Kabbalah Library
Zohar for All, Volume 10
Who Is Elijah
444. Did Elijah have a son or not? He had something else, which is unlike other people. It is written, “Do not touch My Messiahs, and do not harm My prophets.” “Do not harm” means do not befriend My prophets, for you will not want to understand their actions as you understand the actions of your friends. The Creator chose them and distinguished them from Israel for His work, and admitted them into His hall. It is much more so with one who is an angel in heaven, Elijah.
445. Elijah was from the tribe of Gad. Elijah had something else in him, unlike other people, as it is written, “Who went up the heaven and came down.” “Who went up the heaven” is Elijah. “And came down” is one whose soul descended and was dressed in a body when he was born.
446. Elijah was from the tribe of gad. Elijah is Pinhas. Because he was zealous for the Creator, that he was zealous and he was zealous, this is why Elijah is Pinhas, for it is written, “I was indeed zealous.” That is, in the acacias, it is envy, and here, I was zealous. The Creator said to him, “Until when will you be zealous for My name? “This is as we learn from the verse, “I was indeed zealous.”
447. Who went up to heaven? It is Elijah, as it is written, “And Elijah ascended to heaven in a storm.” And descended is Jonah, as it is written, “And Jonah went down to the back of the ship,” and also, “To the roots of the mountains I descended.”
Who collected wind with his palms? It is Moses, as it is written, “Take handfuls of soot from the furnace, and let Moses throw it in the air.”
448. Who bundled water? It is Elisha, who healed the water in Jericho with a word, with the power of the word of Elijah.
Who raised all the edges of the earth? It is Abraham, as it is written, “These are the generations of the heaven and the earth when they were created, which is the letters of BeAvraham [in Abraham], thanks to whom, the heaven and earth existed.
449. What is the name of that master who brought these to the world? His name is the Lord of Hosts. What is the name of His son? Israel, as it is written, “My firstborn, Israel.” All those writings speak of the Creator.
