Becoming Elijah: Prophet of Transformation (Jewish Lives)

this respect, Elijah outshines Moses, for he is the only figure in the Hebrew Bible of whom it is explicitly stated that he went up to heaven. Perhaps

In the words of the kabbalist Moses Cordovero, “The closest that divinity can possibly come to humanity is the mystery of Elijah.”

In Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam, al-Khiḍr is the supreme guide. Nearly every saint’s hagiography describes a visit from the Verdant One, who transmits wisdom or a potent prayer.

he and his disciple-successor, Elisha, are the only prophets in the Hebrew Bible especially noted for performing miracles.

The axiom of faith inspired by Elijah is affirmed amid one’s final spoken words.

Elijah’s emotional mandate is broadened by the Septuagint’s paraphrase of this verse: He will bring a father’s heart back to his son and a man’s heart back to his neighbor.

This is the meaning of: Look, I am sending to you [Elijah the prophet]—for the word sending is in the present tense, because it is constantly so, in each person and at all times.

A mere human, Rabbah has persuaded God to be more compassionate. Back

unlike his predecessor, Jesus celebrated the kingdom as already present—in his teaching and actions. His emphasis was less on doom and more on the good news that God was about to restore His scattered people.