Elijah

Elijah, Elisha, John & Jesus

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Kings 19:4 “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree; and he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers.”

Elijah is dejected – feeling a failure. He had failed his mission. Wasn’t he supposed to bring all Israel back to God? Didn’t the fire on Mt Carmel show who the one true God really was? And here he was, seemingly just one day later and Jezebel was after his blood. Where were all the people who had cried out “the Lord is our God’ [1 Kings 18:39]?  Did they stand up to Jezebel? No. The prophet was now alone – and running for his life.

What did Elijah mean by “take away my life; I am not better than my fathers.” Perhaps he was referring to all the prophets who had died before him – and he was now asking God to take his life. He may as well be dead like them. But I don’t think so. I think that Elijah had a passion to be the one who would ‘turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers’. I think Elijah thought he was the chosen prophet to bring Israel back to God. All the other prophets had failed – but he would do it. And now, here he was, a failure just as the prophets before him were. He was feeling no better that his fathers, he may as well be dead.

And so Elijah comes to God and says ‘I am the only one, God – I am the only one left who loves you’. He knew that wasn’t true [1 Kings 18:4]. He knew there were others who were in love with the true God of Israel, but he was immersed in self-pity.

So, what does God say? God gives the best advice to a person feeling down in the dumps. A person feeling, ‘Oh poor me.’  [1 Kings 19:10]. Get up, dust yourself down, and get on with the next job I am going to give you. You’ve got more to do; you’re not finished yet!

So, God gives Elijah three more jobs to do –

“And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, you shall anoint Haz′ael to be king over Syria; 16 and Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel; and Eli′sha the son of Shaphat of A′bel-meho′lah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.” I Kings 19:15

Well, there you go. Lots more to do. But – was there something ominous in asking him to appoint a successor? Why? Was Elijah old and fading out? We have no evidence of that. Maybe there was a deeper lesson.

Of the three tasks, Elijah only completed one. He did anoint Elisha to be a prophet [1 Kings 19:19]. But God took him in the whirlwind of fire before he had a chance to do the other two jobs. Why? Why did God give him two jobs and then prevent him from doing them? Perhaps it was Elijah’s last lesson. Elijah – you have done your job – but my Spirit will not die with you. I will pass it onto others who will accomplish my will. One prophet may pass, but another will rise. The plan and purpose of God is not thwarted – it will pass from one prophet to another until it comes to The Son of Man. One of the sons of the prophets anointed Jehu [2 Kings 9:3], and then Elisha verbally anointed Hazael [2 Kings 8:13]. God’s plan is fulfilled by whichever vessel is used by the Spirit. So, Elijah’s last lesson may have been that he was a just a link in an ongoing chain.

So now, from 1 Kings 19, Elijah and Elisha go on together as a sort of ‘master and apprentice’. Or so it seems. In 1 Kings 21 Elijah seems to be alone in condemning Ahab over Naboth’s vineyard. Elijah continues alone in the 2 Kings 1 condemnation of Ahaziah. They seem to re-unite in 2 Kings 2 when Elijah is taken, and Elisha is granted a double portion of the spirit of Elijah.

Here, Elijah is taken in a whirlwind and the two prophets are separated by horses and chariots of fire. Elisha calls out

“My father, my father! the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” [2 Kings 2:12].

This was a testimony to Elijah, not a description of the vision. It was Elijah who was the chariot of Israel – its strength as he was the vessel of God’s spirit. This was an epithet which Elisha himself was to inherit [2 Kings 13:14].

So, Elisha now emerges as the greater of the two. Elisha is recorded to have done about sixteen miracles to Elijah’s eight. Significant? Probably. Elisha now has a double portion of Elijah’s spirit. We are now connected to one of the greatest forerunners of Jesus.

Many of the miracles of Elisha are pointing us to Jesus –


So, we have Elisha as a powerful symbol of Christ. What of Elijah – what did he symbolise? He was the forerunner of Elisha, so he must represent the forerunner of Jesus, John the Baptist. The Jews saw a great mystique surrounding Elijah. Firstly, he seems to have escaped normal death, and his grave was never found. Another link with Moses. Also, the last message of God to the Jews before Christ alluded to a mysterious ‘Elijah’ who would herald the coming messiah –
“Behold, I will send you Eli′jah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers…” Malachi 4:5-6

So, when John revealed himself to the people, the Jews naturally asked if he was Elijah.

 “And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.”  John 1:21

John denied that he was the literal Elijah returned from heaven, and yet the angel of the Lord had promised that John would go in the spirit and power of Elijah and fulfill the Malachi promise [Malachi 4:5-6] –

“And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” Luke 1:17

So, surely John identified himself as the spirit of Elijah but not the literal prophet. Jesus identified John as the spiritual Elijah.

