ELIJAH
ELIJAH
691
ing with his master to the end, and lookinjr without fear on the dread messengers of the invisible world, his request will not be denied. They now enter the dark mountains of Moab. Somewhere here J" Himself laid His servant Moses to rest. No man knew the exact place. 'The whole region is a sepulchre.' As tliey still advance and talk to- gether, black clouds gather, a tempest descends, the air is filled with tire, and, 'beholcl, there appear chariots of tire and horses of lire, and E. is taken np to heaven in a whirlwind.' Elisha sees him no more. He rends his clothes, and mourns for his pia-ster as one mourns for the dead. He is bereft of the prophet who has been to him a father, and to Israel a power as great as its cliariots and horsemen. But he has stood the severe test im- posed npon him, and receives the reward — the spirit of E. rests upon him. Taking up the mantle which has fallen from his master, he returns from tlie scene of the translation to the Jordan, and puts his new power to the proof liy striking the waters with the mantle and calling upon the God of Elijah. The waters divide as before, and he passes over on dry land. When the sons of the prophets at Jericho hear of what has liapjiened, antf perceive that the sjiirit of E. rests ujion his disciple, they bow themselves to the earth and acknowledge Elisha as their new ma.ster. Hut the story of the translation awakens their scepticism, and they send out Hfty strong men to make search for the missing prophet, Eli.slia trying in vain to dissuade them. For three days they prosecute the search among the mountains of Moab, expect- ing to lind E. on some lonely peak or in some dark valley, cast away as at other times by the .Sjiirit of J . When tliey return and confess tliat the search has been vain, Elisha gently chides their unbelief (2 K 2'»).
E. is thus removed from the scene of his labours before the whole task laid upon him (1 K 19") is finished. But Elisha and others enter into his lal)Ours, sons of the prophets animated by his spirit are raised up in hundreds, his teaching spreads, his spirit penetrates the nation. Then ttie harvest is reaped. After two short reigns tlie idolatrous house of Ahab falls (2 K 9). The enemies of J" and of E. perish. Superstition dies hard, but there is never again any question of rivalry l)ctween J' and Baal. There is no more danger of Baal-worship becominjj the national religion. It sinks into the superstition of a sect, known to later prophets as the remnant of Baal (Zcj.h !•).
'1 he weapons by which this reformation was ac- complished were mainly spiritual. It cannot be denied that some of h.'a own actions may have furnished an excuse for certain deeds of violence. It is like a Nemesis that the finishing touch has to be given to the work by a man of blood like Jehu. Yet it was not the tire and sword of Carmel, but the still small voice speaking in the schools of the prophets and the hearts of the faithful that again made Israel a people prepared for J".
K.'s moral power fies in the simplicity of his faith. He realizes the belief in J" intensely, and lives a heroic life in the strength of it. 'J" before whom I stand' is his favourite formula (1 K 17' 18"). He stands erect and haughty before kinj's ; but in the presence of J" he wraps his head in iiis mantle, or crouches to the ground with his face between his knees (1 K 18'- 19"). Stern and rugged by nature, a prophet moulded for heroic work in evil days, he is led Ihrougli an experience which awakens in him the tenderness that is only to be found in union with strength. His personal history, especially the narrative of the breakdown and restoration of his faith, brings him into touch with human beings in all ages. He is so great
that readers of his story are not unthankful for his failings. 'E. was a man of like passions with us' (JaS").
Critics difTer widely in their estimates of the historical importance of E. Wellhausen thinks that his influence is appraised too higlily in the biblical narratives. His struggle with liaal cannot have possessed the importance attributed to it from the point of view of a later time. Israel was never torn asunder by such a religious commotion as that described in 1 K 18. It was not Baal that brought about the fall of the house of Ahab, but common trea.son on the part of Jehu (Proteg. 291). Wellhau-sen is given to depreciating the part played by prophecy in the history of Israel. 'In the eyes of their contemporaries,' he says, ' the prophets were completely overshadowed by the kin^s ; only to later times did they become the principal per- sonages.' E. must hide his diminished head before Ahab. ' He efieeted nothing against the king, and quite failed to draw the people over to his side.' Wellhausen states no convincing reasons for this interesting view. There is probably more truth in the opinion of those who .s.ay that the history of Israel is essentially the history of prophecy. And Kuenen's estimate of E. appears much fairer : ' The consequences of the struggle with the .Syrian Baal and the victory of Jahvism were most important. Had the is-sue of the con- flict been dillerent, the existence of J"-worship woiiM liave been at stake ; the averting of this danger was an important result. From this period onward the belief in "J" the God of Israel" is a.ssailed no longer. The prophets of the eighth century are able to start from it as a universal conviction. For this foundation for their preach- ing they have to thank Elijah and his school' {Jirlii/iiDi of Isrnrl, i. HGU).