Elijah

Elijah was a prophet in the Northern Kingdom of Israel during the time of King Ahab and his son Ahazia. Elijah wanted the people to worship the God of Israel and not Baal, the god of fertility.

The name Elijah means “my God is Yahweh”.
Elijah came from Tishbe in the region of Gilead, on the other side of the River Jordan.

God sends Elijah to King Ahab to tell him that there will be a drought for three years. During these three years, Elijah hides at a widow’s house in Zarephath, near Sidon, which is the area that Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, is from. In Zarephath, Elijah miraculously ensures that they always have enough to eat. He also raises the widow’s son from the dead.
After three years, Elijah returns to Ahab. He asks the king to arrange a confrontation between the prophets of Baal and himself. They must both build an altar on which they will bring a sacrifice to their god. The god that ignites the sacrifice with fire from heaven is a real god. Nothing happens to the offering for Baal, but the God of Israel sets Elijah’s sacrifice on fire. Then Elijah gives the order to kill all the prophets of Baal.

When Jezebel hears what has happened, she threatens to kill Elijah (1 Kings 19:1-2). He flees into the desert, to Mount Sinai, where he has an extraordinary encounter with God. God also gives him the task of appointing Elisha as his replacement.

2 Kings 2 reports that Elijah does not die, but that he is taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot. Because of this unusual end to his life, the expectation arose that God would one day send Elijah back to earth (Malachi 3:23).
This expectation plays an important part in the New Testament as well (Matthew 17:10-12). Some people think that John the Baptist is the prophet Elijah who has come back to earth (John 1:21). Others think that Jesus himself is the prophet Elijah (Matthew 16:14).