Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Kitto Evening Bible Devotions: July 3
Today is: Wednesday, April 24th, 2024 (Show Today's Devotion)
Select a Day for a Devotion in the Month of July: (Show All Months)
Luk_1:17
From these passages the Jews rightly drew the inference, that the Messiah, for whose coming they looked with deep desire, would be preceded by a harbinger to announce him, and that this harbinger would be no other than Elijah the prophet in person. The correct apprehension of their views in this respect is important to the right understanding of several passages in the gospels; and as it appears that most of the views now entertained by the Jews, if not all of them, existed in the time of our Lord, they may be usefully cited in illustration.
It is, then, to be observed, that this expectation of Elias, as the forerunner of the Messiah, has led them for many ages to give petitions for his manifestation a prominent place in their public, and doubtless also in their private, prayers. In their notions and expectations which they have connected with his name, they do not forget that the Tishbite tasted not of death; for on this they have founded a large body of too curious speculations—such as appears so natural to the Hebrew mind, that he absence of it in the Scriptures might well excite our wonder, did we not know that the holy men of old spake not of themselves, but as they were inspired by the Holy Ghost. The difference between the traditions and writings of the Hebrews; when left to themselves and the tendencies of their truly oriental minds, and what they produced under the direct teachings of the Divine Spirit, is so great and so signal as of itself to furnish a powerful argument for the inspiration of the Scriptures, though it has generally been overlooked. Well, seeing that Elijah died not, but was taken away in a whirlwind, it came to be first conjectured, and then very fixedly believed, that although he retains his body, it is not like our bodies—all its essential moisture having been dried up, or evaporated, by that fiery whirlwind which bereft him from the earth. He acquired by this change a sort of half-spiritual frame, which qualified him to subsist without meat or drink, or the common necessities of mortal life. They did not conceive that the prophet, even in this condition of existence, was taken to the “heaven of heavens;” but to that earthly paradise from which our first parents were cast forth, where his proper station is beneath the tree of life. Yet he is not so confined to that spot as to preclude him from being in any part of the world where his presence is needed—in many or in all places at once—wherever Jews are; for he has become the special and appointed guardian of their affairs; and wherever they want a helper, there is he, redressing wrong, punishing injustice, and doing mercy. Many beautiful legends have they, relative to the interest Elias takes in the affairs of the Jews, of his watchfulness over their conduct, and of the good he has at various times done for Israel. He is supposed to be present at all circumcisions, on which occasions a chair is set for him, and which he is supposed invisibly to occupy—“invisibly,” except to those learned in the mysteries of the “Cabbala,” who are able to perceive him; whence we have in the Jewish books many accounts of interviews which the learned Rabbis have had with him, and the instructions they have received from him. In these accounts he is described as a venerable old man with a white beard; but without anything in his appearance to suggest that he is not as other men.
It will from this be perceived, that what the Jews look for and desire—as was probably also the case in the time of our Savior—is not merely the presence of Elias—for he is, in their view, already present—but his manifestation, his public appearance, to announce the approach of the Messiah.
But the gospels teach us that the personage, whose coming to prepare the Lord’s way is predicted in the New Testament, was no other than John the Baptist, whose birth was foreshown by an angel, as that of one who would come “in the spirit and power of Elias;”—not Elias personally, but one coming as the antitype of Elias, as the Messiah himself was of David. And in this point of view, it is worthy of note, that in the prophecy of Malachi the harbinger is indicated by the official designation of “Elijah the prophet,” and not by the personal one of “Elijah the Tishbite,” which is constantly applied to him in the history of his career. Our Savior himself also recognized the Baptist as the foretold Elijah; for when the disciples demurred that they had been taught to expect Elias before the manifestation of the Messiah, he told them that Elias had already come in the person of John. There are, in fact, many analogies of office and character between the two: Both called the people to repentance; and both, at the peril of their lives, fearlessly rebuked iniquity in high places. Both dwelt much apart in the wildernesses; and of both it is specially mentioned that they were habitually clad in haircloth, and wore leathern girdles about their loins.
But it may be objected, that John himself, when asked by the Jews, “Art thou Elias?” answered, “I am not.” In point or fact, he may not himself have known it. But we do not apprehend his denial in this sense. He knew that they expected Elias to appear in person, and he declared that he was not Elias in the sense in which the question was asked; though in another sense he was that Elias, of whose coming, as the precursor of Christ, the prophet Malachi had spoken.