Victor Sasson

Elijah the Tishbite Victor Sasson

Elijah the Tishbite is a drama about one of the most zealous, charismatic, and fearless prophets in the Hebrew Bible. Elijah, the ultimate anti-establishment man, often risked his life denouncing King Ahab and his foreign wife, Jezebel, who brazenly sought to establish her Sidonian Ba'al cult in Samaria. The play dramatizes major episodes succinctly narrated in the book of Kings. Among these are Elijah's despair at his people's wavering faith, his flights and wanderings, the devastating drought ravaging the country, the contest between Adonai and Ba'al on Mount Carmel, the heinous conspiracy and murder of Naboth the Jezreelite, the rise of the revolutionary Jehu, and the assassination of Jezebel. The play also touches on Jehu's eventual liquidation of Omri's dynasty and the measures he had to take to eradicate idol worship in the Northern Kingdom.