Bible Timeline · About 875 to 800 BC

Elijah and Elisha

Elijah confronted King Ahab and Queen Jezebel for leading Israel into Baal worship, called down fire on Mount Carmel and heard God in a still small voice. He was taken to heaven in a whirlwind, and his successor Elisha received a double portion of his spirit and healed the Syrian general Naaman.

Read it in the Bible: 1 Kings 17:1-19:21 1 Kings 21:1-29 2 Kings 2:1-15 2 Kings 5:1-19 Malachi 4:5 Luke 4:25-27 Matthew 17:1-3

Elijah and Elisha were prophets in the northern kingdom of Israel in the 800s BC, about 875 to 800 BC. Elijah stood almost alone against King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, who were pushing the nation to worship Baal. He called down fire from heaven on Mount Carmel to prove that Yahweh is God, then heard God speak in a still small voice. Instead of dying, he was carried into heaven in a whirlwind as a chariot of fire appeared. His apprentice Elisha asked for a double portion of his spirit and went on to perform even more miracles, including healing the Syrian general Naaman. The New Testament connects both men directly to John the Baptist and to Jesus.

Who Were Ahab and Jezebel?

Ahab ruled Israel from Samaria from about 874 to 853 BC, and the Bible says he did more evil than all the kings before him, 1 Kings 16:30. His marriage to Jezebel, daughter of the king of Sidon on the coast, brought Baal worship into the royal court. Baal was the Canaanite storm god, believed to bring rain and good harvests. Jezebel hunted down Yahweh's prophets, 1 Kings 18:4. Into that setting walked a man whose very name was a protest. Elijah means my God is Yahweh.

Why Did Elijah Stop the Rain?

Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!” 1 Kings 17:1

That was a direct challenge to Baal, the god people trusted for rain. The drought lasted three and a half years, Luke 4:25 and James 5:17. God hid Elijah by a brook, where ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and evening. Then God sent him to a widow in Zarephath, in Jezebel's home region, whose last bit of flour and oil never ran out. When her son died, Elijah prayed over him and the boy came back to life, 1 Kings 17:22. It is the first time in the Bible that someone is raised from the dead.

What Happened on Mount Carmel?

Elijah called for a showdown. On Mount Carmel, overlooking the Mediterranean, he faced 450 prophets of Baal in front of the people.

Then Elijah approached all the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, follow Him. But if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people did not answer a word. 1 Kings 18:21

Each side would prepare a bull on an altar but not light it. The god who answered by fire was God. Baal's prophets danced and shouted from morning until noon. Nothing. Elijah, a prophet with a sense of humor, could not resist.

At noon Elijah began to taunt them, saying, “Shout louder, for he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or occupied, or on a journey. Perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened!” 1 Kings 18:27

They cut themselves and kept raving until evening. Elijah rebuilt Yahweh's altar with twelve stones, had it soaked with water three times and prayed a short, simple prayer.

Then the fire of Yahweh fell and consumed the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the dust, and it licked up the water in the trench. When all the people saw this, they fell facedown and said, “Yahweh, He is God! Yahweh, He is God!” 1 Kings 18:38 to 39

The prophets of Baal were put to death, and soon a cloud as small as a man's hand rose from the sea. The drought was over.

What Is the Still Small Voice?

You would think Elijah would be on top of the world. Instead Jezebel sent him a death threat, and he ran for his life. In the desert he sat under a broom tree and asked God to let him die.

“I have had enough, Yahweh,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.” 1 Kings 19:4

God's first answer was not a lecture. It was a nap and a snack. An angel woke him twice with fresh bread and water. Then Elijah traveled forty days to Horeb, Mount Sinai, the same mountain where God met Moses.

And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before Yahweh, but Yahweh was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but Yahweh was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but Yahweh was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still, small voice. 1 Kings 19:11 to 12

Elijah thought he was the only faithful one left. God told him seven thousand in Israel had not bowed to Baal, 1 Kings 19:18, and gave him new work.

How Was Elijah Taken to Heaven?

