Elijah Enigma
The Prophet, King Ahab and the Rebirth of Monotheism in the Book of Kings
Elijah Enigma
The Prophet, King Ahab and the Rebirth of Monotheism in the Book of Kings
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Publisher: McFarland & Co Inc
ISBN: 9780786495207
Number of Pages: 384
Published: 30/09/2014
Width: 17.8 cm
Height: 25.4 cm
An analysis of the intertwining tales of Elijah and Ahab--mercurial prophet and Machiavellian king--this book is an accessible treatment of one of the most dramatic and well-known episodes in the Bible. In contrast to the popular image of Elijah as a courageous wonder-worker who calls down fire from heaven and ascends to heaven in a fiery chariot, this book contends that the prophet was a deeply conflicted man, torn between a burning idealism and a deep disillusionment over his failure to achieve his ideals.
Despite his profound sense of failure, Elijah's struggle against the paganizing regime of King Ahab and his queen, Jezebel, managed to save monotheism from eclipse, and in so doing alter the course of human history. This work further proposes that the tale presented by the Bible is more than an account of an ancient battle between two historic figures: it is a paradigm of the struggle between the ideals of human dignity and justice, and the alternative of expediency in the pursuit of power, a conflict that pervades human life to this very day.
Table of Contents
Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
Prologue: The Root of the Infection
Part I: As the Twig Is Bent
Part II: The Rise of the House of Ahab
The Book of Elijah: Confrontations
1. The Fugitive from Tishbe
2. Confrontations in a Time of Drought
3. Elijah Forces a Showdown
Excursus: What Can Explain the People’s Apostasy?
4. The Big Let-down
5. Abdication Denied
Excursus: The Ringing Stillness
The Book of Ahab
6. Against Overwhelming Odds
7. At the Turn of the Year
8. Impeached
9. Crime and Punishment
10. Entrapment
11. Nemesis
The Book of Elijah Continued: Final Reckoning
12. A Most Unfortunate Accident
Excursus: The Oracle and the Prophet
13. Translation
Excursus: Of History and Myth
The Fall of the House of Ahab
14. Unfinished Business I: Mission to Damascus
15. Unfinished Business II: The Coming of the Storm
16. The Chariot Rider
17. The Unleashed Man
18. Final Curtain
19. Summing Up
Postscript: The Long Aftermath
Afterword
Appendices:
1. Dating in the Book of Kings
2. The Community of the Exile
3. Miracles in the Bible
4. A Note on “Asherah”
5. David’s Libation
6. A Zealous Exemplar
7. The Aramean Connection
8. Wadi Fara, September 21–22, 1918
9. The Sons of the Prophets
10. The Ancestral Estate
11. The Hidden House of Omri
12. The Gebirah or Queen Mother
Timeline: Putting Things in Perspective
Glossary of Terms and Place Names
Who’s Who in the Elijah Story
Bibliography
Scriptural Index
General Index
Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
Prologue: The Root of the Infection
Part I: As the Twig Is Bent
Part II: The Rise of the House of Ahab
The Book of Elijah: Confrontations
1. The Fugitive from Tishbe
2. Confrontations in a Time of Drought
3. Elijah Forces a Showdown
Excursus: What Can Explain the People’s Apostasy?
4. The Big Let-down
5. Abdication Denied
Excursus: The Ringing Stillness
The Book of Ahab
6. Against Overwhelming Odds
7. At the Turn of the Year
8. Impeached
9. Crime and Punishment
10. Entrapment
11. Nemesis
The Book of Elijah Continued: Final Reckoning
12. A Most Unfortunate Accident
Excursus: The Oracle and the Prophet
13. Translation
Excursus: Of History and Myth
The Fall of the House of Ahab
14. Unfinished Business I: Mission to Damascus
15. Unfinished Business II: The Coming of the Storm
16. The Chariot Rider
17. The Unleashed Man
18. Final Curtain
19. Summing Up
Postscript: The Long Aftermath
Afterword
Appendices:
1. Dating in the Book of Kings
2. The Community of the Exile
3. Miracles in the Bible
4. A Note on “Asherah”
5. David’s Libation
6. A Zealous Exemplar
7. The Aramean Connection
8. Wadi Fara, September 21–22, 1918
9. The Sons of the Prophets
10. The Ancestral Estate
11. The Hidden House of Omri
12. The Gebirah or Queen Mother
Timeline: Putting Things in Perspective
Glossary of Terms and Place Names
Who’s Who in the Elijah Story
Bibliography
Scriptural Index
General Index
