Elijah (referred to as Elias in the New Testament) was the renowned prophet sent to the split kingdoms of Israel and Judah. His first appearance is in Chapter 17 of I Kings where he comes to speak to Ahab, king of Israel. He contends with Ahab, and Ahab’s wife Jezebel, and later Ahab’s son Ahaziah. These contentions have passed down to us in many well known stories.

In II Kings, Chapter 2, Elijah is carried up to heaven in a chariot of fire, and his mantle is given to Elisha, his disciple and successor. Elijah represents the Lord as He comes to us in the Word, that is, the way we think about the Lord when we read the Word (especially the prophetic parts of the Word). Elijah and John the Baptist are similar in their symbolic meaning.

(références: Arcana Coelestia 5247 [6], 6752, 9372 [2])

96. The implications of the statement that Jehovah God 'breathed into his nostrils' are as follows: In ancient times, and in the Word, the nostrils meant something that was pleasing by virtue of its odour, which means perception Consequently one reads many times of Jehovah 'smelling an odour of rest' from burnt offerings and from the things which represented Him and His kingdom. And since matters of love and faith are most pleasing to Him, it is said that He breathed the breath of life' through his nostrils. This is why Jehovah's Anointed, who is the Lord, is called 'the-Breath-of-nostrils', Lamentations 4:20. And this was what the Lord Himself meant by breathing on His disciples, in John,

He breathed and said, Receive the Holy Spirit. John 10:22.