Eliyahu's Death/1/en
Eliyahu's Death
Introduction
Eliyahu's Disappearance
Chapter 2 in Melakhim II describes Eliyahu's departure. Throughout the whole chapter we hear that Eliyahu is about to be taken away:
...כִּי הַיּוֹם י"י לֹקֵחַ אֶת אֲדֹנֶיךָ מֵעַל רֹאשֶׁךָ...בְּטֶרֶם אֶלָּקַח מֵעִמָּךְ...אִם תִּרְאֶה אֹתִי לֻקָּח מֵאִתָּךְ...
The disappearing of Eliyahu seems to be mysterious, all of the sudden a chariot of fire came and took Eliyahu up to "שמים":
(א) וַיְהִי בְּהַעֲלוֹת י"י אֶת אֵלִיָּהוּ בַּסְעָרָה הַשָּׁמָיִם...
(יא) וַיְהִי הֵמָּה הֹלְכִים הָלוֹךְ וְדַבֵּר וְהִנֵּה רֶכֶב אֵשׁ וְסוּסֵי אֵשׁ וַיַּפְרִדוּ בֵּין שְׁנֵיהֶם וַיַּעַל אֵלִיָּהוּ בַּסְעָרָה הַשָּׁמָיִם.
The chapter never actually says that Eliyahu died, rather that he went up to "שָּׁמָיִם". Did Eliyahu die or is he still alive? Where was he taken to and where is he now?
Later Reappearances
There are two later occurrences of Eliyahu in Tanakh after he disappears. It is unclear when exactly Eliyahu died but it seems that Elisha replaced Eliyahu as a prophet already in the time of Yehoshafat. On this backdrop, it would seem that when a letter from Eliyahu comes to Yehoram, son of Yehoshafat, king of Yehuda, this was a letter after Eliyahu left the world:
וַיָּבֹא אֵלָיו מִכְתָּב מֵאֵלִיָּהוּ הַנָּבִיא לֵאמֹר כֹּה אָמַר י"י אֱלֹהֵי דָּוִיד אָבִיךָ תַּחַת אֲשֶׁר לֹא הָלַכְתָּ בְּדַרְכֵי יְהוֹשָׁפָט אָבִיךָ וּבְדַרְכֵי אָסָא מֶלֶךְ יְהוּדָה.
In addition, at the end of Malakhi, it says that Hashem is going to send Eliyahu before the coming of the great day of Hashem:
הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ לָכֶם אֵת אֵלִיָּה הַנָּבִיא לִפְנֵי בּוֹא יוֹם י"י הַגָּדוֹל וְהַנּוֹרָא.
How is it possible that Eliyahu reappears if he went up "בַּסְעָרָה הַשָּׁמָיִם"?
