Elijah was born in c.900 BC. He saved the religion of Israel from being corrupted by the worship of Baal. Baal was a collection of gods including the Canaanite god of fertility. These gods had representations – idols that were worshiped in the idolatry prohibited by the Ten Commandments.
When the prophet Elijah knew it was time to depart from this world, a chariot appeared that he was expecting. It took him up to heaven but as he went up, he dropped his cloak for Elisha to pick up.
2 Kings chapter 2:
1When the Lord was about to take Elijah up to heaven in a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. …….
7 Fifty men from the company of the prophets went and stood at a distance, facing the place where Elijah and Elisha had stopped at the Jordan. 8 Elijah took his cloak, rolled it up and struck the water with it. The water divided to the right and to the left, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.
9 When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me, what can I do for you before I am taken from you?”
“Let me inherit a double portion of your spirit,” Elisha replied.
10 “You have asked a difficult thing,” Elijah said, “yet if you see me when I am taken from you, it will be yours—otherwise, it will not.”
11 As they were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. 12 Elisha saw this and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!” And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garment and tore it in two.
13 Elisha then picked up Elijah’s cloak that had fallen from him and went back and stood on the bank of the Jordan. 14 He took the cloak that had fallen from Elijah and struck the water with it. “Where now is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” he asked. When he struck the water, it divided to the right and to the left, and he crossed over.
15 The company of the prophets from Jericho, who were watching, said, “The spirit of Elijah is resting on Elisha.” And they went to meet him and bowed to the ground before him. 16 “Look,” they said, “we your servants have fifty able men. Let them go and look for your master. Perhaps the Spirit of the Lord has picked him up and set him down on some mountain or in some valley.”
“No,” Elisha replied, “do not send them.”
17 But they persisted until he was too embarrassed to refuse. So he said, “Send them.” And they sent fifty men, who searched for three days but did not find him. 18 When they returned to Elisha, who was staying in Jericho, he said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to go?”
This passage in the history of Israel written by Baruch and Jeremiah seems to suggest that Elijah did not die, but was taken up. Although he may have died and at once his body was transported away and so did not undergo corruption on earth. The same may be true of Enoch. In the case of Moses it is stated that he died and was buried in a cave.
Moses and Elijah join Jesus at the Transfiguration
The assumption of Elijah is not disputed. I decided to go with the tradition that Moses was assumed as well because he reappeared at the transfiguration of Jesus. Bodily reappearance appears to be dependent on the person having been assumed after death.
Luke 9
29 As he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning. 30 Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus. 31 They spoke about his departure, which he was about to bring to fulfillment at Jerusalem.
When Jesus was transfigured on the mountain in the time leading up to the crucifixion, he was joined by these two prophets testifying that they lived and were not dead. Moses represented the Law, while Elijah was chief of the prophets. These two symbolically summed up the Old Testament, as Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies.
Merry and True 