ایلیا

My God is Jehovah

[د ننوتلو کلمه: ایلیا]

1. ایلیا، د اسراییلو د پیغمبرانو ترمنځ ترټولو عجیب شخصیت، د تاریخ په درشل کې هغه وخت راڅرګندیږي کله چې اخاب په تخت وي (شاوخوا 876-854 BC)، او وروستی ځل د احازیا په واکمنۍ کې لیدل کیږي (854-853)، که څه هم د هغه وروسته فعالیت په 2 تاریخ 21:12 او وروسته کې ورته منسوب شوی دی. د ګیلاد په تیسبي کې یو اصلي اوسیدونکی (1 پاچاهان 17:1)، هغه په صحنه کې بې له کوم اعلان څخه راڅرګندیږي؛ د هغه د زیږون او پلار په اړه هیڅ اشاره نه ده ورکړل شوې. ایلیا په خپل ویښتو پوښ کې یو سخت بدوي (2 پاچاهان 1:8)، د عبراني تمدن د کوچیاني مرحلې استازی په توګه راڅرګندیږي. هغه د پخوانۍ دورې د سختو اخلاقو او پاکې مذهب یو ریښتینی تجسم دی. د هغه نوم («یاه خدای دی») د هغه د ژوند شعار په توګه ګڼل کیدی شي، او د پیغمبر په توګه د هغه د ماموریت هدف څرګندوي. اخاب په اسراییلو کې د ایزابل سره په واده کولو سره یو مذهبي بحران رامینځته کړی و، د صور د پاچا ایتبعل لور، چا چې د خپل شاهي ارغواني رنګ اخیستلو دمخه، د صور د بعل، میلکارټ پادری و، او د تخت ته د رسیدو لپاره یې خپل لاس د خپل بادار په وینه داغلی و. ایزابل د خپلې پخوانۍ روزنې او چاپیریال ته ریښتینې وه، نه یوازې خپل میړه یې قانع کړ چې په سامریه کې د بعل لپاره یو معبد جوړ کړي (1 پاچاهان 16:32)، بلکې یوه لیواله تبلیغ کوونکې شوه، او د یهووا د پیغمبرانو او پیروانو یو ظالم ځورونکی شوه. بهرني خدای، په دې توګه د تخت لخوا ملاتړ شوی، په خلکو کې د اسراییلو ملي خدای ته ټول وفاداري له منځه وړلو ګواښ وکړ.

دا وضعیت و، کله چې ایلیا ناڅاپه د اخاب په وړاندې د یهووا د اتل په توګه راڅرګندیږي. د مرتد پاچا او خلکو زړونه باید د وچکالۍ له امله تادیب شي (1 پاچاهان 17:3). دا درې کاله دوام کوي؛ د جوزیفوس لخوا د میناندر د یوې وینا له مخې (انټ. VIII. xiii. 2)، د ایتوبال په واکمنۍ کې، د انجیل ایتبعل، فینیشیا له یوې سختې وچکالۍ څخه رنځ وړله، کوم چې یو کال دوام وکړ. الهي تدبیر لومړی سخت پیغمبر د چریت سیند ته (د اریحا په شاوخوا کې وادي کیلټ) لارښوونه کوي، چیرې چې زاغان هغه ته خواړه ورکوي. ډیر ژر سیند د ډبرو بستر کیږي، او ایلیا د صیدون په سیمه کې زاریفات ته تښتي. د یوې غریبې کونډې میلمه په توګه، هغه کورنۍ ته برکتونه راوړي (لوقا 4:25، جیمز 5:17 پرتله کړئ). د اوړو بیرل نه ختم شو، او د تیلو کڅوړه نه ختمه شوه. د نوي عهد نامې د لوی پیغمبر په څیر، هغه د خپل زوی بیرته ژوند ته راوستلو سره د یوې غمجنې مور زړه ته خوښي راوړي (1 پاچاهان 17:8 او وروسته، لوقا 7:11 او وروسته پرتله کړئ).

