GOD APPEARS TO ELIJAH God sometimes allowed for Elijah to pass through affliction, for the sake of the edification of his soul, lest his continuous success and conquests might lead him to pride. In the last chapter, God granted him conquest upon the prophets of Baal, which made the people testify to the living God, and reject Baal. And it so seems that the king himself was not offended by the execution of the priests of Baal. Now, in the present chapter, Elijah’s soul got depressed by the oppression of queen Jezebel against him. But God came to his support: He sent him an angel, appeared to him, and brought joy to his heart by choosing a prophet to be his disciple, and to consummate his mission. 1- Elijah escapes to Beersheba 1 - 3 2- An angel supports Elijah 4 - 8 3- God appears to Elijah 9 - 14 4- Anointment of Hazael and Jahu kings 15 - 18 5- Elisha’s discipleship to Elijah 19 - 21 1- ELIJAH ESCAPES TO BEERSHEBA: “Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, also how he had executed all the prophets with the sword” (1) As a priestess of Baal, Jezebel considered herself a stronghold to his priests. Now hearing how the people revolted and rejected his worship, and how Elijah executed the priests, she found herself in a very awkward position. Ahab did not https://coptic-treasures.com/ dare in his talk to her to refer to the name of the living God, nor to what He had done, but only “to what Elijah had done”. “Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time” (2) Probably feeling helpless to kill Elijah, before that public revolt against Baal; Or feeling some change in the way her husband talked to her, and that he started to take the side of the prophet, Jezebel sent to Elijah to threaten him, to provoke him to escape, to get rid of him. She probably feared that the people, having seen how Elijah, by his prayer, brought down fire from heaven, and brought the rain back, might ask him to become their spiritual leader, and the law-maker of the kingdom. “And when he saw that, he arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba, which belongs to Judah, and left his servant there” (3) Elijah escaped from the evil of Jezebel; and after him, Jeremiah longed to escape from his people, if he find a resort for himself in the wilderness (Jeremiah 9: 2). According to some, Elijah did not escape for fear from Jezebel and her evil, as much as for the sake of his life with the Lord; He went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and prayed that he might die. He felt the need for a divine help; because of the violent resistance against the worship of God. In Beersheba he left his servant, for he intended to enter into the wilderness to be alone with God, to enjoy meditating in Him, encountering and debating with Him; And God gave him his heart desire. He did the way Abraham left his servant https://coptic-treasures.com/ with the donkey, and set forth with his son Isaac to the mountain to worship God, and to offer the sacrifice; And the way the Lord Christ did, in Gethsemane, when he left His disciples and went alone to talk to the Father, before drinking the cup of passion on behalf of all humanity. Elijah escaped from the northern to the southern kingdom, where the good king Jehoshaphat reigned, and set forth to the far to Beersheba in the far south. What an amazing thing to do! … Elijah who did not fear to confront 850 priests of Baal, beside the king, and the whole people, trusting in God’s care for him; Now fears the threat of an arrogant woman!. They are moments of weakness lived by the daring prophet. Elijah escaped from Jezebel, whose name means (an abundance of vanity); he escaped to Mount ‘Horeb’. “But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a broom tree; and he prayed that he might die, and said, ‘It is enough; Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers” (4) He felt that he was no more able to offer something good to his people; for he has offered all he had. He was passing through a period of bitterness, for things were going in a way contrary to what he hoped for. He wished for the return of the king and his people to God; and feeling that he could not achieve that, he counted himself of no more value; and that he is no better than his fathers, who oftentimes failed to draw the people to God. He expected that, after the fire came down from heaven; and the people publicly testified to the true faith, to see things go in the right direction; but he found out that the king submitted to the queen; and that the people might probably return to idol-worship, under the royal seduction and pressure. https://coptic-treasures.com/ He walked in the wilderness in the direction of Horeb; went a day’s journey south of Judah, to Beersheba, about 90 miles far from Jezreel, on the border of the desert of (maze); He could not reach it before the end of the next day, walking day and night, with no rest on the way. Beersheba is a city within the portion of the tribe of Simon (Joshua 19: 2); for a part of that tribe joined Judah. Although Elijah escaped to Beersheba from the face of the evil Jezebel who sought his death, yet he wished to die by the Lord’s hand, and not by the hand of that woman; for falling into the hands of the merciful God is far better than falling into the hands of an evil man. He wished to die in the wilderness, in a holy land, and not in a land defiled by idol-worship. When even the prophets felt some kind of failure, they wished for death; something that many of them did, like the prophets Moses and Jonah. + I am truly striving here, feeling as though You have forgotten me; although I know for sure that You are just testing me. For even though You seem to have forsaken me, yet You will not fail to grant me what You have promised. Nevertheless, not being able to endure, I say to You: ‘Why have You forgotten me?’