“The disciples asked him, “Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?” 11 Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. 12 But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. … 13 Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.” Matthew 17:10

Just as Elijah had anointed Elisha as prophet, it was John who baptised Jesus and enabled His anointing –

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John….16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:13

When Elijah anointed Elisha, they went their separate ways and did not unite again until Elijah was to be taken. So, after Jesus’ baptism, John and Jesus worked separately. [John 4:1]. It was not until John’s imminent departure that they conversed again [Matthew 11:1-6]. Just like Elijah and Elisha. John knew his whirlwind and chariots of fire were coming for him –

 “He must increase, but I must decrease.” John 3:30

How did john know this? How did he know that they could not co-exist? Because he recognised that they were Elijah and Elisha – and Elisha’s mission was to start only after Elijah had been taken.

See also: Elijah Was a Gentile

  Moses & Elijah – The Earthquake, Wind & Fire
 

Moses and Elijah – The Earthquake Wind & Fire

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If we were to ask, ‘where in the Bible are the characters of Moses and Elijah linked?’, I guess most of us would say ‘at the Mount of Transfiguration’. Of course, it is the obvious one. But are there other places? Who were the only two humans ever to be recorded having a conversation with God on Mt Horeb? Moses and Elijah. Who are the two witnesses of Revelation 11? Moses and Elijah. There is so much more to their story. Moses and Elijah are linked forever.

Firstly, why were Elijah and Moses brought to Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration? Many have suggested that they represent the ‘Law and the Prophets’ which foretold  Jesus. It is certain that the Law of Moses and the wilderness journey did foreshadow Jesus in many types, and that the coming of Elijah would herald the coming Messiah (Mal 4:5). Yet Elijah, unlike Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel etc never prophesied of Jesus. No, there is more to it than just ‘the Law and the Prophets’.

Firstly, let us look at the birds associated with Moses and Elijah. If we were to say – tell me one bird connected to Moses and another to Elijah, what would we say? Surely a quail for Moses (Numbers 11:31-32) and a raven for Elijah (1 Kings 17:6). The quail was a clean bird under the Law of Moses and allowed to be eaten. The raven on the other hand, was a bird of carrion and forbidden as unclean. Are they significant? I think so. Moses was of the tribe of Levi, an Israelite and ‘clean’ under the Law, Elijah was a Gentile [see Elijah was a Gentile] and unclean under the Law but cleansed by faith and grace [Acts 10:15].

MT HOREB

The first connection we get between Moses and Elijah is at Mt Horeb, the Mount of God. It is here that Moses talked with God (Exodus 33:11). It was in this place that Elijah also spoke with God.

Elijah was taken at God’s direction to Mt Horeb – the mount of God where Moses was given the Law (Torah).

‘Then he was afraid, and he arose and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, ……and sat down under a broom tree; and he asked that he might die, saying, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am no better than my fathers.” And …an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat“…… And he arose, and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. And there he came to a cave, and lodged there; and behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Eli’jah’?” [1Kings 19:3-9]

Why did God lead Elijah to the Mount of Moses?

The answer lies in what happened next – It was all about earthquake wind and fire.

“And he said, “Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD.” And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and broke 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.” [1Kings 19:11-12]

Had God ever been in an earthquake, wind and fire?

Yes he had!!

And Mount Sinai (Horeb) was wrapped in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and the smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.    And as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him in thunder [Exodus 19:18-19].

You cannot have trumpets without wind.

The covenant with Israel was given in earthquake wind and fire. And God was in it then – but not now.

On Horeb, God revealed to Elijah, that he was no longer in the Earthquake, Wind and Fire. No longer in the Sinai covenant with Israel – because of Israel’s constant rejection of Him. As Jeremiah put it in Jeremiah 3:8

“I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries.”

God was announcing the fact that he was not in the earthquake wind and fire and that the old marriage with Israel was over – annulled. God now turns to a remnant – just those of faith

“Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and all whose mouths have not kissed him.” [1Kings 19:18]

The national covenant was replaced with a personal covenant of faith.

It is from this era that the message of God goes to the Gentiles.

Jesus drew the same point –

“I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time….yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed, only Naaman the Syrian.” [Luke 4:26-28]

The crowd were furious with Jesus – and took him to a hill to throw him over to his death, but God saved him. The Jews were furious that the covenant of faith had replaced the Law.

God appoints Gentile Kings –

“The LORD said to him (Elijah), ‘Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram’.” [1 Kings 19:15].

Why was a prophet of Israel sent to crown a gentile King of Syria? Because God’s salvation was spreading to those who could come by faith, not race. Elijah never did get to anoint Hazael, that was left to Elisha who verbally anointed him (2Kings 8:13).

