This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human. Saturday, August 22nd in Tampa, witnessing MMA Legends final fight. Chris Cyborg, one of the greatest in history. She's an absolute pioneer in the sport.
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Stuart Halbern. co-author of the phenomenal book, Jewish Roots of American Liberty. with the story of Elisha. Take it away, Stuart. Anyone who's ever been to a Passover Cedar might have noticed a rather curious ritual.
Over the course of the evening, which celebrates the liberation of the Biblical Israelites from the clutches of the tyrannical, Barrow. the Jews attending get up out of their chairs and open the door to the room in which they are eating. They ceremoniously welcome an often overlooked figure from an often overlooked biblical book. as if he is entering the room at that moment. Elijah from the Book of Kings.
This meal is a symbol of an eventual redemption to come. That, of course, is the arrival of the Messiah as believed in by the Jewish people. And Elijah is the figure who will arrive before the Messianic redemption flowers.
Now for those who might need some reminding of the biblical adventures of Elijah, Elijah appears out of nowhere and declares a famine in ancient Israel during the reign of the evil king Ahab. Elijah seeks to stir this monarch to repentance and inspire all of ancient Israel to relegate their pagan gods and goddesses to the dustbin of history. than return to their covenantal true character. As part of his urging to do so, he assembles 450 pagan priests and dares them to bring a sacrifice to their purported gods. And wait and wait they do, and nothing happens.
Elijah then pours water on the altar that he had assembled to offer sacrifices to the one true God. And sure enough, fire comes down from heaven and brings up in flames the sacrifice of Elijah, thereby proving to the people the righteousness and power of the one true God. Elijah continues to rain fire and brimstone on an unrepentant people. And eventually, God realizes. That the Jewish people will repent and they need to have quiet moments.
Lacking a fire and brimstone in which to do so. And so God passes before Elijah. And God is not in the fire and God is not in the thunder and God is not loud cracking noises surrounding Elijah, who's ensconced in the crag of a rock. but rather God is in the still small voice. That is what we are told in the book of Kings: the call of God of contrazealotry.
Elijah has spent decades trying to get the people. through literal fire raining down from heaven, but at the end of the day, it needs to step off the stage. Upon realizing that sometimes what people need to hear is the still small voice of God, and it is that that will inspire them to be their best selves. And so when he is taken off the stage, He has done so actually in a rather remarkable way. He is lifted up by a chariot and ascends to heaven.
While still alive, the only biblical figure in the Hebrew Bible to not physically die, but rather angels come from the heavens and escort him in a chariot. Up. to the throne of God. And he leaves behind A mantle to his successor, whose name is Alicia. And Elisha takes on the job of the prophet Elijah.
But Elijah actually has appeared in that prism of the American story as well. Elijah has served as a figure signifying the moral and spiritual elevation of Americans throughout our nation's story. When George Washington stepped down from the presidency and then retired, in contrast to kings that served for decades passing along the role, He sat under his own vine and fig tree, literally embodying a biblical prophecy from the book of Micah, in which man shall sit unafraid under said fine and said fig tree.
So, Washington off the stage. is no longer present. He, of course, is succeeded by America's second president. John Adams. When John Adams was running for re-election in the election of 1800, he was compared.
Not to Elijah, but to the Elijah. to Elijah's successor. Alicia. Of course, this was not the only appearance of Elijah in the American political consciousness. In the fight a few years earlier against the British, Elijah was there as well.
John Lewis. Yeah. In a sermon, the reproaching of the evil king Ahab in the time of Elijah.
Now, this king, a tyrannical one to be sure, had killed a fellow by the name of Naboth. and seize his vineyard. The king decided, well, I have the right of eminent domain. I'm going to seize this man's property and kill him to boot. And so Elijah shows up before him.
He rebukes Ahab. And this quote, hast thou killed and also taken possession, was used by Charles and John Lewis in a sermon called Nabot's Vineyard in 1777. Just as Aabet unlawfully seized the vineyard and killed an innocent man at the urging of his wife Jezebel, the British crown was unjustly stealing colonists' property for personal gain. It was up to General Washington to offer King George III's army an Elijah-style rebuke. in the matter of twenty-one nineteen s, hast thou killed and also taken possession.
Then you might think that perhaps Americans would be turning to figures like David and Moses for such a rebuke, but uniquely, Elijah was a prophet who offered moral criticism. David himself was a king, so what isn't necessarily a good model for someone who would rebuke kings? And Moses was leading an army, and of course, Washington would become the Moses of America. But at this stage in the fight, the idea of complaining righteously about a societal ill. That was Elijah's.
Calling her. Then you have the transition in the American story from the fire and brimstone of Elijah. to this still small voice. And that voice resonates during the Civil War.
So you have Frederick Douglass saying, not by the sword, but by the word, not by brute force of numbers, by the still small voice of truth. will social equality be achieved. Figures like Frederick Douglass used this still small voice metaphor because it wouldn't be, they believed, Elijah's fiery wonderwork that resonated, but rather. Gods quietly rendered calm. Perhaps they hoped this tranquil divine uttering might usher in a more united and more peaceful United States.
during and after. the Civil War.
Now, Elijah's ascension to heaven also served to inspire. When countless slaves were picking cotton in the cotton fields, among the slave spirituals they sang was the song Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. We all know the song, we can all hum it in our minds. Sweet Cherry Coming for to carry me home. Swing low, sweet cherria, coming for to carry me home.
Swing ho, sweet cherria, coming forth to carry me home. That song, of course, is about Elijah's ascension. to heaven. These enslaved African Americans believed, hoped, and prayed that they too would somehow be able to throw off their chains and ascend to higher heights to a liberation that was unique, just like Elijah in his ascension while alive to heaven. Then you had abolitionists for decades picking up that mantle of Elijah.
And so Francis James Grimke, in the early 20th century, noted amidst his fight for equal rights. For Black Americans. For years, he said about Elijah, he had labored hard for the reformation of his countrymen under the direction and inspiration of the Almighty. He threw himself with all the energy and impetuosity of his nature into the work of reforming them. Just as Elijah had tried to seek a more equal, righteous, moral society under the auspices of God, so too Grimke tried to inspire a more equal, covenantal character in America.
And so Elijah throughout the American story from the founding era to today. has endured as a symbol of moral courage rebuke. and hope in American politics.
Sometimes he has taught us. We need fire and brimstone. to remind ourselves to be our best selves other times is a quiet, still small voice. that will spiritually uplift us all. And a terrific job on the storytelling, editing, and production by our own Monty Montgomery.
And a special thanks to Rabbi Stuart Halpern. He's the author of The Jewish Roots of American Liberty, a terrific book. Go to your local bookstore or however you get your books. You won't put it down. There's so much to learn.
about the Old Testament. And its applications in so much of our Revolutionary War period, Civil War period, the story of the Jewish roots of liberty. This time the story of Elijah. Here. on our American stories.
Saturday, August 22nd in Tampa, witnessing MMA Legends final fight. Chris Cyborg, one of the greatest in history. She's an absolute pioneer in the sport. Defends her PFL world title. One last time.
Unforgettable and got you. To an unforgettable career. Saturday, August 22nd, live from Benchmark International Arena. For tickets, visit pfl.info/slash tampa. Some people use ChatGPT to answer questions.
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