. (St. Augustine) + We are not satisfied with how we are now; for even the things we desire cause us trouble; and what we long to get, we no longer desire when we get it; That is why, it was not without cause, the saints cried, as long as they were here on earth. David wailed (Psalm 120: 5),, and Jeremiah lamented (Jeremiah 1: 18); and Elijah moaned. https://coptic-treasures.com/ If we believe the wise, and those in whom the divine Spirit dwelt, they were perpetually hastening toward the better (to set forth toward the eternal life and the resurrection). (St. Ambrose) According to St. Ambrose, the wilderness to which we escape is the repentance or God’s grace, where the fugitive finds refuge and salvation. + Repentance is a good escape; God’s grace is a good escape; where the fugitive finds his salvation; The wilderness is a good escape, to it escaped Elijah, Elisha, and John the Baptist (Matthew 3: 1; Luke 13: 2). Elijah escaped from the woman Jezebel, whose name means (an abundance of vanity); he escaped to Mount ‘Horeb’ (8), meaning (dryness), where the flow of carnal vain waters dry; to come to a more perfect knowledge of God. When he was by the Brook of Cherith, meaning (knowledge), he could drink of the abundant running water of knowledge of God (17: 5). Escaping from the world, Elijah did not even seek the food needed by his body, beside that provided to him by the ministering ravens (17: 6). His food was most probably out of this world; having walked forty days in the strength of the meal he got (8). His escape, surely, was not from a mere woman, but from this world; He did not fear death, for he asked for it from the Lord, saying: “Take my life” (4). He escaped from the seductions of this world, from the venom of evil behavior, from the lowly works of the sinning, unholy generation. https://coptic-treasures.com/ (St. Ambrose) 2- AN ANGEL SUPPORTS ELIJAH: Then as he lay and slept under a broom tree, suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Arise and eat’”(5) With his unceasing walk from Mount Carmel to Beersheba, followed by a day’s journey in the wilderness toward Horeb, he was completely exhausted, and slept. Being in need of a divine help to support his tired soul because of feeling failure, and his tired and hungry body, God sent to him an angel to provide him with the necessities. Elijah desired to sleep and never to awake, for Jezebel had destroyed his soul; but he was awakened by a touch of the angel, to perceive that he is the object of God’s care; and should not, therefore, get disturbed. Elijah was unique in being cared for by God. While he was living in normal circumstances in villages or cities, he used to prepare his own food like everyone else; but while under special circumstances, God sent him a raven, and a widow, And where there were no ravens nor men, God sent to him an angel to sustain him. “Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank, and lay down again” (6) Elijah used to sustain himself with the food of a hermit, which he had to provide for himself; but when he had to escape and hide by the Brook pf Cherith by the Jordan, after proclaiming that there would be no rain except at his word, God sent to him a raven to provide him with bread and meat every morning and evening; And when the River Jordan dried up, God sent him to the widow of Zarephath to sustain him with just bread; And finally, having sent him to Mount https://coptic-treasures.com/ Horeb, to speak to him face to face (1 kings 19), an angel provided him one cake and a jar of water to eat and drink, then to fast forty days and forty nights, in a supernatural way. + The Holy Book tells us that Elijah who escaped from the face of the wicked Jezebel, sat first under the broom tree, where he got strength and food. That means that whoever escapes from the seductions of covetousness, and from a (wicked) woman, namely, from evil pleasure, will find a refuge and shade under the tree of chastity, where he enjoys the coming of Christ, the Head of virgins. (Father Methoseus) + If God so wills, could He not provide His servant prophet with excellent wine, and delicious meat? When Elisha invited the sons of the prophets, he offered them only herbs to eat; and as they ate, and cried out, saying, “O man of God, there is death in the pot” (2 kings 4: 40), Elisha, by a spiritual power, put something in the pot that turned the bitterness of the food into sweetness; the way Moses did with the water of Marah (Exodus 15: 25). Again, when men were sent to put Elisha under arrest, and God struck them by physical and mental blindness, according to the prayer of Elisha, to bring them to Samaria; he demanded from the king to give them “bread and water” to eat and drink, before sending them back to their master (3 kings 6: 22). And Daniel, who could eat delicacies from the king’s table, preferred to eat only vegetables. (St. Jerome) https://coptic-treasures.com/ + Elijah, trained by God on the perfection of virtue, “looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water”; ….”And he went on the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb” (6, 8). Our fathers, crossing the sea on foot (Exodus 17: 6), drank water, and not wine. Daniel and the three Hebrew young men, ate vegetable and drank water (Daniel 1: 8); by which the first prevailed upon the wild nature of lions, and the others found in the fire a cool refuge, and their feet were not harmed.