Elijah

The Days of Ahab

Ahab king of Israel “did that which was evil in the LORD’s sight above all that were before him” (1 Kgs 16:30). He married Jezebel, the daughter of the king of the Sidonians, “and went and served Baal and worshiped him” (1 Kgs 16:31), and built a temple and an altar for Baal in Samaria (1 Kgs 16:32).

Scripture gives no family history for Elijah. It says only that he was “Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead” (1 Kgs 17:1). The first time he appears, he says to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word” (1 Kgs 17:1).

By the Brook and in Zarephath

The LORD told him to hide by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan. “The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook” (1 Kgs 17:6). After a while the brook dried up (1 Kgs 17:7).

Then the LORD sent him to Zarephath in Sidon, where a widow would feed him (1 Kgs 17:9). She had only a handful of meal and a little oil, but she made him a cake first, as he asked; “The jar of meal didn’t run out and the jar of oil didn’t fail, according to the LORD’s word, which he spoke by Elijah” (1 Kgs 17:16). Later her son fell sick and died, and she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!” (1 Kgs 17:18). Elijah cried to the LORD, and “The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived” (1 Kgs 17:22). The woman said, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the LORD’s word in your mouth is truth” (1 Kgs 17:24).

Mount Carmel

“After many days, the LORD’s word came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, ‘Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth’” (1 Kgs 18:1). When Ahab saw him, he said, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” (1 Kgs 18:17). Elijah answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house” (1 Kgs 18:18).

On Mount Carmel Elijah said to the people, “How long will you waver between the two sides?” (1 Kgs 18:21). He said, “The God who answers by fire, let him be God” (1 Kgs 18:24). The prophets of Baal called on Baal from morning on, “but there was no voice, no answer, and nobody paid attention” (1 Kgs 18:26, 29). At the time of the evening offering Elijah prayed, “let it be known today that you are God in Israel” (1 Kgs 18:36). “Then the LORD’s fire fell and consumed the burnt offering, the wood, the stones, and the dust; and it licked up the water that was in the trench” (1 Kgs 18:38). The people fell on their faces and said, “The LORD, he is God! The LORD, he is God!” (1 Kgs 18:39).

Elijah told them to seize the prophets of Baal, and he “brought them down to the brook Kishon, and killed them there” (1 Kgs 18:40). Then, “In a little while, the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain” (1 Kgs 18:45).

Under the Juniper Tree

Jezebel sent word to Elijah that by the same time the next day she would take his life (1 Kgs 19:2). “When he saw that, he arose and ran for his life” (1 Kgs 19:3). He went a day’s journey into the wilderness, “and came and sat down under a juniper tree. Then he requested for himself that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough. Now, O LORD, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers’” (1 Kgs 19:4).

He lay down and slept. An angel touched him and said, “Arise and eat!” (1 Kgs 19:5). The angel came a second time and said, “Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you” (1 Kgs 19:7). He ate and drank, “and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, God’s Mountain” (1 Kgs 19:8).

Horeb

In a cave on the mountain the LORD asked him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kgs 19:9). He said, “I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away” (1 Kgs 19:10). The LORD passed by. There was a wind, an earthquake and a fire, but the LORD was not in them; “After the fire, there was a still small voice” (1 Kgs 19:11–12).

The LORD sent him back to anoint Hazael and Jehu, and to “anoint Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Meholah to be prophet in your place” (1 Kgs 19:15–16). The LORD also said, “Yet I reserved seven thousand in Israel, all the knees of which have not bowed to Baal” (1 Kgs 19:18).

Elisha

When Elijah found Elisha, he was plowing. Elijah “went over to him and put his mantle on him” (1 Kgs 19:19). Elisha asked to kiss his father and mother first, and Elijah said, “Go back again; for what have I done to you?” (1 Kgs 19:20). Elisha went back, killed a yoke of oxen and fed the people. “Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and served him” (1 Kgs 19:21).

Naboth’s Vineyard and Ahaziah

After Ahab took Naboth’s vineyard, “The LORD’s word came to Elijah the Tishbite” (1 Kgs 21:17), and sent him to Ahab. Ahab said, “Have you found me, my enemy?” (1 Kgs 21:20). When Ahab heard Elijah’s words, “he tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his body, fasted” (1 Kgs 21:27). The LORD told Elijah that because Ahab had humbled himself, the disaster would not come in his own days but in his son’s (1 Kgs 21:29).

Ahab’s son Ahaziah fell ill and sent to ask Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron. The LORD’s angel sent Elijah to ask the messengers, “Is it because there is no God in Israel that you go to inquire of Baal Zebub, the god of Ekron?” (2 Kgs 1:3). Ahaziah died “according to the LORD’s word which Elijah had spoken” (2 Kgs 1:17).

Taken Up by a Whirlwind

“When the LORD was about to take Elijah up by a whirlwind into heaven, Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal” (2 Kgs 2:1). Three times Elisha said, “As the LORD lives, and as your soul lives, I will not leave you” (2 Kgs 2:2, 4, 6). When they had crossed the Jordan, Elijah asked what he could do for him, and Elisha said, “Please let a double portion of your spirit be on me” (2 Kgs 2:9).

“As they continued on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven” (2 Kgs 2:11). Elisha cried, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” (2 Kgs 2:12). He picked up Elijah’s mantle, struck the waters with it, and said, “Where is the LORD, the God of Elijah?” (2 Kgs 2:14). The waters divided, and Elisha went over (2 Kgs 2:14). The sons of the prophets said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha” (2 Kgs 2:15).

In the New Testament

In the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus said that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, but “Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow” (Luke 4:26).

When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, “Behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him” (Matt 17:3).

Writing to the believers in Rome, Paul quoted Elijah’s words at Horeb and God’s answer: “I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal” (Rom 11:4).

James writes, “Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months. He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit” (Jas 5:17–18).