19:15–16), the third of which was to acknowledge publicly his (already divinely chosen) prophetic successor, Elisha. Elijah has thus, as it were, been relieved of his mission, if not altogether dismissed (cf. Cogan [2001:457], who notes that a number of medieval Jewish commentators considered this chapter as indicating the effective end of Elijah’s career). Finally, Childs comments on Yahweh’s parting rebuke to Elijah about the 7,000 other loyal Yahwists who existed in Israel (thus introducing the