to express themselves. They doubtless reasoned that to keep silent was the better part of wisdom. But the test proposed by Elijah appealed to their good judgment. They could see that it was fair, and they realized that a God who could show his acceptance of a sacrifice offered to him by miraculously consuming it with fire would of necessity be the true and living God, and One also who would protect and bless those who served him. So they answered Elijah, “It is well spoken.”

The test began. The prophets of Baal prepared and presented their bullock to their god and called upon him to show his acceptance by fire. There was no response. They cried to Baal from morning until noon. “No answer. The marginal translation of verse 26 states that they “leaped up and down at the altar.” But still Baal did not respond.

Now Elijah’s anticipated triumph over the worshipers of Baal expresses itself in a bit of justifiable sarcasm. He mocked the frenzied prophets, saying: “Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.” The prophets of Baal seemed to think that this was good advice so “they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.”—vss. 27,28

But their crying aloud and cutting themselves was of no avail. Baal did not answer, although they continued their efforts until the time of the “evening sacrifice.” Then came Elijah’s opportunity. “He repaired the altar of the Lord that was broken down,” using twelve stones, one stone for each of the tribes of Israel. The bullock was cut in pieces and placed upon the altar.

After this Elijah instructed that four barrels of water be poured upon the sacrifice and upon the altar. This was repeated twice, making a total of twelve barrels of water which were used. The altar and the sacrifice were soaked, the water filling the trench surrounding the altar. Elijah made sure that no one could justly charge that a fraud had been perpetrated.

Then “Elijah the prophet came near, and said, Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the Lord fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.”—vss. 36-38

“And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The Lord, he is the God; the Lord, he is the God.” (vs. 39) It was a great victory for Jehovah. Elijah directed that all the prophets of Baal should be slain. The same day the drought was broken. In fact, Ahab had to hasten down from the mountain before the approaching torrents of rain, Elijah running ahead of him.—vss. 41-46

Jezebel’s Wrath

King Ahab reported to Jezebel what had happened and that the prophets of Baal had been slain. But she was not willing to accept the situation, as Ahab apparently was, and vowed vengeance upon Elijah. She sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, “So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them [the prophets of Baal] by tomorrow about this time.”—vs. 2

So Elijah was again forced to flee for his life. In the New Testament James informs us that Elijah was a man of “like passions” as we. (James 5:17) He was bold in facing Ahab and in challenging the prophets of Baal because he was confident that the Lord was with him. Apparently, however, beyond this the Lord had not indicated just what course he was to take; so when Jezebel threatened his life he had no alternative but to flee from her wrath.

His servant fled with him as far as Beersheba. Leaving him there, Elijah proceeded for another day’s journey into the wilderness “and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” (vss. 3,4) At this point Elijah must have been very discouraged. He had fled for his life from the wrath of Jezebel, but now he asked God to let him die. Perhaps he was perplexed. For such a sudden change in circumstances to occur after this signal and glorious victory on Mount Carmel would tend to make the prophet wonder just what the Lord’s will might now be.

Utterly exhausted from his flight from Jezebel, Elijah fell asleep under the juniper tree, and while he was sleeping an angel of the Lord awakened him, saying, “Arise and eat. And he looked, and, behold, there was a cake baken on the coals, and a cruse of water at his head. And he did eat and drink, and laid him down again.”—vss. 5,6

“And the angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said, Arise and eat; because the journey is too great for thee. And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.” (vss. 7,8) At Horeb Elijah found shelter in a cave. The Lord asked, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” and he replied: “I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.”—vss. 9,10

The Lord then instructed Elijah to stand “upon the mount before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind, an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake, a fire: but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.”—vss. 11,12

Elijah was impressed. “He wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave.” Then he heard a voice asking, “What doest thou here, Elijah?” Elijah repeated what he had said when asked the same question prior to the mighty demonstration which he had just witnessed. He still felt that he alone was left in all Israel as a true and loyal servant of Jehovah.—vs. 14

“Yet Seven Thousand”

Elijah was mistaken in supposing that he was the only one who was loyal to Jehovah, as many others since have been similarly mistaken. The Lord informed him that there were “seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.” (vs. 18) The Apostle Paul refers to this in Romans 11:2-5 when emphasizing the fact that while Israel had in his day rejected the One who was the greatest of all the prophets, and the Messiah as well, there was a remnant which remained true to God.

Elijah had asked God to let him die. Instead of granting this request, God now gave him a further assignment of service. “The Lord said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.” (vs. 15) He was also instructed to anoint Jehu to be king over Israel, and Elisha to take his place as a special prophet.—vs. 16

“So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed by him, and cast his mantle upon him.” (vs. 19) Traditionally, Elijah’s mantle was a cape of sheepskin. The Bible’s reference to it as a symbol of authority to serve in the name of the Lord has supplied the world with one of its most familiar figures of speech. How many realize when reading or hearing of a noted person’s mantle falling upon another that this language stems from God’s dealings with Elijah?