At Mt. Horeb, God gave Elijah three jobs to do, anoint Hazael, Jehu and Elisha. Elijah only got to do one – he anointed Elisha. God took him in the whirlwind of fire before he could complete the rest. Why did God give him three tasks and yet took him before he could complete them? That’s a question for another time.

God revealed himself to Nebuchadnezzar and sought him vigorously.

‘”This is the dream that I, King Nebuchadnezzar, had. Now, Belteshazzar, tell me what it means, for none of the wise men in my kingdom can interpret it for me. But you can, because the spirit of the holy gods is in you.” Then Daniel …was greatly perplexed’. [Daniel 4:18]

Isaiah 45:13 tells of God in the life of Cyrus.

“I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the LORD Almighty.”

The gentile Cyrus receives God’s message.

God sends prophets to the gentiles. Jonah – to Nineveh, Nahum – to Nineveh, Obadiah – to Edom. The ‘gospel’ spreads. We may think that this was not the first time gentiles were accepted. Rahab was welcomed into God’s salvation, as was Ruth and Uriah the Hittite etc. The difference was that they all had to become Israelites. Rahab, Ruth and Uriah all immigrated to Israel. Rahab married Salmon and moved in with Israel, Ruth married Boaz and moved to Israel and Uriah married Bathsheba and moved to Jerusalem.  After Elijah the new babes of faith did not have to come to Israel. The widow of Zarephath stayed in Zarephath, Naaman returned to Syria, Hazael, Nebuchadnezzar etc all styed ‘at home’ and were Israelites by faith.

” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father… 23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth.” [John 4]

God wanted salvation spread to Gentiles –

Isaiah 49:6 “I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

Isaiah 56:7 “These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

Jews made laws to be exclusive. God was now opening salvation to all races –

Acts 10:27-28 “While talking with him, Peter went inside and found a large gathering of people.  He said to them: “You are well aware that it is against our law for a Jew to associate with or visit a Gentile.”

Verse 34 “Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favouritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right.

This had always been God’s law.

                                                                                            “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.  He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.  Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.” [Deut. 10:17]

This exclusive Jewish law was a man-made law and never God’s intention.

One more comment. The new covenant to both Jew and gentile came in earthquake, wind and fire –

Acts 2 2 And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. 3 And there appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each one of them.

Acts 4 31 And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

This time God was in the earthquake, wind and fire.

THE TRANSFIGURATION

After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus. [Matthew 17:1]  Here, we see a representation of the coming Kingdom [Matthew 16:27-28], with Jesus as   King in glory, and the saints symbolised by two people.

Moses – has always symbolised the people of Israel – those within the national covenant.

Elijah – representing those of faith, outside the national covenant with Israel, those of the nations (Gentiles) who come to God.

So, the Kingdom of heaven is made of the faithful of Israel under the old covenant, and the Christians of the new covenant.

Revelation 11

3 And I will grant my two witnesses power to prophesy for one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.” 4 These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands which stand before the Lord of the earth….  6 They have power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they desire.[Rev 11].  

Who had the power to stop the rain – for exactly 3 ½ years (3.5 x 360 =1260 days)?

Only Elijah.

‘Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years’ [James 5:17].

Who had the power to “turn the waters into blood and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they want”?

Only Moses.

The witnesses are symbolically Moses and Elijah.

But what do they represent? They are Jews who had their lampstand removed and Christians who took their light to the world.

They are the two lampstands (Revelation 11:4).

Revelation 1:11-12.  Write on a scroll what you see and send it to the seven churches …And when I turned I saw seven golden lampstands

Matthew 5:15  Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men….

Revelation 2:5  “If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place “

The light from the lamps are true Christians and their assemblies.

The two witnesses are also two olive trees (verse 4).

Romans 11:17  But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the richness of the olive tree,… 19 You will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” 20 That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. 21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you…  23 And even the others, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. 24 For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.

The olive tree is natural Israel under the national covenant.

So, the two witnesses are natural Israel, who witness to God’s existence [Isaiah 43:10], and Christians (spiritual Israel, the grafted-in olive tree) who witness to the way to God [Acts 3:15].

Again, Moses represents the covenant of Law – the national covenant with Israel.

Elijah represents those saved in Jesus Christ – the covenant of Grace.

 

Hebrews 11 and Elijah

Heb 11:13   “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

  “Elijah the foreigner who was of the strangers of Gilead” …

We are all strangers, with no home as yet. God is not ashamed to be called their God… Elijah’s name means “my God is Yah”

God was pleased to be called the God of Elijah:

“Where is the Lord, the God of Eli′jah?” [2 Kings 2 14 ].

He will be pleased to be called our God too, if we become strangers in this land.

