Information AboutElijah |
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Elijah ('''אֱלִיָּהוּ''' "Whose/my God is The Lord ", Standard Hebrew '''Eliyyáhu''', Tiberian Hebrew '''ʾĔliyyāhû'''), also '''Elias''' ( NT Greek '''Hλίας'''), also '''Ilia''' ( NT Bulgarian '''Илия'''), is a Prophet of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament . His name has been variously translated as " The Lord is God", "whose God is The Lord ", "God the Lord", "the strong Lord", "God of the Lord", "my God is the Lord", "the Lord is my God", and "my God is Jehovah". IN THE HEBREW BIBLE Elijah is first introduced in , king of Israel in the first half of the ninth century BC. He is sometimes known as " The Tishbite ", being from the town of Tishbe . 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 Raven s. 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 these two years a famine prevailed in the land. At the close of this period of retirement and of preparation for his work, 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 the Israelite God was the true God. This was done on Mount Carmel ; the result was that a miracle took place convincing those watching that Baal was false and that the Israelite God YHWH (יהוה), was the true and only God. The prophets of Baal were then put to death by the order of Elijah. 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 , 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 Carmelites have a tradition that they were founded by Elijah at this time. The time now drew near when he was to be taken up into heaven (2 Kings 2:1-12). He went down to Gilgal , where there 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. Elijah's chosen successor was the prophet 21:17), had been fulfilled. It is believed that the prophet Elijah shall return at the end of time to foretell the coming of the Jewish Messiah . OTHER BIBLICAL ELIJAHS The Elijah spoken of in 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. How deep the impression was which Elijah made "on the mind of the nation" of Israel may have been can be judged from the fixed belief, which rested on the words of Malachi (4:5, 6), which many centuries after, prevailed that Elijah would again appear for the relief and restoration of the country. When Jesus asks who people say he is, his disciples replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets" ( Matthew 16:14), which was referring to the belief of some of the Jews at the time that Jesus was, in fact, Elijah returned from heaven. NEW TESTAMENT REFERENCES Icon of the prophet Elijah, depicted with a Disciple ]] No one of the old prophets is so frequently referred to in the 4:25; 9:54.) Elijah was similar to John the Baptist in the sternness and power of his reproofs (Luke 9:8). According to Matthew 11:11, John the Baptist was the Elijah that "must first come" (Matt. 11:11, 14). In John the Baptist, one can see Elijah: 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; Matthew 3:4)." 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, is proclaimed to be Elijah (Matt. 11:13, 14; 16:14; 17:10; does not seem to have startled the Disciple s. They were "sore afraid", but not apparently surprised. Traditionally, Elijah is seen as a representative of the Prophets at the Transfiguration. Some Christian theologians of a conservative, pre-millennial perspective, believe that Elijah must return to physically die here on earth eventually, perhaps as one of the 'two witnesses' in the Book Of Revelation . This plays into many Eschatological scenarios. Conservatives who come from Amillennial or Preterist positions would probably see John The Baptist as a fulfillment of this expectation, in the time of Jesus. Christian theologians of a more liberal persuasion would tend to interpret Elijah's eschatological significance in a less literal sense. ELIJAH IN OTHER TRADITIONS In the Qur'an , Elijah is a Prophet known as Ilyas . The Turks believe that Elijah and Job were buried at Eyyup Nebi , near Viranşehir . Members of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints also acknowledge Elijah as a prophet. Latter-Day Saints believe that in 1836 an angelic Elijah visited the founder of their church, Joseph Smith, Jr. in the Kirtland Temple in Kirtland, Ohio and gave him the sacred power to seal families together. As Elijah was described as ascending into heaven in a fiery chariot, the Christian missionaries who converted Slavic tribes likely found him an ideal analogy for Perun , the supreme Slavic god of storms, thunder and lightning bolts. In many Slavic countries Elijah is known as Elijah the Thunderer (Ilija Gromovik), who drives the heavens in chariot and administers rain and snow, thus actually taking the place of Perun in popular beliefs. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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