Chance Meeting

Background on Elijah

I really wanted to have an unique conversation between Lois and Elijah because their common heritage, which is Hebrew in nature, but not precisely Jewish. Elijah was not from the tribe of Judah (where the word ‘Jew’ originally comes from).  He would have a unique view on the historical kingdoms of Judah and Israel. I tried to imagine what it would be like for a man who was a prophet to the Northern Kingdom of Israel to deal with the fact that his country was ultimately lost to history. The Jews got to return after they were captured by the Babylonians, but in 722 BC the northern country of Israel was erased from history by the Assyrians.

Surprisingly little is recorded about  Elijah’s origins when he steps abruptly onto the scene in I Kings 17. In fact, we are not even told what his tribe was from. Thus, I had to make my best estimate based upon where the Old Testament records he came from (i.e. Gilead east of the Jordan). The tribes of Ruben, Gad, and one half of the tribe of Manasseh settled east of the Jordan. The region of Gilead seemed closest to Manasseh, thus I choose that one for Elijah.