Elijah - Was his body "Assumed" Into Heaven or not?

[Terry_from_Ypsi]

Hello:

In 2 Kings 13, a group of men trying to dispose of a body were suddenly surprised by bandits. They threw the body into the tomb of Elijah and when the body of the dead man touched the bones of Elijah the man sprang back to life again.

I thought that Elijah was caught up into heaven body and soul in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2).

How could this happen if the bones of Elijah were used to bring a person back to life ?

Regards,

 

[The_Barrister]

Terry_from_Ypsi:

Hello:

In 2 Kings 13, a group of men trying to dispose of a body were suddenly surprised by bandits. They threw the body into the tomb of Elijah and when the body of the dead man touched the bones of Elijah the man sprang back to life again.

I thought that Elijah was caught up into heaven body and soul in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2).

How could this happen if the bones of Elijah were used to bring a person back to life ?

Regards,

The answer would be “yes, he was assumed into Heaven.”

The man was thrown into Elisha’s grave and touched the bones of Elisha, *not * Elijah.

“As they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they cast the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet.” 2 Kings 13:21

The names *are * similar.

 

[Della]

A better word might be translated into heaven instead of assumed. A fiery chariot came for Elijah while he was still alive. With Our Lady it was different, although we don’t know if she died or not–the Church has not said one way or the other, still she is glorified with Christ never to die again. It is not so clear if Elijah has yet to die or not, although when he appeared with Moses at Christ’s transfiguration, it seemed as though he had passed permanently from this life to the next.

 

[cassman]

What about Limbo of the Fathers? Has anyone heard of that?

How could Elijah have gone to Heaven if Jesus had not yet opened the gates to Heaven?

“Heaven” may have meant “sky”. Elijah may have just gone up into the sky, not necessarily Heaven?

I’m not for certain though.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

cassman:

What about Limbo of the Fathers? Has anyone heard of that?

How could Elijah have gone to Heaven if Jesus had not yet opened the gates to Heaven?

“Heaven” may have meant “sky”. Elijah may have just gone up into the sky, not necessarily Heaven?

I’m not for certain though.

The story may be a legend - the chariot is a hint in this direction. Both Baal, the “rider-of-the-clouds”, and JHWH, ride in the heavenly chariot - and it’s hard to see why a human being would be described with divine attributes such as chariot and cloud (which is a frequent OT symbol of the Glory of God’s Presence).​

It’s also very striking the Elijah comes from a place called Tishbe - the name recalls that of Teshub, a Hittite god of storm and weather-god: which means that he has many of the same “responsibilities” as Baal and JHWH. So there does seem to be a lot of legendary material in the stories about Elijah - which is not to say they are untrue; only that they are not “historical”. Elijah is shown constantly besting Baal at his own game - he raises the dead, promises a son to a woman, prevents the rain from falling, calls down the lightning, slaughters Baal’s prophets. All of these activities are known from various texts, though not all are recorded as being done by Baal. So it’s entirely fitting that he should ride in Baal’s cloud-chariot.

And the reason Elijah does all this, is to make the point that JHWH the god of Israel is more than a match for Baal, who was one of the principal gods of Canaan & Tyre & Sidon - Jezebel the wife of Ahab, and enemy of Elijah, was a Sidonian princess. [1 Kings 16:31] ##

 

[gomer_tree]

cassman:

How could Elijah have gone to Heaven if Jesus had not yet opened the gates to Heaven?

This has been argued before. Not all agree, but the simplest answer is “Because God allowed it.” God makes the rules, and it’s completely up to Him if He wishes for there to be exceptions. The obvious example is Mary. How can Mary have been immaculately conceived if Christ hadn’t died yet? The answer is that this grace was applied retroactively. There is nothing to say that God didn’t do the same with Elijah with regard to bringing him up to heaven. In fact, one could perhaps look at Elijah, and know with certainty at that point that a Savior was on its way just by that event alone. For, without a Savior, Elijah could not have seen God.

 

[Highwayman]

I think it might be better to ask when Elijah is rather than where. This answers the question better because God controls time and if He wanted Elijah for instance to go to be on the mountain of transfiguration to see His Savior just before He went to the cross that is easy for God to take him from the side of Elisah to Jesus side instantly or then on to be with Enoch to be one of the two witnesses that will call Israel to conversion in the last days and then he and Enoch face death for the first time on the streets of Jerusalem and lay dead for three days until God raises them back to life and then to heaven. The two witnesses are discribed in Revelation chapter 11 verses 3 through 12. If this is hard to understand remember what the Doc said to Marty in the movie “Back to the future” “Your just not thinking fourth demensionally”. God Bless