1 Kings 17:1 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

Elijah the Tishbite— Elijah the Tishbite, of Thezbeh in Gilead. Houbigant. Elijah, who in the New Testament is commonly called Elias, was of Thezbeh, a town on the other side of Jordan, in the tribe of Gad, and in the land of Gilead. The Scriptures making no mention either of the quality of his parents, the manner of his education, or his call to the prophetic office, some Jewish rabbis have been of opinion, that he was an angel, sent from heaven, amidst the general corruption of the world, to preserve the true worship of God. Others pretend, that he was a priest descended from the tribe of Aaron; that his father's name was Sabaca, and his birth altogether miraculous; whilst others, again, will have it that he was Phinehas, the son of Aaron, who, after having lived a long while concealed, appeared again in the world under the name of Elijah: but all particulars of this kind, where the Scripture is silent, are of small authority. This, however, may with safety be said of him, that he was the prince of the prophets of his age; a man of a great and elevated mind, of a generous and undaunted spirit, a zealous defender of the laws of God, and a just avenger of the violations of his honour. Calmet. See on the next chapter, 1 Kings 17:1.