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LIFE OF ELIJAH CHAPTER 1
I KI�GS 17 COMME�TARYWritten and edited by Glenn Pease
PREFACE
Many other authors are quoted in this study, and some are not named. Credit will
be given if the name of the author is sent to me. Some may not want their wisdom
shared in this way, and if they object and wish it to be removed they can let me
know also at my e-mail address which is glenn_p86@yahoo.com
Don't let my numbering system puzzle you. It is just a way to add new material
without having to change all the numbers each time I add a new paragraph.
I�TRODUCTIO�
1. Alexander Whyte said of Elijah, “He was a Mount Sinai of a man with a heart
like a thunderstorm.” F. B. Meyer said, “This Colossus among ordinary men who
dwarfs us all...” J. R. MacDuff, “life of ELIJAH is, in the truest sense of the word, a
poem, - an inspired epic. It is surrounded throughout with a blended halo of
heroism and saintliness. Though neither angel nor demigod, but "a man of like
passions," intensely human in all the varied incidents and episodes of his
picturesque history, - he yet seems as if he held converse more with Heaven than
earth. His name, which literally means "My GOD the Lord," or "Jehovah is my
GOD," introduces us to one who had delegated to him superhuman powers; not only
an ambassador from above, but the very viceroy and representative of
Omnipotence.
1B. All are agreed that Elijah was sent by God to appear out of nowhere because the
land had reached a depth of depravity where God's near infinite patience could no
longer tolerate it. A long list of evil kings had corrupted the nation, and then came
Ahab and his wife Jezebel. The wives of kings are seldom mentioned, but she is
mentioned because she became a dominate force in the land with her focus on
idolatry. This wicked woman and her evil ways called for a special man to enter the
history of her time to be a counter force against her worship of false gods. A
powerful man of the true God was needed to bring about a change in the direction
Israel was going. Pink tells us how bad it was. “This marriage of Ahab to a heathen
princess was, as might fully be expected (for we cannot trample God’s Law beneath
our feet with impunity), fraught with the most frightful consequences. In a short
time all trace of the pure worship of Jehovah vanished from the land and gross
idolatry became rampant. The golden calves were worshipped at Dan and Bethel, a
temple had been erected to Baal in Samaria, the "groves" of Baal appeared on every
side, and the priests of Baal took full charge of the religious life of Israel.”
2. Pink, “ Elijah appeared on the stage of public action during one of the darkest
hours of Israel’s sad history. He is introduced to us at the beginning of 1 Kings 17,
and we have but to read through the previous chapters to discover what a
deplorable state God’s people were then in. Israel had grievously and flagrantly
departed from Jehovah, and that which directly opposed Him had been publicly set
up. �ever before had the favored nation sunk so low. Fifty eight years had passed
since the kingdom had been rent in twain following the death of Solomon. During
that brief period no less than seven kings had reigned over the ten tribes, and all of
them without exception were wicked men.”
3. J. Sidlow Baxter, “His eminence is seen both in the religious reformation which
he wrought, and in the fact that the �ew Testament speaks of him more often than
of any other Old Testament prophet. Moreover, it was he who was chosen to appear
with Moses at our Lord’s transfiguration. And further, it is from this point that the
ministry of the prophets in the two Hebrew kingdoms becomes more prominently
emphasized. One of Israel’s most startling and romantic characters, he suddenly
appears on the scene as the crisis-prophet, with thunder on his brow and tempest in
his voice. He disappears just as suddenly, swept skywards in a chariot of fire.
Between his first appearing and his final disappearing lies a succession of amazing
miracles.”
4. Krummacher begins his book on Elijah with these words, “Alas! alas ! bow is the
glory of Israel departed ! how is Abraham^s seed become so little discernible, the
fight so dark, the salt so savor-less, the gold so dim. A dreary dark night on all sides,
and naught but night, and with only one cheering little star in the heaven; Then
does the history suddenly break out with the words, "And Elijah, As one fallen from
heaven like a shot of lightning, as a gleaming thunderbolt hurled from Jehovah's
hand, this man comes into the midst of the awful scene, without father, without
mother, as Melchizedek. There he stands in the midst of the desolation with his God
alone, in the wide world; Almost the only grain of salt in the universal corruption,
the only leaven to leaven the whole lump ; and that we may learn at once who he is,
he begins his career almost like a god with an unheard-of deed of faith, by closing,
in the name of his Lord, the heavens over Israel, and changing the firmament into
iron and brass. God be praised, the night is no longer so dismal as before, for one
man of God stands in the midst of it, and that makes it feel cheerful, as if the moon
had risen over the scene.”
5. Matthew Henry, “So sad was the character both of the princes and people of
Israel, as described in the foregoing chapter, that one might have expected God
would cast off a people that had so cast him off; but, as an evidence to the contrary,
never was Israel so blessed with a good prophet as when it was so plagued with a
bad king. �ever was king so bold to sin as Ahab; never was prophet so bold to
reprove and threaten as Elijah, whose story begins in this chapter and is full of
wonders. Scarcely any part of the Old-Testament history shines brighter than this
history of the spirit and power of Elias; he only, of all the prophets, had the honour
of Enoch, the first prophet, to be translated, that he should not see death, and the
honour of Moses, the great prophet, to attend our Saviour in his transfiguration.
Other prophets prophesied and wrote, he prophesied and acted, but wrote nothing;
but his actions cast more lustre on his name than their writings did on theirs.”
6. Geikie, “To realize Elijah's character and acts, it is necessary to remember the
circumstances of the times. The worship of Jehovah, rudely shaken by the
introduction of the Egyptian ox-worship, as a symbol, at Dan and Bethel, had been
well-nigh crushed by the support weakly lent by Ahab to the idolatrous fanaticism
of his wife Jezebel. A gorgeous temple to Baal adorned Samaria; another equally
splendid had been raised at Jezreel. Eight hundred and fifty priests, and a corres-
ponding multitude of lower attendants, gave pomp and grandeur to the worship of
the idols. The sensuality of the rites ; the influence of the court and throne as leaders
of fashion ; the relentless persecution of Jehovah- worshipers on the one hand, and
the open road to promotion offered by apostasy on the other, had resulted in an
apparently complete victory for the new religion. So far as Elijah could see, he was
himself the last survivor of those who clung to the faith of their fathers.”
7. Dr. Steve Cook puts this study into the larger context of history.
A. In our study of 1 Kings 11 we found that Solomon had miserably failed to
lead the nation of Israel, and according to the promise of God in the Davidic
Covenant, the kingdom would be rent from Solomon’s son.
1 Kings Ch. 12-16 record the "Beginning of the End" for Israel’s united kingdom –
and with the death of Solomon, the nation’s glory began to fade.
The Book of 1 Kings covers about 125 years of history – 40 years of Solomon’s reign
& 85 years of divided kingdom.
Only 5 kings reigned in Judah during this time, while 8 kings ruled in Israel –
However, MOST of them were wicked kings!
B. When we get to 2 Kings we will learn of the accounts of the Assyrian captivity
of Israel and the Babylonian captivity of Judah.
Elijah Fed by Ravens
1 �ow Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe [a] in
Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of
Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither
dew nor rain in the next few years except at my
word."
1. Elijah had to appear out of nowhere, for all of the priests had been corrupted by
idolatry, and so all the spiritual training of the land was corrupted. God could not
draw from the usual resources to do his will. He had to draw from the lay people of
the land where corruption had not penetrated completely. He came from a place
where the worship of the true God of Israel was still practiced. He came out of a
minority group still faithful to the Lord. All through history minority groups have
been great resources for men and women of God to change the course of history.
Thank God for the minorities that preserve the faith in times of great evil. The very
name of Elijah shouted in the face of Ahab, for it means My God is Jehovah, and
that is why I can inform you of the future, for my God controls the weather, and not
your puny gods made by human hands.
1B. J. Hampton Keathley, III “Elijah is the Hebrew Eliyahu that means “My
God is Yahweh.” �ote several things: In Elijah’s name, given to him perhaps by a
godly parent, we can see how the sovereign providence of God is often at work in the
historical circumstances of our lives. God picked out, raised up, and used a man
whose very name was significant to the religious climate of his day and the contest
that would follow. The nation was following after Baal who was, of course, no god at
all. Elijah boldly appeared and proclaimed the true God of Israel, Yahweh, who was
His God. This proclamation was the point of Elijah’s prayer in 1 Kings 18:36-37 1
Kings 18:36-37 1 Kings 18:36-37 . As the months rolled by after Elijah’s declaration
of no rain, whenever people saw or thought of Eliyahu, they were faced with the
message of his name, “My God is Yahweh.” In other words, my God is Yahweh, not
Baal. The prophet’s name, therefore, declared something of who he was. It was a
standing declaration of his faith in that it demonstrated his protest against Baalism,
his allegiance to God, and the key issue of the day as it is today--who or what is our
God?”
1B2. We don't know where Tishbe was, and we don't know who his mother and
father was. It is a good thing that Ahab and Jezebel did not know these things as
well, for they would have corrupted the place, and tried to prevent a man like Elijah
from ever being able to appear in representing Jehovah. When you see the terrible
corruption of the land, it makes sense why we know little of the background of this
great man of God. He had to have a mysterious background in order to have
survived, and for his family to have survived. He was an enemy of the state, and
Jezebel who wanted him dead would have slaughtered everyone who knew him had
she had that information. He had to have an unlisted number and have his whole
past hidden away from all public knowledge just like someone today in the witness
protection program.
1B3. H. B. HOWAT, “He seems as if he had fallen from heaven. He startles us like a
meteor. ' He comes in with a tempest,* says Bishop Hall, ' who went out with a
whirlwind.* Melchisedec-like, we read of neither ' father nor mother.* There is
nothing of his early years, nothing of his call to the prophetic office. He steps upon
the sacred page as suddenly as he leaves it ; and were it not for subsequent events,
we might almost believe him an apparition.”
Howat goes on to describe how this beginning led Elijah to become one of the most
notable prophets of Bible history. “Elijah's work in Israel, and the impression it
produced. As to the former, he was essentially an Iconoclast His mission was not to
build up, but to destroy ; his functions were not those of the trowel, but the axe.
�ever since the days of Moses and Pharaoh had two such opposites met as Elijah
and Ahab, or a greater contrariety still, Elijah and Jezebel. It was the conflict of
subtlety, cruelty, scorn, with the wisdom of the Omniscient, and the energy of the
Almighty. It was history repeating itself — Dagon in the presence of the ark ; but '
behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth.' That this last was really so,
is apparent from the check which Baal-worship received in Israel in the days of
Ahab, and from the kindred fact that, for centuries after the departure of Elijah, it
was a universal belief he would return to renew and complete the work he had so
auspiciously begun. Five hundred years, for example, after his ascension, the canon
of the Old Testament closes on this wise : ' Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.' �ine
hundred years, also, after his ascension, when the world's Redeemer asked his
disciples, ' Whom say the people that I am ?' a part of the reply was this : * Some
say Elias.* When Herod, afraid of the resurrection of John the Baptist, inquired
who the strange preacher was who was filling both the land and the palace with his
fame, a portion of the reply again was this : ' It is Elias.' When the Jews sent priests
and Levites from Jerusalem to investigate the character of the mission of John, this
was part of the interrogatory: * Art thou Elias } and he saith, I am not.' When Peter
saw Elijah on the holy mount, he instinctively proposed to build for him a tent or
tabernacle, regarding his presence, according to the wide-spread popular belief, the
most natural thing in the world. And when on the cross the suffering Savior
addressed His Father by a term strongly resembling in sound the name of the
prophet, the assembled multitude, at once catching the word, exclaimed : ' This man
calleth for Elias.' ' The rest said. Let be.; let us see whether Elias will come to save
him.'”
1C. Jamison has these two notes: 1. “or residents of Gilead, implying that he was not
an Israelite, but an Ishmaelite, as MICHAELIS conjectures, for there were many of
that race on the confines of Gilead. The employment of a Gentile as an
extraordinary minister might be to rebuke and shame the apostate people of Israel.”
2. “there shall not be dew nor rain these years--not absolutely; but the dew and the
rain would not fall in the usual and necessary quantities. Such a suspension of
moisture was sufficient to answer the corrective purposes of God, while an absolute
drought would have converted the whole country into an uninhabitable waste.”
1D. Constable quotes House, “"Why choose a drought? Why emphasize that
Yahweh lives? Elijah determines to attack Baalism at its theological center. Baal
worshipers believed that their storm god made rain, unless, of course, it was the dry
season and he needed to be brought back from the dead. To refute this belief Elijah
states that Yahweh is the one who determines when rain falls, that Yahweh lives at
all times, and that Yahweh is not afraid to challenge Baal on what his worshipers
consider his home ground."
1E. Maclaren calls our attention to a special phrase that Elijah and Elisha used.
