Rebirth of Israel

Reflections on the Mission of Elijah

In 1 Kings 19 Elijah despairs over the apparent failure of the Carmel renewal: he was hoping for the repentance of the royal house of Israel. But it’s not what he received. He comes to Beersheba- Beersheba is where Hagar fled after being required to depart from the House of Abraham- and it is also where Abraham planted a tamarisk tree immediately prior to the sacrifice of Isaac. Thus, we find Elijah in Beersheba sleeping under a tree- perhaps evoking the memory of the sacrifice of Isaac, where Abraham’s faith was pushed and unveiled to be in the God who raises the dead. The prophets, of old, were the fathers of the kings of Israel. But God had promised, in giving Isaac a rebirth, to make a great nation of him- and this was also what God promised Hagar in Genesis 20, at the same place.

Thus, Elijah sleeps under the broom tree and his prophetic calling is renewed. An angel touches him and feeds him with a cake baked on a hot stone. This narrative resembles the call of Isaiah, where Isaiah, mourning the infidelity of the nation, is touched with a burning coal from the altar of God and given a message pertaining to the destiny of the remnant of Israel. The story of Israel and Judah is now not the national story of the kingdom, but the story of the formation of a people within a people: this is the remnant out of which the nations will be reborn. Thus, Elijah goes from there to Mt. Horeb, where Moses encountered God. The narrative here closely recalls the narrative of Exodus 32-34, where Moses prays for Israel after their sin with the golden calf and then summons a remnant of 3,000 Levites to execute judgment on the rest of the nation. As part of the story, Moses encounters God and veils his face.