The Days of Elijah
Before I say too much about Elijah, I have a confession to make. As a Twenty-First Century American, writing about a historical nation that existed on the other side of the world nearly 3000 years ago, I’ve probably made some historical errors.
I know, shocking.
In some cases, cultural norms in the time of Elijah were so radically different that it's hard to even get across to a modern audience in a way that makes any sense at all. I've tried to capture the important aspects of the historical culture, but even that is many times an educated guess made from hints dropped in other sources hundreds of years and hundreds of miles removed. I've made my best effort not to misrepresent what was going on during the time of Elijah, but where I was unsure and and felt too much detail would distract from the main idea, I tend to leave it out.
In other places, I've just made mistakes and for that I’m sorry. I’ve certainly tried to do appropriate research, but I’m not a scholar of ancient Hebrew and I don’t particularly want to spend the rest of my life becoming an expert on a particularly niche topic. If you do find an error, I hope you’ll be able to overlook it and enjoy the rest of the book.
With that out of the way, writing a story about someone like Elijah entails treading a very fine line. There are so many views and opinions that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to please everyone. Keeping that in mind, it’s important to take the story as… well, as a story. It’s my personal opinion on the biblical account of Elijah, nothing more. And as such, it could very well be wrong.
My overriding philosophy through all this has simply been to stick to the Biblical account as closely as possible, and to more or less take it at face value. Where possible I’ve tried to directly integrate quotes directly from the text and adhere to most of the secondary details. I’ve tried to temper all that though, by fitting things together in a way that makes narrative sense. That may or may not be the correct approach to the story of Elijah, but it’s the approach I’ve taken.
If you’re interested in reading more about Elijah, I would direct you to the biblical account starting at the Book of 1 Kings: Chapter 17 and continuing on through 2 Kings. This is, to my knowledge, the only primary source that exists regarding Elijah. He does get a mention in the Quran, but for various reasons I chose not to include that narrative account. We know slightly more about King Ahab from extra-biblical sources. Historians generally seem to agree that he existed, thanks to an Assyrian reference documenting the Battle of Qarqar, where the Assyrians claim to have won a great victory, despite having retreated afterwards.
There are a few more tidbits archaeologists have unearthed, but generally speaking, the details we do have are very sparse. Based on Assyrian dating, which references solar eclipses, we can say Elijah likely lived around 870-850 BC. Unfortunately, in the intermittent 2900 years large swathes of the region have been burned, razed to the ground or otherwise depopulated multiple times, courtesy of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Seleucids, Alexander the Great, and of course the Romans. That’s just in antiquity. As a consequence, a large amount of ‘making things up’ went into this story. I’ve certainly tried my best, but the reality is, outside biblical references, we don’t have that many specific details about the Levant during this time period.
That said. In the end, The Days of Elijah is a novel not a history book, and regardless of if you're a scholar of ancient Hebrew, or just a person who picked it up because the cover caught your eye, I hope you've been able to enjoy it.
I know, shocking.
In some cases, cultural norms in the time of Elijah were so radically different that it's hard to even get across to a modern audience in a way that makes any sense at all. I've tried to capture the important aspects of the historical culture, but even that is many times an educated guess made from hints dropped in other sources hundreds of years and hundreds of miles removed. I've made my best effort not to misrepresent what was going on during the time of Elijah, but where I was unsure and and felt too much detail would distract from the main idea, I tend to leave it out.
In other places, I've just made mistakes and for that I’m sorry. I’ve certainly tried to do appropriate research, but I’m not a scholar of ancient Hebrew and I don’t particularly want to spend the rest of my life becoming an expert on a particularly niche topic. If you do find an error, I hope you’ll be able to overlook it and enjoy the rest of the book.
With that out of the way, writing a story about someone like Elijah entails treading a very fine line. There are so many views and opinions that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to please everyone. Keeping that in mind, it’s important to take the story as… well, as a story. It’s my personal opinion on the biblical account of Elijah, nothing more. And as such, it could very well be wrong.
My overriding philosophy through all this has simply been to stick to the Biblical account as closely as possible, and to more or less take it at face value. Where possible I’ve tried to directly integrate quotes directly from the text and adhere to most of the secondary details. I’ve tried to temper all that though, by fitting things together in a way that makes narrative sense. That may or may not be the correct approach to the story of Elijah, but it’s the approach I’ve taken.
If you’re interested in reading more about Elijah, I would direct you to the biblical account starting at the Book of 1 Kings: Chapter 17 and continuing on through 2 Kings. This is, to my knowledge, the only primary source that exists regarding Elijah. He does get a mention in the Quran, but for various reasons I chose not to include that narrative account. We know slightly more about King Ahab from extra-biblical sources. Historians generally seem to agree that he existed, thanks to an Assyrian reference documenting the Battle of Qarqar, where the Assyrians claim to have won a great victory, despite having retreated afterwards.
There are a few more tidbits archaeologists have unearthed, but generally speaking, the details we do have are very sparse. Based on Assyrian dating, which references solar eclipses, we can say Elijah likely lived around 870-850 BC. Unfortunately, in the intermittent 2900 years large swathes of the region have been burned, razed to the ground or otherwise depopulated multiple times, courtesy of the Assyrians, Babylonians, Seleucids, Alexander the Great, and of course the Romans. That’s just in antiquity. As a consequence, a large amount of ‘making things up’ went into this story. I’ve certainly tried my best, but the reality is, outside biblical references, we don’t have that many specific details about the Levant during this time period.
That said. In the end, The Days of Elijah is a novel not a history book, and regardless of if you're a scholar of ancient Hebrew, or just a person who picked it up because the cover caught your eye, I hope you've been able to enjoy it.
A bit more Personal
Elijah is a very important character in the stories of both Judiasm and Christianity. I know in the modern world talking about Christianity tends to be a very charged topic. I’m sure just the word brings with it a whole host of images, and for many people it may dredge up some very negative emotions and memories.
I don’t have all the answers, even about Elijah, let alone about everything else. I’ve found my own life quite confusing most of the time, and certainly filled with struggles that I often don’t understand. I’ve had both great blessings and great disasters, and I’ve noticed that the line between the two is blurred more times than not.
Through all that, however, I’ve come to the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was precisely the man he claimed he was, the Son of God. Partly, this belief is drawn from the evidence I’ve seen and things I’ve read about. It also comes from my own experience, the experience of encountering a God who loves me, and cares about me, even though that can sometimes be very difficult to see.
I don’t enjoy getting into angry arguments, but I've certainly learned a lot from having difficult conversations about complicated issues. If you wanted to talk more about any of this, feel free to shoot me an email. I can’t promise any particular wisdom, but I’m firmly of the belief that both sides can learn something from a discussion.
I don’t have all the answers, even about Elijah, let alone about everything else. I’ve found my own life quite confusing most of the time, and certainly filled with struggles that I often don’t understand. I’ve had both great blessings and great disasters, and I’ve noticed that the line between the two is blurred more times than not.
Through all that, however, I’ve come to the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was precisely the man he claimed he was, the Son of God. Partly, this belief is drawn from the evidence I’ve seen and things I’ve read about. It also comes from my own experience, the experience of encountering a God who loves me, and cares about me, even though that can sometimes be very difficult to see.
I don’t enjoy getting into angry arguments, but I've certainly learned a lot from having difficult conversations about complicated issues. If you wanted to talk more about any of this, feel free to shoot me an email. I can’t promise any particular wisdom, but I’m firmly of the belief that both sides can learn something from a discussion.