(Daniel 3: 27).And John the Baptist, the master of hermits appeared on earth like an angel. Let us now speak about women. ‘Judith’ did not desire the delicacies of the table of ‘Holofernes’; and by her chastity alone, she got conquest, that men failed to get, saved her city from siege, and killed the leader of the enemies by her own hands (Judith 8). Esther, by her fasting moved the arrogant king (Esther 4: 16).And Hannah, who served God in her widowhood 84 years, with fasting and prayers, day and night in the temple, was worthy of seeing the infant Jesus (Luke 2: 27). (St. Ambrose) + Escaping from the threats of Jezebel, Elijah, by the strength of a single meal of a cake and some water, he found by his head when he was awakened by an angel; went forty days and forty nights on an empty stomach and dry mouth, as far as Horeb the mountain of God. , where he dwelt in a cave as though in a hotel. … What an amazing encounter he had with God! “What are you doing here, Elijah?” … That is surely the blessing of the fasting, or let us say, of eating within limits, that creates a kind of friendship between God and man; to be “overshadowed by a cloud”, as he, together with Moses encountered the transfigured Lord Christ (Mathew 17: 4). … It is truly a friendship! For if the everlasting God https://coptic-treasures.com/ would never feel hungry, as testified by Isaiah (40: 28), there will be time when man will liken God, and will live without food. (The scholar Tertullian) It came in the gospel referred to James (Protoevangelium of James), about Joaquim, father of St. Mary, that being sad because he was childless, he went to the mountain and fasted forty days and forty nights, saying to himself, ‘I shall not eat nor drink until the Lord my God looks down at me; my prayer shall be my only food and drink. “And the angel of he Lord came back the second time and touched him, and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you” (7) The distance between Beersheba and Horeb is about 150 miles. The angel did not tell him where he is going, but only that the journey is too great for him. “So he arose, ate, and drank, and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God” (8) He was led by the Spirit to Mount Horeb, where the prophet Moses received the law of God. How amazing was God’s plan concerning Elijah: He commanded the ravens to provide him with bread and meat twice a day; then blessed the flour and the oil of the widow, to sustain him two years without tasting meat; and now, as the angel provided him with a single cake and a jar of water, he stayed in their strength forty days and forty nights without food or drink; he fasted forty days like the prophet Moses. https://coptic-treasures.com/ + Both Moses and Elijah fasted forty days and forty nights, living on God alone. . From the old, the principle, saying, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (Deuteronomy 8: 3; Matthew 4: 4) was sanctified. Here, we see a faint portrait of our strength in the future (in heaven). (The scholar Tertullian) Speaking about the forty days fast by Moses and Elijah, the scholar Tertullian referred to the danger of greed and the lack of control on the stomach, by quoting the verses: “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play” (1 Corinthians 10: 7; Exodus 32: 6), “Jechurun grew fat and kicked; You grew fat and grew thick; you are covered with fat; then he forsook God who made him, and scornfully esteemed the rock of his salvation” (Deuteronomy 32: 15); and, “Lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses, and dwell in them, … when your heart is lifted up, and you forgot the Lord your God …” (Deuteronomy 8: 12-14). The distance between Beersheba and Horeb could be covered in just a week; yet God allowed for Elijah to walk forty days and forty nights; the way He did with the children of Israel in the wilderness. The mountain where God encountered Moses, is called “the mountain of God”; and the house where God encounters His people, “the house of God”; and the city where His temple was built, “the city of God”. Elijah entered the cave; most probably that into which Moses had previously entered, when he desired to behold the glory of God; God passed by him, and he saw God’s glory, only from the back (Exodus 33: 22). https://coptic-treasures.com/ Elijah wished to escape, and even to die, because of what Jezebel had done of destruction to the faith; but the Lord granted Elijah what never entered into his heart; He brought him forth to His holy mountain, and let him enter into the cave, to have an open conversation with him; God brought him to that location, to let him say together with Nehemiah: “Should such a man as I flee?!” (Nehemiah 6: 11). “What are you doing here Elijah?”