�gThis solemn and remarkable adjuration seems to have been habitual upon
Elijah’s lips in the great crises of his life. We never find it used by any but himself,
and his scholar and successor, Elisha. Both of them employ it under similar
circumstances, as if unveiling the very secret of their lives, the reason for their
strength, and for their undaunted bearing and bold fronting of all antagonism. We
find four instances in their two lives of the use of the phrase. Elijah bursts abruptly
on the stage and opens his mouth for the first time to Ahab, to proclaim the coming
of that terrible and protracted drought; and he bases his prophecy on that great
oath, ‘As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand.’ And again, when he is sent to
confront Ahab once more at the close of the period, the same mighty word comes,
‘As the Lord of Hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto
him this day.’ And then again, Elisha, when he is brought before the three
confederate kings, who taunt, and threaten, and flatter, to try to draw smooth things
from his lips, and get his sanction to their mad warfare, turns upon the poor
creature that called himself the King of Israel with a superb contempt that stayed
itself on that same great name and tells him, ‘As the Lord liveth before whom I
stand, were it not that I had regard for the King of Judah, I would not look toward
you or see you,’ And lastly, when the grateful �aaman seeks to change the whole
character of Elisha’s miracle, and to turn it into the coarseness of a thing done for
reward, once again the temptation is brushed aside with that solemn word, ‘As the
Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none.’
So at every crisis where these prophets were brought full front with hostile power;
where a tremendous message was laid upon their hearts and lips to utter; where
natural strength would fail; where they were likely to be daunted or dazzled by
temptations, by either the sweetness or the terrors of material things, these two
great heroes of the Old Covenant, out of sight the strongest men in the old Jewish
history, steady themselves by one thought,―God lives, and I am His servant.......My
brethren, here is our defense against being led away by the gauds and shows of
earth’s vulgar attractions, or being terrified by the poor terrors of its enmity. Go
with that talisman in your hand, ‘The Lord liveth, before whom I stand,’ and
everything else dwindles down into nothingness, and you are a free man, master and
lord of all things, because you are God’s servants, seeing all things aright, because
you see them all in God, and God in them all.........He professes that he stands before
the Lord, girt for His service, watching to be guided by His eye, and ready to run
when He bids.”
2. Clarke, “The history of this great man is introduced very abruptly; his origin is
enveloped in perfect obscurity. He is here said to be a Tishbite. Tishbeh, says
Calmet, is a city beyond Jordan, in the tribe of Gad, and in the land of Gilead. Who
was his father, or from what tribe he sprang, is not intimated; he seems to have been
the prophet of Israel peculiarly, as we never find him prophesying in Judah. A
number of apocryphal writers have trifled at large about his parentage, miraculous
birth, of his continual celibacy, his academy of the prophets, first view appears
strange, bears more resemblance to truth than any of the above, viz., that he had no
earthly parentage known to any man; that he was an angel of God, united for a time
to a human body, in order to call men back to perfect purity, both in doctrine and
manners, from which they had totally swerved. His Hebrew name, which we have
corrupted into Elijah and Elias, is Alihu, or, according to the vowel points, Eliyahu;
and signifies he is my God. Does this give countenance to the supposition that this
great personage was a manifestation in the flesh of the Supreme Being? He could
not be the Messiah; for we find him with Moses on the mount of transfiguration
with Christ. The conjecture that he was an angel seems countenanced by the
manner of his departure from this world; yet, in James 5:1 James 5:1 7, he is said to
be a man of like passions, or rather with real human propensities: this, however, is
irreconcilable with the conjecture.”
3. Pink imagines how hard it must have been for Elijah to begin his public ministry
by appearing before such a wicked king as Ahab. He wrote, “The task which now
confronted Elijah was no ordinary one, and it called for more than common
courage. For an untutored rustic of the hills to appear uninvited before a king who
defied heaven was sufficient to quell the bravest; the more so when his heathen
consort shrank not from slaying any who opposed her will, in fact who had already
put many of God’s servants to death. What likelihood, then, was there of this lonely
Gileadite escaping with his life? "But the righteous are bold as a lion," (Prov. 28:1):
they who are right with God are neither daunted by difficulties nor dismayed by
dangers. "I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves
against me round about," (Ps. 3:6); "Though a host should encamp against me, my
heart shall not fear," (Ps. 27:3): such is the blessed serenity of those whose
conscience is void of offense and whose trust is in the living God.”
3B. Sure, it takes a lot of courage
To put things in God's hands...
To give ourselves completely,
Our lives, our hopes, our plans;
To follow where He leads us
And make His will our own
But all it takes is foolishness
To go the way alone! Betsey Kline
4. Just being there in the palace of the king had to be scary, but to make matters
worse Elijah had to give him the worst news he had ever heard. Fortunately it was
such a report that could not be known to be true until time passed, and so Elijah
could get far away and hidden before Ahab would be angry about it. It probably
seemed like a joke to Ahab that this unknown country hick could have any influence
on the weather. Ahab likely did not know about God's weather warning from the
past. Pink expounds on it, “�ow there was one particular passage in the earlier
books of Scripture which seems to have been specially fixed on Elijah’s attention:
"Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and
serve other gods, and worship them; and then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against
you, and He shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her
fruit," (Deut. 11:16, 17): That was exactly the crime of which Israel was now guilty:
they had turned aside to worship false gods. Suppose, then, that this Divinely-
threatened judgment should not be executed, would it not indeed appear that
Jehovah was but a myth, a dead tradition? And Elijah was "very jealous for the
Lord God of hosts," and accordingly we are told that "he prayed earnestly that it
might not rain," (Jas. 5.17): Thus we learn once more what true prayer is: it is faith
laying hold of the Word of God, pleading it before him, and saying, "do as Thou
hast said," (2 Sam. 7:25).
5. Pink, "There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word."
Frightful prospect was that! From the expression "the early and the latter rain"
(Deut. 11:14; Jer. 5:24), we gather that, normally, Palestine experienced a dry
season of several months’ duration: but though no rain fell then, heavy dews
descended at night which greatly refreshed vegetation. But for neither dew nor rain
to fall, and that for a period of years, was a terrible judgment indeed. That land so
rich and fertile as to be designated one which "flowed with milk and honey," would
quickly be turned into one of drought and barrenness, entailing famine, pestilence
and death. And when God withholds rain, none can create it. "Are there any among
the vanities (false gods) of the Gentiles that can cause rain?" (Jer. 14:22)—how that
reveals the utter impotency of idols, and the madness of those who render them
homage!
In 1 Kings 18:1 the sequel says, "And it come to pass after many days, that the word
of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab;
and I will send rain upon the earth" (1 Kings 18:1). On the other hand, Christ
declared "many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias (Elijah), when the heaven
was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the
land" (Luke 4:25). How, then, are we to explain those extra six months? In this way:
there had already been a six months’ drought when Elijah visited Ahab: we can well
imagine how furious the king would be when told that the terrible drought was to
last another three years!”
6. It is sort of funny that a man of God begins his career with a weather report. It
was truly long range as well, for it did not rain for three and a half years. That
would make the job of weather reporting very easy. Every day it would be, “�o
clouds in sight, and no rain for today, or any time in the foreseeable future. All
umbrella's now 99 % off at the local market.”
7. Elijah would add a comic element in any group for he had a rather strange
appearance as we read in II Kings 1:8, “And they answered him, He was an hairy
man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the
Tishbite.” It was such an unusual garment that when it was described the king knew
instantly that it was Elijah, for nobody else wore such a thing. Like John the Baptist
he was easily identified by his wardrobe. Some might say he looked like a hillbilly.
Alan Carr tells us, “This verse tells us that Elijah was from a place called Tishbe in
the region known as Gilead. Gilead was a rough, mountainous area known for its
high peaks and deep valleys. The very name "Gilead" in its Hebrew form means
"raw or rugged." This tells us that Elijah was a backwoods man. When he stepped
onto the scene and began his ministry, his methods, his mannerisms and his message
were as rough and rugged as the place he called home.” Bruce Goettsche wrote, “So
Elijah, it appears, is kind of a backwoods kind of guy. Today he might wear flannel,
drive an old pick-up with a gun rack, have long hair and perhaps be missing a few
teeth. He was not the kind of guy you would expect to gain an audience with the
king. I suspect he would get a good laugh at some of the modern You might be a
redneck jokes. He could come up with his own and say, If you find something
dropped by a raven and you eat it, you might be a redneck.
7B. J. R. MacDuff, “, in the selection of the human instrument for a great revival in
Israel, would magnify the sovereignty of His own grace; He brings balm from half-
heathen Gilead to heal the hurt of the daughter of His people;- He chooses no Rabbi
nor learned doctor of the schools - no Hierarch with the prestige of hereditary office
or outward form of consecration,- but a lay preacher from the Highlands of
Palestine,- a man who had graduated in no school but nature – who had been
taught, but taught only of Heaven.
Some, indeed, have supposed that Elijah was not Hebrew in his origin at all,- that
the blood of roving Ishmael was [7] in his veins,- that he sprang from a tribe of
Gentiles who inherited from the patriarch Abraham the knowledge of the one true
GOD, and retained it longer than the heathen around, owing to their proximity to
the land of Canaan; that such a selection, moreover, was purposely made by GOD
to rebuke the wayward apostasy of His chosen Israel, and shew them that even from
strangers and foreigners He could raise up honored men for the vindication of His
truth and the accomplishment of His purposes.”
8. One might jump to the conclusion that he was a superman type person with the
power to pray for rain to stop and start again, plus one miracle after another in his
career. This is not the case, for as James 5:17 says, “"Elias was a man subject to like
passions as we are...” In other words he was just a normal man that God used to do
some amazing things. In himself he had the emotions of great anger and severe
depression and loneliness. He was used to do amazing things because he was fully
obedient to what God called him to do. This can be true in any of our lives if we walk
in obedience.
9, “It was only by the exercise of strong faith in the unfailing power of God's word
that Elijah delivered his message. Had he not possessed implicit confidence in the
One whom he served, he would never have appeared before Ahab. On his way to
Samaria, Elijah had passed by ever-flowing streams, hills covered with verdure, and
stately forests that seemed beyond the reach of drought. Everything on which the
eye rested was clothed with beauty. The prophet might have wondered how the
streams that had never ceased their flow could become dry, or how those hills and
valleys could be burned with drought. But he gave no place to unbelief. He fully
believed that God would humble apostate Israel, and that through judgments they
would be brought to repentance. The fiat of Heaven had gone forth; God's word
could not fail; and at the peril of his life Elijah fearlessly fulfilled his commission.
Like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, the message of impending judgment fell upon
the ears of the wicked king; but before Ahab could recover from his astonishment,
or frame a reply, Elijah disappeared as abruptly as he had come, without waiting to
witness the effect of his message. And the Lord went before him,
making plain the way.” author unknown
10. Like John the Baptist, Elijah was not a married man, and it is good that it was
so, for he had to live a life in hiding for three and a half years, and that would not be
good for any marriage. God can use single people to do things for the kingdom of
God that would be intolerable for married people. We can thank God for singles,
for in the history of missions we see a great force of them doing tasks that would be
so hard for those with family commitments. Very few leaders in the Old Testament
were single, and so Elijah stands out as being unique in these sense. Men wanted to
carry on their name by having children, for this was also the way they could be a
part of the chain to the Messiah. Elijah gave up this almost universal hope of Old
Testament people. He is one of the rare and great singles of God's people.
10B. J. Hampton Keathley J. , “Elijah stands in striking contrast to the Baal priests
and the populace of the city in every way. His dress and appearance, though not
mentioned here, are mentioned in 2 Kings 1:7-8 . The way they are mentioned
suggests the people were a little awed by the prophet’s distinctive looks and manner.
He wore a garment of black camel’s hair girded with a leather belt about his waist
to hold in his garment for freer movement. This was to become the official dress of a
prophet (Zech. 13:4 ) and stood in striking contrast to the affluent inhabitants of
Samaria, and especially the Baal priests.
His dress was symbolic and stood for: (a) His chosen poverty and priorities--
material things were not on his priority list. (b) His separation and denouncement of
the world--he was not controlled by the lifestyle of the world. He was separated to
the Lord as God’s servant. (c) His official office and purpose in life--he was a
proclaimer of the Word of Yahweh. He knew who he was (God’s representative),
where he was (in a sinful world that stood opposed to the purposes of God) and why
he was there (to give out God’s message of light to people in darkness). What a
contrast Elijah must have been to the people in the rich luxurious city of Samaria,
especially the effeminate, perverted Baal priests. Edersheim tells us they wore white
linen gowns, high pointed bonnets, and lived on the delicacies of the palace. This
rugged mountain man, dressed in his camel’s hair garment, was the sight that
people saw striding down the streets of Samaria, up the steps of the palace right into
the throne room and presence of Ahab and Jezebel. Can’t you picture him as a kind
of Grizzly Adams or a rugged Abraham Lincoln? I am sure no soldier, priest,
citizen, or member of Israel’s secret police dared stand in his way.”
“Elijah’s appearance was dramatic and sudden. His message was short, direct, and
somewhat curt. Elijah did not follow the political protocol of the day. He did not
come bowing and scraping. He was not full of pious platitudes in order to get the
king in the mood for what he had to say. He leveled with Ahab. He laid it on the line
and then left just as suddenly as he had come.”
11. Most commentators agree that it took a great deal of courage for Elijah to tell
this wicked king that he was going to turn off the water supply of heaven, and force
him to suffer miserable conditions and great loss of life and resources. This king and
his wife were notorious for killing the prophets of God, and he would go on the most
wanted list right at the top. God starts this man off with the most dangerous job
possible. We are not told anything about how he felt, and if it was a fearful
undertaking in his mind, but we can assume that because he was, as James tells us, a
man of like passions with us all, that he had his fearful times in heading for the
palace of the king. Eddie Rickenbacker said, “Courage is doing what you're afraid
to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.” So we can assume that Elijah
was afraid as he went to the king with his negative message, but he knew, “The only
thing required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” He refused to do
nothing out of fear, but chose to obey God and speak the truth. “Take a chance! All
life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do
and dare.”-- Dale Carnegie.
