{"id":62700,"date":"2019-09-10T15:25:24","date_gmt":"2019-09-10T12:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=62700"},"modified":"2023-04-05T17:03:40","modified_gmt":"2023-04-05T14:03:40","slug":"elijah-the-tishbite-an-inhabitant-of-gilead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/elijah-the-tishbite-an-inhabitant-of-gilead\/","title":{"rendered":"Elijah The Tishbite, An Inhabitant Of Gilead"},"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":[858,792],"acf":{"old_id":"62700","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"304","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Who was he really?","content":"

Few biblical characters have had as long a shelf-life as Elijah the Prophet. He is said to be present annually at the Seder, weekly at the close of Shabbat, and the seat occupied by whoever holds a child during his circumcision is named for him. On the other hand, he has no back story: he bursts upon the scene in the very first verse of our chapter and launches into his condemnation of Ahab without as much as an introduction, save for the spare remarks we have used as the title for these comments: \u201cElijah the Tishbite, an inhabitant of Gilead.\u201d How much more can we presume to know?<\/span><\/p>\n

First of all, a closer look at the original text is in order, lest we lose sight of the fact that Elijah was both a <\/span>toshav<\/span><\/em> (Hebrew for inhabitant) of the Gilead region and a <\/span>tishbi<\/span><\/em>\u2014arguably, a resident of a placed called <\/span>Toshav<\/span><\/em>, perhaps situated within the Gilead.<\/span><\/p>\n

Next, we look at the Gilead itself, which we know\u2014from both the Torah (Numbers 32) and the Book of Joshua (22)\u2014to have been settled by the tribes of Reuben, Gad and half of Manasseh, making it likely\u2014though far from certain\u2014that Elijah belonged to one of those tribes.<\/span><\/p>\n

With these data in hand, let us now see how Radak performed the identification.<\/span><\/p>\n

Our Sages were divided over his tribal affiliation. Some said he was of the tribe of Gad, while others said he was of Benjamin, and yet others said that Phineas [the Priest] was Elijah. Each of them relied on [the evidence] of verses, however far-fetched. We, however, do not know with certainty.<\/span><\/p>\n

The affiliation with Gad is clearly the most reasonable of the three possibilities and is supported by the biblical evidence we cited. The association with Benjamin (appearing in the Midrash Sekhel Tov) is based on the appearance of the name Eliyah in 1 Chronicles 8, amongst Benjamin\u2019s descendants. The identification with Phineas is based on the quality of zealousness they shared: Elijah: \u201cI have been truly zealous for the Lord\u201d (1 Kings 19:10) and Phineas: \u201cBecause he was zealous for his God\u201d (Numbers 25:13).<\/span><\/p>\n

It is likely that it was with this final association in mind that Malachi, the last of the prophets, declared: \u201cBehold I will send to you Elijah the Prophet, prior to the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord\u201d (3:23).<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Prophet Elijah: icon with a very early signature by “Stephanos”, counterpiece of a Moses icon by the same artist, c. 1200, St. Catherine\u2019s Monastery, Sinai \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":62701,"id":62701,"title":"1kings17-Elijah_Sinai_c1200","filename":"1kings17-Elijah_Sinai_c1200.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings17-Elijah_Sinai_c1200.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/elijah-the-tishbite-an-inhabitant-of-gilead\/1kings17-elijah_sinai_c1200\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"1kings17-elijah_sinai_c1200","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":62700,"date":"2019-09-10 12:24:51","modified":"2019-09-10 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