Who are Moses and Elijah?

Answer 1

They were two of the Israelite prophets in the First Temple era.

More information:

The Israelite prophets were extremely learned and pious individuals, both men and women, whose superlative level of piety merited them with visions from God. They had to be humble, yet speak with authority. They had to love their people, yet not hesitate to rebuke with caustic words if commanded to by God. (See: Why did the Prophets rebuke? And see: Why did some people not listen to them?)
The prophets were called upon by God to guide the people and to guide the king. While the king had authority in national matters of state, and the Sanhedrin (Sages) had say in Torah-rulings and halakha (law), the prophets spoke in matters of ethics, of belief, of loyalty to God, and behavior. They rebuked the people at God's command, they predicted events which God revealed to them, they taught through Divine inspiration, and they provided optimism and hope with the prophecies of eventual Redemption.

Some of the prophetical chapters (or books) detail Israelite history and past events, some exhort the people to improve their spiritual level, some predict events and/or warn (especially concerning the First Destruction), some serve to comfort the nation, some speak of prayer and love of God, and some speak of life, experience and wisdom.

See also:A list of the Israelite prophets

Why did prophecy end?

History of the Hebrew Bible

Jewish history timeline

Answer 2

The Bible records Elijah as a great prophet of Israel, expert at performing magic tricks or trivial miracles. For his friend, he converted an ordinary cake into one that never grew smaller as it was eaten and, in contrived circumstances, resuscitated her apparently dead son. There was no witness to the resuscitation, but it is described in exact detail. Rather than use a boat when he wanted to cross the River Jordan, he divided the waters by striking it with a stick and walked across, a feat only performed previously in the biblical account by Joshua, who at least needed a practical way of getting millions of people, their livestock and possessions across the river.

Elijah's one great miracle is highly contrived (1Kings 18:19). He challenged the king to let the opposing priests compete with him to call upon their gods to start a fire under a bullock carcass. Of course, he set the rules for this contest, which he won convincingly. The crowd then held the 450 priests until Elijah personally killed them all. Yet, in spite of seeing a miracle performed, and in spite of their fervent involvement, the people continued to worship the gods that Elijah despised.

Rather than die, Elijah was taken up into heaven by a fiery chariot (2 Kings 2:11). Travel through the heavens in a fiery chariot was the preferred means of transport for the ancient sun gods, and there is evidence that Elijah might have been worshipped as a sun god, before he was transformed in Hebrew tradition into a mortal hero.

The story of Elisha is remarkably similar to that of Elijah. It was in the gift of Elijah to grant his supernatural powers to his companion and protege, Elisha. There is no suggestion that either Elijah or Elisha thought of asking God whether this was to be, and Elisha soon demonstrated that he had these powers by becoming the third person, after Joshua and Elijah, to divide the waters of the Jordan. In an episode remarkably like one earlier attributed to Elijah, he made a pot of oil into one that never emptied, no matter how much was poured from it. In fact, the story of Elisha is, to a remarkable degree, a repeat of the story of Elijah.

The story of Elisha does no credit either to him or God - he called upon God to kill 42 little children who had laughed at his bald head (2 Kings 2:23-24).

Even after the death of Elisha, his supernatural powers continued to astonish, at least according to the biblical account. A dead man was revived simply because his body accidentally touched the bones of Elisha (2 Kings 13:21). This miracle can not have been a conscious act performed by God, since there was no religious reason for an anonymous man to be revived gratuitously. Clearly the powers of Elijah and Elisha were exercised independent of the divine, even after death.

The succession by Elisha to the role of Elijah resembles the succession of the new sun god to the old sun god at the winter solstice. Just as Elijah may once have been worshipped as a sun god by the very early Hebrews, so Elisha may have formed part of the midwinter succession story.

Answer 3

they were both prophets of the Lord. Elijah trained Elisha as his apprentice and when Elijah went to heaven, elisha took over in his place

Answer 4

Moses and Elijah were Old Testament prophets.