12. One man changed the weather of a vast area of the earth. One is always enough
when it is the will of God to change things. J. R. MacDuff wrote, “tells us, "prayed
earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth
by the space of three years and six months." Oh, wondrous power! - a mortal
pleading with GOD! - Omnipotence being moved by weakness! The seasons arrested
in their course;- nature's processes curbed; - the windows of Heaven closed, and the
fields and granaries of earth emptied and spoiled - all - all owing to the voice of one
man!” There is mystery here as to why Elijah had to pray so earnestly for the rain
to cease for this time. Was this whole drought his idea to bring Israel to repentance,
or was it God's idea, and if God's, why would any prayer be involved? Unless it was
God's idea and will, but the timing of it was determined by Elijah's plea that it
begin, for there was no other way to change things. �othing else was working, and
the nation was going deeper and deeper into idolatry. Elijah was concerned that if
judgment did not start now it might be too late to save the minority of the righteous
followers of Jehovah.
13. The number 12 paragraph opens up the issue-is it right to ever pray for
judgment to fall on people as Elijah did? It was right for him, for it was obviously
God's will and plan, but what about us? I have been tempted to pray for bad
consequences in a persons life who was going astray from God, and living a life
unworthy of a believer. If they will only repent by suffering some bad consequences
of their sinful choices, then I want them to suffer those consequences. It seems
paradoxical to want bad things to happen in order to bring about good things, but
the fact is, many people never change their lives and stop going in the wrong
direction until they suffer damage for going the wrong way. If nothing else will
make them turn around, it is an act of love to pray for judgment to motivate them to
see the folly of the direction they are going. God forbid that this idea becomes a
common practice, for it could lead to people praying for disaster to come upon our
nation for all of the wickedness and godlessness within our borders. It could lead to
people who are judgmental spending much time in praying for curses upon all kinds
of perverted persons who do things that are disgusting. I do not want to promote
this negative idea, for it is one that can be so abused that it becomes a great sin in
itself. However, it is valid to pray that negative consequences would have an impact
on people to turn back to God.
2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah:
1. Rich Cathers points out how the word of the Lord is a key theme in this chapter.
(1 Ki 17:1 KJV) …but according to my word.
(1 Ki 17:2 KJV) And word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
(1 Ki 17:5 KJV) So he went and according unto the word of the LORD
(1 Ki 17:8 KJV) And word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
(1 Ki 17:14 KJV) For saith the LORD God of Israel …
(1 Ki 17:16 KJV) And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail,
to the word of the LORD
(1 Ki 17:24 KJV) And the woman said to Elijah, �ow by this I know that thou art a
man of God, and that word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.
It is obvious that God is direction Elijah step by step, and Elijah is taking those
steps just as the Lord directs. That is why God could use this nobody from nowhere
to do great things, for he was always ready to obey every word the Lord spoke to
him. Cathers says, “If you want to be a person God uses, you MUST know His
Word.”
3. "Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the
Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.
1. There is a valid time to hide from a person who is likely to kill you if he finds you,
and that was the case here. God does many miracles in his life, but he still demands
that he do what he can do to avoid being killed. God does what only he can do, and
expects us to do what we can do. To expect God to do for us what we can do is
presumption, and if Elijah had stayed in the public eye he likely would have been
killed by Ahab. God's primary working in history is by natural means and not by
miracle. If somebody is out to kill you, just hide, and do not defy them to kill you
because you are in God's will, and so depending on a miracle. God could have made
it so that swords would not penetrate his body, but the simple way of avoiding the
swords is the way God usually works. If someone is looking to kill you, don't pray
for super powers, just go and hide. He could have gone on a preaching mission
gathering crowds and becoming a popular revival preacher like John the Baptist.
He would have been killed, however, and that was not God's plan for him. He had to
hide out to survive for the big showdown later.
2. Pink gets a laugh out of other commentators because of their interpretation of
this command to hide as a necessity to protect Elijah. He wrote, “It is almost
amusing to see how commentators have quite wandered from the track here, for
almost all of them explain the Lord’s command as being given for the purpose of
providing protection for His servant. As the death-dealing drought continued, the
perturbation of Ahab would increase more and more, and as he remembered the
prophet’s language that there should be neither dew nor rain but according to his
word, his rage against him would know no bounds: Elijah, then, must be provided
with a refuge if his life was to be spared. Yet Ahab made no attempt to slay him
when next they met, (1 Kings 18:17-20)! Should it be answered, "That was because
God’s restraining hand was upon the king," we answer, granted, but was not God
able to restrain him all through the interval?”
2B. Pink preferred his own view which he stated like this: “...the most valuable gift
He grants any people is the sending of His own qualified servants among them, and
that the greatest possible calamity which can befall any land is God’s withdrawal of
those whom He appoints to minister unto the soul, then no uncertainty should
remain. The drought on Ahab’s kingdom was a Divine scourge and in keeping
therewith the Lord bade his prophet "get thee hence." The removal of the ministers
of His truth is a sure sign of God’s displeasure, a token that He is dealing in
judgment with a people who have provoked Him to anger.” Henry goes along with
this perspective as well, as do others.
2C. I think his perspective is far more laughable than the one he rejects, for there is
a difference between taking yourself out of the public eye and hiding, for hiding
means someone is trying to find you. The king would be looking for Elijah after
much suffering, and this makes more sense than God punishing the people by taking
Elijah out of circulation and thus denying them a religious teacher. Having no rain
for three and a half years was punishment enough. The fact is, we do not know that
anybody in that day knew of this prophet who appeared suddenly with not a word
about his past life or ministry. He may have been like Jesus in that he just started
his public ministry at a ripe age at this announcement to Ahab. How could the
people feel bad about his disappearance if they never heard of him before. He could
not be missed if he had not been known, and we have no hint that he was known. It
is only speculation that he might be missed and people would feel the judgment of
God because of it. If they did know of him he could just stop preaching to achieve
this judgment. He would not have to hide and be fed in secret by ravens. This was a
radical way to prevent his teaching people.
What we know for fact is the record in chapter 18 where Obadiah, the man in
charge of Ahab's palace said to Elijah in verse 10, “..there is not a nation or
kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a
nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not
find you.” Ahab had everyone out looking for Elijah, and so to question that he was
hiding to escape detection is to question the record. The traditional view that he was
hiding for his protection is not laughable, but any other theory is. Does anyone think
that Ahab had the whole world looking for him so he could bring him out of hiding
to preach to the people? He did not arrest him on the spot when he made his
prophecy because it was a joke to him. It was the word of a lunatic. He did not
arrest him later because he realized he was dealing with a most powerful man in
partnership with God. He had reason to fear and respect him. Pink, however, does
go on in his commentary to acknowledge a number of times that he was hiding for
his protection. I just make an issue of this because a number of commentators seem
to reject the obvious, and put forth a theory that has no basis in the text. This theory
says his preaching was so tremendous that taking it away was a serious judgment. If
so, why is there none of his great teaching in Scripture for the rest of history to
enjoy? Elijah was not a great teacher or preacher, but a great man of action
endowed by God with the power to make his actions count.
3. Elijah just steps out on the stage, says a sentence, and then is told to leave the
stage and hide. It looks like a really bit part that only takes a few seconds and few
words, and then it is off to hide. It takes time for his role to develop from this slow
and seemingly insignificant beginning. God often starts big things with very small
beginnings, for what could have been bigger than the incarnation, but at the same
time what can be smaller than a baby? It can be seen to be humorous when you
consider that his first job is to report the weather, and then he is to run and play
hide and seek with the king and his soldiers. It looks like God is writing a comedy.
He was so unknown to begin with that nothing of his past is available, and the first
thing he has to do is go into hiding where nobody can know where he is at, and what
he is doing. He goes from obscurity into obscurity.
4. Jack VanderPlate, “God commanded Elijah - "Leave, retreat, go hide yourself."
He was told to go the Kerith Ravine. "Cherith" means "a cutting," and is the same
root as the word used for "divorce." "Cut yourself off," God told Elijah. "Cut
yourself off from Ahab, and from your people." Hide yourself in a "secret place,"
the word used for the womb--a place of shelter and nurture. (Ps 139:15-16) It may
be very difficult for us to hear this word of God. We don't have time for hide-aways
and secret places. We pride ourselves on our busy, workaholic activism, and value
the very things that often keep us from hearing God's word. Of all people, we should
ponder... Show the wonder of your great love; save by your right hand those who
take refuge in you from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the
shadow of your wings. (Ps 17:7-8)”
5. God had two major moves for Elijah. "Go and Hide Thyself" (17:2) and "Go and
Show Thyself" (18:1).
4 You will drink from the brook, and I have
ordered the ravens to feed you there."
1. The comedy continues with the Raven's Catering Service. God had all kinds of
possibilities. He could have had fruit grow on the trees, and fish leaping on shore for
Elijah to fry. He could have revived the manna from heaven in the wilderness, but
he chooses to use the birds to minister to his prophet. God has a sense of humor for
sure, and on top of it, he does not use lovely type birds like the doves, and pigeons,
but the unclean ravens, which he made forbidden as food for his people. They are
birds who like to come down and feast on road kill and carcasses in the woods. �ot
the most appetizing image when they are catering your breakfast and dinner. God
never sends us anywhere to do anything without his presence and provision. The
promise of scripture is "my God shall supply all your need" (Phil. 4:19).
2. Everyone, of course, wants to know where the ravens got the food to bring to
him. This is not revealed, but Rich Cathers tells this interesting story: “We used to
have a children’s book of Bible stories that suggested that the ravens were part of
God’s air force, and every day they would make a run through the kitchens of
Ahab’s palace, snatching up the king’s goodies, and heading off for Elijah’s hiding
place.” That is so funny that it fits Elijah so perfectly, and I can believe he prayed
for just that so he could remove even more of the kings abundance to bring him
down.
3. We note all through this chapter that God is in control of nature, for he controls
the rain, and he is in control of the ravens, and he is in control of the oil and flour,
and in control of whatever germ or virus took the life of the young boy. The only
thing God has a problem controlling is human nature, and that is because he gave
them freedom of will. It can be as yielded as nature, however, and that is what we
see in Elijah.
4. Pink is right about these accommodations and resources for survival not being
very luxurious, but even painful. A child of the king, when God is the king, does not
always live on the highest level in terms of earthly riches. Ahab lived in luxury,
while Elijah lived in what is less than poverty. The bad guys often have it better
than the good guys. Pink wrote, “ Let us now take a closer look at the particular
place selected by God as the one where His servant was next to sojourn: "by the
brook Cherith." Ah, it was a brook and not a river—a brook which might dry up
any moment. It is rare that God places His servants, or even His people, in the midst
of luxury and abundance: to be surfeited with the things of this world only too often
means the drawing away of the affections from the giver Himself. "How hardly shall
they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!" It is our hearts God requires,
and often this is put to the proof. The way in which temporal losses are borne
generally makes manifest the difference between the real Christian and the
worldling. The latter is utterly cast down by financial reverses, and frequently
commits suicide. Why? Because his all has gone and there is nothing left to live for.
In contrast, the genuine believer may be severely shaken and for a time deeply
depressed, but he will recover his poise and say, "God is still my portion and I shall
not want."
5. Spurgeon, “There was a poor man who had no bread for his family, and they
were almost starving. One of his children said to him, "Father, God sent bread to
Elijah by ravens."
"Ah yes," he replied, "but God does not use birds in that way now." He was a
cobbler, and a short time after he spoke these words there flew into his workshop a
bird, which he saw was a rare one, so he caught it and put it in a cage. A little later,
a servant came in and said to him, "Have you seen such-and-such a bird?"
"Yes," he answered, "it flew into my shop, so I caught it and put it into a cage."
"It belongs to my mistress," said the maid.
"Well then, take it," he replied, and away she went. When the girl took the bird to
her mistress, the lady sent her back to thank the cobbler for his care of her pet, and
to give him half a sovereign. So, if the bird did not actually bring the bread and
meat in its mouth, it was made the medium of feeding the hungry family although
the father had doubted whether such a thing could be.
The ravens owe their own meat day by day to God's providing, and yet he employs
them for the supply of his servant. So poor saints, deeply dependent on God for
their humblest needs, he enables to help saints yet poorer still. His prophet shall be
sustained by ravens, who, perhaps, have little ones that cry for their food. The Lord
will provide. We know not how, but he has his own ways and methods.”
6. An unknown author wrote, “When the LXX (the Septuagint, an ancient Greek
translation of the Old Testament) and the Latin Vulgate both talk about "ravens",
then many other translations have copied that and also have "ravens". The Hebrew
word in question is orebim. If one looks at it without the later added vowel-points,
then one can see that that passage may instead have referred to "Arabians", or to
"merchants", rather than to "ravens". �ow, where was Elijah staying, at that time?
On the Arabian border, east of Jordan. So, a more likely translation is that some
Arabs (Arabians) brought bread and meat to Elijah, and not "ravens". The Fenton
translation has "Arabs". But, the Hebrew word in question could also have referred
to merchants.” Most do not accept this view, for it defeats the whole point of Elijah
being hidden. If Arabs are twice a day carrying food into the hidden area to Elijah,
it would not take long before the secret was out, and this went on for many months.
