Commemorated July 20
Because
Elijah did not die the death of a mortal but was elevated to
Heaven by the hand of God, he is venerated as a saint who
was a prefiguration either of Jesus Christ or of St. John
the Baptist, a point which can be debated but leaves no
doubt that Elijah was a man of God much as the mighty Moses.
Known as Elias in the Greek and King James versions of the
New Testament, Elijah was a major prophet of God who lived
in the eighth century B.C. and hailed from Tishbe of Gilead
during the reigns of Ahaziah and Ahab, the latter an
idolater whom he vehemently denounced.
The worship of one God had weakened considerably among
the tribes of Israel and was further debilitated when the
worship of the god Baal was introduced by Jezebel, the wife
of Ahab. Jezebel brought forth a procession of idolatrous
priests and erected temples to Baal, a god of nature
supposedly with greater power than even the omnipotent
(All-Powerful) God of Moses. Elijah stormed against the
evils of the priests of Baal, who were contaminating the
pure worship of God and demoralising the land with their
illusions and deceptions and whose princess, Jezebel, was a
malefactor of monstrous proportions. He fought the Canaanite
god Baal at every turn and strove to revitalise the belief
in the one God of the universe, preaching with, an eloquence
and passion to those whose faith had waned and bringing many
strays back into the fold. He discredited the false prophets
of Baal, who turned to the crafty Jezebel for reinforcements
and the influence of the throne to turn the tables on this
man of God.
Jezebel intensified her efforts to disprove Elijah, who
had correctly predicted a three-year drought which ravaged
the land, ruining the crops and decimating the herds. He
greeted this renewed assembly of priests of Baal with a
derisive challenge to test the powers of God and those of
Baal, a challenge which the haughty queen accepted, much to
her later regret.
The test to decide which was the greater comprised a
placing of sacrifices at two altars, one to Baal and the
other to God. When all was in readiness each side would call
for fire to be ignited, the winner being the one whose fire
lit first.
Queen Jezebel herself appeared at the altar of Baal, and
her priests were given the first opportunity to call forth
the power to light the fire. They appealed to Baal, first in
a reverent tone and then with increasing irritation until at
last they gave up in disgust. Then the patient Elijah
stepped forward and at his first prayer the fire burst
forth, following which the onlookers, realising the truth at
last, swooped down on the false priests and killed them
all.
A further demonstration of the power of the Lord came
when Elijah called for an end to the drought and a heavenly
rain descended, ending a three-year dry spell that had
parched the land.
Thereafter Elijah went to Mt. Sinai, where God had spoken
to Moses, and on that holy spot he heard the words of God
just as Moses had. He descended with instructions from God
himself, among which was the instruction to appoint as his
successor a man named Elisha, who later became a prophet of
God in his own right. Elijah discovered that God was not
necessarily a clap of thunder, a bolt of lightning, or a
rumble in the hills, but he could be "a still, small
voice".
Elijah stood up to King Ahab and Queen Jezebel on many
questions other than the worship of false gods, on one
occasion daring to challenge the right of kings to do
anything they chose without being guilty. This immunity from
God's law was used to seize the vineyards of Naboth, killing
the owner in the process. Elijah dared to tell him that he
was not above God's law and would, therefore, be punished by
the Lord.
Elijah is revered as a Saint in the Orthodox Church and
is commemorated on July 20.
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