Elijah

ELIJAH, or Elias, a famous Prophet, a native of the town of Tishbe, situated beyond Jordan, in the land of Gilead. Some¹ make him a Priest descended from Aaron, and say, one Sabaca was his father. But these particularities which are taken notice of neither in the Scripture nor in any of the Ancients, are of no great authority. Several of the fathers² were of opinion, that he lived in a single state, and with unspotted purity. This Prophet was raised up by God, to be set like a wall of brass, in opposition to Idolatry, and particularly to declare against the worship of Baal, which Jezebel and Ahab had introduced in Israel. The first time the Scrip ture speaks of Elijah, it represents him to 1 Kings xvii. 1, 2. In the Year of the World 3092, before J.C. 908, before the Vulg. Æra 912.us, saying unto Ahab, 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.

At the same time the Lord commanded him to retire and conceal himself beyond Jordan, near the brook Cherith. He obeyed, and God sent Ravens to him every morning and evening, who brought him flesh and bread; and he drank water from the brook³. But the brook being dried up by reason of the heat, God bid Elijah go to Zarephath, a city of the Sidonians, where he should find a widow, who would supply him with food. He went thither, and when he was at the city-gate, he perceived a widow woman gathering sticks, from whom he desired a little water to drink; and as she was going to fetch it, he called to her and said, Bring me, I pray thee, also a morsel of bread: she answered, As the Lord liveth I have no bread, but only an handful of meal, and a little oil in a cruse, and I am now gathering some sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. Elijah said to her, Make me first a little cake, and bring it me, and after 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 that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. It fell out as he foretold, and he dwelt at this In the Year of the World 3093, before J.C. 907, before the Vulg. Æra 911. 1 Kings xvii. 17.widow’s house.

Some time after, this woman’s son fell sick and died. The mother overwhelmed with grief, came to Elijah, and said, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come here to renew the memory of my sins, and to kill my son? Elijah said to her, Give me thy son: and taking him in his arms, he laid him upon his bed, and cried unto the Lord, begging the restitution of the child’s life. After this he laid himself three times upon the child, stretching himself upon his little body; and the Lord heard the Prophet’s voice, and restored In the Year of the World 3096, before J.C. 904, before the Vulg. Æra 908. 1 Kings xviii. 1, 2, &c.the child to life.

Three years after, the Lord commanded Elijah to go to Ahab King of Israel. In the mean time the famine being very extreme at Samaria, Ahab sent some of his people throughout all the country to enquire after some place, where they might find forrage for the subsistence of their cattle. Obadiah, one of the officers of the King’s houshold being employed in this search, Elijah presented himself before him, and directed him to go tell Ahab, Behold Elijah is here! Obadiah excused himself, saying, As soon as I am gone from thee, the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not, and when Ahab cannot find thee, he will slay me. Elijah said, As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely shew my self unto him this day. Obadiah therefore went immediately, and informed Ahab, who came without delay to meet Elijah, and as he drew near to him, accosted him in this manner: Art not thou he that troubled all Israel? Elijah answered, I have not troubled Israel, but thou and thy father’s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore assemble all Israel upon Mount Carmel, and bring thither the four hundred and fifty Prophets of Baal, with the four hundred Prophets of Astarte, who are supported at Jezebel’s table, and we will see whether your Religion or mine be the true one.

Ahab therefore convened the people of Israel, and the false prophets of Baal and Astarte on Mount Carmel; and Elijah said to them, How long will ye halt between two opinions? if the Lord be God, follow him; if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered not a word. Elijah then added, I only remain a Prophet of the Lord, but Baal’s Prophets are four hundred and fifty men; let them give us two bullocks, they shall sacrifice one, and I another. The bullock upon which fire shall descend from Heaven, shall discover him to be the true God, to whom it is sacrificed. The proposition was accepted by the people; Baal’s Prophets prepared their Altar, sacrificed their Bullock, and placed it on the Altar, and began to call upon their Gods. And as Baal continued deaf to their invocations, they leaped upon the Altar, and made incisions after their manner in their bodies, crying aloud with all their force. In the mean time Elijah insulted them, saying, Cry louder, for Baal is perhaps asleep, or upon a journey, and does not hear you.