. It is not a time for meditation, but for work; … why are you here? The people are waiting for you; … You are responsible for ministry; Do not flee!. 3- THE LORD APPEARS TO ELIJAH: “And there he went into a cave, and spent the night in that place; and behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and said to him, ‘What are you doing here Elijah?’” (9) + After preparing him by fasting for forty days, Elijah saw the Lord on Mount Horeb, and heard from Him the words, “What are you doing here Elijah?”; which sound almost similar to His saying to Adam in the old, “Adam, Where are you?” in the book of Genesis. The later saying was addressed to someone who ate and was lost; whereas the former is addressed to a fasting servant, with compassion and love. (St. Jerome) “So he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life” (10) https://coptic-treasures.com/ He responded to the question of the Lord, by saying that he has been very zealous for the glory of the Lord God of hosts; but he is broken down by despair, for seeing no one faithfully worship the Lord other than himself. He counted all the years of his ministry as nothing, as they did not give fruit to a single person. He did not complain against the king, nor against the queen alone, but against all Israel; accusing them of the following: They have forsaken the covenant of the Lord, although they practiced the outer sign of the covenant, namely, the circumcision. They have forsaken the worship of, and the ministry to the Lord. They persecuted His ministers and prophets They, not only deserted the altars of the Lord, but they tore them down. Those altars which were built by good men, not able to go to Jerusalem, and refusing to worship the two golden calves, not the Baal. Although those altars destroy the unity of the holy congregation, yet they were built by good men, with the intention not to be completely denied of offering sacrifices to the living God; they built them out of their love for God, and of their desire to proclaim His glory. In response to the Lord’s question, about why he came to the wilderness, and lived in the cave; he said: + “I alone am left”. He is no longer able to appear nor to fulfill any goal. Although all the people cried out “The Lord, He is God” , none of them stood by him, nor came to his defense. Elijah forgot that he is not alone, for God is with him; even if the whole world were against him. + He is no longer able to appear for the sake of his safety; as his life became in danger; “They seek to take my life”. https://coptic-treasures.com/ + No Christian could say that he is without troubles. … Why? For as long as we are still in the body, we are in a journey toward God. However good, things are, we are still away from our home. No one could love travel and love his home at the same time. For whoever loves his home, his journey would seem tough and troublesome. Here we labor and grieve; but there, we shall find comfort with no limit, and love with no anxiety. (St. Augustine) “Then He said, ‘Go out, and stand on the mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind, an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake” (11) Here, God deals with Elijah in the same way He dealt with Moses. Elijah stood at the same spot where Moses stood, when God proclaimed Himself to him, when he received the law (Exodus 19: 9, 6). The Lord passed by Elijah like a great and strong wind that tore into the mountains and broke the rocks; by an earthquake and by fire; yet God did not proclaim Himself by all those manifestations, that only prepared the way for Elijah to hear the Lord amid the stillness and quietness. That what exactly happened to Moses in his encounter with God. God intends to encounter with His believers through a quiet and peaceful atmosphere, and not through the violent manifestations of nature. https://coptic-treasures.com/ According to the Chaldeans, God appeared to Elijah, preceded by a procession of angels, like a strong wind that tore into the mountain and broke the rocks before the Lord. God was not in the midst of that horrifying angelic procession, which was followed by another hosts of noisy angels; and yet God’s greatness was not in the midst of that noise; Those were followed by a third procession of fiery angels; and God’s greatness was still not among them. Then those were followed by a gentle and peaceful singing sound. All that could probably give a symbolic portrait to present the role of God’s care and grace. The great and strong wind, the earthquake, and the fire, though all happen through God’s pleasure, but they are not His nature; For God is a Spirit, who intends to transfigure more through quietness and tranquility. If Elijah, in his zeal, came to be like a strong and great wind; like an earthquake to destroy evil; or like a fire to consume every corruption and abomination, he is now called by God to work by him through quietness and tranquility. Elijah’s zeal is holy, and the fire of his heart toward the glory of God is blessed; but it is now time for him, through the tranquility of his soul, to see the hidden work of God in the “knees that have not bowed to the Baal” (19: 18); and to set forth to anoint three persons for work:: the king of Aram, the king of