ELLIAH (in the Greek form, occurring in the New Testament, Elias), the greatest of the prophets of Israel, was born at Tishbe, in Gilead, on the borders of the desert. He comes upon the scene in the time of Ahab, about 920 B.C. When that monarch, to please his Phoenician wife Jezebel, had introduced, on an extensive scale, the worship of Baal, E. pronounced a curse on the land. The prophet had to flee. • He took refuge by the brook Cherith, probably one of the torrents that cleave the high table-land of his native region. Here he was miraculously fed by ravens. He then went to Zarephath, a town lying between Tyre and Sidon. Here he lodged with a widow woman, prolonged her oil and meal, and brought back her son to health from the brink of the grave. Sub sequently, he made a temporary reconciliation with Ahab, and on Mt. Carmel executed dreadful vengeance on the prophets of Baal, slaying 400 with his own hand. Such a deed enraged Jezebel to the utmost. She swore to destroy the prophet, who once more took refuge in flight. He rested not till he reached Beersheba in the far south, on the edge of the desert that leads down to Sinai. The brief allusion in Scripture to his weary wanderings is very touching. At last he comes to Horeb, where
he has an interview with Jehovah. The passage in which this is recorded is one of the grandest and most significant in the whole of the Old Testament. He then receives certain instructions from Jehovah, among others that he should select Elisha to be prophet in his room. E.'s next appearance is when Ahab rides forth to take possession of Naboth's vineyard: he denounces the murderous monarch, and utters an awful prophetic curse on him and his wife. After the death of Ahab, lie rebukes the idol atries of his son Ahaziah in a solemn and bloody fashion; and after the death of Aliaziali, we find him interfering in the affairs of the king of Judah, who had married a daughter of Ahab, and had begun to " walk in the ways of the kings of Israel." He denounced his evil doings, and predicted his death. The closing scene of his life on earth is exquisitely narrated. A chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared after Elisha and he .had crossed; the Jordan, and " Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven."