The current manual combines in a single lesson the three most
widely known episodes in the life of Elijah the prophet (his
sealing up the heavens, his contest with the priests of Baal,
and his reliance on “the still, small voice” after becoming
discouraged in the battle with Israel’s idolatry). One of the
“additional teaching ideas” even brings up the whole “spirit of
Elijah” message of the latter days. That’s too much material for
one class period at any teacher’s skill level – this may be the
lesson that forces even the most die-hard cover-it-if-it’s-in-
the-manual teacher to be picky and choose the most relevant
among the many options given. In the 1930s and ‘40s, the
seminary program, using Ezra C. Dalby’s Land and Leaders of
Israel: Lessons in the Old Testament (Salt Lake City: Church
Department of Education, 1930) as their textbook, filled three
class periods with the story of Elijah, without even reaching
the sealing powers of the spirit of Elijah. Elijah, the Tishbite
Prophet Lesson Text: I Kings 16:29