7. Howat, “Hebrew language was written without ' points' or vowels, these being
supplied orally in reading. It so happened, then, that when the Masorites -that is,
the Jewish doctors who invented the vowel-points were dealing with this narrative
of Elijah, they inserted beneath the consonants of the word in dispute, the particular
points which gave it exclusively the meaning of 'ravens. Those who rejected this
interpretation, however, found it a very simple thing to show that, by the slightest
change of the vowel-points, the word might mean several other things besides, in
order to suit their peculiar views of the passage. And thus the consonants may have
been made to signify ' ravens, Arabs and Orebites,' all of which meanings have been
applied to them in the narrative ; in addition to which they can mean (of course with
the change of the vowel-points), 'evenings* or 'willow-trees* (the points for both
words being the same), ' gad-flies,* and ' the woofs or wefts,* as in Lev. xiii. 48. Our
own view of the matter most unquestionably is, as we have shown already, that the
word means 'ravens. Christian scholars are not in every case bound to the decision
of the Masorites, we nevertheless think that, in a case like the present, which
involves not a matter of doctrine, but of fact, we do well to accept the rendering of
the great Jewish scholars, who indeed only embodied in visible form what had been
the oral reading and testimony of centuries.” “We are shut up to the conclusion,'
says Dr. Eadie, * that the orebim were literally ravens. Such, too, is the translation
of Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, the Septuagint, and other ancient versions, with
only one exception.'”
“It requires no stretch of faith to believe that the same God who supported the
wandering Israelites in the wilderness for forty years, by miracle, with manna and
quails, could equally support, by miracle, Elijah at the Cherith, for a few months at
the most, with food brought in the beaks of birds. Is anything too hard for the
Lord ? Admit the miracle, and all becomes plain. Deny the miracle, and attempt by
rationalizing theories to account for it, and you only produce a clumsy piece
of patchwork. It is surely sad and shameful to see the plainest declarations of God's
word coolly set aside, and mere myths and fancies substituted in their room. We
demand Scripture as it stands, not as some would tinker it Inspiration is not to be
cut and carved ; the simplest meaning is generally the correct one ; and far more
likely is the child to know the truth about Elijah in the matter in hand, who, turning
over its nursery story-book, sees the prophet in his woody glen, and, overhead, the
winged messengers of God bringing him his morning and evening meal, than are
those who would try to persuade us that the miracle at Cherith was produced by
an extraordinary combination of circumstances, to believe which would require far
more faith than fifty such miracles as the narrative unfolds.”
5 So he did what the LORD had told him. He went
to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and
stayed there.
1. It does not look like a pleasant assignment to go into such isolation, but he was
doing this in obedience to God's orders. He was in full compliance with the will of
God, and when this is the case a man is in the happiest place he can be. Other places
could be much easier to endure, and have much better accommodations and better
food, but they would not be where God wanted him to be. It can be hard to obey
God when we see other choices that seem superior to his choice for us, but we
cannot be happy there, for there is no greater happiness than knowing you are just
where God wants you to be. We see the contrast between Elijah and Jonah. Elijah
went where God wanted him to go and be was provided with food. Jonah ran from
where God wanted him to be, and he became food for the whale. Whether you eat or
become eaten depends on your obedience or disobedience to God.
2. Pink, “�ot only did God’s injunction to Elijah supply a real test of his submission
and faith, but it also made a severe demand upon his humility. Had pride been in the
ascendant he would have said, "Why should I follow such a course? It would be
playing the coward’s part to "hid" myself. I am not afraid of Ahab, so I shall not go
into seclusion." Ah, my reader, some of God’s commands are quite humiliating to
haughty flesh and blood. It may not have struck His disciples as a valorous policy to
pursue when Christ bade them "when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into
another" (Matthew 10:23); nevertheless, such were His orders, and He must be
obeyed. And why should any servant of His demur at such a command as "hide
thyself," when of the Master Himself we read the "Jesus hid Himself" (John 8:59).
Ah, He has left us an example in all things.
Without hesitation or delay the prophet complied with God’s command. Blessed
subjection to the Divine will was this: to deliver Jehovah’s message unto the king
himself, or to be dependent upon ravens, he was equally ready. However
unreasonable the precept might appear or however unpleasant the prospect, the
Tishbite promptly carried it out. How different was this from the prophet Jonah,
who fled from the word of the Lord; yes, and how different the sequel—the one
imprisoned for three days and nights in the whale’s belly, the other, at the end,
taken to Heaven without passing through the portals of death! God’s servants are
not all alike, either in faith, obedience or fruitfulness. O that all of us may be as
prompt in our obedience to the Lord’s Word as Elijah was.”
3. Melvin Tinker gives us a brief study of faith that illustrates the life of Elijah, for
he trusted God's word completely and just followed his instructions to the letter
every time God spoke to him. He did not just have faith, he lived faith. Tinker
wrote, “According to Lewis Caroll's White Queen in 'Alice Through the looking
Glass' , 'faith' is believing six impossible things before breakfast. And I guess if ever
there was a misunderstood word today both within and outside Christian circles it is
that little word 'faith.' Part of the problem is that it is seen as something distinctly
religious. The religious person has 'faith' whereas the non-religious person doesn't.
'Faith' is pretty uncertain and takes over when the facts end. And that is a great pity
really, because the Bible's use of the word 'faith' is not intrinsically religious at all.
It is a very common word referring to something which all people are doing all of
the time. And perhaps for the sake of clarity we should drop the word 'faith'
altogether and substitute some of the more ordinary alternatives. And the
alternatives are these: 'trust', 'rely', 'depend'. And there are two reasons why these
words are better than the word 'faith' to get over the real meaning. First, because
faith isn't a thing we posses, it is something we do- 'trusting', 'relying' ,'depending'-
there is no such word as 'faithing'. And second, they underscore the importance of
the object of faith, for when someone says 'I trust', you ask, 'Trust in what'? When
they say, 'I depend' you ask 'on what are you depending?' When they say ' I rely'
well, the sentence is incomplete isn't it? you have to finish it by saying upon what it
is you are relying. But if you simply say 'I have faith' it appears very mystical but
doesn't tell you very much. And furthermore, it is the object of faith that makes faith
rational in that you depend upon something dependable, you rely upon something
reliable, you trust something that is trustworthy. So this word 'faith' has a flip side.
You must put your faith in something faithful, for to put your trust in something
untrustworthy isn't faith, it is gullibility. And so everyone has faith. At the moment
you are all exercising a tremendous amount of faith in your pew. You are relying on
the pew to support you, and your faith in the pew is rational because it is the pew
that is reliable. So what is it that is keeping you up at the moment? Is it your faith or
your pew? Well, if you think it is your faith, try sitting down without a pew and see
what happens! And therefore, in many ways it is the object of your faith that is far
more important than faith itself. And that is precisely what the Bible teaches.”
6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the
morning and bread and meat in the evening, and
he drank from the brook.
1. We note that the menu was not very large in variety. God did not by some miracle
provide special delicacies for the prophet. He used natural means to get just the
basics of life to him. It amounted to an old time prison diet of bread and water with
some sort of meat thrown in. It is good the nature of the meat is not given, for
ravens are noted for feeding on dead carcases. I think we can assume that only fresh
kill was brought to Elijah, and not spoiled meat that does not bother the ravens.
This is so unusual that Clarke has done an amazing study to prove that it could not
be literal ravens that is meant. His study is in Appendix 1 for those interested, but it
has not changed the translations.
1B. Gill, “..it seems better to interpret them of ravens, as we do, these creatures
delighting to be in solitary places, in valleys, and by brooks; nor need it be any
objection that they were unclean creatures by the law, since Elijah did not feed upon
them, but was fed by them; and supposing any uncleanness by touch, the ceremonial
law might be dispensed with in an extraordinary case, as it sometimes was; though it
is very remarkable that such creatures should be employed in this way, which are
birds of prey, seize on anything they can, live on carrion, and neglect their own
young, and yet feed a prophet of the Lord; which shows the power and providence
of God in it. Something like this Jerome relates, of a raven bringing a whole loaf of
bread, and laying it before the saints, Paulus and Antonius.
1C. �o man in history has ever watched two miracles a day for many months. It, no
doubt, became such a common occurrence that he did not think of it as a miracle
any more, but just a normal daily routine. But the fact is, if ravens can deliver a
meal twice a day for many months, it is the greatest series of miracles in history in
terms of numbers of times it occurred. This was a once in a lifetime experience for
Elijah, and a once in a history of mankind miracle. It only fed one man, but it is the
longest lasting miracle ever recorded.
2. Ron Daniels has compiled some verses and comments on the ravens, and they
show that even though they are detestable as food, they are cared for by God who
delights to see that they have food.
Lev. 11:13-15 ‘These, moreover, you shall detest among the birds; they are
abhorrent, not to be eaten: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard, and the kite
and the falcon in its kind, every raven in its kind They were not to be eaten, but on
the other hand, God made sure that they were always eating. They are three times
used as illustrations of God's provision. The Lord asked Job,
Job 38:41 “Who prepares for the raven its nourishment, when its young cry to God,
and wander about without food?
And the Psalmist wrote that the Lord...
Ps. 147:9 ...gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens which cry.
Jesus also taught,
Luke 12:24 “Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; and they have no
storeroom nor barn; and {yet} God feeds them..."
God is the one who feeds the ravens. He consistently provides for them.
�ow He is using the ravens to feed Elijah. Think about that for a moment. God
provides for them, and they provided for Elijah. This is a picture of how the
kingdom of God is supposed to work. When God supplies you with provision,
whether it is money, food, etc., it is not only for your use. It is not just an exclusive
blessing for you. When God supplies you, it is also so that you will obey the
command of the Lord to supply others.”
2. I think it is funny that the ravens listen to God's orders and carry them out fully,
but the leaders and people of Israel do not pay attention to their God, and fail to
carry them out. The animal kingdom is sometime more in conformity to the will of
God than the human kingdom, and this is a disgrace on man. When a bird is more
of a servant of God than the leaders of God's people you know it is a desperate time,
and calls for judgment such as drought. Imagine how Elijah must have felt that first
morning when the ravens came flying in with food. It would be so strange that he
would have to raise his voice in praise to God for such a unique way of providing for
his needs. I can just hear him laughing at the awesome way God was supplying him
in his isolation where without God he would perish with hunger. God keeps his
promises.
In Psalm 34:10 we read, "The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek
the Lord lack no good thing." In Philippians 4:19 Paul tells us, "My God will supply
all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus." To add to the humor
here, the Jews have a tradition that the ravens took the food from the table of Ahab
in his palace to bring to Elijah. This whole story is illustrating God's laughter in
Psalm 2 where all the nations are plotting against God in their rebellion, and verse 4
says, “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.” Why?
Because it is so stupid to think you can outwit and overcome God. He will always be
able to out wit and overcome all opposition, and rebellion against him is as silly as a
fly trying to derail a locomotive. It is laughable, and so we see much for God to
laugh at in the whole story of Elijah against the world of rebels like Ahab and
Jezebel, and their hoard of Baal worshipers.
3. Pink, “Observe, no vegetables, fruit, or sweets are mentioned. There were no
luxuries, but simply the bare necessities. "Having food and raiment let us be
therewith content," (1 Tim. 6:8). but are we? Alas, how little of this godly
contentment is now seen, even among the Lord’s people. How many of them set
their hearts upon the things which the godless make idols of. Why are our young
people dissatisfied with the standard of comfort which sufficed their parents? Self
must be denied if we are to show ourselves followers of Him who had not where to
lay His head.
But why should not God supply the water in a miraculous way, as He did the food?
Most certainly He could have done so. He could have brought water out of the rock,
as He did for Israel, and for Samson out of a jawbone (Judges 15:18, 19). Yes, but
the Lord is not confined to any one method, but has a variety of ways in brining the
same end to pass. God sometimes works one way and sometimes another, employing
this means today and that tomorrow, in accomplishing His counsels. God is
sovereign and acts not according to rule and rote. He ever acts according to His own
good pleasure, and this He does in order to display His all-sufficiency, to exhibit His
manifold wisdom, and to demonstrate the greatness of His power. God is not tied
and if He closes one door He can easily open another.”
4. Alexander Maclaren, “People take offence at the abundance of miracles in the
lives of Elijah and Elisha, and assert that some of them, this among the rest, are for
unworthily trivial occasions. But the grave crisis in Israel is to be taken into account,
which involved the necessity for unusual manifestations of divine power, and very
evident credentials for the prophets; and the preparation of Elijah for his
tremendous struggle was, even to our eyes, surely an adequate end for miracle. How
could he doubt that God had sent him and would care for him, with such memories
as those of his winged purveyors? How could he doubt future words which should
come to him, when he recalled how marvellously this one had been fulfilled? The
silence of the ravine, the long days and nights of solitude, the punctual arrival of his
food, would all tend to weld his faith into yet more close-knit strength. If we may so
say, it was worth God’s while to work miracles, to make Elijah. The highest end of
creation is the production of God-fearing men. All things serve the soul that serves
God.”
