ELIJAH THE TISHBITE

ELIJAH THE TISHBITE


Introduction
Elijah was a bolt of fire that God let loose upon wicked Ahab and idolatrous Israel. He flashed across the page of history as sudden and terrible as a flash of lightning. Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, is his brief biography by which he was introduced. His name Elijah means “Johovah is my God”. It fit him perfectly. He was the most outstanding of the prophets> His sudden appearance his undaunted courage, his zeal, the heights of his triumph on Mount Carmel, the depths of his despair in the cave, and his glorious rapture into heaven in the whirlwind, and finally his reappearance on the Mount of Transfiguration.

He was a striking character from the highlands of Gilead. His long thick hair hung over a cloak of sheepskin. Jehovah sent him to do away with the awful worship of Baal during the reign of Ahab who had married the wicked heathen princess, Jezebel. Suddenly emerging from the desert and standing before the corrupt king in the splendor of his court, the stern prophet boldly said , As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word (1 kings 17:1) He was given the covenant power to shut up the heavens so there would be not rain for three and a half years.(actually it was a covenant enforcement that occurred)

Deuterogamy 28:23/24 And thy heaven that is over thy head shall be brass and the earth that is under thee shall be iron.
24 The Lord shall make the rain of thy land powder and dust; from heaven shall it come down upon thee until thou be destroyed.
He called upon the covenant again when he called down fire from heaven before the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel.
Deuterogamy 28:22 The Lord shall mite thee with a consumption, and with a fever, and with a inflammation, and with an extreme burning..
He was the prophetic evangelist of his day thundering out warnings to this idolatrous people. The events of this great career will be following further historical evaluation.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Elijah is a 9th century prophet of Israel. His name appears in the NT as Eleias. The name means “Yah is El” or “Yahweh is God”
Apart from the reference to Elijah in 1 kings 17:1 as “the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead , no information about his background is available.
Even this this reference is obscure. The MT suggests that while Elijah resided in Gilead his birthplace was elsewhere perhaps tishbe of Naphtali. Elijah’s prophetic ministry is recorded in 1 kings 17-19,21 and 2 kings1-2. They could not have enjoyed an existence for long in oral form.. They describe his ministry to the North kingdom during the Omrid Dynasty. Eiljah was contemporary with Ahab and Ahaziah .

The Elijah cycle presents six (6) episodes in the life of the prophet:

1. His prediction of drought
2. his subsequent flight
3. the Mount Carmel contest
4. the flight to Horeb
5. The Naboth incident
6. the oracle about Ahaziah
7. and his translation

Except for the last they are all basically concerned with the clash between the worship of Yahweh and Baal. The Baal in these stories is Baal-melqart, the official protective deity of Tyre. Ahab fostered this Phoenician variant of the nature-religions of Canaan after his marriage with the Tyrian princess Jezebel (1 kings 16:30-33).
It was Jezebel who was chiefly responsible for the systematic extermination of Yahweh worship and the propagation of Baal cult in Israel.

1. Elijah appears in 1 kings 17;1 announcing the drought to Ahab. He then goes beyond Ahab;s jurisdiction 1st to wadi Cherith, E of Jordan and then to Zarephath modern Sarafend below sidon still with that name and overlooks what remains of this ancient Mediterran sea-port. While at Zarephath he performed a miracle of healing 1 kings 17::17-24.

2. 3 years later 1 kings 18:1…Luke 4:25…..James 5:17 following Jewish tradition recounts the break in the drought following the overthrow of organized Baal worship on Mt Carmel.. The drought was imposed and withdrawn at Yahweh’s word was a challenge to Baal’s sovereignty over nature. 1 kings 18 brings the challenge into the open, and Yahweh’s supremacy is spectacularly demonstrated.

3. The 3rd event is in 1 kings 19 describing Elijah’s flight to Horeb to avoid Jezebel’s wrath is particularly significant. Horeb was the sacred mountain where the covenant Cod of Moses had made himself known, and Elijah’s return to this place represents the return of a loyal but disheartened prophet to the very source of the faith for which he had contended. The final commission in 1 kings 19;15-18 seems to have been only partially discharged by Elijah.

4. The Naboth incident in 1 kings 21 illistrates the principle embedded in the religious consciousness of Israel that land owned by an Israelite family or clan was understood as a gift from Yahweh, and that failure to recognize this and respect the rights of the individual and family within the covenant community would issue in judgment. Elijah emerges as a champion of the strong ethical demands of the Mosaic faith so significantly lacking in the Baal cult.
5. The 5th event in 2 kings continues to show the Yahweh-Baal clash. Ahaziah’s dependence upon the life-god of Syria, Beelzebub meaning Lord of Fly’s was a way of ridiculing the Syrian deity invokes the judgment of God (2 king 1;6-16. A judgment of fire also falls on those who wanted to resist the word of Yahweh by harming his prophet (2 kings 1;9-15)
6. The translation of Elijah in a whirlwind bring to a dramatic close his spectral prophetic career.. The exclamation of Elisha (2 kings 2;12 ) is repeated in 2 kings 13;14 with reference to Elisha himself.

There are 2 observations that can be made to the character of Eliajah
1. A) first is the loyalty to the covenant of Yahweh
B)..knowledge of the covenant and its promises and curses
C) relationship with Yahweh ability to enforce the covenant
D) endurance and patience confidence in the covenant
E) holiness of personal life style
F) willingness to endure pressure and unusual living arrangements
He was a man of action and his Spirit determined actions and movements defied human anticipation and reasoning.
His link to us is his constant endeavor to recall people to the religion of Moses both in worshipping Yahweh alone as well as proclaiming Mosaic standard of righteousness in the community. The fact that God answers Elijah by fire on 2 separate occasions (1 kings 18;38,2kings1;10-12 ) seems to look back to the exhibition of God presence and judgment in the fire.
2. Elijah’s ministry is spoken of as being revived before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the lord (mal 4;5-6). The reference to the ministry of John the Baptist (matth 11:14, 17;12) Elijah reappears in person on the mount of transfiguration (mark 9;4) and he is referred to else where in the new testament in Luke 4;25-26 and in Romans 11;2-4;; and finally in

JAMES 5:17-18.
WHAT IS A RIGHTEOUS MAN ???

Following the admonition by James in chapter 5:16 to confess your faults one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed. We see these words, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Remember that all these verses work together in context. The helpless person is to call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord and the prayer of faith shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up..and if he had committed sins they shall be forgiven him..
Here you have an example of Holiness and covenant keepers and covenant enforcers and how calling on the name of the Lord in the fulfillment of that covenant will heal, repentance, forgiveness and restore relationship. Confessing your fault to one another and praying for one another reaffirms the covenant and that we are the body of Christ. There for when we do this we can be healed..
In I Corinthians 11;28-32 deal with the need to let a man examine himself ..and correctly discerning the Lord’s body..because “for this cause many are weak and sickly among you and that you die. For if we would judge ourselves we should not be judged. But when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.
The judgment is what was continually happening with the character of the Israel people under the covenant of God. There for the Judgment of Yahweh would come upon them out of Deuterogamy 28. God will judge our character if we do not judge ourselves.
James 5:16
The effectual fervent prayer of a righteousness man availeth much
James 5:17-18
Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18-And he prayed again and the heaven gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit.
James 5:19
Brethren if any of you do err from the truth and one convert him
20: Let him know that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that since Elijah was a prophet, a great man of God he can do things that you cannot do. James said that Elijah was a man “subject to like passions as we are.” He had the same potential of faults, the same potential for failings. Yet his prayer worked. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man works.

Elijah was yoked with God just as we are Joint-heirs with Jesus Christ. Our Right standing is in and through the Blood covenant, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 cor;5;21) . Heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17)
Every single one of us who are born again believers has the same right standing the same righteousness that Jesus has. We are invited to come boldly to the throne of grace by way of the blood of Jesus.

Summery

If we are to have an effective relationship with God we have to understand the Character that is required by God for our fellowship to be maintained. Hebrews 12:6-8 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. 7: If ye endure chastening Cod dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8: But if ye be without chastisement where of all are partakers , then are ye bastards, and not sons. We have to understand the Blood Covenant we are under. Our righteousness of character is a sure through Jesus the Christ under the New Covenant. But our Holiness is a result of our own determination to flee even the appearance of evil. In 1 peter 2:9 scripture says
But ye are a chosen generation a royal priesthood an holy nation a peculiar people , that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you our of darkness into marvelous light. Verse 10; Which in time past were not a people but are now the people of God which had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.