Most of the kings that came after Solomon were wicked. Elijah, introduced in the scriptures only as "the Tishbite," appears suddenly during the reign of one of these wicked kings, Ahab. (1 Kings 17:1.)
Elijah's ministry is characterized by dramatic miracles, spectacular efforts to turn the hearts of a stubborn people back to their true God. Adding to these miracles was Elijah's rough appearance. He was "an hairy man, girt with the girdle of leather about his loins." (2 Kings 1:8.) He first sealed the heavens of dew and rain to create a famine that would humble the people. In the famine, he was hidden at a brook and fed by ravens who "brought him bread and flesh." (1 Kings 17:6.)When the brook dried up, Elijah was kept by a widow whose meal and oil were extended miraculously. (1 Kings 17:16.) When her son died, Elijah raised him back to life. (v. 22-23.)
After three years of famine, Elijah went to meet King Ahab and challenged him to a duel: himself against the 450 prophets of Baal, gathered at Mount Carmel. (1 Kings 18:18-19.)
"How long halt ye between two opinions?" Elijah challenged the people when all had gathered together. "If the Lord be God, follow him."
Elijah asked the false prophets to offer a bullock as a sacrifice, and then to pray for Baal to burn the sacrifice for them. As these priests vainly petitioned their false god, Elijah mocked them. (v. 27-28.)
When the day was past, Elijah prepared a sacrifice and then soaked it in water and filled a trench around it with water. He prayed for fire "Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench," (v. 38.)
Elijah commanded the people to capture the prophets of Baal, and they were all slain. (v. 40.) Elijah afterward told the wicked king that rain would fall. (v.44-46.)
When Ahab related these events to his wife, Jezebel, she was angry and promised to kill Elijah. (1 Kings 19:1-2.) He fled into the wilderness, sat under a juniper tree and asked the Lord to "take away my life." But an angel came and fed him (v. 4-7) and he journeyed to Mount Horeb, where the Lord again spoke to him. First came a "great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake:
"And after the earthquake, a fire; but the lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice." (v. 11-12.)
The Lord commanded Elijah to anoint two kings for Israel, and to anoint Elisha to be Elijah's successor. Elijah placed his mantle upon Elisha, who left his work and followed Elijah. (v. 19-21.)
Later, King Ahab and his wife, Jezebel, took unrighteous possession of a vineyard that belonged to a man named Naboth. They bore false witness against Naboth and had him stoned. (1 Kings 21:1-16.) Elijah was sent to the vineyard to prophesy against the unrighteous couple. (v. 18.) Ahab outwardly repented, so judgement was stayed against him, but fulfilled later. (v. 27-29.)
When Ahab's son, Ahaziah became king and "did evil in the sight of the Lord" (1 Kings 51:52), Elijah met his messengers and chastised Ahaziah for following false gods and prophesied his imminent death. ( 2 Kings 1:1-4.) Ahaziah sent three contingents of 50 men to bring Elijah to him, but Elijah called fire from heaven down that consumed the first two contingents. (v. 10-12.) An angel interceded and directed him to go with the third contingent to Ahaziah and again foretell his death, which Elijah did. (v. 13-16.)
Elijah was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11), but his ministry continued after death. Malachi prophesied that "I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and dreadful day of the Lord:
"And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Mal. 4:5-6.)
With Moses, Elijah appeared to the Savior and Peter, James and John on the Mount of Transfiguration. (Matt. 17:1-9.) He also appeared in the Kirtland Temple to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to restore the keys of sealing, which bind in heaven that which is bound on earth.
Joseph Smith taught that the "spirit of Elijah" refers to the sealing power. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 337-8.) This power extends "in behalf of all their progenitors who are dead, and
toT redeem them . . . and herein is the chain that binds the hearts of the fathers to the children and the children to the fathers, which fulfills the mission of Elijah." (p. 330.)