The heavens have been like brass for months upon months, and vegetation has disappeared. The hearts of Ahab’s subjects have been mellowed, and many are ready to return to their old allegiance. The time is ripe for action, and Elijah throws down the gauntlet to Baal and his followers. Ahab and his chief steward, Obadiah, a devoted follower of the true God, are traversing the land in different directions in search of grass for the royal stables, when the latter encounters the strange figure of Jehovah’s relentless champion. Obadiah, after considerable hesitation and reluctance, is persuaded by the prophet to announce him to the king (1 Kings 18:7-15). As the two meet, we have the first skirmish of the battle. ‘Are you he that troubles Israel?’ is the monarch’s greeting; but the prophet’s reply puts the matter in a true light: ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house.’ At Elijah’s suggestion the prophets of Baal are summoned to Carmel to a trial by fire. The priests of the Tyrian deity, termed ‘prophets’ because they practiced the mantic art, select a bullock and lay it upon an altar without kindling the wood. From morn till noon, and from noon till dewy eve, they cry to Baal for fire, but all in vain. Elijah cuts them to the quick with his biting sarcasm: ‘Cry aloud; for he is a god: either he is musing, or he is gone aside, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he sleeps and must be awaked.’ Towards evening a dismantled altar of Jehovah is repaired, and a trench is dug round it. After the sacrificial animal has been prepared, and laid upon the wood, water is poured over it, until everything about the altar is thoroughly soaked and the trench is full. At the prayer of Elijah, fire falls from heaven, devouring the wood, stone, and water as well as the victim. The people are convinced, and shout, ‘Jehovah, he is God; Jehovah, he is God.’ That evening, Kishon’s flood, as of old (Judges 5:21), is red with the blood of Jehovah’s enemies. The guilt of the land has been atoned for, and the long hoped for rain arrives. Elijah, in spite of his dignified position, runs before the chariot of Ahab, indicating that he is willing to serve the king as well as lead Jehovah’s people (1 Kings 18:41-46). The fanatical and implacable Jezebel now threatens the life of the prophet who has dared to put her minions to death. Jehovah’s successful champion loses heart, and flees to Beer-sheba on the extreme south of Judah. Leaving his servant, he plunges alone into the desert a day’s journey. Now comes the reaction, so natural after an achievement like that on Carmel, and Elijah prays that he may be permitted to die. Instead of granting his request, God sends an angel who ministers to the prophet’s physical needs. On the strength of that food he journeys forty days until he reaches Horeb, where he receives a new revelation of Jehovah (1 Kings 19:1-8). Elijah takes refuge in a cave, perhaps the same in which Moses hid (Exodus 33:22), and hears the voice of Jehovah, ‘What do you here, Elijah?’ The prophet replies, ‘I have been very jealous for Jehovah, God of Hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken your covenant thrown down your altars, and slain your prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.’ Then Jehovah reveals His omnipotence in a great wind, earthquake, and fire; but we read that Jehovah was not in these. Then followed a still small voice (Hebrew literally ‘a sound of gentle stillness’), in which God made known His true nature and His real purpose (1 Kings 19:9-14). After hearing his complaint, Jehovah gives His faithful servant a threefold commission: Hazael is to be anointed king of Syria, Jehu of Israel; and Elisha is to be his successor in the prophetic order. Elijah is further encouraged with information that there are still 7000 in Israel who have not bowed the knee to Baal (1 Kings 19:15; 1 Kings 19:18). As far as we know, only the last of these three commissions was executed by the prophet himself, who, after this sublime incident, made his headquarters in the wilderness of Damascus (1 Kings 19:15); the other two were carried out either by Elisha or by members of the prophetic guilds (2 Kings 8:7 and following; 2 Kings 9:2).

