ACCORDING to the Second Book of Kings "a chariot of fire appeared and Elijah was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind". It marked the end of a long and illustrious career in which the prophet made abundant use of his talents as a long range forecaster, and showed an enviable expertise as a manipulator of the elements.
Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Galaad, first came to notice in 1 Kings, Ch.17, as a harbinger of doom. He was upset with Ahab, King of Israel, because the latter, led on by his evil wife Jezebel, had encouraged homage to the false god, Baal. Ejijah did not mince his words: "There shall not be dew nor rain for years in Israel, except according to my word". And so it was. The land burned under a blazing sun, rivers dried up, crops withered and died. Leaving them all to the not so tender mercies of the drought, Elijah went off to while away his time in Zarephath.
After 30 years or so, Elijah returned and announced he would repair the damage. He promised "the fire of the Lord" - which we may reasonably infer was lightning - followed by abundant rain.
Knowing that lightning is attracted to the highest point in the vicinity, Elijah picked Mount Carmel as the site for his experiment, and also chose the evening time, when he knew that thunderstorms are most likely to occur. He constructed an effective lightning conductor by "repairing the altar of the Lord", and building it up to a formidable height with 12 large stones; then he had the whole edifice saturated with numerous jars of water to improve its conductivity. Before long, "the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice and the stones, and also licked up the water in the trench around the altar".
Following the thunderstorms, "Elijah climbed to the top of Mount Carmel, bent down to the ground, and put his face between his knees", thereby wisely adopting the foetal position, the safest physical attitude for anyone under threat by lightning. As he waited, the prophet noted "the sound of the abundance of rain" - a reference, no doubt, to the commonly observed phenomenon that sounds often carry farther than normal in the humid atmosphere before a downpour.
And then it came. After seven days of waiting, Elijah's specially appointed weather observer reported "a cloud as small as a man's hand rising from the sea". It was sufficient for the prophet to be able to send word to Ahab that hiss prediction was about to be fulfilled: "And it came to pass that the heavens grew black with clouds, the wind rose, and there occurred a great rain over all the land of Israel."