Eliyahu's Death/2

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Eliyahu's Death

Exegetical Approaches

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Eliyahu is Alive

"וַיַּעַל אֵלִיָּהוּ בַּסְעָרָה הַשָּׁמָיִם" – These commentators disagree where Eliyahu is alive:
  • Eliyahu is alive in Gan Eden – from Midreshei Chazal it seems that Eliyahu went up to Gan Eden with his body and lives there.  Every so often he comes down to the land to fulfill his missions.
  • Eliyahu is alive on Earth – Ralbag says that Eliyahu did not go up to שמים rather went up "בגובה האויר" and Hashem took him to an unknown place where he still lives.
"מִכְתָּב מֵאֵלִיָּהוּ" – This approach maintains that Eliyahu was still alive and was able to send the letter.
Malakhi 3:23 – This verse is one of the motivations for this approach that Eliyahu is still alive.
Why didn't Eliyahu die?
Resurrection of the dead
What did בני הנביאים know and think?
"סְעָרָה"
לקיחה
Pinchas
Polemics
Philosophical motivation

Eliyahu Died

"וַיַּעַל אֵלִיָּהוּ בַּסְעָרָה הַשָּׁמָיִם" – These commentators disagree regarding what happened during the storm:
  • Transported – R. Saadia Gaon says that Eliyahu was lifted into the air in a whirlwind, and brought to an unknown place on earth, where he lived for an undesignated amount of time before he died.  He understands the term "הַשָּׁמָיִם" as hyperbolic; Eliyahu was not brought literally to heaven, but simply raised up via the storm winds.
  • Death – Radak and Hoil Moshe,2 in contrast, understand the term "הַשָּׁמָיִם" to refer to the heavenly realm, and suggest that during the storm the "chariots of fire" burned Eliyahu's body, while his soul went up to heaven.
"מִכְתָּב מֵאֵלִיָּהוּ" – These commentators must explain how Eliyahu could write a letter to Yehoram if he had died before Yehoram's reign.  They offer several possible explanations:
  • Prophetic Ibn EzraMalakhi 3:24About R. Avraham ibn Ezra brings the possibility that Eliyahu wrote the letter prophetically before he died and then gave it to one of בני הנביאים to give to Yehoram in the future.3
  • Alive during Yehoram's reign – Since R. Saadia maintains that Eliyahu died at some point after the storm, it is possible that he was still alive during the reign of Yehoram and sent him a letter from wherever Hashem had placed him. The Biur, instead, posits that there is achronology in the verses and that the story of the storm in Chapter 2 really occurred at some point after Yehoram began to reign.4
  • Via vision after death – Radak suggests that after Eliyahu died he appeared to one of the prophets in a vision and told him to write the letter in the name of Eliyahu.5
"הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ לָכֶם אֵת אֵלִיָּה הַנָּבִיא"
  • Eliyahu will be resurrected – Radak asserts that Eliyahu will be resurrected so that he can return to the earth and act as Hashem's messenger before the Day of Judgement.
  • Eliyahu as a term for prophet – Hoil Moshe, in contrast, asserts that Malakhi does not mean to insinuate that Eliyahu himself is to return but rather that at that point there will once again be prophets, like Eliyahu, in Israel.6
Why is Eliyahu's death so unusual? Hoil Moshe explains that Hashem wanted Eliyahu's death to be as wondrous as his life.
Resurrection of the dead
What did בני הנביאים know and think? Radak says that בני הנביאים thought that maybe Eliyahu didn't die but rather disappeared (like he did regularly) and so they were looking where he was hiding.  In contrast, Hoil Moshe explains that בני הנביאים did know that Eliyahu was going to die and they were just looking for his body so they can bury it (not knowing that his body was burnt).
"סְעָרָה" – R. Saadia Gaon explains that a סערה rises a little and then comes down.
לקיחה
Polemics
Philosophical motivation