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An indepth look at the meaning and etymology of the awesome name Elijah. We'll discuss the original Hebrew, plus the words and names Elijah is related to, plus the occurences of this name in the Bible.
Elijah. This name is written two different ways - אליה, pronounced as eliy-yahu or אליהו, pronounced as eliy-yahu. There are three components to this name. The first is אל (el) the Hebrew word for "power" and "authority" and is commonly translated as God or god.
Aug 30, 2024 · The name Elijah is derived from the Hebrew name אֵלִיָּהוּ (Eliyahu) and means 'my God is Yahweh'. Elijah represents the role of a divine messenger and reflects his steadfast belief in Yahweh.
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Elijah (flourished 9th century bce) Hebrew prophet who ranks with Moses in saving the religion of Yahweh from being corrupted by the nature worship of Baal. Elijah’s name means “Yahweh is my God” and is spelled Elias in some versions of the Bible. The story of his prophetic career in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reigns of Kings Ahab an...
The Israelite king Omri had allied himself with the Phoenician cities of the coast, and his son Ahab was married to Jezebel, daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre and Sidon. Jezebel, with her Tyrian courtiers and a large contingent of pagan priests and prophets, propagated her native religion in a sanctuary built for Baal in the royal city of Samaria. ...
Elijah was from Tishbe in Gilead. The narrative in 1 Kings relates how he suddenly appears during Ahab’s reign to proclaim a drought in punishment of the cult of Baal that Jezebel was promoting in Israel at Yahweh’s expense. Later Elijah meets 450 prophets of Baal in a contest of strength on Mount Carmel to determine which deity is the true God of Israel. Sacrifices are placed on an altar to Baal and one to Yahweh. The pagan prophets’ ecstatic appeals to Baal to kindle the wood on his altar are unsuccessful, but Elijah’s prayers to Yahweh are answered by a fire on his altar. This outcome is taken as decisive by the Israelites, who slay the priests and prophets of Baal under Elijah’s direction. The drought thereupon ends with the falling of rain.
Elijah flees the wrath of the vengeful Jezebel by undertaking a pilgrimage to Mount Horeb (Sinai), where he is at first disheartened in his struggle and then miraculously renewed. In a further narrative, King Ahab has a man named Naboth condemned to death in order to gain possession of his vineyard. Ahab’s judicial murder of Naboth and confiscation of his vineyard arouse Elijah as the upholder of the moral law, as before he had come forward as the champion of monotheism. Elijah denounces Ahab for his crimes, asserting that all men are subject to the law of God and are therefore equals. Later Ahab’s son, King Ahaziah, appeals to Baal to heal him of an injury, and Elijah once more upholds the exclusive rights of Yahweh by bringing down “fire from heaven.” After bestowing his mantle on his successor, Elisha, the prophet Elijah is taken up to heaven in a whirlwind.
One of the most important moments in the history of monotheism is the climax of Elijah’s struggle with Baalism. His momentous words, “If Yahweh is God, follow him, but if Baal, then follow him”—especially when taken with the prayer “Hear me, Yahweh, that this people may know that you, Yahweh, are God”—show that more is at stake than simply allotting to divinities their particular spheres of influence. The true question is whether Yahweh or Baal is God, simply and universally. Elijah’s words proclaim that there is no reality except the God of Israel, there are no other beings entitled to the name of divinity. The acclamation of the people, “Yahweh, he is God” expresses a fully conscious monotheism, never before perhaps brought home to them so clearly.
Elijah’s deepest prophetic experience takes place on his pilgrimage to Horeb, where he learns that God is not in the storm, the earthquake, or the lightning. Nature, so far from being God’s embodiment, is not even an adequate symbol. God is invisible and spiritual and is best known in the intellectual word of revelation, “the still, small voice.” The transcendence of God receives here one of its earliest expressions. Elijah’s story also expresses for the first time a thought that was to dominate Hebrew prophecy: in contrast to the bland hopes of the people, salvation is bestowed only on a “remnant,” those purified by God’s judgment. The theme of the later prophets, that morality must be at the heart of ritual worship, is also taught by Elijah, who upholds the unity of law and religion against the despotic cruelty of a king influenced by a pagan wife. Elijah’s work may also be regarded as a protest against every effort to find religious experience in self-induced ecstasy and sensual frenzy rather than in a faith linked with reason and morality.
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Elijah (/ ɪ ˈ l aɪ dʒ ə / il-EYE-jə) [a] was a prophet and a miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel [12] during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible.
Oct 6, 2024 · From the Hebrew name אֱלִיָּהוּ (ʾEliyyahu) meaning "my God is Yahweh ", derived from the roots אֵל (ʾel) and יָהּ (yah), both referring to the Hebrew God. Elijah was a Hebrew prophet and miracle worker, as told in the two Books of Kings in the Old Testament.
This name is deeply rooted in the Hebrew language, with "El" meaning "God" and "Yah" being a shortened form of Yahweh, the sacred name of God revealed to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3:14).
