This is the night of Elijah. And with another wink to the ways all stories come together - he shows up for the first time in the Bible - today.
A fantastic story in the Talmud picks up the first verse of today’s chapter exactly where the previous chapter ends - and with an incredible twist.
Hiel the Bethelite, one of King Ahab’s men, is the one in charge of rebuilding Jericho, despite the ancient curse of Joshua forbidding such construction. Ahab’s kingdom thrives on real estate expansion and religiosity that does not nod to the fears of the past. But the curse leads to the loss of lives - Hiel’s sons die and are buried under the buildings of Jericho - possibly as sacrificial offerings to the hungry gods. Either way, their father is bereaved and is in need of consolation - that’s where our Talmudic tale picks up the thread.
King Ahab comes to console his friend Hiel. Also present at this Shiva visit is a man named Elijah, from the Gilead, on the eastern side of the Jordan river. The men begin to talk about the curse of Joshua, when the king asks - which is worse - the curse of Moses or the curse of Joshua? Moses warned the people that if they worship other deities besides YHWH there will not be rain or dew. And yet - the land is filled with altars to Baal and Astarte and the weather’s fine. Joshua warned anybody building Jericoh that he will lose his sons - and that’s what happened. Is it possible that the curse of Joshua is worse than that of his master Moses?
And that’s when Elijah, of whom we know nothing yet, stands up and declares the first verse of today’s chapter: “ In the name of YHWH - there indeed will be no rain or dew in Israel - until YHWH says so!”
The rains indeed stopped.
What happens next according to the chapters in the Book of Kings is a religious war between Elijah and the God he represents - and the Royal House of Ahab and Jezebel, with lots of loss and rivers of blood.
Elijah, at the heart of this saga, is a mystery whose story keeps evolving today.
In this chapter he flees the king, hides in a creek, fed by ravens, until he travels north to be hosted by a poor widow whom he feeds with miracles, resurrects her dead son, and teaches how to hope.
The widow who first fears the wild man now recognizes his power, and, like the readers, notes the superpowers that even YHWH must have paid attention to. The text clearly tells us that it was thank to Elijah’s force that the dead boy was resurrected:
וַיִּשְׁמַ֥ע יְהֹוָ֖ה בְּק֣וֹל אֵֽלִיָּ֑הוּ וַתָּ֧שׇׁב נֶֽפֶשׁ־הַיֶּ֛לֶד עַל־קִרְבּ֖וֹ וַיֶּֽחִי׃
YHWH heard Elijah’s voice; the boy’s life returned to his body, and he revived.
Kings 1 17:22
The ability to resurrect the dead is not a common feature - and has not yet been exhibited by biblical seers. What’s the purpose of this power?
Robert Alter writes in his commentary that the widow, the boy’s mother
“had previously addressed him as “man of God,” but in anger. Now the positive force of this identity has been confirmed by his act. The two aspects of Elijah’s mission -- wonder-worker and prophesier/reprover -- are interdependent, the former demonstrating to skeptics the authority of the latter. This pattern, which will be picked up in the stories about Jesus, does not appear in the reports about the prophets before Elijah.”
Becoming Elijah - the fantastic book by Daniel Matt that came out a year ago explores the journey of Elijah - from Biblical zealot to popular visitor at Passover Seders and other Jewish liminal moments:
“Elijah follows the path of the archetypal hero: uncertain origins, trials and adventures, transformation, and return into the world. In his case, the fierce biblical zealot turns into the most beloved, cherished figure in Judaism. In the Israel Folktale Archives (fittingly located in Haifa on Mount Carmel, site of the prophet’s triumph), there are more stories about Elijah than Moses, King Solomon, or anyone else. Over the centuries, the belief in his powers sustained the masses, while his inspiration enthused the mystics. Whereas the biblical Elijah is a chastiser of Israel, the post biblical Elijah is a benevolent savior. Undeniably, there are compassionate elements in his biblical personality and harsh elements in his later one, but it often seems there are two different Elijahs.
What links them?
Some scholars contend that if he ever existed, Elijah was a charismatic holy man, purportedly able to bring rain, who lived in the time of King Ahab in the ninth century BCE. Gradually, legends were woven around him and then given literary form in the scriptural saga...Over the following two millennia, Jewish folklore (in the Talmud, Midrash, and countless later tales) expanded his role and his powers. He became the protean prophet, capable of assuming numerous forms—often that of an old man, but also a young man, an Arab, a Roman official, a slave, and once (for a noble purpose) even a prostitute. Who is Elijah? His flexible identity keeps us wondering...”
So how did Elijah get to be the one who gets his own cup and visits us in secret every Seder? Perhaps because he represents the very mystery between life and death, the unknown future, invisible voice within, and perpetual pleas for hope. Jewish tradition has him as the one who will announce the end of time - the coming of the Messiah.
Matt writes:
“Because of Elijah’s messianic role, Jews open the door for him at each Passover seder—the ceremonial meal that commemorates the liberation from Egyptian slavery and includes the hope for ultimate redemption.”
The liberation from the Narrow Place and State of Mind that we call Egypt, we are told, is a never ending story. In every generation we continue the labor of liberation - for each and every one of us, for society as a whole. Maybe, like Elijah’s ever-growing role, it takes the transformation of our legends, heroes, myths and mysteries, to always help us open the door to the voices within that will help us raise our voices, do our work, and lift each other up, with more freedom for all.
Best Wishes for a Meaningful and Delicious Passover Night!
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