Elijah_The_Prophet

Elijah The Prophet The accounts of Elijah the prophet in the Bible and his story as told by Louis Ginzberg in his Legends of the Jews describe some of the same events but in very different manners. Throughout the Bible, Elijah is portrayed as a faithful servant of God, and the two work together, God heeding Elijah’s words and vice versa. Ginzberg, however, often shows a more adversarial nature of the events, with God often manipulating Elijah in a contest of power. As such, Ginzberg’s God is more human-like in his motivations and ensuing actions. Elijah, on the other hand, is portrayed by Ginzberg as a devout, altruistic prophet, almost Christ-like in his ability to perform miracles and his attention to the poor and suffering. By drawing this contrast in his depictions of the two characters, Ginzberg often shows a less holy, more power-hungry God and idealizes Elijah. A comparison of the representation of some of Elijah’s stories in the Bible and then in Ginzberg reveals this discrepancy. Story One – The Promise Kings 1:17 begins with a declaration by Elijah stating that there “will be no rain or dew for the next two or three years until god, elijah, ginzberg, prophet, bible, baal, ginzberg’s, prophets, promise, fire, death, account, go, events, elijah’s, widow’s, two, one, lord, event, drought, different, about, test, take, shows, often, kings, human, god’s, food, first, fact, contrast, brook, between, author, wind, widow, water, upon, thus, throughout, three, story, stories, son, sends