Israel, and his disciple the prophet Elisha; for each of them to play a specific role, in integration to one another, to chastise Israel, particularly the house of Ahab. Although it is good to have an enflaming holy zeal in us, but we are committed not to fall into despair when we see the whole world as though had lost faith. We are committed to encounter the Lord in quietness and tranquility, and to listen to His voice, showing us His secret exalted works in our souls; and calling us to the hidden positive work, for the others to partake, together with us, of the ministry of the heavenly kingdom; whether by the positive or negative work. In that amazing encounter between God and Elijah, we get in touch with the encounter between the Church and her God along the generations. https://coptic-treasures.com/ The Encounter between God and His creation in the Old Covenant, used to happen through the strong wind, the earthquakes, and the fire; namely, through touched works in the regular nature. For man, in his spiritual childhood, was in need for an exalted material work to shake his inner depths, as it happened when God provided His people with His law through the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai. But in the New Covenant, which is an extension and a consummation of the Old Covenant, God Himself appeared, the living Word of God, “who will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear His voice in the streets” (Matthew 12: 19). He gave us His Spirit on the day of the Pentecost through the strong wind, the earthquake, and the tongues of fire, as a confirmation that we get what men of the Old Covenant have long desired; that Spirit is the Spirit of the Lord, who brings us forth into the divine presence, to lift us in quietness and tranquility up to heaven. “And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice” (12) “A sound of sheer silence” in the ‘Oxford New Bible’ According to St. Justin, Plato, wrongly quoting from verse 12., believed that God is present in the fire. St. Irenaeus also used verse 12 to confirm that we see God – unseen to us face to face – through His works with us: [The prophets saw God through His ordinances and His secrets; as it was said to Elijah: “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, and behold …” (11)] And according to St. Augustine, we see God through our brethren saying: [Although you cannot see God, but it is your right to see Him through your love for your neighbor; and looking at the source of this love, you can see God as much as you can]. https://coptic-treasures.com/ The vision of God: Talking to us about the possibility of seeing God, and the way we can enjoy it, the scholar Origen says: + God was seen by Abraham and by other saints, through the divine grace. God presented Himself to be seen by righteous men, who were worthy of seeing Him. An angel may probably be beside us now while we talk; but we cannot see him because we are not worthy of seeing him. Our physical or inner eye may seek to have this vision; but unless the angel proclaims himself to him has this desire, he cannot see him. This fact does not only concern the vision of God in this present time, but when we depart from this world. God and His angels will not appear to all men directly after their departure, but this vision will be granted to the pure heart, worthy of the vision of God. He, whose heart is weighed down by the burden of sin, is not in same place with him, whose heart is pure; For the later will see God, while the former will not. I assume that this was what happened when Christ was here on earth in flesh. For not all who looked at Him, saw God. Although Pilate and Herod looked at Him, yet they have not seen Him (as God). Three men came to Abraham at noon; while only two came to Lot in the evening (Genesis 19: 1); For Abraham alone was able to receive the perfection of the splendor of God’s light. https://coptic-treasures.com/ + The vision of God is mental and spiritual, and not carnal. Hence the Savior cautiously used the befitting word, saying: “No one knows the Father except the Son” (Matthew 11: 27). He did not say ‘sees’, but said “knows”. Those who are granted the vision of God, are given “the spirit of knowledge”, and “the spirit of wisdom”; that, through the Spirit, they can see God (Isaiah 11: 2). + We can know God, not by the physical eye, but by the mental eye; by what is according to the image of God; receiving the virtue of knowing God through His divine care. + Now, even when we seem as though qualified to see God by our mind and our heart, yet we do not see Him as He is, but according to what He would be for us; through His care that carries us. (The scholar Origen) By love, we can recognize God: + It is befitting of us to perceive how much to be said about (this) love; and how much should be said about God; for God, Himself, is love. For as “No one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Matthew 11: 27) … In the same way, on account of that He is called “love”; the Holy Spirit proceeding from the Father, who alone knows what is in God, “for what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him” (1 Corinthians 2: 11); The Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth proceeding from the Father (John 15: 26) wanders and searches for the souls, worthy