For another interpretation of Rev. 11 See: 2 Witnesses – Revelation 11

משה ואליהו רעידת אדמה רוח ואש

 

 

 

 

 

 

Elijah was a Gentile אליהו היה גוי

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Only four or five out of all the prophets of Israel and Judah have no revealed genealogy and no identifiable hometown. They seem to ‘come from nowhere’.

Those such as Jeremiah, are identified by their lineage –

            “The words of Jeremiah son of Hilkiah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of                   Benjamin” [Jeremiah 1:1].

Or, Elisha , identified by the words

          “ Eli′sha the son of Shaphat of A′bel-meho′lah” [1 Kings 19:16].

But then we find the likes of Malachi, of whom we know nothing. Malachi may be a proper name, or just a generic ‘messenger’ of God,

     “The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Mal′achi (messenger)”.

Who was he/she, where did they come from?

Elijah was one of these. We do not know where he came from, or his parentage. Elijah was one of the four or five with no heritage, no identifiable town. But immediately, you may say: didn’t he come from Tishbe, a town in Gilead, east of the Jordan?

      “Now Eli′jah the Tishbite, of Tishbe[a] in Gilead.” [1 Kings 17:1].

Well, actually, no he didn’t. This quote is from the RSV, and you will notice a little superscript over the word Tishbe. The accompanying note says ‘Gk: Heb of the settlers’. So, how do we understand Tishbe, a town or ‘of the settlers’? Let’s track the town down, if it exists. The fact is that no one knows if there ever was a Tishbe.

The apocryphal book of Tobit says Tishbe was a place in Upper Galilee ? (Book of Tobit, Tobit 1:2) Or, was it a place in the land of Gilead as suggested by Josephus (Josephus, the Jewish historian Ant. 8:13, 2)?  Or is it El-Ishtib, a place due south of the Sea of Galilee, among the mountains of Gilead? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tishbite). All of these references are guesses 700/800 years after the events of 1 Kings. We will see in a moment it is far more reasonable and consistent to go with the meaning of the Hebrew word.

Tishbite (תִּשְׁבִּי) means Captive, stranger, sojourner, immigrant or non-indigenous. So, as Wiki has it: “The word is sometimes interpreted as “stranger,” so that the verse might read “Elijah the stranger from among the strangers in Gilead.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tishbite?oldid=0). Strongs says the word is locative, so it maybe interpreted –

     ‘from the place of strangers or the non-indigenous’.

There’s more. 1Kings 17:1 with Strongs’ links reads

            “And Elijah H452 the Tishbite, H8664 who was of the inhabitants H8453 of Gilead,”.

We have already discussed what Tishbite means, but how about the word ‘inhabitants’?

Hebrew  תּוֹשָׁב (towshab) means sojourner, stranger (non – indigenous) and in Gesenius’s Lexicon it appears as:

Of the 14 times this word ‘towshab’ is used in the OT, it is always translated sojourner, or stranger except with Elijah where it is translated as ‘inhabitant’.

In all the other places, it is always applied to gentiles. Elijah is the only exception.

Here is an example: Lev 25:6

          “And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you; for you, and for your servant, and for             your maid, and for your hired servant, and for your stranger8453 that sojourns with                 you”

So, 1 Kings 17:1 “And Elijah the Tishbite , [who was] of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab” should read “And Elijah of the captives or immigrants, [who was] of the foreigners or sojourners of Gilead, said unto Ahab.”

If you google “1 Kings 17:1 Bible Hub”, you get this verse in 25 different versions. Of the 25 versions on Bible Hub only one gets it right – International Standard Version

            “Elijah the foreigner, who was an alien resident from Gilead, told Ahab, “As the LORD                 God of Israel lives, in whose presence I’m standing, there will be neither dew nor rain                   these next several years, except when I say so.”

One last proof that Elijah was a gentile-

1 Kings 17  6 “And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.”

God sent ravens to feed Elijah. Ravens (crows) are birds of carrion. They eat road-kill. They eat rotten meat. They were unclean in the Jewish law. No law-abiding Jew would eat food from a raven’s mouth. Just imagine if an orthodox Jew was hungry and a pig walked in with a sandwich in its mouth. Would the Jew take the sandwich and eat it? I think not. Elijah saw past the ‘letter of the Law’ to the spirit and gladly ate from the unclean bird at God’s direction. God gave the raven as a sign of the ‘unclean’ Elijah, the gentile who was now cleansed by faith.

One last rather delightful irony. At Passover, for centuries, the Jewish family has reserved an empty seat for the prophet Elijah. The reason for this, as wiki puts it

        “Is in honour of Elijah, who, according to tradition, will arrive one day as an unknown guest to herald the advent of the Messiah.” (Malachi 4:5)

Just imagine the reaction to realise that Elijah was a gentile.

See also: Moses and Elijah – Earthquake Wind & Fire