It must now have been obvious to Elijah that his service as a prophet was nearing an end. But there was still an important assignment for him to fulfill. He was instructed to “go down to meet Ahab King of Israel, which is in Samaria: behold he is in the vineyard of Naboth, whither he is gone down to possess it.” (ch. 21:18) Naboth was the peace-loving Israelite who, through a conspiracy conceived by the wicked queen, Jezebel, was killed in order that she, together with Ahab, might take possession of his vineyard.—I Kings 21:1-14

It was fitting that Elijah, who had been used by God on previous occasions to defy and rebuke Ahab and Jezebel, should now be the one to prophesy the judgments of the Lord that would come upon them. They had threatened his life and had done all they could to destroy him, but now Elijah was commissioned to say to Ahab, “In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.” (vs. 19) “And of Jezebel also spake the Lord, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezereel.”—vs. 23

II Kings chapter 1 records a final service rendered by Elijah, as prophet, in rebuking King Ahaziah for seeking information concerning his health from Baal-zebub instead of Jehovah.

His work over, Elijah was directed by the Lord to Bethel, thence to Jericho, and finally to Jordan. He knew now that his passing was to be as dramatic as his courageous life of service—that he would be taken away in a whirlwind. (II Kings 2:1) Reaching Jordan, Elijah “took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters, and they were divided hither and thither, so that they two [Elisha, his successor, was now with him] went over on dry ground.”—vs. 8

Not long after this, “it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.” (vs. 11) Thus the eventful and courageous service of one of the greatest men who ever lived suddenly reached a consummation, ending, we might say, almost literally in a blaze of glory.

Referring to the home and throne of God, Jesus said, “No man hath ascended up to heaven.” (John 3:13) Apparently, therefore, the “heaven” to which Elijah was taken in a whirlwind was merely the earth’s atmosphere. He was dramatically removed, and as far as Elisha was concerned, he saw him snatched away by the force of the whirlwind and did not see him afterward. Actually, of course, Elijah died and will remain asleep in death until he is brought forth in the “better resurrection,” for which all the Ancient Worthies endeavored to prove worthy.—Heb. 11:13,35,39,40

The Transfiguration Vision

Near the close of Jesus’ ministry he took Peter, James, and John with him into a mountain. There they saw Jesus transfigured before them, and there also appeared Moses and Elijah. By some this is taken to mean that Elijah did not die but was alive in heaven and thus able to appear on the Mount of Transfiguration. However, as they came down from the mountain, Jesus said to his disciples who accompanied him, “Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.”—Matt. 17:9

From this it is clear that it was merely a vision that the disciples saw on the mountain, that Moses and Elijah did not actually appear. Deuteronomy 34:5 states that “Moses the servant of the Lord died.” His burial place has been kept a secret, perhaps because the Lord knew that the people would be tempted to convert it into a shrine to be worshiped. Elijah also died, and his burial place is likewise unknown, perhaps, by divine providence, for the same reason.

The Apostle Peter later explained that in the vision on the mountain they saw “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (II Pet. 1:16-18) In other words, it was a vision pertaining to the time of Christ’s second visit to earth, when the long-promised messianic kingdom would be established. Moses was the mighty lawgiver of Israel, and Elijah was an outstanding prophet and reformer. The work represented by these two stalwarts of righteousness will, under Christ, be carried forward to a glorious completion. The law of God will be written in the hearts of the people; and the true worship of God will be permanently established worldwide, as Elijah established it temporarily in Israel by the demonstration which he arranged on Mount Carmel.

The Antitypical Elijah

Through the Prophet Malachi the Lord said: “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord: 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.” (Mal. 4:5,6) This prophecy became well-known by the religious leaders of Israel, and when John the Baptist began his ministry he was asked if he was the foretold Elijah. (Elias, the Greek form of the word, is used in the New Testament.) John disclaimed that he was the Elias of promise. Jesus said to his disciples that if they could receive it, John was the Elias. Evidently Jesus meant that if the ministry of John the Baptist had accomplished a work of reformation in their hearts, then to them he was the foretold Elijah.

An angel, in a prophecy given to Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, said concerning John that he would turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord, and then added: “And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:16,17) John did minister in the “spirit and power of Elijah,” and in the hearts and lives of some he accomplished an “Elijah work” of reformation; but he was not in the fullest sense of the word the foretold Elijah which was to come.

For a detailed study of the prophecies pertaining to Elijah who was to come, we refer the reader to chapter 8 in Volume II of “Studies in the Scriptures.” We observe here merely that there is scriptural reason to believe that the church in the flesh is a further fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy. The church has failed to reform the world, even as John the Baptist failed to reform Israel. Malachi foretold an alternative fulfillment of the prophecy in the event of such failure—“lest I smite the earth with a curse.”

Because John the Baptist failed in his work of reformation and of preparing Israel to receive the Messiah, the foretold “curse” came upon that nation in A.D. 70-73. Because the church has failed to reform the world, the curse is now upon all nations in the form of “a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation.”—Dan. 12:1

But eventually the world will be reformed through the agencies of the kingdom, the kingdom which will be under the spiritual direction of the glorified Christ, Head and body. Thus the work of restoring the worship of the true God, and even of raising the dead, as prefigured in and by Elijah, will have its complete fulfillment during the coming age of “restitution,” the “restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”

The detailed study of these prophecies reveals that even the length of time when Elijah was in the “wilderness” and no rain fell in Israel was typical, also the unusual manner in which his ministry was brought to a conclusion. Truly Elijah the Tishbite was wonderfully used by the Lord, both in his personal ministry and as one of the typical personalities of the Old Testament. When all the Ancient Worthies are restored to life in the “better resurrection,” we are confident that Elijah will be prominent among them as one of the “princes in all the earth.”—Ps. 45:16

Go to Part 19

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