and capable of receiving the greatness of His love; namely, the greatness of God; for He desires to proclaim it to them. https://coptic-treasures.com/ (The scholar Origen) “So it was, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out and stood in the entrance of the cave. And suddenly a voice came to him, and said, ‘What are you doing here Elijah?’” (13) Elijah wrapped his face in his mantle, for fear of looking at the glory of God, whose splendor his eyes cannot endure to look at. For the heavenly hosts cover their faces before God for the sake of the splendor of His glory (Isaiah 6: 2); Elijah probably was ashamed to look at God, having got in touch with His exalted might and works; and for feeling that he has failed in his ministry. Elijah did not wrap his face before the strong wind, the earthquake, or the fire; but before the sound of sheer silence, he could not endure God’s gentleness, love and compassion. The prophet Moses, as well, hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God (Exodus 3: 6). Covering the face was a sign of respect and reverence; as when a European takes off his hat when meeting someone. When God repeated His question: “What are you doing here Elijah?”, Elijah presented the same answer, complaining against Israel for their apostasy from God, and forsaking faith. The divine reaction was calling on him to return and work; to anoint Hazael, a king over Aram; Jahu, a king over Israel; and Elisha, a prophet in his place. It is as though God is saying to him: ‘Why should you despair? Was it because I did not punish the wicked?’ https://coptic-treasures.com/ “So he said, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they seek to take my life’” (14) + A minister only gets to know the word of God when he exiles himself from this world; escapes from the body, from covetousness, and denies himself the company of men to remain alone; as the prophet Elijah says: “I am left alone”. Yet he was not alone, for Christ was with him. Christ Himself said, “I am not alone, for the Father is with Me” (John 16: 32). (St. Ambrose) If Elijah’s soul was embittered by the evil that came upon Israel; To chastise Israel, God sends someone from outside (Syria); and someone from inside (Jahu); and someone to consummate the mission of Elijah (the prophet Elisha). 4- ANOINTMENT OF HAZAEL AND JAHU KINGS: “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; and when you arrive, anoint Hazael as king over Syria (Aram)” (15) God commanded Elijah to go to the wilderness of Damascus, to take a way where few people go, so as not to encounter Jezebel or any of her followers who oppress him. https://coptic-treasures.com/ The wilderness of Damascus, probably north of the home city of the prophet, between Bashan and Damascus, known in the old by the name ‘Gaulanitius or Iturea’. He commanded him to anoint Hazael as a kng over Aram; as though he is telling him: If the people had not learned their lesson through chastisement by famine and draught for as long as three and a half years; I am, anointing Hazael as a king over Aram, to chastise them by blood-shedding (2 kings 8: 12, 18); hoping that they may forsake idol-worship. “Also you shall anoint Jahu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel. And Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel Mehola, you shall anoint as prophet in your place” (16) “Also you shall anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi as king over Israel” (See 2 king 9); the one who killed Jehoram in the vineyard of ‘Naboth the Jezreelite’; and the wicked Jezebel, where the dogs ate her flesh. “You shall anoint Elisha a prophet in your place”.. There is no doubt that Elijah’s heart was comforted when the Lord called him to anoint Elisha a prophet in his place; for the living minister rejoices in the extension of his ministry after his departure from this world. Elisha the son of Shaphat, is actually the grandson of Shaphat, but was known as the son of Shaphat (2 kings 9: 20; 2 Chronicles 22: 7); probably because his father died while young, and was raised by his grandfather. Abel Mehola, neans (the pasture of dancing); in the northern part of the Valley of the Jordan. https://coptic-treasures.com/ God did not tell him when he should anoint those three persons, but left it to him to chose the proper time to do it. “It shall be that whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill” (17) “Whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill”. By the sword of the word of the Lord, which is sharper than a two-edged sword (Jeremiah 1: 10; 18: 7). It was befitting of the prophet Elijaha, with his heart of fire, not to hasten the punishment of the apostates; for in the proper time, and by the proper tools, “the Lord, by the rod of His mouth, and the breath of His lips, shall slay the wicked” (Isaiah 11: 4; 2 Thessalonians 2: 8; Hosea 6: 5). “Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him” (18) Beside the anointment of the three persons previously mentioned, the Lord revealed to Elijah his unseen success, proclaiming to him the existence of seven thousand knees that have not bowed to Baal, and have not kissed him with their mouth. Kissing the idols by the mouth has been a common custom (Job 31: 27; Hosea 13: 20). According to St. Clement of Alexandria, in his seventh