Elijah: A Man Surrendered to Godنموونە

An Obscure Man

In the midst of the spiral of moral chaos, an obscure prophet by the name of Elijah comes out of nowhere as if he was shot out of a carnival cannon.

We know almost nothing about him. We don’t know about his family, his training, or his background. All we know is from a half-sentence introduction of him that says, “Now Elijah the Tishbite, from the Gilead settlers . . .” (1 Kings 17:1). That’s it. That’s our introduction to the greatest prophet of the Old Testament. It’s not much, but it’s enough to get a good picture in our minds.

Elijah was a Tishbite. Tishbe was a small, obscure town in Gilead. Gilead was a place known for its rugged, outdoorsy, hardworking, farming people. Elijah was not refined. His hands were not soft. His neck was not pale. His clothes were not new. He was not unfamiliar with long days and hard work. He was a simple, strong, hardworking, God-fearing outdoorsman.

Centuries later, John the Baptist would give us a little clue to what Elijah might have looked like. When John the Baptist came on the scene with his rough robe, loud voice, and strange diet, looking like he always slept outside, the people thought he was Elijah (John 1:21).

But the most important detail is not his looks, but his name. His name is more than just a name. His name is his calling card. His name tells us who he was, why he’d come, and what was most important to him.

The ancient Hebrew name for God is El, as in Elohim. Elijah’s name starts with that. The “i” after “El” is a first-person possessive pronoun. The “jah” represents the personal name of God, Yahweh; the covenant name of God—the name that God gave to His people. So Elijah’s name is made up of two names for God and a personal possessive pronoun. In other words, Elijah’s name meant, “My God is the Lord.” Or to say it another way, “I’m God’s man.”

Depending on how you look at it, this is either a perfect name for the moment or a terrible name for the moment. I don’t know if his parents gave him this name or if the Lord changed his name, but either way, his name made a statement. A strong statement. Especially in an age in which all of God’s men were being killed. Elijah’s name was a statement of rebellion against everything happening in the culture around him.

The lack of detail about his life might make him an obscure man, but his name made him a surrendered man.

Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 74.