But at last mid day being past, Elijah called the people, repaired the Altar of the Lord before them which had been broken down, took twelve stones in memory of the twelve Tribes of Israel, and with them built a new Altar. He made a trench, and as it were two ridges round about, prepared the wood, cut the bullock in pieces, laid it on the Altar, poured three several times abundance of water upon the wood, and the burnt sacrifice, so that the water ran about the Altar, and the trench was full of it. After this, he called upon the Lord, and besought him to declare in a miraculous manner that he was the only true God. At the same time, the fire of the Lord fell upon the Altar, and consumed the wood, the burnt-sacrifice, the stones, and the very dust of the place. Where upon all the people fell upon their faces to the ground, saying, The Lord is the true God. At the same time Elijah exhorted the people to take the false Prophets of Baal, and not suffer one of them to escape. They accordingly took them, carried them down from the mountain, and slew them all at the brook Kishon.

After this, Elijah said to Ahab, Go eat and drink, for I hear the noise of abundance of rain; whereof, notwithstanding at that time there was no appearance: but the Prophet knew that a very great quantity of it would fall that very day. Elijah went up to the top of Carmel, and throwing himself down upon the earth, he put his face between his knees, and said to his servant, Go up, look toward the Sea, and observe, if you can discern any thing. He went six times without seeing any thing: but the seventh time Gehazi came and told him, that he saw a cloud rising out of the Sea, as large as a man’s hand. Elijah therefore said to his servant, Go, and say unto Ahab, prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. The King got into his chariot, and went to Jezreel. Elijah, for his part, girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab’s chariot; and the rain fell in great abundance.

Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, being informed that Elijah had put to death all the Prophets of her Gods, sent notice to him, 1 Kings xix.that the next day she would take away his life. The Prophet hereupon fled as far as Beer-sheba, in the most Southern part of the Tribe of Judah. As soon as he arrived there, he dismissed his servant, and pursuing his journey farther into Arabia Petræa, he walked all day, and in the evening being extremely fatigued, he laid himself down under a Juniper-tree, and prayed to God to take him out of the world. At the same time an Angel touched him, and said, Arise and eat. He arose, and looking near the place where his head lay, he saw a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse of water; he therefore eat and drank, and laid down again and slept. The next day the Angel again awakened him, and said, Rise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee. He rose, eat and drank, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights, unto Horeb the mount of God.

When he was come thither, he lodged in a cave, and the Lord said unto him, what doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I am very jealous for the Lord 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. The Lord said, Go forth, and stand at the entrance of thy cave upon the mountain. When he was there, the Lord made him hear a strong wind passing by, but the Lord was not in this impetuous wind; after this, the Earth trembled, but the Lord was not in the Earthquake; after the Earthquake there was a Fire, but the Lord was not in the Fire; after the Fire there was heard the breathing of a gentle Wind, which was the sign of God’s presence. At this instant, Elijah threw himself prostrate on the Earth, and covered his face in his mantle. The Lord asked him as before, What dost thou here, Elijah? he answered, I have been very jealous for the Lord, because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine Altars, and slain thy Prophets with the sword, and I only am left, and they seek my life to take it away.

The Lord said to him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be King over Syria, and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be King over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat shalt thou anoint to be Prophet in thy room. Whosoever escapeth the sword of Hazael, shall Jehu slay; and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu, shall Elisha slay. Nor do thou think, that thou only hast continued faithful to my covenant, for I have reserved seven thousand men in Israel, who have not bowed their knees to Baal, who have not adored him, by lifting up their hands to their mouths and kissing them.

