Don’t Give Up, Pray Up: A Study on the Prayer Life of Elijah, the Prophet

Introduction

The New Bible Dictionary, Third Edition Elijah

The 9th-century prophet of Israel. His name appears in the Heb. OT as ’ēlîyyâhû and ’ēlîyyâ, in the Gk. OT as Ēleiou, and in the NT as Ēleias. The name means ‘Yah is El’ or ‘Yahweh is God’.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised B. Circumstances of His Ministry

In Elijah’s day the religious life of the northern kingdom was in crisis. The political policies of Omri had tended toward an amalgamation of Israel with the Canaanite enclaves remaining in the land. Ahab carried his father’s policies even farther. Spurred on by the haughty and strong-willed Jezebel, a devotee of the Tyrian Baal Melqart and his consort Asherah/Astarte (Jezebel’s father was Ethbaal king of Sidon, who was, or had been, a priest of Astarte; cf. Josephus CAp i.18), Ahab established the cult of Baal and Asherah in his capital city of Samaria (1 K. 16:32f.).