Learning Elijah

If it is true that God gets angry with our shenanigans, our failures, our crimes and cruelty, He is like a Father, He is our Father above all, of course, and at least He has blessed a few to handle the situations because the wrath of God is far beyond anything we could imagine or endure, no matter how hard we get on our knees and pray or how we weep in the night as we try to sleep when something  just won’t let us relax until we have resolved whatever crime, thought, hatred, abuse or mistake is floating around in our souls. 

Of course first and foremost, we know that God’s only son died on the cross for each one of us, like it or not, painful as it is that we could cause someone to suffer that agony for us, for you and me when we have the privilege and the honor to be alive on this earth. We don’t know if there are other options in the giant universe. That’s not our concern. We are here on this earth to try to create a good, healthy, loving and generous environment where we can all survive and enjoy and, most important, worship God - the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He made all of this for us, even though too many of us toss it off like someone owes us something, and we don’t pay attention to how the whole point of love and fellowship and life is valued. 

In the Old Testament, we learn about another “savior”, not necessarily God’s Son, but someone God put on earth to calm any uprising in God’s wrath before He might break out in a fury, such a fury that would turn the hearts of parents against their children (which, sadly this happens way too often in our current style of life) and in addition, to restore the tribes of Jacob.  He sent us Elijah with many a task to save things that included to 1) herald the eschaton, 2) calm God’s fury, 3) restore familial peace and 4) restore the 12 Tribes of Israel. 

Consider this: in the Jewish circumcision ceremonies, there is a chair always present to be used by the prophet Elijah since he has been designated a witness (present or not) to all circumcisions when the sign of the covenant is placed upon the body of the male child - even when it takes place at birth in hospitals and Elijah is not in the room.

 Elijah had always been zealous or fought for doing things right by the God of host, even when the people Israel tore up the covenants and slayed all prophets in a certain period, so the only one left was Elijah, and he was in danger of losing his life. There is a little bit of politics in this dictate - Elijah had exaggerated words so they were not really true. He was accusing Israel of not upholding the covenant, so the task set up by God for Elijah was to be present at every covenant of circumcision. Now that’s a task that might have fit in daily life back in the day, but in the masses of modern times, it seems sort of something impossible. 

Elijah, who left behind no writings, (not the Elijah Indian song), was a fascinating God-like character. When he was alive, Elijah would visit rabbis to solve legal problems (the eschaton) and the rabbis would even set aside conflicting laws or rituals until Elijah returned back in the day. At Elijah’s word, kings trembled, the rains stopped, a jug of oil never ran dry, a boy was raised from the dead, fire fell from the sky,  revival broke out and hundreds of idolatrous prophets of Baal were executed. Elijah was just one extraordinary prophet, a miracle worker in Hebrew scripture  and, to boot, he was one of  the two prophets who appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. His name alone means Jehovah is my God. 

O, Elijah had weaknesses. He feared Queen Jezebel to the point he fled into the desert and asked the Lord to take his life. He had focused his ministry on the northern kingdom - condemning Israel’s wicked King Ahab, his wife Jezebel and their sons. And yet there were always people who saved Elijah soul when he got in a pinch  - like a poor widow in a Mediterranean town called Zarepath, who fed him with a miraculous supply of grain.
Another example, the Lord once told Elijah when to hide by a stream east of the Jordan River where ravens fed him. After the long drought, Elijah calls a national contest on Mount Carmel between the Lord God, creator of heaven and earth, and the wicked pagan gods of Baal and Asherah. 

Elijah’s insecurity - don’t we all have that - caused him to flee into Judah’s wilderness, collapsed under a tree and begged  the Lord to take him before Jezebel’s men found and slaughtered him.  God sent an angel to revive him and gives him final instructions, it was time to move on and so God appointed his successor Elisha. 

We often overlook Elijah but his tasks were huge. 
1)    Caused rain to cease in Israel for 3.5 years. Fed by Ravens sent by the Lord. Multiplied a widow’s grain and oil, raising a widow’s son from the dead.
2)    Called fire from heaven atop Mt Carmel. Brought rain after drought. Fasted from food for 4 days , causing it to rain again after 3.5 years of drought; fasting for 40 days while trekking to Mt Horeb; 
3)    Prophesies that Ahab’s sons would all be destroyed; that Jezebel would be eaten by dogs; that Ahaziah would die of his illness; Calling fire from heaven to destroy 51 soldiers. ‘
4)    Calling fire from heaven on another 51 soldiers; parting of the Jordan River while accompanied by Elisha; Promising that Elisha would receive a double portion of his spirit;
5)    Being caught up to heaven in a chariot of fire; Prophesying that Jehoram would die a horrible death; appearing with Moses and Jesus. 

True, Elijah ranks with Moses as a dramatic prophet of the Lord. In the New Testament, James 5:17 said Elijah was as human as we are. After running almost the length of a marathon, the great prophet entered the city of Jezreel just in time to hear wicked Queen Jezebel’s murderous threats. He panicked, though. And collapsed (worn out, exhausted, lonely, frightened, feeling utterly defeated); and he begged the Lord to take his life. But the Lord renewed Elijah’s life with a double portion of food, drink, rest. And sent him out again with a powerful demonstration of his power, with a quiet word to his heart and with a new commission and the assurance that many others were also on his side. True, Elijah left no writings to tell us about himself but he prepared people for the coming of the Messiah. According to the Catholic faith, both Elijah and Enoch were assumed into heaven while still alive. And that’s miracle enough. 
 

 ~ Rev

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