Elijah therefore departing from Mount Horeb, went into the Tribe of Ephraim, near Abel-meholah, where he found Elisha plowing with twelve yoke of Oxen, upon whose shoulders he threw his mantle, and declared the will of God to him, who called him to the prophetick ministry. Elisha immediately left his oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, Permit me, I pray thee, to go and embrace my father and mother, and after this duty is paid, I will follow thee. To which Elijah replied, Go, and return; for, as for my part, what I had to do, I have performed.

Some years after, Ahab having taken In the Year of the World 3105, before J. C. 895, before the Vulg. Æra 899. 1 Kings xxi. 1, 2, 3, &c. 1 Kings xxi. 17, 18.Naboth’s vineyard, and Jezebel condemned this honest Israelite unjustly, as will be observed in the Article Naboth; the Lord commanded Elijah to go to Ahab, and reproach him with the crime which he had committed. Elijah therefore met this Prince, who was going to Naboth’s vineyard, in order to take possession of it, and said to him, Thus saith the Lord: Hast thou killed, and also taken possession? In the very place where the dogs lick the blood of Naboth, shall they lick thy blood also. And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, O my Enemy? And he answered, I have found thee, because thou hast sold thy self to work evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring evil upon thee, and will take away thy posterity from off the Earth; I will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, because thou hast made Israel to sin. And farther, the sentence which the Lord hath pronounced against Jezebel, is this, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel. If Ahab die in the city, the dogs shall eat him; if in the fields, the fowls of the air shall prey upon him. Ahab hearing these words, rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his flesh, fasted, lay in sackcloth, and walked with his head hanging down. Whereupon the Lord said to Elijah, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? because he humbleth himself before me, I will not bring the evil in his days, but in his son’s days will I bring the evil upon his house.

Abaziah King of Israel, being dangerously wounded by a fall from the platform 2 Kings i. 3.of his house, sent some of his people to consult Baal-zebub, the God of Ekron, and know whether he should recover of his illness. In the Year 3108, before J. C 892. before the Vulg. Æra 896.But the Angel of the Lord directed Elijah to go and meet the King of Samaria’s messengers, and say to them, Is it not because there is not a God in Israel, that ye go to enquire of Baal-zebub the God of Ekron? Now therefore, saith the Lord, thou shalt not rise up any more from the bed on which thou liest, but shalt die most certainly. And when he had said thus, he departed. They, who had been sent by Ahaziah being returned, related to him, what had happened to them, and that a stranger had told them, that he should most surely die. The King asked them, what sort of a man he was, who spoke to them? they answered, that he was an⁴ hairy man, girt about with a leathern girdle on his loins. By these marks Ahaziah knew it was Elijah.

He immediately sent a Captain to him, who commanded fifty men with his company; the officer coming up to Elijah, who was sitting on the top of an hill, said, Thou man of God, the King commands thee to come down. Elijah answered, If I am a man of God, let fire come down from Heaven and consume thee and thy fifty men. The Prophet’s words were immediately followed with effects; the Captain was destroyed by fire from Heaven, with all his company. The King having again sent another, he likewise was consumed. At last a third going to Elijah, threw himself at his feet, and conjured him to save his and his people’s lives. Then the Angel of the Lord ordered Elijah to go down with him; he therefore descended In the Year of the World 3108, before J. C. 892, before the Vulgar Æra 896. 2 Kings ii. 1, 2, 3.from the hill, and followed him; and when he appeared before the King, he repeated to him what he had already told his messengers, that he should not recover of this disease: and accordingly he died in a short time after.

Elijah having understood by revelation, that God intended very soon to transport him out of this world; he was desirous to conceal the miracle of his remove from Elisha his inseparable companion. But God discovered it not only to Elisha, but to other Prophets of Bethel and Jericho. Elijah therefore said to Elisha, Tarry thou here, because the Lord hath sent me to Bethel; to which Elisha answered, As the Lord liveth, I will not leave thee. When they were at Bethel, Tarry thou here, said Elijah, for the Lord hath sent me to Jericho. But Elisha again replied, that he would not forsake him. When they were at Jericho, he desired Elisha to stay there; for, said he, the Lord hath sent me to Jordan. But Elisha swore, as he had done before, that he would not be separated from him. They went therefore together towards Jordan, and fifty of the sons of the Prophets at a distance followed them. When therefore they were come to the banks of Jordan, Elijah took his mantle and folding it together, he struck the waters with it, which instantly divided into two parts, and they passed over on dry ground.

