Many-sided though Elijah's participation in the course of historical
events is, it cannot be compared with what he is expected to do in the
days of the Messiah. He is charged with the mission of ordering the
coming time aright and restoring the tribes of Jacob. (105) His
Messianic activity thus is to be twofold: he is to be the forerunner of
the Messiah, yet in part he will himself realize the promised scheme of
salvation. His first task will be to induce Israel to repent when the
Messiah is about to come, (106) and to establish peace and harmony in
the world. (107) Hence he will have to settle all legal difficulties,
and solve all legal problems, that have accumulated since days
immemorial, (108) and decide vexed questions of ritual concerning which
authors entertain contradictory views. In short, all difference of
opinion must be removed from the path of the Messiah. (109) This office
of expounder of the law Elijah will continue to occupy even after the
reign of peace has been established on earth, and his relation to Moses
will be the same Aaron once held. (110)
Elijah's preparatory work will be begun three days before the advent of
the Messiah. Then he will appear in Palestine, and will utter a lament
over the devastation of the Holy Land, and his wail will be heard
throughout the world. The last words of his elegy will be: "Now peace
will come upon earth!" When the evil-doers hear this message, they will
rejoice. On the second day, he will appear again and proclaim: "Good
will come upon earth!" And on the third his promise will be heard:
"Salvation will come upon earth." (111) Then Michael will blow the
trumpet, and once more Elijah will make his appearance, this time to
introduce the Messiah. (112) To make sure of the identity of the
Messiah, the Jews will demand that he perform the miracle of
resurrection before their eyes, reviving such of the dead as they had
known personally. (113) But the Messiah will do the following seven
wonders: He will bring Moses and the generation of the desert to life;
Korah and his band he will raise from out of the earth; he will revive
the Ephraimitic Messiah, who was slain; he will show the three holy
vessels of the Temple, the Ark, the flask of manna, and the cruse of
sacred oil, all three of which disappeared mysteriously; he will wave
the sceptre given him by God; he will grind the mountains of the Holy
Land into powder like straw, and he will reveal the secret of
redemption. Then the Jews will believe that Elijah is the Elijah
promised to them, and the Messiah introduced by him is the true
Messiah. (114)
The Messiah (115) will have Elijah blow the trumpet, and, at the first
sound, the primal light, which shone before the week of Creation, will
reappear; at the second sound the dead will arise, and with the
swiftness of wind assemble around the Messiah from all corners of the
earth; at the third sound, the Shekinah will become visible to all; the
mountains will be razed at the fourth sound, and the Temple will stand
in complete perfection as Ezekiel described it. (116)
During the reign of peace, Elijah will be one of the eight princes
forming the cabinet of the Messiah. (117) Even the coming of the great
judgment day will not end his activity. On that day the children of the
wicked who had to die in infancy on account of the sins of their
fathers will be found among the just, while their fathers will be
ranged on the other side. The babes will implore their fathers to come
to them, but God will not permit it. Then Elijah will go to the little
ones, and teach them how to plead in behalf of their fathers. They will
stand before God and say: "Is not the measure of good, the mercy of
God, larger than the measure of chastisements? If, then, we died for
the sins of our fathers, should they not now for our sakes be granted
the good, and be permitted to join us in Paradise?" God will give
assent to their pleadings, and Elijah will have fulfilled the word of
the prophet Malachi; he will have brought back the fathers to the
children. (118)
The last act of Elijah's brilliant career will be the execution of
God's command to slay Samael, and so banish evil forever. (119)
VIII.
ELISHA AND JONAH