5. Elijah had two good meals a day, but what did he do when he was not eating for
all of these months? It is usually thought that he spent the first year by this brook. It
is a pattern in Scripture and history that men are sent into isolation for the purpose
of training for the greater task God has for them. For example, J. R. MacDuff gives
these notes:
- Moses had forty years' separation from the world in the Sinai desert, before
entering on his unparalleled mission as the liberator and leader of the many
thousands of Israel.
- John had his loving spirit fed and refreshed and disciplined in the solitudes of
Patmos.
- John's loving Master had His days and nights of sacred seclusion on the mountains
of Judea and Galilee, where His holy human soul was strengthened for arduous
conflict.
- Paul, in training for the great work of the apostolate, had three years of retirement
amid the deserts of Arabia.
- Luther,- the Elijah of his age,- had his spirit braced for hero-deeds during an
uninterrupted season of prayer and the study of the sacred oracles, in the lone castle
of Wartburg in the forest of Thuringia.”
We have to assume that Elijah did not just kill time, but that he had resources for
study, and that he spent much time in prayer and in fellowship with God so that he
could be the person he needed to be to take on the world of false prophets that
awaited his challenge.
5B. H. T. Howat put it this way, “�o companions has he, save ravens, who, his
divinely commissioned servants, wait upon him, ' in their black livery,' at break of
morning and at fall of eve. It seems a strange scene altogether : that wierd-like
grotto among the rocks, from whence is heard now, some solitary song of morning
worship, or some fervid utterance of evening prayer. We see the prophet as he
receives from his ravens his appointed food, or, rude cup in hand, or perhaps none
at all, steps down to the rivulet to quench his thirst. Much thinks he of God, we do
not doubt, so manifestly is he a dependent upon His bounty. Much thinks he also of
Israel, and the work before him there, while this second season of seclusion is
recruiting and training him for it This is frequently God's way. Our blessed Lord
was forty days in the wilderness ; Moses was forty years in the land of Midian ;
David was long an exile in the solitudes of Engedi ; Paul was three years in Arabia ;
John the Evangelist was for nearly two years in Patmos ; Luther was long in a
monastery ; Tyndale' the first translator of the English Bible, was a fugitive at
Marburg and Worms, Antwerp and Cologne ; John Knox was several years
prisoner in the French galleys ; and so Elijah is sent to Cherith, not merely to escape
the rage of Ahab, but there, amid the calm and solitude of nature, to grow up to his
full height as champion and conservator of God's despised and trampled truth.”
6. We tend to think of Elijah as a man of great miracles as he stands on the
mountain and calls fire down from heaven, and becomes one of the great heroes of
Israel. This is a valid picture of this great prophet, but we need to also see that he
spent many months sitting by a brook with no great task except to keep himself
hidden. It had to be lonely and boring, but he endured this being isolated and
seemingly useless to anyone because that was God's will for him at this time. It is not
all glorious victories for the person in God's will. There are times of sheer boredom
and being cut off from any useful ministry. It may come as a result of sickness or an
accident, or any number of things beyond our control. This is not a time to despair,
but a time to prepare, and to get yourself in a frame of mind that will make you
stronger when God opens up the next step he wants you to take. We do not know
how Elijah prepared, but we can assume he did a lot of meditation, and a lot of
prayer for guidance. It took an enormous amount of patience and persistence to
endure this hideout experience, and that is what made him great.
7. John Loweie, “"We need riot wonder at the miraculous method of his supply, for
indeed God's providential wonders are often as great as these. That birds of prey
should bring the prophet food may be justified on several accounts. These birds,
being unfit for human food, would remain unmolested when other birds might be
destroyed by the famishing people; being accustomed to seek for prey, their instincts
could be more easily turned to this service; their regular flight in a time of distress,
when such birds might find more food, would attract less special attention; and
birds so strong might fly in a wider range, and even snatch their food from the
altars of other lands. That Elijah should eat such food from such carriers would
teach that the ceremonial laws might be set aside by just necessity; as in a less
pressing case our Lord argues that God " will have mercy and not sacrifice."
“ �othing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is
more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded
genius is almost a proverb. Education will not the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, 'Press on,' has
solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
-- Calvin Coolidge.
“ Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become
more extraordinary because of it.”
-- Robertson Davies.
The Widow at Zarephath
7 Some time later the brook dried up because
there had been no rain in the land.
1. His prophecy is coming true, and now without rain his source of water is gone,
and so he is a victim of his own prediction. You can be in the place where God wants
you to be and still have a problem. Circumstances change, and so what was God's
will can also change, and lack of water meant Elijah had to move on to a different
place. You have to move with the changes that come in life, for history and culture
are ever changing, and call for new means and methods to accomplish the will of
God. It is always right to move on when the present location does no longer meet the
need it once did. Again, God could have kept that stream going by miracle, but
nature's laws were not going to be changed when he could just move to a different
location. God did many miracles in Elijah's life, but not any more than necessary to
achieve his purpose. God does not throw miracles around helter skelter, but uses
them in a conservative manner. He works by natural means and common sense.
2. He suffered a loss due to his own prayer for rain to stop. God's people suffer with
everyone else when the nation is judged. Pink wrote, “That the brook dried up."
Cherith would not flow for ever, no, not even for the prophet. Elijah himself must
be made to feel the awfulness of that calamity which he had announced. Ah, my
reader, it is no uncommon thing for God to suffer His own dear children to become
enwrapped in the common calamities of offenders. True, He makes a real difference
both in the use and the issue of their stripes, but not so in the infliction of them. We
are living in a world which is under the curse of a Holy God, and therefore "man is
born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward." �or is there any escape from trouble
so long as we are left in this scene. God’s own people, though the objects of the
everlasting love, are not exempted, for "many are the afflictions of the righteous."
Why? For various reasons and with various designs: one of them being to wean our
hearts from things below and cause us to set our affection on things above.”
3. Many authors make much of the brook drying up as a good lesson for us all, but
the fact is, the text just says it dried up because of the lack of rain. The brooks that
satisfy us in life do often dry up, however, and so men make this text a test of how
we will respond when our brook runs dry. David Guzik, for example wrote, "Ah, it
is hard to sit beside a drying brook - much harder than to face the prophets of Baal
on Carmel." (Meyer) He also mentions different kinds of drying brooks we might
experience:
· The drying brook of popularity, ebbing away as from John the Baptist.
· The drying brook of health, sinking under a creeping paralysis, or a slow
consumption.
· The drying brook of money, slowly dwindling before the demands of sickness,
bad debts, or other people's extravagance.
· The drying brook of friendship, which for long has been diminishing, and
threatens soon to cease.
"Why does God let them dry? He wants to teach us not to trust in His gifts but in
Himself. He wants to drain us of self, as He drained the apostles by ten days of
waiting before Pentecost. He wants to loosen our roots ere He removes us to some
other sphere of service and education. He wants to put in stronger contrast the river
of throne-water that never dries." (Meyer)”
4. Maclaren, “The little stream that came down the wady dried up ‘after a while’;
and Elijah, no doubt, would wonder what was to be done next, as he saw it daily
sending a thinner thread to Jordan. But he was not told till the channel was dry, and
the pebbles in its bed bleaching in the sun. God makes us sometimes wait on beside a
diminishing rivulet, and keeps us ignorant of the next step, till it is dry. Patience is
an element in strength. It was a far cry from Cherith to Zarephath, right across the
kingdom of Ahab; and to run for refuge to a dependency of Zidon, Jezebel’s
country, looked like putting his head in the lion’s mouth. But the same ‘command’
which the ravens had obeyed had smoothed his way.”
5. If this brook is dried up, and its water coming from the mountain streams, how
much worse must things be in the rest of the land, and especially in the gardens of
Ahab and Jezebel. Howat describes what is happening in the mind of the king from
the day of his hearing Elijah's message to the present. “the monarch must have
thought the prophet mad. This wild mountaineer, with the long straggling locks and
the sheep-skin mantle, asserting that ' the secret chemistry' of sun, and cloud,
and sky was completely in his power ! First we can believe that Ahab laughed. 'The
thing's ridiculous,' we hear him say. He points to the cloudless firmament ; to the
infinite azure, peaceful as a slumbering child ; to the orb of day, in all his majesty of
power, and all his magnificence of sunbeam. 'What means this fool ?* he says again.
' There be no signs of evil here. �ever was the grass greener, or the flowers more
beautiful, or the fruit hanging in richer or riper luxuriance.' But the cloudless sky
continues ; and the infinite azure slumbers on ; and the orb of day lavishes his
wealth of sunbeam, till the grass is rotting, and the flowers are drooping, and the
fruit-trees threaten to present nothing but long, bare arms — the skeletons of
their former glory. Ahab is alarmed. There is no laughing now.” “Where is that
Gileadite ?' cries Ahab, * Where is that wild fanatic ?' cries Jezebel. The word of the
Lord' has come to him, and he is safe, For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in
His pavilion ; in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me...”
6. Howat, “There can be no doubt the feelings of Elijah would be very peculiar as he
saw the Cherith lessening day after day, while possibly the very name of the
streamlet, which in the original Hebrew signifies ' drought,' only tended to deepen
his sense of alarm. A preliminary question rises. Could not the same God who had
miraculously supplied the prophet with food, as miraculously have supplied him
with water? Was the difficulty greater to make Cherith flow, than to make the
voracious ravens Elijah's ministers? And yet blessings perpetuated too often become
mere matters of course. There is a tendency in the very uniformity with which the
sun rises, our pulses beat, and our lungs breathe, to beget a feeling of indifference
and forgetfulness to the great Source of them all. All life is a miracle; new mercies
and new mornings dawn together.” The point being that it was time for a new
challenge and new ministry. It had to be a blessing for Elijah to move on to
something new. Variety is the spice of life, and he needed a little variety in his life,
and his diet.
8 Then the word of the LORD came to him:
1. Hudson Taylor served the Lord in China and experienced God's steady presence
and provision. He said, "God's work, done in God's way, will receive God's supply."
That is why Elijah had to move on to get the supply he needed to survive.
Watchman �ee once said, "Because of our proneness to look at the bucket and
forget the fountain, God has frequently to change His means of supply to keep our
eyes fixed on the source."
2. Elijah had to be thrilled to hear from the Lord again, for without his brook he
would soon be seeing vultures rather than ravens flying overhead. He knew it was
time to move on, and that was just what the Lord had in mind for him.
3. Because he was guided by the word of the Lord we see these three things stand
out in this chapter.
1. HE HAD PURPOSE. It was his purpose to carry God's message to Ahab.
2. HE HAD PROVISIO�S. He was kept fit and healthy by God's grace.
3. HE HAD POWER. By means of his prayer a life was restored.
Life is good when you have a purpose, and have all your needs supplied, and the
power to minister the grace of God to others. Elijah had all that was necessary for a
happy life that was pleasing to both God and man.
4. He also had a fourth thing that is implied by staying by this brook until it dried
up, and that would be the virtue of patience. How hard it would be to be isolated for
a year with no contact with another human being. One of the basic needs of anyone
in God's service is patience. Some of the greatest missionaries of history devotedly
spread the seed of God's Word and yet had to wait long periods before seeing the
fruit of their efforts. William Carey, for example, labored 7 years before the first
Hindu convert was brought to Christ in Burma, and Adoniram Judson toiled 7
years before his faithful preaching was rewarded. In western Africa, it was 14 years
before one convert was received into the Christian church. In �ew Zealand, it took 9
years; and in Tahiti, it was 16 years before the first harvest of souls began.
5. Pink, “Patience is a most necessary grace for the Christian. That requires little
proof, for the experience of every believer confirms it. Some difficulty accompanies
every duty and the putting forth of every grace, not only because the
commandments of God run counter to our corruptions but also because they run
counter to the spirit and course of this world. Therefore patience is required in
order to perform our duties constantly, and to continue in the exercise of that grace.
To swim against the tide of popular sentiment, willing to be deemed singular,
plodding along the narrow way, which is an uphill course throughout, and not
fainting near the end, calls for much fortitude and endurance.”
5B. Pink goes on to describe three kinds of patience. “There is a threefold patience
spoken of in Scripture. First, a laboring patience, which consists in our doing the
will of God in self-denying obedience, however irksome it proves to the flesh. The
same Greek word rendered "patiently waiting" in our text is translated "patient
continuance in well doing" in Romans 2:7, which is in contrast with those whose
"goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away" (Hosea 6:4).
Christ defined the stony-ground hearers as those "which for a while believe, and in
time of temptation fall away." He described the thorny-ground hearers as they who
"are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to
perfection." But He declared that the good-ground hearers are they who "having
heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience" (Luke 8:13-15). "Many
of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him" (John 6:66), but of the
apostles He said, "Ye are they which have continued with me" (Luke 22:28).
Second, suffering patience, which meekly bears affliction and does not rebel against
whatever God has appointed for us. Where that grace is thus exercised, the soul
does not faint in the time of adversity nor turn back in the day of battle. When the
dispensations of divine providence are most trying to flesh and blood, and we are
tempted to resist them, we are enabled to say, "What? shall we receive good at the
hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10). Piety does not exempt any
from trouble and sorrow, but it does enable us to make manifest the sufficiency of
divine grace in all conditions and circumstances. As God is honored by the exercise
of our love and zeal in performing His precepts, so He is greatly glorified by our
quietness and submission when He calls upon us to experience suffering. Our
fidelity to Him must be tested by enduring evil as well as in doing good, and the
exercise of patience is as much needed for an unrepining and unflagging bearing of
the one as it is for the joyous and unremitting performance of the other.
