Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer–sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there.
But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.”
He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there.Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.”He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
Here it is, just on the edge of Haifa, Elijah's cave. It is a holy site for Judaism, Christianity, and Islam (Elijah is mentioned as a prophet in the Qur'an). This picture was taken on the women's side ( on left) and the visit was the only time I was asked to cover my head. The person in charge was an ultra Orthodox Jew.
The geography is a little off: the traditional sight of Elijah's battle with Jezebel's priests isn't too far from this cave. Beer-Sheba is in the south. Anyway, one more traditional site...
Except for the church and monastery built high on the hill above the cave.
The Stella Maris Monastery or Monastery of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Haifa is located on the slopes of Mount Carmel.
Carmelite tradition traces the origin of the order to a community of hermits on Mount Carmel that succeeded the schools of the prophets in ancient Israel, although there are no certain records of hermits on this mountain before the 1190s. By this date a group of men had gathered at the well of Elijah on Mount Carmel. These men, who had gone to Palestine from Europe either as pilgrims or as crusaders, chose Mount Carmel in part because it was the traditional home of Elijah.
The monastery's main church resembles the shape of a cross. The ceiling of the hall is roofed and decorated by colorful paintings based on motifs from Old and New Testaments: Elijah rising to the heavens, David strings his harp, the prophet Isaiah, the holy family and the four evangelists. Above the altar stands the statue of the Virgin Mary carrying Jesus on her knees. The statue is called "our mistress the Carmel". The platform stairs lead to a quarried cave in which a stone altar was built on top of the statue of Elijah.
The Monastery serves as a center of Carmelite spirituality throughout the world. The charism, or spiritual focus, of the Carmelite Order is contemplative prayer, and embossments dedicated to Carmelite figures on the walls are a reminder of these contemplatives
Teresa of Ávila (Doctor of the Church), whose feast day is today, John of the Cros(Doctor of the Church), Thérèse of Lisieux (Doctor of the Church), Brother Lawrence, who wrote one of my favorites, The Practice of the Presence of God.
Not just one more traditional site, after all.
Location:Bialik,Tzfat,Israel
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