Elijah found Elisha plowing with twelve teams of oxen and threw his cloak over him, 1 Kings 19:19. Elisha burned his plow, cooked the oxen for a farewell feast and followed. Years later, after Elijah confronted Ahab over the murder of Naboth for his vineyard, 1 Kings 21, his time came. Elisha refused to leave his side. Elijah struck the Jordan with his cloak, it parted, and he asked what Elisha wanted.

“Please, let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied. 2 Kings 2:9

A double portion was the share a firstborn son inherited, Deuteronomy 21:17. Elisha was asking to be Elijah's true heir.

As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire with horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up into heaven in a whirlwind. 2 Kings 2:11

Like Enoch, he never died. Elisha picked up the fallen cloak, struck the Jordan, and it parted for him too.

What Miracles Did Elisha Do?

Elisha served for about fifty years, into the reign of Jehoash, 2 Kings 13:14.

He provided oil for a widow to pay her debts, 2 Kings 4:1 to 7.
He raised the son of a Shunammite woman who had housed him, 2 Kings 4:32 to 37.
He fed a hundred men with twenty loaves, and there were leftovers, 2 Kings 4:42 to 44.
He showed his frightened servant the hills full of horses and chariots of fire, 2 Kings 6:17.
Even after he died, a dead man thrown into his tomb came back to life when he touched Elisha's bones, 2 Kings 13:21.

Who Was Naaman?

Naaman was the commander of the army of Aram, Israel's enemy, and he had a skin disease. A captured Israelite girl told his wife about the prophet in Samaria. Elisha sent word to wash seven times in the Jordan. Naaman was insulted, but his servants talked him into it.

So Naaman went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored and became like that of a little child, and he was clean. 2 Kings 5:14

He went back and confessed that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel, 2 Kings 5:15.

How Elijah and Elisha Point to Jesus

The last prophecy of the Old Testament promised that Elijah would come again.

Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and awesome Day of Yahweh. Malachi 4:5

Jewish families still set a cup for Elijah at the Passover meal. The angel said John the Baptist would go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, Luke 1:17, and Jesus said John was the Elijah who was to come, Matthew 11:14. Then on the Mount of Transfiguration, Elijah himself appeared with Moses, talking with Jesus, Matthew 17:3.

Jesus pointed to these prophets in His first sermon in Nazareth. Elijah was sent to a widow in Sidon and Elisha healed Naaman the Syrian, Luke 4:25 to 27, proof that God's grace was always meant for outsiders too. Jesus also raised a widow's son, fed crowds with a few loaves and healed lepers with a word. Elijah went up to heaven while his follower watched, and his spirit came on him. Jesus ascended while His disciples watched, and then He poured out His Spirit on all of them at Pentecost.

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Questions People Ask

What happened on Mount Carmel?

Elijah challenged 450 prophets of Baal to see which god would answer with fire, 1 Kings 18. Baal never answered, but when Elijah prayed, the fire of Yahweh fell and burned up the sacrifice, the stones and the water, and the people cried, Yahweh, He is God.

What is the still small voice?

After Elijah fled from Jezebel to Mount Horeb, God sent wind, an earthquake and fire, but He was not in them. Then came a still, small voice, 1 Kings 19:11 to 12. It shows that God often speaks quietly, not only in dramatic signs.

Did Elijah die?

No. 2 Kings 2:11 says a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated Elijah from Elisha, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Enoch is the only other person in the Old Testament who was taken without dying.

What is Elisha's double portion?

Before Elijah was taken, Elisha asked for a double portion of his spirit, 2 Kings 2:9. A double portion was the inheritance of a firstborn son, so Elisha was asking to be Elijah's heir and carry on his work.

Who was Naaman in the Bible?

Naaman was the commander of the army of Aram who had a skin disease. Elisha told him to wash seven times in the Jordan, and he was healed and confessed that the God of Israel is the only God, 2 Kings 5. Jesus mentioned him in Luke 4:27.

Sources

Elijah, Encyclopaedia Britannica

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