Elijah is also the champion of that civic righteousness which Jehovah loved and enjoined on His people. Naboth owns a vineyard in the vicinity of Jezreel. In the spirit of the Israelitish law (Leviticus 25:23, Numbers 36:8) he refuses to sell his property to the king. But Jezebel is equal to the occasion; at her suggestion false witnesses are bribed to swear that Naboth has cursed God and the king. The citizens, thus deceived, stone their fellow-townsman to death. Ahab, on his way to take possession of his ill-gotten estate, meets his old antagonist, who pronounces the judgment of God upon him: ‘In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your blood, even yours,’ is the prophet’s greeting. For Ahab’s sins, every male child of his house will be swept off by an awful fate (1 Kings 21:19; 1 Kings 21:21; 1 Kings 21:24). By the ramparts of Jezreel itself, the dogs will devour the body of Jezebel (1 Kings 21:23). These predictions, although delayed for a time on account of the repentance of Ahab, were all fulfilled (1 Kings 22:38, 2 Kings 9:25 and following, 2 Kings 9:30 and following, 2 Kings 10:7 and following).

Ahaziah is a true son of Ahab and Jezebel. Meeting with a serious accident, after his fall he sends a messenger to Ekron to inquire of Baal-zebub, the fly-god, concerning his recovery. Elijah intercepts the emissaries of the king, bidding them return to their master with this word from Jehovah: ‘Is it because there is no God in Israel, that you go to inquire of Baal-zebub the god of Ekron? You shall not come down from the bed where you are gone up, but shall surely die.’ Ahaziah recognizes the author of this message, and sends three captains of fifties to capture the prophet, who calls down fire from heaven on the first two. The third approaches him in a humble spirit, and at God’s bidding Elijah accompanies the soldier to the palace and reiterates the message of doom (2 Kings 1:1-18).

Like all the great events of his life, the death of this great man of God was dramatic. Accompanied by his faithful follower Elisha, he passes from Bethel to Jericho, and from thence they cross the Jordan, after Elijah has parted the waters by striking them with his mantle. As they go on their way, buried in conversation, there suddenly appears a chariot of fire with horses of fire, which parts them asunder; and Elijah goes up by a whirlwind to heaven (compare Elisha).

In the history of prophecy Elijah holds a prominent position. Prophetism had two important duties to perform: (1) to extirpate the worship of heathen deities in Israel, (2) to raise the religion of Jehovah to ethical purity. To the former of these two tasks Elijah addressed himself with zeal; the latter was left to his successors in the eighth century. In his battle against Baal, he struggled for the moral rights and freedom of man, and introduced ‘the categorical imperative into prophecy.’ He started a movement which finally drove the Phoenician Baal from Israel’s confines.

Elijah figures largely in later Scriptures; he is the harbinger of the Day of the Lord (Malachi 4:5); in the New Testament he is looked upon as a type of the herald of God, and the prediction of his coming in the Messianic Age is fulfilled in the advent of John the Baptist (Matthew 11:10 and following). On the Mount of Transfiguration he appears as the representative of Old Testament prophecy (Matthew 17:3, Mark 9:4, Luke 9:36). The prophet whose ‘word burned like a torch’ (Sirach 48:1) was a favorite with the later Jews; a host of Rabbinical legends grew up around his name. According to the Rabbis, Elijah was to precede the Messiah, to restore families to purity, to settle controversies and legal disputes, and perform seven miracles (compare Jewish Encyclopedia, sub verbo; Lightfoot, Hor. Heb. on Matthew 17:10; Schoettgen, Hor. Heb. ii. 533 and following). Origen mentions an apocryphal work, The Apocalypse of Elijah, and maintains that 1 Corinthians 2:9 is a quotation from it. Elijah is found also in the Koran (vi. 85, xxxvii. 123-130), and many legends concerning him are current in Arabic literature.

2. A Benjamite chief (1 Chronicles 8:27).
3. A priest and a layman who had married foreign wives (Ezra 10:21; Ezra 10:26).