Sublime

The prophet invites his young follower to stay, telling him that Yahweh ordered him only to go to Bet-El (which means “House of El,” i.e., the place where one of the Elohim either lived or could be met). Elisha, however, continues to follow his master.

chiaroscuro).

Elyon gives Yahweh jurisdiction over Jacob and the land where Jacob and his family lived. Yahweh — the Bible says — takes excellent care of Jacob’s family; and that is all. It is clear that the matching of Jacob’s family with Yahweh has no particular universal significance, nor does it convey a global message for all humanity. Israel was a tiny

2Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” 3Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. 4 But he himself went a day’s journey into the

It is decided, against Elisha’s advice, to send fifty men to look for him. The search continued for the next three days, but with a negative result. Elijah had disappeared, carried up by the chariot of Yahweh into the skies.

collogue.

Do we like Jacob? The likely answer is that we do not. We may revere him; after all, he is one of our three ancestral patriarchs. We may even respect him; he is certainly clever, audacious, and remarkably determined. But there is something fundamentally unlikable about our ancestor Jacob.