Zilpha Elaw

(1790-1873)

Bible Passage (NRSVue): “Then he said to me, ‘These are they who have come out of the great ordeal;…’ They will hunger no more and thirst no more; the sun will not strike them, nor any scorching heat, for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:4,16–17)

Her Interpretation: Zilpha Elaw’s autobiography, Memoirs of the Life, Religious Experience, Ministerial Travels, and Labours of Mrs. Elaw (Regenerations), portrays HOPE vividly. She casts Hope as a living, breathing force In her Memoirs, she narrates her spiritual journey as a relentless quest, not for fleeting comforts, but for the unshakable promises of God. When she writes, "My soul was filled with heavenly hope… my treasure was in heaven; my hope bloomed with the glories of immortality and eternal life: it was the anchor of my soul, sure and steadfast,"she isn't just quoting scripture. She's sharing a visceral understanding of Revelation 7:17, where the Lamb leads the faithful to "living fountains of waters" and God "wipes away every tear." Elaw's hope wasn't confined to the afterlife. It burst into the present through the rhythms of creation: the sun's daily rebirth, the unity of communities at camp meetings, and even the quiet strength of flowers breaking through tough soil. Her outdoor revivals and travels were stages where she saw the divine throne room manifested through shared labor, the fervor of prayer, and the peace of restored health. To read her is to experience someone who didn't just believe in Revelation's promises but who lived them in the raw fabric of her life.

Dr. Shively’s Reflection: For Zilpha Elaw, Easter was not a matter of the calendar but a way of seeing the world. She carried hope through hardship, not as a distant promise, but as a present reality that shaped each day. Her quote this week when she says, “...my hope bloomed with the glories of immortality and eternal life: it was the anchor of my soul, sure and steadfast...,” is not simply reaching for comforting words. Elaw describes hope the force that held her steady in the face of suffering, echoing the vision in Revelation of the Lamb who leads the faithful to living waters and wipes away every tear. Elaw’s story is woven with these resurrection threads. Her sister’s brush with death and sudden revival brings to mind the story of Dorcas in Acts, where prayer and faith break the hold of mortality. In the same way, Zilpha’s own prayers became acts of resistance against despair, and her ministry took on the character of a shepherd leading others through the “valley of the shadow,” as in Psalm 23. She found signs of God’s presence in the world around her-camp meetings under the trees became her green pastures, and the gathered faithful, a living testimony to the promise that “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” For Elaw, hope was not an escape from reality, but a force that transformed it. She wrote of her soul being “filled with heavenly hope,” her eyes set on “things above,” and her days marked by the assurance that God’s hand was at work, even in suffering. In her experience, the Easter story unfolded not just once a year, but every time despair gave way to praise, every time a sickbed became a place of new life, and every time a community gathered to sing under the open sky. Through her eyes, the promise of resurrection was not only a future hope but a living presence, as real as the people and places she loved.