Isa. xl. 2.When they were got over, Elijah 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 to say, obtain the gift of prophecy from God for me, in the same measure, that thou possessest it. Double may signify, like; or, give me a double share in thine inheritance, and double portion of thy Spirit, the gift of prophecy, and that of miracles in a degree double to that wherein thou doest possess it. Or, lastly, double may signify abundance, as in these passages; She hath received of the Lord’s hand double, &c. and, Jerem. xvii. 18.destroy them with double destruction.

Elijah answered him, Thou hast asked me a very hard thing; nevertheless, 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 continued their journey, a fiery chariot with horses of fire, on a sudden separated them from one another, and Elijah was carried in a whirlwind up to heaven. Elisha, at the same time, cried out, My father, my father, thou who art the chariot of Israel, and the conductor of it. After this, he saw him no more; and gathering up the mantle, which Elijah had let fall as he was ascending up to heaven, he returned to the banks of the river Jordan, took Elijah’s mantle, smote the waters with it, which at his first striking them did not divide, but upon repeating this ceremony, they parted asunder, and he passed through them.

Hereby the Prophets of Jericho and the places adjacent were convinced, that the spirit of Elijah had rested upon Elisha; and when they met him, they desired him to give them leave to send fifty strong men in search after Elijah, believing that the Spirit of God might perhaps have transported him into some desart and remote place. Elisha told them, that this was to no purpose. Notwithstanding they went, but after they had spent three days in their pursuit, and sought in vain for him, they returned. This happened in the year of the World 3108, before the birth of Jesus Christ 892, before the Vulgar Æra 896.

Eight years after the miraculous ascension In the year of the World 3116, before J. C. 884, before the Vulgar Æra 888. 2 Chron. xxi. 12.of Elijah, letters were brought to Jehoram King of Judah from the prophet Elijah, the substance whereof was this: Thus saith the Lord God of David thy father, because thou hast not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat thy father, nor in the ways of Asa King of Judah, but hast walked in the way of the Kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredom of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father’s house, which were better than thy self; behold, with a great plague will the Lord smite thy people, and thy children, and thy wives, and all thy goods. Thou shalt have great sickness by disease of thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out, by reason of the sickness day by day.

There are some who believe, that this Ita Hebræi. Tirin. Mariana. Menoch. Jun. Piscat. Kimchi. Grotius in 2 Chr. xxi. 12.letter was written from the place where the prophet Elijah is at present; others are of opinion, that it was sent before the prophet’s transportation; others again, that Jehoram dreamt all this. There was a book extant formerly⁵ with this title, The Prophecy, or Revelation, or Ascension of Elijah, from whence St. Paul is thought to have borrow’d these words, cited by him 1 Cor. ii. 9. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entred into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. The Rabbins in their Seder olam, or the Succession of Ages, say, that Elijah is at present employ’d in writing the Acts and Events of all the several Ages of the World.

Elijah and Enoch are believed to be still at this day living, and by some it is imagined, that they are to come at the end of the world, in order to encounter Antichrist. Both Jews⁶ and Christians⁷ have embraced this opinion; and the following words in the Revelations are generally explained as relating Rev. xi. 3.to this their coming; I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

Gemar. Sanhedr. c. xi. §.29. Gemar. Aboda Sarae. c. 1. &c. e If. Voff. de Sybillin. orac. c.8.Lastly, the Jews make one Elias or Elijah, whome some have taken for the Prophet we have been speaking of, to be the author of a prophecy, declaring it to be a tradition from the house of Elijah, that the world will last six thousand years, viz. two thousand years without the Law, two thousand under it, and two thousand more under the Messiah. But so many years of the Messiah’s period as are expired without his appearing, have so passed away by reason of our sins. There is a great deal of probability, that this tradition proceeds from an Elijah more modern than the Tishbite; as well as the three books which we are told of⁸, intitled, 1. The grand Order of Elijah; 2. The petty Order of Elijah; and, 3. The Cave of Elijah.

