Elijah had special message
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"Elijah lived about nine hundred years B.C., in the reign of wicked Ahab of Israel," wrote Joseph Fielding Smith in his book, The Way to Perfection.
"The history we have of him is very meager, being covered by a few pages of the scriptures. So far as our record tells he appeared rather suddenly, and seemingly only mingled with the people when the Lord sent him with a special message, usually to the wicked king. This rather strange procedure, as we gather it from the history, coupled with his sudden translation in a chariot of fire, has led most commentators to look upon him as super-natural, like a being from some other world."There is nothing mysterious about Elijah. He was born into the world as other men. His sudden appearance with a message of condemnation to the king and then his sudden flight, are readily accounted for in the fact that his life was in constant danger. He was threatened by the king and even with greater hate and vindictiveness by the still more wicked queen in Israel. It was the part of wisdom as well as of discretion, for Elijah to show caution, and not expose himself too readily to these dangers. Yet, when occasion required it and the Lord sent him with his word to Ahab or the people, Elijah never hesitated."
Elder Smith noted that to most Bible students Elijah "appears as an enigma, or a mysterious prophet, who hardly belonged to this world even in his ministry. He is honored in the legends of the Mohammedans and the Jews."
