Elijah

Elijah is a prophet of Yahweh called the Tishbite, one of the settlers of Gilead, whose name appears in Greek and Latin as Elias and in that form in some English translations. The narrative of 1 Kings presents him standing before Yahweh and announcing to Ahab that there will be no dew or rain except according to his word (1 Kings 17:1); the widow of Zarephath addresses him as “man of God” (1 Kings 17:18).

In the Elijah stories he confronts the religious crisis of Ahab’s reign: Obadiah hides a hundred prophets from Jezebel (1 Kings 18:4), and Elijah challenges the people, “How long will you waver between the two sides? If Yahweh is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). At the evening offering he prays that Yahweh may be known as God in Israel and that he himself is Yahweh’s servant (1 Kings 18:36). At Horeb he laments that Israel has forsaken the covenant and that he alone is left (1 Kings 19:10), and later Ahab greets him as “my enemy” after the seizure of Naboth’s vineyard (1 Kings 21:20).

Later Scripture remembers Elijah as a man of prayer and as a figure of expectation. James cites his prayer for rain as an example (James 5:18), and Romans recalls Elijah pleading with God against Israel (Romans 11:2). Malachi promises that Elijah the prophet will be sent before the great and terrible day of Yahweh (Malachi 4:5). In Luke, John is said to go before the Lord “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17), while John identifies himself as the voice crying in the wilderness (John 1:23).

Christian traditions read the promise of Malachi 4:5 differently. Some expect a literal future return of Elijah before the day of Yahweh; others read the promise as fulfilled in John’s Elijah-like ministry, citing Luke 1:17; still others hold both a present typological fulfillment and a future eschatological role. These are confessional and interpretive differences, not a single settled Christian reading.

AI-generated reference entry, grounded in the passages where this term appears — history and Scripture stated as such, interpretation labeled as interpretation. Not a substitute for the text itself.