Elijah’s attitude towards the return of rain is significant. Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water.” 1 Kings 18:12-13). Has he not saved prophets at the risk of his own life? “I your servant have worshipped the Lord since my youth. The servant thinks that Elijah will slip away before Ahab arrives and that the king will punish him for not having arrested Elijah hence, Obadiah launches into a lengthy apology to justify his behaviour at court.

“What have I done wrong that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death?” (1 Kings 18:9). Likewise, Obadiah, the king’s servant, is nervous about his own sin when Elijah asks him to go tell Ahab that Elijah is there. “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” (1 Kings 17:18). The widow of Zarephath recalls her sin when her son dies. Thus, confronted with a difficult situation while in the presence of the prophet, they immediately think of divine judgement. Certain accounts indicate that Elijah had a reputation as a prophet of judgement among his contemporaries. This way of recounting the events is in accordance with all the occurrences in the cycle of Elijah: God is revealed as the God of grace and Elijah as the prophet of judgement. The inspired author wants to show that Elijah is preoccupied with judgement, whereas God cares about salvation, in this case the prophet’s survival. Nevertheless, the temporary doubt the reader could have had regarding the legitimacy of Elijah’s intervention does not bother the narrator who, by his manner of relating the facts, links the message of judgement more to Elijah that to God. Admittedly, the rest of the story shows that the prophet’s intervention is approved by God, since the prophecy is fulfilled. Thus, the word of judgement is tied directly to Elijah and not to God. This fact merits being pointed out especially since the word of the Lord appears in the following verse when Elijah receives the order to flee from the king’s wrath. The prophet’s intervention is not preceded either by a divine mandate. This absence of facts about the prophet’s background allows the reader to concentrate on Elijah’s fundamental characteristic: his ministry of judgement.

The author does not even take the time to introduce Elijah properly, as his father’s name is not even mentioned (a rare omission in Semitic literature) and information regarding his origin is skimpy: “Elijah, the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead”. At the beginning, the first words from Elijah’s mouth are a judgement: “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word” (1 Kings 17:1). Skimming through the eight chapters covering Elijah, one is quickly aware of the constant connection between Elijah and judgement. The author of Kings highlights this quality of judgement in many ways. Elijah is the perfect prophet of judgement. Elijah announces the drought (1 Kings 17:1), the destruction of Ahab’s dynasty (1 Kings 21:19-26) and Ahaziah’s death (2 Kings 1:4) he has Baal’s prophets slaughtered (1 Kings 18:40) and commands fire to come down from heaven to consume Ahaziah’s soldiers (2 Kings l:10, 12). Elijah’s Characteristics The Prophet of Judgement Elijah’s ministry is marked, from the beginning to the end, by verbal castigations and physical annihilations.

Character study of elijah in the bible