Elijah

Elijah (in the New Testament, Elias), the greatest of the prophets of Israel, flourished about 900 B.C., during the reigns of Ahab and Ahaziah. For the story of his life a reference to the Old Testament is sufficient (1 Kings, xvii.-xix., xxi.; 2 Kings, i., ii.; 2 Chron. xxi. 12-15). The anticipation of his return as the precursor of the Messiah harmonises with the account of his removal from the earth, and finds support in the words of the last prophet (Mal. iv. 5). In the New Testament this prophecy is declared to have its fulfilment in John the Baptist, who is said to have come 'in the spirit and power of Elias' (Matt. xi. 14; xvii. 11-13; Mark, ix. 13; Luke, i. 17). Elijah appears with Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration. In Russian folklore, the ideas that once were associated with Perun, the thunder-god, have become attached to the Prophet Ilya or Elijah, on whose festival (20th July) a beast is sacrificed in many districts. See Elijah, his Life and Times, by Dr Milligan (1887); and The Hallowing of Criticism: Nine Sermons on Elijah, by T. K. Cheyne (1888).