{"id":62866,"date":"2019-09-13T15:06:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-13T12:06:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=62866"},"modified":"2023-04-09T12:28:53","modified_gmt":"2023-04-09T09:28:53","slug":"now-lord-take-my-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/now-lord-take-my-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Now, Lord, Take My Life!"},"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":[366,858,930],"acf":{"old_id":"62866","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"306","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Did Elijah have suicidal ideation?","content":"

Our chapter reports on the consequences to Elijah of his stunning triumph over the priests of Ba’al that was described in the previous chapter. Jezebel put a price on his head and he was forced to flee to the wilderness\u2014implying that even a retreat to the Kingdom of Judah was not sufficiently secure; to wit:<\/span><\/p>\n

He himself went a day\u2019s journey into the wilderness. He came to a broom bush [or juniper tree] and sat down under it, and prayed that he might die. \u201cEnough!\u201d he cried. \u201cNow, O LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.\u201d (4)<\/span><\/p>\n

Why would a prophet of God\u2014moreover, a man who had demonstrably triumphed over death (see chapter 17)\u2014now seek it for himself? Here are some of the attempts made by the classic exegetes to understand this unusual behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n

Radak suggested that he was not necessarily intent on dying; rather, he was offering God the choice of either taking his life or extricating him from his predicament. He had already lived longer than any of his ancestors and that supports the supposition that he was Phineas (see our comments on chapter 17).<\/span><\/p>\n

Ralbag shrewdly observed that his seeking death implies that he, too, was suffering from the famine for which his own declaration of drought was responsible. He, too, adduced this verse as evidence that Elijah was Phineas and not only did God not accede to his request to die at that moment, but he is still alive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Malbim began by astutely observing that the verb \u201che came\u201d (<\/span>va-yavo<\/span><\/i>) means arrival at a destination, which implies that Elijah was not wandering randomly about the wilderness but was headed for a specific location only \u201cone day\u2019s journey\u201d away. Malbim also noted that Elijah\u2019s request was not self-destructive but was intended (rhetorically?) to ascertain whether he had fulfilled his life\u2019s mission.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In light of the fact that there is no subsequent record of Elijah\u2019s death, only of his ascent (alive?) to heaven in a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2), coupled with his ubiquity on key ritual occasions (see our opening comments to 1 Kings 17), the rabbinic and medieval speculation over his lifespan is all the more poignant.<\/span><\/p>\n

image: Elijah, Sieger Koder, mid-20th century<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":62867,"id":62867,"title":"1kings19-elijah_in_a_cave","filename":"1kings19-elijah_in_a_cave.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/1kings19-elijah_in_a_cave.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/now-lord-take-my-life\/1kings19-elijah_in_a_cave\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"1kings19-elijah_in_a_cave","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":62866,"date":"2019-09-13 12:05:48","modified":"2019-09-13 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