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.

Enoch and Elijah

The most likely candidates for the end times two witness scenario are Enoch and Elijah, neither of whom died a physical death, but will be killed after their 42 month testimony.  They are the only humans we read of who were not laid to rest with their ancestors.

Genesis 5:21 ~
When Enoch had lived 65 years, he begot Methuselah. After the birth of Methuselah, Enoch walked with Yah 300 years; and he begot sons and daughters. All the days of Enoch came to 365 years. Enoch walked with Yahweh, then he was no more, for Yah took him.

II Kings 2:11 ~ 

As they kept on walking and talking (Elijah and Elisha), a fiery chariot with fiery horses suddenly appeared and separated them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.

The Two Witnesses are described as "the two olive trees and the two menorahs which stand before Master Yahweh. They have the power to stop the rain, to turn water to blood, and to produce all plagues as often as they please. They can send fire out of their mouths and consume who ever attacks them."  And they will be giving testimony for 3-1/2 years = 42 months = 1260 days. Then the Beast that came up from the abyss will make war with them and overcome them. They will leave their bodies in the street for 3-1/2 days while folks celebrate their death. And then Yah will call them up - in that same hour an earthquake destroys part of the city and kills 7,000 people - the rest gave glory to Elohim.

I do not believe that Yah would use someone already dead to fulfill this prophecy as they must die and be 'resurrected' at that time.  Y'shua is our example of one being born, tasted death and was resurrected as the first fruits of the dead.  He now sits at the right hand of his Father. Lazarus died and was brought back to life by Y'shua.  Enoch and Elijah are not dead but were changed in form and in place.  Yah took them because He had a big plan for them to fulfill during the final 3-1/2 years of life as we know it.

1 Kings 17 ~  Elijah the Tishbite who lives in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As Yahweh Lives, the Elohim of Israel whom I serve, there will be no dew or rain except at my bidding." 

Here we read that Elijah has the power to hold back the rain as he sees fits. This is one of the many powers the two end times witnesses have.

And here is the clincher! We read at the end of Malachi:

I will send the prophet Elijah to you before the coming of the awesome, fearful day of Yahweh. He shall reconcile parents with children and children with their parents, so that, when I come, I do not strike the whole land with utter destruction. 

This sounds akin to the command to paint the doorposts and lintels with the blood of the lamb so that the Messenger of death would pass over those places. Same goes for us today who accept the shed blood of Y'shua to save us from death and spending eternity in Fire Lake. Elijah, by his testimony, will cause many to cease being enemies with one another and stop rebelling against Yah; the rest will be destroyed with those final cups of wrath.

Hebrews 11:5 ~
By faith Enoch was translated and did not taste death; and he was not found because Elohim had translated him; for, before he translated him, there was testimony of him that he pleased Elohim. But without faith, a man cannot please Elohim.

Translated defined: to bear, remove, or change from one place, state, form, or appearance to another; to convey to heaven or to a nontemporal condition without death

Neither Enoch nor Elijah have died.

And to note, we who are His Set Apart believers will be changed when that time comes to be gathered together in the clouds at the return of Y'shua.  We will be changed in form, being made incorruptible.  We shall be incapable of corruption such as no longer subject to decay or dissolution. When we enter the promised land, the earthly kingdom of Y'shua the Anointed One, our 'bodies' will be like that of the Messengers (angels):

Mark 12:25 ~

For when they rise from the dead, they do not marry women nor are women given in marriage to men. Rather, they are like the Messengers who are in heaven. (aka: incorruptible spiritual beings = translated from one form to another.)

If we read from the book of Enoch we learn that he did achieve high standing in the heavenlies to the point I sometimes think he replaced the job opening left by Satan.

Please Note: I recommend one be fully in the Word of Elohim via the study of Scriptures before using other writings such as Enoch and Jasher so that one can discern that which lines up with Scriptures.  I do not substitute anything for the Word of our Creator yet find these sources help describe possible scenarios which are only alluded to in Scriptures.  YHWH is our final word on all things.  And we know, if everything that He did and everything that Y'shua did was written down the earth wouldn't be big enough to store all those books 😉