{"id":62688,"date":"2019-09-10T14:42:43","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T11:42:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=62688"},"modified":"2023-04-05T16:51:18","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T13:51:18","slug":"elijah-v-ahab-round-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/elijah-v-ahab-round-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Elijah v. Ahab: Round 1"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[858,363,506],"acf":{"old_id":"62688","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":42746,"related_cahpter":"304","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"One of the greatest, strangest prophets","content":"

Of all Biblical characters, Elijah\u2019s is especially mysterious. We know him so well from our Passover <\/span>seders<\/span><\/em> and <\/span>brit <\/span>mila<\/span><\/em> celebrations, where his gentle grandfatherly personality accompanies us through various stories throughout the generations. And yet, the biblical Elijah is quite different and hard to figure out. Who is he?<\/span><\/p>\n

Chapter 17 opens with his dramatic appearance: “Elijah the Tishbite, an inhabitant of Gilead, said to Ahab, \u201cAs the LORD lives, the God of Israel whom I serve, there will be no dew or rain except at my bidding.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He appears like someone jumping on a stage with a thumping \u201ctada!\u201d, which just adds to our confusion. Elijah is introduced as a \u201cTishbite\u201d, and a <\/span>toshav<\/span><\/em>,<\/span><\/i> resident of the Gilead, on the eastern side of the Jordan. The word \u201c<\/span>toshav<\/span><\/em>\u201d is usually reserved for non-Jews living in the Land (such as <\/span>ger-toshav<\/span><\/em>, an alien resident). We assume he\u2019s an Israelite although the text doesn\u2019t help us establish that. Which tribe does he belong to? We don\u2019t know. Commentators offer Gad, Benjamin or perhaps Levi and that he was a priest, but nothing\u2019s for sure. As a prophet, he has no book of his own, even though he is considered a major prophet. He is not connected to Jerusalem in any way, and prophecies in the Kingdom of Israel, outside the \u201cnormal\u201d boundaries of holiness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

He has no wife we know of, nor children, or parents. We hear he wears only his cloak, and eats what is served to him by others: a woman, crows, an angel of God. Later we\u2019ll learn he has no grave but rather, goes up to the heavens in a chariot.\u00a0 Everything about him conveys a sense of unusualness and even immortality.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Talmud tells us that, in the opening verse, Elijah and King Ahab are both paying a <\/span>shiv\u2019a<\/span><\/i> call to Chi\u2019el Beit Ha\u2019eli (Sanhedrin 113:a). Chi\u2019el is the one who opted to rebuild the city of Jericho against the curse Joshua put on it back at the time the Land was conquered (Joshua 6:26). With every step of the construction, one of his sons died, until the last one died when he put up the city\u2019s gates. It\u2019s possible that this was done under Ahab’s instructions.<\/span><\/p>\n

Either way, during the <\/span>shiv\u2019a<\/span><\/em>, they get into a debate. King Ahab asked, “\u2018Who is greater, Moses or Joshua\u2019? Elijah said, \u2018of course, Moses who was the teacher\u2019. Asked Ahab, \u2018so how come the student\u2019s prophecy was fulfilled but not his teacher, referring to the fact that Joshua\u2019s curse over Jericho came true, while Moses who said, if you worship other gods, the sky will hold its rain back, did not\u2019?? Immediately Elijah jumped and said, \u201cthere will be no dew or rain\u201d\u2026”<\/span><\/p>\n

By these words, he places himself above \u201cregular\u201d prophets: not only does he hold a key for rain, but for dew as well. As we\u2019ll see, this will lead to one of the greatest showdowns in the whole Tanach. More on that tomorrow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Elijah confronts Ahab and Jezebel, Sir Francis Dicksee, 1873.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":62694,"id":62694,"title":"1kings17-elijah-ahab-jezebel","filename":"1kings17-elijah-ahab-jezebel.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings17-elijah-ahab-jezebel.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/elijah-v-ahab-round-1\/1kings17-elijah-ahab-jezebel\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"1kings17-elijah-ahab-jezebel","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":62688,"date":"2019-09-10 11:42:32","modified":"2019-09-10 11:42:41","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":639,"height":424,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings17-elijah-ahab-jezebel-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings17-elijah-ahab-jezebel-300x199.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":199,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings17-elijah-ahab-jezebel.jpg","medium_large-width":639,"medium_large-height":424,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings17-elijah-ahab-jezebel.jpg","large-width":639,"large-height":424,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings17-elijah-ahab-jezebel.jpg","1536x1536-width":639,"1536x1536-height":424,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings17-elijah-ahab-jezebel.jpg","2048x2048-width":639,"2048x2048-height":424,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings17-elijah-ahab-jezebel.jpg","post_full_size-width":639,"post_full_size-height":424,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings17-elijah-ahab-jezebel-633x420.jpg","home_baner-width":633,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Elijah v. 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