HIS NAME SAYS IT ALL
Elijah lived in the Kingdom of Israel 3000 years ago. The king at the time, Ahab, tried hard to eliminate the worship of the one God by promoting the pagan cult of Baal. Singlehandedly, Elijah rejected this idolatry and won. How did he do it? The secret to his success is found in his name. The name Elijah is composed of two Hebrew words: Eli (“my God”) and Jah (“the Lord”).
ELIJAH AND THE LORD
In of the most famous episodes in the Bible, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest on Mount Carmel. Which divinity – God or Baal – would descend to earth and visibly consume a sacrifice? Naturally, Baal never showed up. But the true Lord indeed descended in a flash of fire and consumed Elijah’s sacrifice. The people were stunned! They fall on their faces and instinctively shouted “the Lord indeed is God!” (1 Kgs 18:39). In the original Hebrew, the utterance “the Lord is indeed God” contains the same two words that make up the name Elijah.
ACCESS THE TRUE MEANING OF SCRIPTURAL NAMES
It is fitting that Elijah is called “My God is the Lord”, because he alone salvages the worship of the one true God by vanquishing the prophets of Baal. In the Bible, someone’s name tells us about their history, their intentions and what God has in store for them. But you cannot understand the real meaning of Biblical names without knowing the real language of the Bible. The time has come to study the Bible in Hebrew. Enroll today in eTeacher’s online Biblical Hebrew course!
