The nature of these ‘two witnesses’ is becoming clearer. When Elijah first appeared to Ahab he said, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”1 Elijah goes to Ahab again, in the third year2 by which time the famine had lasted ‘three and a half’ years in all.3 When the Lord sends Moses to the Pharaoh of Egypt, ten plagues befall Egypt, including the one by which the water of the Nile turns to blood.4 These two witnesses carry out precisely the same judgments as Moses and Elijah. It is prophesied concerning Elijah that he is to appear again: “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land/earth with total destruction.”5 This is how the Old Testament ends.
Elijah did not die; he ascended into Heaven.6 Malachi expects Elijah to return as a person. The Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, says here: ‘Elijah the Tishbite.’ – look at the remarks. The Jews believed just this, because they ask whether John the Baptist is perhaps the Elijah who is to come.7 And the Lord Jesus also comments that Elijah will come first, and restore all things,8 but He goes on to say that Elijah has already come.
In a certain way John the Baptist is a pre-fulfilment of the coming of Elijah. He fulfils his mission in “the spirit and the power of Elijah”9 but he was not Elijah in person. This is why he himself says ‘no,’ when he is asked about this.10 The Lord Jesus says in Matthew 11:14 (NIV): “And if you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.” Or, put better, is coming—first in the power and the spirit of Elijah the prophet (John the Baptist) and then in person, just before the return of Christ. This undoubtedly conceals a great mystery. Does the Lord Jesus mean to say that, if Israel had then been willing, John the Baptist would then have been Elijah? Does He mean that, if the Jewish people had accepted Him as Messiah, the Kingdom would have come and that then John the Baptist would have really been Elijah? That then really everything would have then taken place, whereas it now will happen for us in the future? Has there been an ‘unexpected’ shift in time?
This is hardly credible, however. Would the Lord not have foreseen the temporary blinding and hardening of Israel? He knew that the Gospel would go out to sheep who are not of this fold (Israel).11 However, this does make it clear that there is also ‘guilt’ in the hardening of Israel as well. One could say: ‘guilt’ as well as ‘fate’, as two sides of the same coin. First Israel does not want to see, yet also: Israel could not see. Paul writes in Romans 11:8 (NIV 1984) “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that could not hear, to this very day.”
Who is the second witness? Moses? Or Enoch? He was also taken up into Heaven12 and was a prophetic preacher of God’s righteousness.13 Time will tell! The ‘two witnesses’ will be of the same prophetic content, have the same ‘core’ as the prophetic mantle is upon them both, like in 2 Kings 2:9-14!
• The ancient Church taught that one of the two witnesses would be Elijah in person. We learn that from Justin Martyr, Hippolytus, Chrysostom, Hieronymus and Augustine. It is remarkable that the two witnesses are able to strike the earth with plagues, as often as they wish.
• Moses and Elijah were with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, symbolizing the ‘Law and the prophets’—but they were also present in person.
• The words of 1 Kings 17:1 are usually rendered as “Elijah the Tishbite of Tishbe in Gilead”. As translated into English, Tishbite is the attributive adjunct for Tishbe: the addition is predicated of the prophet to denote that his residence or possibly his birthplace was Tishbe. Alternatively, the words of 1 Kings 17:1 could also be rendered as “Elijah the dweller from among the inhabitants in Gilead”, because in that verse “Tishbite” and the word denoting ‘inhabitants’ are very similar.
• Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible states that the word denotes a ‘dweller’, especially as distinguished from a native resident, but not an outlandish dweller, or a temporary inmate or lodger; essentially it denotes a resident alien. The Concordance indicates that the word is used to denote a sojourner 9 times, a stranger 3 times, a foreigner once, and an inhabitant once. The most frequent use of the word is in Leviticus 25, which states ‘Sabbatical’ and ‘Jubilee Year’ requirements.
• The denotation of ‘sojourner’ is found in Leviticus 25:23, 35, 40 and 47, and the denotation of ‘stranger’ in Leviticus 25:6, 45 and 47 – a total of 7 instances.
• Abraham is mentioned as a ‘sojourner’ in Genesis 23:4 and King David and “our fathers” are described as “sojourners” in 1 Chronicles 28:15 and Psalm 39:12. These other instances of the word in question support this alternative reading for “Tishbite”, such that 1 Kings 17:1 would not assert that Tishbe was the residence or birthplace of Elijah.
Bible References:
1.1 Kings 17:1 NIV 2.1 Kings 18:1 3.James 5:17 4.Exodus 7:19–21 5.Malachi 4:5–6 NIV 6.2 Kings 2:11 7.Marc 6:15; John 1:21 8.Matthew 17:11–12 9.Luke 1:17 NIV 10.John 1:21 11.John 10:16 12.Genesis 5:24 13.Jude 14–15
