Elijah

The biblical prophet Elijah, whose name means `The Lord is my God', challenged the worship of Baal in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab and his queen, Jezebel. Jews in Jesus' day would have regarded Elijah as the epitome of a prophet and many may have believed that Jesus was Elijah come back to earth (1 Kings 19.8; Matthew 4.2; 16.14). Others thought that John the Baptist might be Elijah, though he denied this (John 1.19­ to 24). Jesus, however, did refer to John the Baptist as the Elijah who was to come (Matthew 17.10­ to 13).