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Eli'jah  
 

Text:  whose God is Jehovah. 

(1.) "The Tishbite," the "Elias" of the New Testament, is suddenly 
introduced to our notice in 1 Kings 17:1 as delivering a message from 
the Lord to Ahab. There is mention made of a town called Thisbe, south 
of Kadesh, but it is impossible to say whether this was the place 
referred to in the name given to the prophet. Having delivered his 
message to Ahab, he retired at the command of God to a hiding-place by 
the brook Cherith, beyond Jordan, where he was fed by ravens. When the 
brook dried up God sent him to the widow of Zarephath, a city of 
Zidon, from whose scanty store he was supported for the space of two 
years. During this period the widow's son died, and was restored to 
life by Elijah (1 Kings 17: 2-24). During all these two years a famine 
prevailed in the land. 

At the close of this period of retirement and of preparation for his 
work (comp. Gal. 1:17, 18) Elijah met Obadiah, one of Ahab's officers, 
whom he had sent out to seek for pasturage for the cattle, and bade 
him go and tell his master that Elijah was there. The king came and 
met Elijah, and reproached him as the troubler of Israel. It was then 
proposed that sacrifices should be publicly offered, for the purpose 
of determining whether Baal or Jehovah were the true God. This was 
done on Carmel, with the result that the people fell on their faces, 
crying, "The Lord, he is the God." 

Thus was accomplished the great work of Elijah's ministry. The 
prophets of Baal were then put to death by the order of Elijah. Not 
one of them escaped. Then immediately followed rain, according to the 
word of Elijah, and in answer to his prayer (James 5:18). 

Jezebel, enraged at the fate that had befallen her priests of Baal, 
threatened to put Elijah to death (1 Kings 19:1-13). He therefore fled 
in alarm to Beersheba, and thence went alone a day's journey into the 
wilderness, and sat down in despondency under a juniper tree. As he 
slept an angel touched him, and said unto him, "Arise and eat; because 
the journey is too great for thee." He arose and found a cake and a 
cruse of water. 

Having partaken of the provision thus miraculously supplied, he went 
forward on his solitary way for forty days and forty nights to Horeb, 
the mount of God, where he took up his abode in a cave. 

Here the Lord appeared unto him and said, "What dost thou here, 
Elijah?" In answer to his despondent words God manifests to him his 
glory, and then directs him to return to Damascus and anoint Hazael 
king over Syria, and Jehu king over Israel, and Elisha to be prophet 
in his room (1 Kings 19:13-21; comp. 2 Kings 8:7-15; 9: 1-10). 

Some six years after this he warned Ahab and Jezebel of the violent 
deaths they would die (1 Kings 21:19-24; 22:38). He also, four years 
afterwards, warned Ahaziah (q.v.), who had succeeded his father Ahab, 
of his approaching death (2 Kings 1:1-16). (See NABOTH.) During these 
intervals he probably withdrew to some quiet retirement, no one knew 
where. His interview with Ahaziah's messengers on the way to Ekron, 
and the account of the destruction of his captains with their fifties, 
suggest the idea that he may have been in retirement at this time on 
Mount Carmel. 

The time now drew near when he was to be taken up into heaven (2 Kings 
2:1-12). He had a presentiment of what was awaiting him. He went down 
to Gilgal, where was a school of the prophets, and where his successor 
Elisha, whom he had anointed some years before, resided. Elisha was 
solemnized by the thought of his master's leaving him, and refused to 
be parted from him. "They two went on," and came to Bethel and 
Jericho, and crossed the Jordan, the waters of which were "divided 
hither and thither" when smitten with Elijah's mantle. 

Arrived at the borders of Gilead, which Elijah had left many years 
before, it "came to pass as they still went on and talked" they were 
suddenly separated by a chariot and horses of fire; and "Elijah went 
up by a whirlwind into heaven, "Elisha receiving his mantle, which 
fell from him as he ascended. 

No one of the old prophets is so frequently referred to in the New 
Testament. The priests and Levites said to the Baptist (John 1:25), 
"Why baptizest thou, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias?" Paul 
(Rom. 11:2) refers to an incident in his history to illustrate his 
argument that God had not cast away his people. James (5:17) finds in 
him an illustration of the power of prayer. (See also Luke 4:25; 
9:54.) 

He was a type of John the Baptist in the sternness and power of his 
reproofs (Luke 9:8). He was the Elijah that "must first come" (Matt. 
11:11, 14), the forerunner of our Lord announced by Malachi. Even 
outwardly the Baptist corresponded so closely to the earlier prophet 
that he might be styled a second Elijah. In him we see "the same 
connection with a wild and wilderness country; the same long 
retirement in the desert; the same sudden, startling entrance on his 
work (1 Kings 17:1; Luke 3:2); even the same dress, a hairy garment, 
and a leathern girdle about the loins (2 Kings 1:8; Matt. 3:4)." How 
deep the impression was which Elijah made "on the mind of the nation 
may be judged from the fixed belief, which rested on the words of 
Malachi (4:5, 6), which many centuries after prevailed that he would 
again appear for the relief and restoration of the country. Each 
remarkable person as he arrives on the scene, be his habits and 
characteristics what they may, the stern John equally with his gentle 
Successor, as proclaimed to be Elijah (Matt. 11:13, 14; 16:14; 17:10; 
Mark 9:11; 15:35; Luke 9:7, 8; John 1:21). 

His appearance in glory on the mount of transfiguration does not seem 
to have startled the disciples. They were 'sore afraid,' but not 
apparently surprised." 

(2.) The Elijah spoken of in 2 Chr. 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 (comp. 1 Chr. 28:19; Jer. 
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 (2 Chr. 21:12; 2 Kings 8:16). The events of 2 Kings 2 may not 
be recorded in chronological order, and thus there may be room for the 
opinion that Elijah was still alive in the beginning of Jehoram's 
reign. 









Elias 

The Greek form of Elijah (Matt. 11:14; 16:14, etc.), which the Revised Version 
has uniformly adopted in the New Testament. (See ELIJAH.)