Elijah and Jewish Traditions

Mr. N. shared this quote:

"The chair of the prophet of the Lord is vacant."

~ Leonard Ravenhill 

 

And he followed with: In 1 Kings 19:14 Elijah complains to God about how His people had forsaken His covenant. Jewish tradition says that as a result of his zeal, Elijah should have to be present whenever a Jewish boy entered the Covenant of Abraham through the ceremony of circumcision.

 

"The chair of the prophet of the Lord" Leonard Ravenhill is speaking of is a special chair set aside at the circumcision ceremony for Jewish boys. This ornate chair is left unoccupied and is symbolically for the prophet Elijah, or "The Angel of the Covenant." 

 

Malachi 3:1 says (NKJV): 

“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the MESSENGER OF THE COVENANT, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the Lord of hosts.' (Emphasis mine)

Today, when so many churches and self-proclaimed "Christians" have forsaken God's covenant because it is not politically correct or because it is inconvenient, the vacant "chair of the prophet" stands as a challenge for God's people to remember Who we belong to, what we are called to be in these evil times, and shout from the rooftops that Judgment is coming soon!"

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After I did some research and refreshed my memory, I asked for him to consider this:

Take a moment and read from Chapter 18 to get a feel for all that has been going on prior to 1 Kings 19:14. Ahab confronts Elijah and wrongly accuses him for all the troubles they have been experiencing. Verse 18 Elijah points out: "It is not I who have brought trouble on Israel, but you and your father's House, by forsaking the commandments of Yahweh and following (false god) Baalim."

•The 'commandments' are All of God's Instructions (aka Torah)•   

Elijah challenges all the prophets of the false god Baal to a final test (Chapt. 18 verse 23 through 40). Ahab tells Jezebel about what happened, she sends a message to Elijah letting him know he will be dead by the next day.

Elijah wasn't complaining to God. His life had been threatened by Jezebel and he ran from there until a days journey out of Beer-sheba into the wilderness - then he was ready to give up and asked God to take his life. But, instead, one of Yah's messengers/angels lets him know there was still a journey for him to make to Mt. Horeb. As a faithful servant of Yahweh, Elijah carried on.   

When God asked Elijah why he was there, it was because of his unending devotion to God; he acted 'on faith' and continued to Mt. Horeb, even though the Israelites had forsaken Yah's everlasting covenant, torn down His altars, and killed His prophets (which is much more than just failing to circumcise an 8 day old boy or be present when it was done). Elijah was still willing to meet with Yahweh.  

None of this about Elijah has anything to do with circumcision, eight day old baby boys or some ornate chair set aside for him in the future.

"Jewish Tradition" adds a whole lot of man's opinions to the Word of God and that's not a good thing; a stumbling block for some and a snare for others. The 'chair of the prophet' is a fine example of tradition and has nothing to do with Scriptures.  Using this as a teaching platform is misleading as well.  Mr. N told me it was akin to Yahshua teaching with parables.  Do you see how this can lead to misunderstanding? another rabbit trail leading us away from the Truth of Yah's Word?

A parable is usually a short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude. Allegory is the expression by means of symbolic fictional figures and actions of truths or generalizations about human existence and a metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable; a thing regarded as representative or symbolic of something else. 

Y'shua spoke in parables many times, telling stories to illustrate spiritual lessons; stories that are to be understood in order to reveal the hidden meaning of what he was teaching. There is no real mystery. He was teaching us to use our 'brain', to think and reason and not just follow the most popular preacher of the day or what was fashionable at the time.

Matthew 13:34
All these things Y'shua spoke in parables to the crowd, and he would not speak to them without a parable, so might be fulfilled the things which was spoken through the prophet who said, "I will open my mouth with parables and will bring out secrets that were from before the foundation of the world." (Psalms 78:2)

All that being said, I do get his point about so many people who have forsaken Yah's Instructions, commandments, laws, rules, decrees and teachings.... even though he ties it in with 'Churchianity'.  It is by quoting and teaching ideas, opinions and speculation which do not represent the truth of His Word that folks have been led astray, bit by bit, day by day and year after year.