Third, a waiting patience, which consists of quietly tarrying for God’s pleasure after
we have both done the preceptive will of God and fulfilled His providential will.
Some find this more difficult to exercise than either of the former, yet it is required
of us. "Be not slothful, but followers of them who through patience inherit the
promises." "For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God,
ye might receive the promise" (Heb. 6:12; 10:36). God has anticipatory mercies
which come without our tarrying for them; He also has rewarding mercies which
must be waited for, for He is pleased to test our patience, and often there is no
reward for doing His will unless we do wait. Though God is never behind His time,
He seldom comes at ours. "It came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty
years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all of the hosts of the LORD went
out from the land of Egypt. It is a night much to be observed unto the LORD for
bringing them out" (Ex. 12:41-42). That great promise of deliverance was
performed punctually, not only to the day but to the very hour. Those four hundred
and thirty years expired during the hours of darkness, and God did not wait till the
morning light.
We read of the "shortening" of evil times (Matthew 24:22) but not of their
lengthening! God never keeps His people waiting for good any longer than He has
purposed or promised. But though He keeps His time exactly, and works just at the
moment He has ordained and made known, yet we are apt to antedate the divine
promise and set a time before His. As one of the Puritans quaintly expressed it, "We
are both short-sighted and short-breathed." That which is but a moment in the
calendar of heaven seems an age to us, and therefore we have need of patience in
referring all to God’s pleasure. "The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the
end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely
come, it will not tarry" (Hab. 2:3). There appears to be a verbal contradiction there:
"though it tarry" and "it will not tarry"; yet the meaning is simple. Though what is
promised may tarry beyond our time, it shall not beyond the hour God has prefixed.
There is no remedy or relief for us but in patiently waiting, calmly but confidently
expecting the divine performance.”
9 "Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay
there. I have commanded a widow in that place to
supply you with food."
1. Elijah has been lying around for about a year, and all of sudden God tells him to
hurry up and get moving. “Go at once” is the message from God. Hurry up Elijah,
and get going to Zareophath of Sidon. It sounds like Elijah is in the army where the
saying, “hurry up and wait,” is a common expression. You need both quick
responses and patience. You do little to nothing, and then it is get a move on. Snap
to it soldier, and then wait, and wait, and wait. Life is like that in God's service. You
sometime have to hurry, and then just wait. Opportunities come and you have to
move fast to take advantage of them, and then their can be long periods where there
are no open doors calling you to hurry before they close. These are some of the
realities for those who are in the Lord's army, as was the case with Elijah. He had to
know how to hurry up, and how to sit still.
1B. Howat, “Phoenicia was the last place in the world to have found a worshiper of '
the Lord, the living God/ It was also the last place in the world to have found an
Elijah. And yet both are here ― the one ' a lily among thorns ;' the other, in the
quaint but fine thought of Lightfoot, "the first apostle to the Gentiles."
1B2, Elijah must have said to himself, “Thank God I can move from this isolated
place with no one to talk to, and nothing to eat but bird food.” He was told to go to a
city and actually have contact with another human being. This was good news for
him and the widow he was going to meet. Both of them were alone and needed
human companionship. It was a radical step up from his isolation, and he at last had
someone to talk to and share with in their quite desperate situation. God was saying
of Elijah what he said of Adam, “It is not good for man to be alone.” He provided
companionship for two people, and actually three, for the widow's son was old
enough to appreciate a man around the house. We see the mercy of God in
providing food for the soul as well as for the body in this move. Elijah was always
ready to move on, for he knew the next step in God's plan for him would be a
blessing and a greater opportunity to be useful for good. Brian Tracy said, “Develop
an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you,
knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and
better than your current situation.”
1C. Bob Deffinbaugh, “Zarephath is in Sidon, not that far from where Jezebel’s
father, the king of Sidon lived, not far from where she had grown up. Zarephath is
where the Baal worship of Ahab and Jezebel originated. The Sidonian gods of
Phoenicia have the home field advantage. Elijah is on their turf. It was often
believed that the gods were territorial. This seems even to be true of Abraham, who
feared that God could not protect him outside the promised land (see Genesis 20:11-
13 ). It was true of the Syrians, who thought that Yahweh was the God of the
mountain, while Baal was a god of the valleys, (1 Kings 20:28 ). If this were true
(which it is not!) then Elijah is taking a huge risk by moving to Zarephath. Who
would live there as one who worshipped Yahweh? Who would hide him? You would
think that everyone living there would want to turn him over to Ahab. And yet so
far as we are told no one laid a hand on him while he was there. The safest place in
the world was under Baal's nose. The safest place in the world was where God told
you to be.”
1D. We see God's sense of humor again, for he sends his hunted prophet right into
the heart of Baal country to keep hiding, and to the poorest of the poor to keep
providing for his needs for daily food. God's choices are ridiculous from a human
point of view, and none of us would ever plan to do things the way God does. His
ways are so often mysterious, and when you think about them, they are laughable,
for it seems like God is telling a joke by the way he protects and provides for Elijah.
God's sense of humor runs all through the life of this chosen servant, and many
others as well. “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise;
God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly
things of this world and the despised things-- and the things that are not-- to nullify
the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”(1Cor 1:27-29)
1E. Henry, “..he is sent to honour and bless with his presence a city of Sidon, a
Gentile city, and so becomes (says Dr. Lightfoot) the first prophet of the Gentiles.
Israel had corrupted themselves with the idolatries of the nations and become worse
than they; justly therefore is the casting off of them the riches of the world. Elijah
was hated and driven out by his countrymen; therefore, lo, he turns to the Gentiles,
as the apostles were afterwards ordered to do, Acts 18:6 . But why to a city of
Sidon? Perhaps because the worship of Baal, which was now the crying sin of Israel,
came lately thence with Jezebel, who was a Sidonian (1 Kings 16:31 ); therefore
thither he shall go, that thence may be fetched the destroyer of that idolatry, "Even
out of Sidon have I called my prophet, my reformer." Jezebel was Elijah's greatest
enemy; yet, to show her the impotency of her malice, God will find a hiding-place
for him even in her country. Christ never went among the Gentiles except once into
the coast of Sidon, Matthew 15:21.
2. Dr. Ray Pritchard, “...when the Lord does speak to Elijah, He commands him to
go to Zarephath. This is a strange command considering the fact that Zarephath is
in a Gentile nation. It is country of Jezebel. It is a land of idolaters. It is a wicked
place filled with wicked people. Yet, that is exactly where the Lord sends His
prophet! To top it off, to get to Zarephath from Cherith will force Elijah to march
over 100 miles through territory ruled over by king Ahab, who is looking for Elijah
everywhere. It seems like this command of the Lord makes no sense at all! Of
course, one of the reason for sending Elijah to Zarephath was to vividly illustrate
the impotence of Jezebel's wrath and power!”
2B. Clarke, “This was a town between Tyre and Sidon, but nearer to the latter, and
is therefore called in the text Zarephath which belongeth to Sidon; or, as the Vulgate
and other versions express it, Sarepta of the Sidonians. Sarepta is the name by which
it goes in the �ew Testament; but its present name is Sarphan. Mr. Maundrell, who
visited it, describes it as consisting of a few houses only on the tops of the mountains;
but supposes that it anciently stood in the plain below, where there are still ruins of
a considerable extent.”
2C. Rich Cathers, “Zarephath – Tsar@phath – “refinery”. A city up north on the
coast of Israel, belonging to the Phoenicians at Sidon, the city is located between the
Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon. This isn’t a short journey. Zarephath is at least
100 miles from Cherith (as the raven flies). The name comes from tsaraph, to smelt,
refine, test.”
3. This widow is very interesting, for she is a Gentile that God has chosen to be his
instrument of providing for his prophet. Why in the world would he pick a Gentile
for this task? It was because the land of Israel was so corrupt that most of the
widows in Israel were idolaters. We know this because of the words of Jesus in the
Gospel of Luke 4:25-29 where we read, “But I tell you of a truth, many widows were
in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six
months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26 But unto none of them
was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of
them was cleansed, saving �aaman the Syrian. 28 And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 And rose up, and thrust
him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was
built, that they might cast him down headlong.” Jesus put himself in great danger
by his calling attention to these Jews that God chose Gentiles over them because
they had become so corrupt and ungodly. This says a lot for this woman, for she was
godly in a time when idolatry was overwhelming popular.
4. God never runs out of options, for when his people are too corrupt to be useful, he
goes to the world of those outside his people and finds those who will listen and
follow his will. God is not limited to his own people, for he has people in all the
world who are open to him. In the pagan world there are always those who pray to
him and believe in him in the midst of all the idolatry around them. God works in
all people to choose his elect. Spurgeon wrote, “Election passed over all the poor
widows of Israel who might have been expected, as belonging to God’s Covenant
people, to be first provided for in the day of scant, and it lighted in sovereignty upon
a heathen, a woman living in a country which had been accursed of God and given
over before to the sword of the seed of Jacob. Election, I say, passed over all the
likeliest ones and pitched upon her who seemed to be beyond the verge of
hope―ordaining in mercy that she, entertaining the Prophet, should be saved
thereby. Surely, Brothers and Sisters, we have here an instance of the sovereignty of
electing love!”
4B. Spurgeon continues, “Divine Grace must go to Sidon for its object, why must it
select a widow? She seemed to be the least likely person to answer the design of the
decree, namely, the sustenance the Prophet. Were there not princes Sidon with
secret stores of food? Were there not merchants who had passed over the salt sea
and knew where grain was to be found? Were there not men of understanding who
could, by their conversation, cheer the Prophet’s lonely hours? �o, but though they
be great or wise, or wealthy, God bids His chariot downward to roll away from the
lofty towers of nobles to the humble cottage of the poorest in all Sidonia’s
dominions, and a poor widow woman becomes the object of special Grace!”
5. Pink, “This was indeed a severe testing of Elijah, not only to take a long journey
through the desert but to enter into an experience which was entirely opposed to his
natural feelings, his religious training and spiritual inclinations, to be made
dependent upon a Gentile in a heathen city. He was required to leave the land of his
fathers and sojourn at the headquarters of Baal-worship. Let us duly weigh this
truth that God’s plan for Elijah demanded from him unquestioning obedience. They
who would walk with God must not only trust Him implicitly but be prepared to be
entirely regulated by His Word. �ot only must our faith be trained by a great
variety of providences, but our obedience by the Divine commandments.” “�ot only
was the faith and obedience of Elijah tested by God’s call for him to go to
Zarephath, but his humility was also put to the proof. He was called to receive
charity at the hands of a desolate widow. How humbling to pride to be made
dependent upon one of the poorest of the poor. How withering to all self-confidence
and self-sufficiency to accept relief from one who did not appear to have sufficient
for her own urgent needs! Ah, it takes pressure of circumstances to make us bow to
what is repugnant to our natural inclinations.”
5B. Elijah was guided step by step in the providence of God.
There is a light in yonder skies,
A light unseen by outward eyes ;
But clear and bright to inward sense,
It shines, the star of Providence.
The radiance of the central throne,
It comes from God, and God alone :
The ray that never yet grew pale.
The star " that shines within the veil." ' —
Madame Guyon.
10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the
town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He
called to her and asked, "Would you bring me a
little water in a jar so I may have a drink?"
1. We see the providence of God making his task easy by him seeing the widow he
was directing him to as the first person he came upon. The chances were slim that
this would happen. We could call it quite a coincidence, but it was God's providence
that she would be there when he arrived at the town gate. Elijah knew he was in the
will of God completely when he found this widow woman without a search. It is not
always so, but God made his will easy in this case. In many other cases it can get
very complicated.
1B. Howat describes what his trip must have been like. “Let us see Elijah on his
journey. He takes his last look of the dry bed of the Cherith ; of the rocky grot
where, like �oah in the ark, the Lord had ' shut him in ; of his ravens, who, perched
overhead, survey his movements with wondering eye. He is unburdened with
equipage of travel. He throws around him his sheepskin mantle. He has a staff
already, or improvises one from the forest before he leaves. He steps out to the
open country again. Led by a heavenly instinct and impulse, he makes for the
Jordan. He crosses it. He reaches tlic mountains of Gilboa, memorable as the
scene of the death of Saul. Passing over their eastern ridge, he finds himself in the
plain of JezreeL It is suggestive of Jezebel's 'groves;' but God is his guide, and
as he journeys, we fancy we hear him singing one of David's psalms, * I will fear no
evil, for Thou art with me. And now he has arrived at the base of Carmel, the most
beautiful mountain in Palestine, clothed to its very summit with perennial verdure,
and destined so soon to play a very conspicuous part in the prophet's own history.
From Carmel he passes to the shore of the Great Sea. He travels hopefully on. He is
now at Accho or Ptolemais, where Paul tarried a day on his voyage to Jerusalem,
and which, under the name of St Jean D'Acrc, has also a place in our own British
story, and still by the sea-shore, he reaches Tyre. In Tyre's busy streets, where are
traders of all countries, no notice is taken of one solitary pilgrim, meanly clad
compared with Tyre's sons of commerce and merchant princes. And so, weary and
footsore, the lonely prophet continues his way till fifteen miles farther on, and at
the gate of a small city on the coast road, he beholds, no doubt by a sign divinely
communicated, a widow woman gathering of sticks.”