Ecclus. xlviii. 1, & seq.The Author of Ecclesiasticus has dedicated an encomium to the memory of Elijah, wherein he has given an epitome of his life, and his true character. Then stood up Elias the prophet as fire, and his word burnt like a lamp. He brought a sore famine upon them, and by his zeal he diminished their number. By the word of the Lord he shut up the heaven, and also three times brought down fire. O Elias, how wast thou honoured in thy wondrous deeds! and who may glory like unto thee! who didst raise up a dead man from death, and his soul from the place of the dead by the word of the most High. (He speaks here of the widow’s son of Sarepta.) Who broughtest Kings to destruction, and honourable men from their bed. (He means Ahab, Ahaziah, and Jezebel, to whom he foretold the great misfortunes which would befall them.) Who heardest the rebuke of the Lord in Sinai, and in Horeb, the judgement of vengeance. Who anointedst Kings to take revenge, (Jehu and Hazael) and Prophets to succeed after him. (Elisha was Elijah’s successor.) Who wast taken up in a whirlwind of fire, and in a chariot of fiery horses. Who wast ordained for reproofs in their times, to pacify the wrath of the Lord’s judgement before it brake forth into fury, and to turn the heart of the father to the son, and to restore the tribes of Jacob.

The Author of the book of Ecclesiasticus Mal. iv. 6.alludes here to this passage in Malachi, 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. This is what must be executed at the consummation of ages, before the last Judgement. But our Saviour informs us in the Gospel, Matth. xi. 14. xvii. 10, 11, 12.that the prophet Elijah is already come in the spirit, in the person of John the Baptist; and the Evangelists tell us, that in the transfiguration of our Saviour, Elijah and Matth. xvii. 3, 4. Mark ix. 3. Luke ix. 30.Moses both appeared and conversed with him concerning his future passion.

Many of the Jews were persuaded that Elijah was the same as Phinehas the son of Eleazar, and grandson to Aaron, by reason of the great zeal which both expressed for God’s glory; an opinion founded on the doctrine of the transmigration, which is common among the Mahometans, among many of the Jews, and among some eastern Christians; for we know that Phinehas lived many ages before Elijah.

Lastly, many of the Jews in our Lord’s Matth. xvi. 14. Mark vi. 15. Luke ix. 8.time believed Elijah to be risen from the dead in his person, or that the soul of Elijah had passed into the body of Jesus Christ.

The Mussulmen relate, that one Kheder D’Herbelot. Bibl. Orient. p. 491. Ilia. & 992. Kheder.or Khizin, General of Alexander’s troops, not Alexander the Great, but one more ancient of the same name, had the good fortune to find the fountain of life, which Alexander had for a long time sought in vain. Kheder drank large draughts of it, and so became immortal. He is called Kheder, which signifies verdant, because from that time he enjoyed a flourishing and immortal life. Kheder is, according to them, Elijah, who lives in a place of retirement, in a delicious garden, where the fountain of life runs, and the tree of life is to be found, by the help whereof his immortality is preserved: there it is that he expects the second coming of Jesus Christ, at which Elijah is to appear once more in the world.

The Magi of Persia pretend, that their master Zoroastres was one of the prophet Elijah’s disciples; at least that their ancestors were instructed by the disciples of the two prophets Elijah and Elisha. This fiction is founded on Elijah’s procuring fire 1 Kings xviii. 24.to fall from heaven, and his being carried 2 Kings i. 10, 12.away in a fiery chariot; the disciples of Zoroastres esteeming this element as the 2 Kings ii. 11. Ecclus. xlviii. 9.principal object of their worship.

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