Originally Posted by levite

Elijah's not anything like a "sub-god," dude. I admit, he's a little troubling, being a uniquely liminal figure. But he's more like an angel, if anything. Do I find the idea of a human being getting transfigured into an angel theologically problematic? Yeah, actually, I do-- I have the same problem with the Metatron, to be honest. But Elijah's transfiguration to an angel is not a universal dogma of Judaism. Most Jews believe to one degree or another that Elijah's a liminal figure who has a special nature not like other people's, but not all, and the notion of Elijah becoming Sandalfon is really limited to certain schools of Kabbalistic thought....

In any case, Elijah is very popular these days, but other figures have gone through their vogues: Abraham and the other Patriarchs, David, Samuel, Rabbi Shimon ben Yochai, Rabbi Akiva.... They're all probably closer to Christian saints than anything else, although Judaism has never really had any notion of "intercession" per se. But nothing like "sub-gods," any of them....