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).

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