Category: Biblical places

Elijah Taken Up in a Tempest

I have heard of people being taken up into the heart of a tornado and carried away, so when I read again that Elijah was carried up in a tempest, the thought occurred to me that this was what happened to Elijah.  It seems everyone around knew that Elijah was going to be taken that day, as recounted in the famous Bible story of 2 Kings 2.

The Hebrew word for tempest is C’RH or C’arah, which means ‘hurricane’ or ‘whirlwind’.  Could it be that Elijah was a storm-chaser?  Elijah in the recent past had begged God ‘for his life, to die’.  I believe God wanted to make Elijah’s exit from this world an extraordinary one and led him into the heart of a divine storm for that very reason.  Tornadoes rarely occur inland in Israel.

A while before this, Queen Jezebel threatened Elijah’s life for killing her prophets of Baal, and distraught, he fled to Beer-sheba which means ‘well of the oath’, the Hebrew ‘shaba’ meaning ‘to be complete’ or ‘to seven oneself’, which is also the root word for the Sabbath, or Shabbat, the day God rested from His work.  He parted with his ‘young man’ there and went alone a day’s journey into the Wilderness, and came and sat under a ‘certain broom tree’.  It is likely this was a huge and remarkable tree which was also enjoyed by Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob.  It might even have been the tree where God revealed the initial promise to Abraham.  Broom tree in Hebrew is RTHM, rothem, and it means ‘to bind’.  The Juniper tree below is a likely candidate for Elijah’s broom tree.

Juniper or ‘broom’ tree

Here Elijah begged for his life, but not in the way we usually think of as in to save his life.  Elijah begged for YHWH, Yahweh, to take his life, that he might die, because, he said, “Enough now, Yahweh, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers.”  Enough in Hebrew is RB, Rab, and it means ‘abundant’.  This tells us Elijah felt his life had been abundant.  Then he slept and an angel ministered to him two times to give him strength for his journey, because he still had much to do before he could die.

He then journeyed in the vigor of that food for 40 days and 40 nights (the Biblical right of passage) until he came to the Mount of God, Mount Horeb, where Moses received the 10 Commandments and the Hebrew people became a nation.  He lodged there in a cave and God entreated him twice to tell him why he was there.  Both times Elijah iterated that he was the only prophet left alive and that they sought to take his life, that he had done his duty by Yahweh, and that he was alone.  Surely Elijah knew his death was inevitable and he did not want to die by the hand of evil ones.  So God, granting his plea, sent Elijah back by way of the Wilderness to Damascus to fulfill three tasks, the last of which was to anoint Elisha as prophet to take his place. (1 Kings 19)

Then a bit later in 2 Kings 2, Elijah and Elisha venture forth from Gilgal via Bethel, Jericho, and finally cross the Jordan River.  This is when Elijah was separated from Elisha by a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and taken up into a tempest, never to be seen again.

This is a journey of 22 miles:

-Gilgal 7 miles north of Bethel (this is not the Gilgal of Joshua near the Jordan, but the mountainous Gilgal

-Bethel to Jericho is approximately 10 miles (by guestimation)

-Jericho to the Jordan is about 5 miles

Walking a mile in 30 minutes means that it took at least 11 hours for Elijah and Elisha to get from Gilgal to the Jordan River, probably more because of descending the mountain of Gilgal and navigating Bethel.

This linked study does a remarkable job at looking into the meaning behind the name of the different cities and town the prophet and his student journeyed through:  The Journey of Elijah and Elisha and its Meaning .

The Journey of Elijah and Elisha Before Elijah was Taken Up

The only additions I feel necessary to make to the above referenced Bible study is that Elijah ‘took up his mantle’ and divided the waters and they parted in two.  Just like Moses had lifted his staff to divide the waters of the Red Sea in two.  To me this is a reference to God being two parts, ALHYM and Yahweh, Father and Son.  Perhaps three, if we consider the Holy Spirit is the one doing the dividing.  This is a clear reference to Messiah, because Messiah is the living water everyone was awaiting.  And God in Heaven separates the waters which encompasses all of life, known and unknown.