book of ‘Stromata’, gave a detailed description of the different ways by which that custom was practiced. In a debate with the Jew Trevo, St. Justin uses this verse, saying: [As God did not release His anger for the sake of those seven thousand knees; when He issues a certain verdict, He puts it into effect; for He knows that every day, some of you become disciples of the name of Christ, forsake the wrong way; and https://coptic-treasures.com/ receive the gifts according to the worthiness of each; One receives the spirit of understanding; another the spirit of counsel; another the spirit of strength; another the spirit of healing; another the spirit of prophecy; another the spirit of teaching; and another the spirit of the fear of God] The apostle Paul used this verse to confirm the presence of a few remnant, holy for the Lord among the Jews when they rejected the Lord Christ and His gospel (Romans 11: 4). In every generation there is a remnant holy for the Lord like those seven thousand who have not bowed their knees to Baal, nor kissed him with their mouth: a- By saying: “I have reserved” (18), means that those remnant are the work of the Lord’s hands, who reserves for Himself a selected few who dedicate their whole life and energies to the account of His kingdom. b- There is no comparison between those seven thousand, and the millions of people who have fallen into idol-worship; But God knows the former by name, cherish them, and put His holy seal on their foreheads (Revelation 7: 4). c- These believing and faithful remnant are hidden, not known except to God (Psalm 83: 3). The seen church is like a threshold floor in which people see the chaff while the wheat are hidden among them; Then the day will come when God reveals His believers. Now, we are not able to distinguish those who are truly holy among the living believers.. + Among the seven thousand in Israel, whose knees had not bowed to Baal, only Elijah and Elisha performed miracles; Yet no one among them despised Obadiah, who feared the Lord, but did not perform any miracle. (The laws of the apostles) 5- ELISHA’S DISCIPLESHIP TO ELIJAH: https://coptic-treasures.com/ “So he departed from there and found Elisha the son Shaphat who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he was with the twelfth. Then Elijah passed by him and threw his mantle on him” (19) In the old, the agricultural land was measured by the number of plows used to plow it. Elisha was, therefore, a rich man for possessing twelve plows, each worked by a pair of oxen, as was the custom in Egypt, Assyria, and Palestine; and still is in the villages of Egypt and West Asia. By his prompt acceptance of the prophetic work, Elisha proclaimed forsaking his riches and possessions. “Passing by him” means that Elijah crossed the River Jordan to come to Elisha. Elijah did not feel jealousy that Elisha will take his place, but, on the contrary, he joyfully came to anoint him. He probably knew him before; and knew where to find him, for he instantly went to encounter him. He did not enter into a debate with him, nor presented to him a program of work or a plan of ministry. But, being sure that Elisha is God’s choice, he called him to ministry on the spot. Throwing the mantle on him bears the sense of strong friendship; counting him as one with him having the same mantle. It implies the concept of honoring him; the way the prophet Moses did with Joshua the son of Nun (Numbers 27: 20). It refers to a transfer of the spirit of prophecy, strength, and authority to him. It also bears the spirit of compassionate fatherhood toward him; for the father usually helps his child to put on his clothes Up to this very day, the Coptic bishop and the senior priests help the newly anointed priest or deacon to put on his holy attire, directly after his anointment, which bears the sense of fatherhood of the bishop or the senior priest toward the newly anointed priest or deacon. https://coptic-treasures.com/ Some Coptic priests practice the same thing after baptizing a child, and anointing him with the Meron, to proclaim his fatherhood to him or her, And that the newly baptized has received the new birth, the general priesthood, and the royal attire. “And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, ‘Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you’; and he said to him, ‘Go back again, for what have I done to you?’” (20) As saying farewell to parents in the East would normally take days and weeks; Elijah, not content with such a delay, said to Elish; “Go back again, what have I done to you?”