There seems ... little reason

There seems ... little reason to doubt that Elijah was a native of the wild but beautiful mountain district of Gilead, the highlands of Palestine, on the eastern side of the Jordan, bordering on the great desert. There he had a prophet's nurture in solitude. He always loved the wild denies and rushing torrents of his native land. Lonely mountains and bleak deserts were congenial to his spirit. He learned to dwell familiarly on the sterner aspects of religion and morality. He had the austere, ascetic, monotheistic spirit of the desert. He learned the fear of Jehovah which knew no other fear. Nothing is said of his parentage, and the omission is in striking contrast to the wealth of detail with which the descent of some other prophets is stated. Elijah occupied from the first a unique and exalted position in the goodly fellowship. . . . Elijah's whole manner of life is meant to be a protest against a corrupt civilization. He had some of the habits of the ancient Nazirite, and not a few of the characteristics of the modern Bedawin. His unshorn locks streaming down his shoulders and his rough mantle of camel's hair alone make him a remarkable figure in Israel. He has the fleet foot of a true son of the desert, and an iron frame which enables him to endure a forty days' fast. He dwells in the clefts of the Cherith. sleeps under a desert broom, lodges in the cave of Horeb, and haunts the slopes of Carmel. If he enters a city, it is only to deliver the message of Jehovah and be gone. ... He comes down from the hills of Gilead as the champion and prophet of Jehovah in the dark days of Israel's apostasy. He comes to bear witness to truths which ought never to have been denied in Israel. ... He is the personified conscience of the nation. He comes, a prophet of heroic mould, to witness by deeds rather than by words.—From Hastings Dictionary of the Bible.