1C. Pink, “"So he arose and went to Zarephath." He made no demur, but did as he
was bid. He made no delay, but set off on his long and unpleasant journey at once.
He was as ready to go on foot as though God had provided a chariot. He was as
ready to cross a desert as if God had bidden him luxuriate in a shady garden. He
was as ready to apply for succour from a Gentile widow as if God had told him to
return to his friends in Gilead. It might appear to carnal reason that he was putting
his head into the lion’s mouth—courting certain disaster by making for the land of
Zidon, where the agents of Jezebel would be numerous. But since God had bidden
him to go, it was right for him to comply (and wrong not to do so), and therefore he
could count upon the Divine protection.”
2. One of the great illustrations of God's providence is that of William Cowper. Jack
VanderPlate tells it like this: “William Cowper wrote the hymn, "God Moves in a
Mysterious Way" under unusual circumstances. Cowper was a Christian, but he
had sunk to the depths of despair. One foggy night he called for a carriage and
asked to be taken to the London Bridge. He was so overcome by depression that he
intended to commit suicide by jumping into the Thames River.
After two hours of driving around through the mist, Cowper's coachman confessed
that he was lost. Disgusted by the delay, Cowper left the carriage and set off to find
the London Bridge on foot. After walking only a short distance, he discovered that
he was at his own doorstep! His carriage had been going in circles.
He recognized the restraining hand of God in it all. And, convicted by the Spirit, he
realized that the way out of his troubles was not to jump into the river but to look to
God. With gratitude he sat down and penned these words:
God moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform, He plants
His footsteps in the sea, and rides upon the storm. 0 fearful
saints, fresh courage take, the clouds you so much dread are big
with mercy, and shall break in blessings on your head."
3. Spurgeon, “And here we remark at the very beginning, how sovereign was the
choice. Our Savior himself teaches us when he says, "I tell you of a truth, many
widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years
and six months when great famine was throughout all the land; But unto none of
them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a
widow." Here was divine sovereignty. When God would make choice of a woman it
was not one of his own favored race of Israel, but a poor benighted heathen, sprung
from a race who of old had been doomed to be utterly cut off. Here was electing love
in one of its sovereign manifestations. Men are always quarreling with God because
he will not submit his will to their dictation. If there could be a God who was not
absolute men would think themselves gods, and hence sovereignty is tasted because
it humbles the creature, and makes him bow before a Lord, a King, a Master, who
will do as he pleases. If God would choose kings and princes, then would men
admire his choice. If he would make his chariots stay at the door of nobles, if he
would step from his throne and give his mercy only to the great, the wise, and the
learned, then might there be heard the shout of praise to a God who thus honored
the fine doings of man. But because he chooses to take the base things of this world,
the things that are despised, and the things that are not; because he takes these
things to bring to nought the things that are, therefore is God hated of men. Yet,
know that God hath set apart him that is godly for himself. He hath chosen to
himself a people whom he will bring to himself at last, who are his peculiar treasure,
the favorites of his choice. But these people are by nature the most unlikely ones
upon the face of the whole world. Men to-day sunken in sin, immersed in folly,
brutalized, without knowledge, without wit, these are the very ones that God
ordains to save. To them he sends the word in its effectual might, and these are
plucked like brands from the burning. �one can guess the reasons of divine election.
This great act is as mysterious as it is gracious. Throughout Scripture we are
continually startled with resplendent instances of unlimited sovereignty, and the
case of this widow is one among the many. Electing love passes by the thousands of
widows that dwelt in God's own land, and it journeys beyond the borders of
Canaan, to cherish and preserve a heathen woman of Sarepta.”
11 As she was going to get it, he called, "And
bring me, please, a piece of bread."
1. Elijah had a lot of nerve asking this poor woman for a piece of bread. She was as
poor as a church mouse, and could not spare a crumb, and yet he begs a piece of it
for his own stomach. It was a real test of the kind of woman she was. Would she be
hospitable with her little, or would she bid him to get lost? Her response would
make it clear if she was the one God sent him to or not.
2. Henry, “She objected not to the present scarcity of it, nor asked him what he
would give her for a draught of water (for now it was worth money), nor hinted that
he was a stranger, an Israelite, with whom perhaps the Sidonians cared not for
having any dealings, any more than the Samaritans, John 4:9. She did not excuse
herself on account of her weakness through famine, or the urgency of her own
affairs, did not tell him she had something else to do than to go on his errands, but
left off gathering the sticks for herself to fetch water for him, which perhaps she did
the more willingly, being moved with the gravity of his aspect. We should be ready
to do any office of kindness even to strangers; if we have not wherewith to give to
the distressed, we must be the more ready to work for them. A cup of cold water,
though it cost us no more than the labor of fetching, shall in no wise lose its
reward.”
12 "As surely as the LORD your God lives," she
replied, "I don't have any bread—only a handful
of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am
gathering a few sticks to take home and make a
meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—
and die."
1. Here is a hopeless scene with a mother about to make her last meal before she and
her son die of starvation. God leads Elijah to a widow who is going to cook for him,
and when he finds her she has only enough food for one last meal. He expected to be
upgraded from the meals by the ravens, and now this woman had less to offer then
they had. This is really for the birds would be what most of us would say in that
situation. He did not need a gourmet cook, but he was at least hoping for more than
bread. He was getting his protein from the birds, but now he is stuck with
carbohydrates only. He probably sat at the table with this woman raven about those
raven burgers he used to consume before God put him on this bread diet. God must
be telling us by this story that we must have a sense of humor to get through times
of crisis, for that is what they were going through, and if you can't laugh at what
you have to endure you will suffer all the more by being deprived of the common
pleasures of life.
1B. How many of us would have assumed that we had met the wrong widow and
moved on to find one with her cupboards filled with good things to eat? This has to
be a joke God, for this woman cannot support me. I am used to two good meals a
day, and this woman has not another meal left for tomorrow, and the ravens have
stopped following me. This has to be a mistake, he would be thinking, but God
assured him this was his target destination, and she was to be his landlord for a
time. Chuck Swindoll in his book on Elijah wrote, “God's leading is often
surprising,don't analyze it...don't try to make sense out of it. Just go. The longer I
live, the more I believe that God's leading is often humanly illogical. It's a mystery,
at least from our limited perspective.”
1C. Howat, “It is the hour of the prophet's 'weakness. He is faint and thirsty. The
streams on his way from Cherith have all been dried up, so the first thing he asks is
a cup of cold water. Encouraged by the readiness to help, ' Bring me also,' he says, '
I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.' But what a reply follows ! — a reply
in which we know not what arrests us most — the simplicity of the language, the
extremity of the poverty, the depth of the distress, the affection of the mother, or the
singularity of finding here a believer in God who can recognize His prophet.”
2. Here is another illustration of how God goes against the grain of societies values.
Anyone else sending this godly prophet to be protected and provided for would have
sent him to a wealthy member of the community, but God sends him to the lowest of
the low. Who in that community could be a less likely candidate for helping anyone?
She was not able to survive herself let alone care for a guest. She would be the last
person anyone would choose to be God's helper, except God himself. God chooses
the least rather than the best. It is one of his common habits all through the Bible,
and it is another illustration of his sense of humor. It is ridiculous to choose a
starving and dying woman with all her resources exhausted to be your catering
service. She had less chance that a flock of ravens in meeting Elijah's need for
nourishment. But that is the way God often operates. He chooses the least likely, and
that is why we all have a shot at being chosen. It is no excuse to say you are poor,
uneducated, handicapped, sickly, or defective in any other way, for nothing that
makes you unlikely to be used by God makes any difference to God. He chooses the
unlikely more often than not.
2. Deffinbaugh, “The widow’s words, “As certainly as the LORD your God lives…
(17:12) are virtually identical to the words spoken later on by Obadiah: “As
certainly as the LORD your God lives…” (18:10). I am inclined to believe that this
widow was already a believer in Yahweh, or at least one, like the Ethiopian eunuch
(Acts 8:26ff.), whose heart has been prepared to trust in Him. How ironic this would
be. A prophet of Yahweh cannot find sanctuary in Israel, but is cared for in a pagan
country, by a Gentile widow.”
3. Will Pounds, “Hey, Elijah, perhaps God meant another widow; surely not this
one––she is hardly capable of taking care of herself and her son! Maybe your
spiritual ears were stopped up on that one. Perhaps you completely misunderstood.
Aren't you being a little fanatical?” Again, we see God's sense of humor. You need
food Elijah, and so I am leading you to a widow who is on her last meal, and you will
be in good care with her. Elijah had to have some doubts about this kind of
guidance, but he stuck with it and God blest him and the whole family. It took great
faith to believe he had found the right widow when she was on her last leg, so to
speak. Poverty is usually not the best place to go for a handout, but it worked for
this man of God who always went where God sent him.
4. Maclaren, “The incident has a further bearing, as an instance of a divine
benediction resting on heathendom. The synagogue at �azareth pointed that lesson
for us. Elijah and the widow both learned that the God of Israel is the God of all the
earth, and that His prophets have a mission to every race. The woman rebuked, by
her pity and self-denying benevolence, the prejudices of Israel; the prophet
foreshadowed, by his familiar abode with one won from idolatry to the worship of
God, the universal aspect of the Jewish religion, and its destiny to overleap the
narrow bounds of the nation. Charity and pity have no geographical limits. Much
less can the love of God and the light of His revelation be bounded by any narrower
circle than the circumference of the world.”
5. Pink, “But Elijah "conferred not with flesh and blood," and therefore he was not
discouraged by what looked so unpromising a situation. Instead, his heart was
sustained by the immutable Word of Him that cannot lie. Elijah’s confidence rested
not in favourable circumstances or "a goodly outlook," but in the faithfulness of the
living God; and therefore his faith needed no assistance from the things around him.
Appearances might be dark and dismal, but the eye of faith could pierce the black
clouds and see above them the smiling countenance of his provider. Elijah’s God
was the Almighty, with whom all things are possible. "I have commanded a widow
woman there to sustain thee": that was what his heart was resting on. What is yours
resting on? Are you being kept in peace in this ever-changing scene? Have you made
one of His sure promises your own? "Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou
dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed" (Ps. 37:3). "God is our refuge and
strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth
be removed" (Ps. 46:1, 2).”
13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go home
and do as you have said. But first make a small
cake of bread for me from what you have and
bring it to me, and then make something for
yourself and your son.
1. This demanded a great deal of confidence in a total stranger to believe his
promise of survival, and to risk giving him a portion of their last meal. Elijah had to
have a personality that was appealing for a mother to listen to him, but it was an
emergency situation, and she had to trust somebody or it was all over for her and
her boy.
2. It seems a little strange that Elijah would say make my cake first before you make
some for you and your son. This indicates that he was on his last leg, and felt like he
was starving. It could very well be, for it was a hundred mile walk for him to get to
this place from where he was, and the raven did not follow him dropping bits of
food to hold him over until he got to the city. He must have been near to passing out,
and he knew he would be no good to her unless he go something in him. He
illustrates the reality that sometimes we need to put ourselves first in order to be
instruments of blessing to others. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves, and if
we do not love ourselves enough to keep in shape, we will not be fit to love our
neighbor in any meaningful way. Selfishness is not bad when the motive is to be fit
and ready to minister effectively to others. If you don't save yourself, you will not be
very helpful in the rescue of others. Elijah was practicing positive selfishness.
2B. Gill, “which was not said from a selfish spirit of the prophet, but to try the faith
of the woman; and besides, as Abarbinel observes, the prophet was not only hungry
and thirsty through his journey, and so required to be served first, but it was for the
sake of his sustenance, that the Lord would command a blessing on the meal and oil;
wherefore, if she dressed it for herself and her son first, there would have been none
left for the divine blessing to descend upon.”
3. Chuck Smith, “Elijah said, "Make me first the cake." �ow had she gone in to
make first of all the cake for herself and her son, that'd have been it. The barrel
would have been empty of flour, the oil would have been gone; they would have
died. "Make me first the cake and then for you and your son." Put the Lord first.
Get your priorities correct and God will take care of you. God will take care of the
other aspects of your life. So the most important relationship that I have in all this
world is my relationship with God and nothing should get before it. And if I'm going
to work on any relationship at all, I should be working on this relationship with God
above every other relationship, because if this gets correct, then the others are all
going to fall into balance. If this relationship with God is out of kilter, then there is
no way I'm going to be able to balance my life. It will always be in this crazy topsy-
turvy way. There is no way you can have a well-balanced life until your life is
centered in God. And that is the vertical axis upon which your life is rotating. And
until then it's always going to be out of balance, out of kilter.”
4. Howat, “' Some sharp dame,' says Bishop Hall, 'would have taken up the prophet,
and sent him away with an angry repulse. But no, the widow of Zarephath stands
the test ; her confidence in God is no frail plank ; it bears her up and through ; she
believes the 'Fear not' of the weary prophet; she can even look beyond the
privations of her child ; and, in a faith like Job's, can say as she kindles her 'two
sticks' on the hearth, 'Though He slay us both, yet will I trust in Him.'