But why does Elijah go back across the Jordan to the wrong side to be taken up?  I believe it is because Elijah never really lived in the Promised Land, but was always a prophet outcast whom rulers sought the life of.  Like Moses, Elijah was unable to really access the Holy Land given to God’s people, though he lived there all of this days, being like Jesus ‘not of this world’.  Elijah’s name in Hebrew means “my God is Yahweh”, Yahweh being our word for Jesus.  Elijah died before seeing the Messiah come and therefore was not able to be taken up into Heaven from the Holy Land, but first had to cross back over the Jordan to near the same place Moses himself died.

 

Qumran

This place fascinates me.  I definitely hope to visit it some day.  While I believe Jesus Christ stood on His own in this world and did not identify with any sect, I do believe the Essenes might have played a role in His life.  Perhaps by being the mages who recognized His identity to begin with, and who may have taken Him under their wing for training and instruction, with Him setting out to continue His special ministry to the world, to us.

Qumran (Hebrew: קומראן‎; Arabic: خربة قمران‎ Khirbet Qumran) is an archaeological site in the West Bank managed by Israel’s Qumran National Park.[1] It is located on a dry plateau about a mile from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near theIsraeli settlement and kibbutz of Kalya. The Hellenistic period settlement was constructed during the reign of John Hyrcanus, 134-104 BCE or somewhat later, and was occupied most of the time until it was destroyed by the Romans in 68 CE or shortly after. It is best known as the settlement nearest to the Qumran Caves where the Dead Sea Scrolls were hidden), caves in the sheer desert cliffs and beneath, in the marl terrace. The principal excavations at Qumran were conducted by Roland de Vaux in the 1950s, though several later campaigns at the site have been carried out.  ~Wikipedia

Looking east from the Qumran gorge, the small structure on the upper left amid the trees contains the modern Qumran visitor’s center. The ruins of Qumran can be seen immediately to the right. The settlement was built close to the seaward side of a plateau. The Dead Sea forms a hazy backdrop. To the extreme right is the Wadi Qumran, a torrent that is dry most of the year. On the few occasions when it rains, though, it becomes a ravaging torrent that has eroded the side of the plateau where Qumran is. From the mid-left the remains of an aqueduct run down to the settlement. This channel helped furnish Qumran with a valuable supply of water. At the end of the outcrop in the center of the picture is Cave 4, which supplied the vast bulk of the Dead Sea Scrolls.  ~Wikipedia

This picture is just so beautiful~

“Qumran Caves” by Grauesel , as seen from the other side from the previous photo

It is interesting how much room we think we need to have to live now.  My apartment is a palace compared to this size-wise.

Gabriel’s Revelation

Gabriel’s Revelation, also called Hazon Gabriel (the Vision of Gabriel)[1] or the Jeselsohn Stone,[2] is a three-foot-tall (one metre) stone tablet with 87 lines of Hebrew text written in ink, containing a collection of short prophecies written in the first person and dated to the late 1st century BCE.[3][4] One of the stories allegedly tells of a man who was killed by the Romans and resurrected in three days. It is a tablet described as a “Dead Sea scroll in stone” ~Wiki

I believe Jesus Christ lived with the Essenes at Qumran for at least a while.  I believe it is where He predominantly learned, and came into His divinity.  Just because the concept of a suffering Messiah was around just before the time of His birth does not mean His life was any less divine.  The proof was in the pudding, and Jesus essentially said that Himself.  Told from birth He was the likely Messiah, and knowing the concept of a suffering Messiah still meant that He had to grow and learn, perform miracles, heal, be perfect, and come into His divinity as God willed that process to occur, and in God’s time, finally culminating in His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension at the age of ~33.

https://archive.org/details/Aabbey1-IsraelKnohlMessiahsAndResurrectionInTheGabrielRevelation484