. As though he says to him: ‘I am not the one who called you to ministry, it is God who did; Why, then, do you postpone it? You can go back, not just to say farewell to your parents, but even to stay with them and with your land’. He said so, probably to confirm to him that the call is not compulsory; for God does not force anyone to minister to Him. Let him, therefore, go back, think about it, and freely choose the way he wishes to go. + Some of you, here, may feel the warmth of the divine call, and in them, the desire for the good life would actively stir up. But when they leave this holy place, the fire cools down, and the desire is put off…. What should you do to deal with such a situation?... Once this desire is enflamed inside you, set forth on your way to the angels to stir it more up. … Do not say: I shall discuss it with my wife; and sort my things out! For such a delay will be the beginning of slothfulness! … Remember how Elisha asked Elijah to allow him to kiss his parents farewell, and the later did not let him…. And how someone asked the Lord Christ to go and bury his father before following Him; and the Lord did not allow him to do even that (Luke 9: 60). … Why? https://coptic-treasures.com/ For the Devil is always ready to attack with violence, searching for some hidden way to enter! And although such excuses may seem simple and logic, yet he uses them to reach a bigger goal -- a serious slothfulness. That is why we are advised “not to postpone it from day to day” (Sirach 5: 7). + Obedience to Christ demands from us, therefore, not to postpone it even for a moment, even if the situation seems to be of utmost importance. (St. John Chrysostom) “So Elisha turned back from him, and took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen’s equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and served him” (21) Elisha turned back from him, not to think about accepting the call or rejecting it, nor about choosing the proper time to start work, but instantly slaughtered a yoke of oxen, and used the wooden equipment as fuel to boil their flesh, and gave to the people to eat. Let us now think about Elisha’a rich parents, who did not hinder their son’s decision to forsake all his possessions to minister to the Lord, and did not count it as loss. + The Lord does not want us to forsake all our interests at once, but gradually; unless we are as zealous as Elisha, who slaughtered his oxen and gave the people to eat; so as not to be any longer preoccupied with what may distract him from his new dedication to the prophetic task. https://coptic-treasures.com/ (St. Ambrose) Here, talking about the mutual work between the elder and the youthful ministers, whose roles consummate one another, St. Ambrose says: + How beautiful is the unity between the elder and the young minister: one testifies, and the other gives comfort; one leads, and the other follow suit … Although the Holy Book did not tell much about how old Elisha was, yet we may perceive that he was younger than Elijah. In the Book of Acts, we read how Barnabas took Mark with him, and how Paul took Silas (Acts 40; 15: 39), Timothy (Acts 16: 2), and Titus 1: 5). We may notice the division of labor among them; … how the elders gave counsel, and the youth, show the activity of work. They, most probably, were similar in virtue, but not in the number of years; they rejoiced in their unity, as Peter and John did. We read in the gospel that John was a young man, as testified by his own words; and yet he was not less than the elders, in worthiness and wisdom; he bore the features of maturity of mind, and personality. (St. Ambrose) Three encounters took place between Elijah and the heavenlies: a- The first encounter with an angel who touched him, and sought from him to arise and eat. b- The second encounter when the angel came back a second time, and touched him and sought from him to arise and eat, to go in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, as far as Horeb the https://coptic-treasures.com/ mountain of God, to enter into a cave, most probably the same one into which the prophet Moses entered. c- The third encounter with the God of angels Himself, with whom he debated in the midst of “a sound of sheer silence” . According to the scholar Tertullian, Elijah saw God as ‘longsuffering’, sitting on the gentle and peaceful divine throne; He who was not in the midst of the sound of the strong wind, nor in the dark clouds. That was what Elijah saw in his third encounter, when the Spirit of God came, accompanied by perseverance (longsuffering) in an unseen way. ------------------------ AN INSPIRATION FROM 1 KINGS !9 LET ME SEE YOU ON MOUNT HOREB + At Mount Horeb, the children of Israel encamped; And saw the mountain burn, and the smoke filling the sky; They saw the rocks break, and heard the horrible and dreadful wind; While Moses was up on the mountain, receiving Your Law from Your own hands; The hearts of the people were very disturbed; Whereas Moses’ heart was shaking with joy, for encountering his beloved Creator. + On the same Mount, the prophet Elijah encountered with You; There were strong wind, earthquake, and fire, as well; But amid “the sound of sheer silence”, he enjoyed debating with You; He forgot then all about Jezebel’s opposition; All despair vanished from his heart, when he was told about the few remnant, holy to You; https://coptic-treasures.com/ His encounter with You filled his heart with hope; And opened up the gates of heaven before his eyes. + You descended, O my God, down to my earth; You were born in a manger, to let me enjoy seeing You; There, I no longer here the sound of a strong wind; Nor be disturbed by a quake; Nor fear a fire; For the God of nature, came to me; “does not cry out, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street” (Isaiah 42: 2); Let me enjoy seeing You inside me; Let me enter with You, into an unceasing debate; Let me forget the valley of tears; Let me have no fear of the events; Let me enjoy You, O my heart’s desire.
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