5. Pink, “"And Elijah said, Fear not: go and do as thou hast said" (1 Kings 17:13).
What a gracious word was this to quiet the poor widow’s heart! Be not afraid of the
consequences, either to yourself or to your son, in making use of the means to hand,
scant though they be. "But make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me,
and after make for thee and for thy son (v. 13). What a severe testing was this! Was
ever a poor widow so sorely tried before or since? To make him a cake "first" was
surely in her extreme circumstances one of the hardest commands ever given. Did it
not appear to issue from the very essence of selfishness? Did either the laws of God
or of man require a sacrifice like this? God has never bidden us do more than love
our neighbour as ourselves, nowhere has He bidden us to love him better. But here
"make me a cake first"!”
14 For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel,
says: 'The jar of flour will not be used up and the
jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD
gives rain on the land.' "
1. Dr. Ray Pritchard gives us this outline:
A. The Grace Of It - Because this widow took God at His Word and prepared
bread for Elijah, God allowed the widow, the widow's son and Elijah to enjoy plenty
while all around them hundreds starved to death. That is grace! The difference in
the widow's home was the she learned to live by faith and she was supplied by the
hand of God. God honors faith because faith honors God!
B. The Greatness Of It - For years, until it rained, every meal time was a miracle.
God worked a miracle in that barrel and in that jar every single day. He took
nothing and made it last until it was no longer needed. Friends, we serve a God Who
specializes in doing the impossible! It may look hopeless to us, but we must never
count God out! He can take the little that is dedicated to Him by faith and multiply
it to enormous proportions! (Ill. The 5 loaves and 2 fishes fed a multitude - John 6:5-
13.)
C. The Glory Of It - The glory of this story resides in this fact: that barrel of meal
and that cruse of oil were never full! Elijah and the widow were taught to live day
by day. Everyday she scraped the bottom of the barrel and everyday there was just
enough meal to fix their food. Everyday she watched the last drop of oil drip from
that jar, but the next day there was always more. The glory in the story lies in the
fact that Elijah and the widow were taught to trust God day by day! As the days
passed, their faith was strengthened as they saw the Lord provide! You see, the
difficulties of life are to faith what barbells are to muscles. They will strengthen its
very fiber!”
2. Pink, “ Certainly the widow had no cause to complain of the severe testing to
which her faith had been put. God, who sent His prophet to board with her, paid
well for his table—by providing her family with food while her neighbours were
starving, and by granting her the company and instruction of His servant. Who can
tell what blessing came to her soul under the edifying conversation of Elijah and
from the efficacy of his prayers? She was of a humane and generous disposition,
ready to relieve the misery of others and minister to the needs of God’s servants;
and her liberality was returned to her a hundredfold. Unto the merciful God shows
mercy. "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which
ye have shewed toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do
minister" (Heb. 6:10).”
15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her.
So there was food every day for Elijah and for the
woman and her family.
1. God was killing two birds with one stone here, for not only was he providing for
Elijah, but he was meeting the needs of a poor family as well. Out in the woods alone
he had food and water, but had no fellowship with another human being. �ow he
had food and water and the joy of interactions with others people. He is blest and
they are as well. It was a happy social situation, and not so lonely as his camp site by
the stream. The ravens were friendly, but there is no hint that God gave them
human voices to communicate with Elijah. He needed this break to get back in
touch with humans, and the family needed company, especially company that
provided the miracle of a daily supply of food. Who would not love a guest whose
presence made their fridge filled with new food every day?
1B. John Loweie, “This woman hardly seems like a heathen : she shows no
sympathy with Jezebel, her native princess ; recognizing Elijah as a servant of
Jehovah, she betrays no prejudice against him; and there is no caviling at the
apparent conflict between his request for food for himself and his promise of food to
her. It would not seem strange to us if she had spoken of these things : " If this man
can make my barrel of meal outlast the famine, what need has he to beg a widow's
last crust ? How can this man be the favored servant of Jehovah, and yet be reduced
to this pitiable distress ? " If she had any thoughts like these, yet the rapid and clear
conceptions of an interested and awakened mind thrust them all aside, that she
might reach the just conclusion of an intelligent faith. Her alternative was certain
death or life through the prophet's words. If she prepared this last meal for herself
and her son, it could keep them alive but a little longer; if this man's words were
true, there might be food and life for them all. Her only hope was in this strange but
desirable assurance. She may have had her misgivings, but she did not allow them
to hinder her. She believed Elijah's word. She prepared the meal and placed it
before him ; and she found the beginnings of her reward when he and her family ate
of the unfailing supply for many days.”
1C. This woman's faith was incredible, for never had she heard of food multiplying
as it is being used daily. It was a total stranger telling her it would do so, and there
was no reason to trust him, and yet she took the risk of giving him a part of her last
meal and depriving her son and herself from the pleasure of having that which she
shared with him. This was a radical faith, and quite amazing to be found in the
heart of paganism. It teaches us that there are people of faith everywhere in the
world, and that is why Jesus wants the Gospel to go into all the world, for there are
people everywhere who will believe it and receive him as their Lord and Savior. �o
place on earth is so dark in paganism that the light of the Gospel will not penetrate
and capture people of faith.
2. This is a survivors story in the Bible. Elijah had to have food delivered by ravens,
and that was a key to his survival, and here he had to have a daily supply of oil and
flour, and this too was provided by God's power. Here is a time of national crisis
where man could not survive by his own efforts. He needed God's help, or he would
perish. That is when miracles are a valid request from God. When needs can be met
by natural means it is unlikely that God will meet them with a miracle. When the
son dies in the verses ahead it is a situation where there is no human help. They
could not call 911 and get emergency aid. God was the 911 in that situation, and that
was the only place to turn, for only a miracle could save that boy.
Elijah could not persuade the ravens to bring him food. Only God could do that,
and so it demanded a miracle. Elijah could not make oil and flour appear daily, and
so a miracle again was needed. Elijah could not bring a dead boy back to life, and so
this also called for a miracle. But now we need to see another angle to all this. There
is a man involved in all of these miracles, and that man is a crucial factor in them.
God is the source of the power, but without the man of prayer and faith there is no
release of that power. God does not have ravens dropping food for anyone else in
history, nor do we find people living out of a small vessel every day. We do find
other examples of the dead being raised up, but they also have some man as a
channel of that power. My point is, miracles still need a human element. There is
also a human factor involved in miracles. This widow woman needed Elijah, and so
did her dead son. These miracles would not have been experienced except for him
being there. She would never wear a T-shirt like some wear today that says, "A
woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle." �ot so, for we all need somebody,
because God seldom works independently of some man or woman who is a channel
of his power in the world. Without God, man cannot do it, but without man, God
will not do it. So the bottom like is this: most, if not all, miracles are the result of a
combination of God and man in partnership to achieve his purpose in the world.
3. Henry, “O woman! great was thy faith; one has not found the like, no, not in
Israel: all things considered, it exceeded that of the widow who, when she had but
two mites, cast them into the treasury. She took the prophet's word, that she should
not lose by it, but it should be repaid with interest. Those that can venture upon the
promise of God will make no difficulty of exposing and emptying themselves in his
service, by giving him his dues out of a little and giving him his part first. Those that
deal with God must deal upon trust; seek first his kingdom, and then other things
shall be added. By the law, the first-fruits were God's, the tithe was taken out first,
and the heave-offering of their dough was first offered, �umbers 15:20,21. But
surely the increase of this widow's faith, to such a degree as to enable her thus to
deny herself and to depend upon the divine promise, was as great a miracle in the
kingdom of grace as the increase of her oil was in the kingdom of providence.
Happy are those who can thus, against hope, believe and obey in hope.
There is nothing lost by being kind to God's people and ministers; she that received
a prophet had a prophet's reward; she gave him house-room, and he repaid her
with food for her household. Christ has promised to those who open their doors to
him that he will come in to them, and sup with them, and they with him, Revelation
3:20. Like Elijah here, he brings to those who bid him welcome, not only his own
entertainment, but theirs too. See how the reward answered the service. She
generously made one cake for the prophet, and was repaid with many for herself
and her son. When Abraham offers his only son to God he is told he shall be the
father of multitudes. What is laid out in piety or charity is let out to the best interest,
upon the best securities. One poor meal's meat this poor widow gave the prophet,
and, in recompence of it, she and her son did eat many days 1 Kings 17:15 ), above
two years, in a time of general scarcity; and to have their food from God's special
favour, and to eat it in such good company as Elijah's, made it more than doubly
sweet. It is promised to those that trust in God that they shall not be ashamed in the
evil time, but in the days of famine they shall be satisfied, Psalms 37:19 .”
4. Pink, “But let us point out again that God did not give a new barrel of meal and
cruse of oil unto this family at Zarephath, nor did He fill to the brim the old one.
There is another important lesson for us in this. God gave them sufficient for their
daily use, but not a whole year’s supply in advance or even a week’s provision all at
once. In like manner, there is no such thing as our laying up for ourselves a stock of
grace for future use. We have to go constantly to Christ for fresh supplies of grace.
The Israelites were expressly forbidden to hoard up the manna: they had to go out
and gather it anew each morning. We cannot procure sufficient sustenance for our
souls on the Sabbath to last us throughout the week, but must feed on God’s Word
each morning. So too, though we have been regenerated by the Spirit once and for
all, yet He renews us in the inner man "day by day" (2 Cor. 4:16).”
16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug
of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of
the LORD spoken by Elijah.
1. Clarke, “She continued to take out of her jar and out of her bottle the quantity of
meal and oil requisite for the consumption of her household; and without carefully
estimating what was left, she went with confidence each time for a supply, and was
never disappointed. This miracle was very like that wrought by Jesus at the
marriage at Cana in Galilee: as the servants drew the water out of the pots, they
found it turned into wine; and thus they continued to draw wine from the water-pots
till the guests had been sufficiently supplied.”
2. Spurgeon, “Why did not God give her a granary full of meal at once, and a vat
full of oil instanter? I will tell you. It was not merely because of God's intent to try
her, but there was wisdom here. Suppose he had given her a granary full of meal,
how much of it would have been left by the next day? I question whether any would
have remained, for in days of famine men are sharp of scent, and it would soon have
been noised about the city, "The old widow woman who lives in such-and-such a
street, has a great store of food." Why, they would have caused a riot, and robbed
the house, and perhaps, have killed the woman and her son. She would have been
despoiled of her treasure, and in four and twenty hours the barrel of meal would
have been as empty as it was at first, and the cruse of oil would have been spilled
upon the ground.”
3. The brook ran dry, but here was a jug that would not run dry, for it had to meet
this family's need for a good long time. It was an unusual miracle that God was
doing daily to keep his promise to Elijah. This widow was not even on welfare, but
God took her into his care and made sure that she and her family would be
provided for. Elijah was now a part of this family, and they could all pray with
confidence, “Lord, give us this day our daily bread.” This might be the longest
lasting miracle ever, for it went on for many months supplying daily food to this
family. Most miracles happen fast, and they are over, but this one went on and on
and on, but so did the miracle of ravens coming twice a day, and so Elijah was not
surprised at God's faithfulness in doing this daily miracle.
4. Howat, “It is impossible, also, to fail to see here, nearly a thousand years before
they were spoken, the fulfillment of these words of our blessed Lord : He that
receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet's reward For
two whole years the prophet's reward was received by this Sareptan widow. She was
preserved in the midst of famine. We read not of luxuries enjoyed, but ' the barrel of
meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail' The widow's heart was singing
aloud for joy. She had no anxiety about daily bread, for it came with the day, and
there was enough for all. Her boy, too, was brightening up, and the old ruddy glow
was coming back to cheeks no longer shrunken from want of food. Further still, and
apart from his resurrection, of which we shall treat in the sequel, was there not
enjoyed by her, for two whole years, the teaching, example, and prayers of a man of
God in her humble home. Were these not something? Would they be lost upon
herself or her child, and could money have purchased them at that moment
throughout the whole of Phcenicia?”
17 Some time later the son of the woman who
owned the house became ill. He grew worse and
worse, and finally stopped breathing.
1. life is like this, for she had just been spared from death by the coming of Elijah,
and her son, who would have died from starvation was spared as well. �ow that all
is well and going great she is hit with this illness in her son that takes his life
anyway. It is crazy, for one minute all is to praise God for, and the next minute, it is
a cry to God, “Why is this coming upon me, when I have just been so blest!!”
2. Wil Pounds, “The phrase "no breath was left in him" does not describe a
respiratory ailment. It is simply telling us the boy was no longer breathing. He was
dead. The only family the widow had left is dead. Joseph Bayly in The Last Thing
We Talk About writes of the agony of losing a child. Joe lost not just one son, but
three sons; one at 18 days, after surgery; another at 5 years, from leukemia; and a
third at 18 years, after a sledding accident complicated by hemophilia. "Of all
deaths, that of a child is most unnatural and hardest to bear." In Carl Jung's words,
it is "a period placed before the end of the sentence," sometimes when the sentence
has hardly begun. We expect the old to die. We expected my mother to die. She was
91, and God was merciful. The separation is always difficult, but it comes as no
surprise. "But the child, the youth? Life lies ahead, with its beauty, its wonder, its
potential. Death is a cruel thief when it strikes down the young." The widow's
dreams, plans, future that has been embodied in her son, are all struck down in the
lifeless body in her desperate arms.
How do you live through the death of a child, a son or daughter? From personal
experience, and the testimonies of others I know, there is only one way. You draw
your strength from the indwelling presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives us His
power as we abide in Him. When we need wisdom to know what to do in the
desperate trying situation, He gives us wisdom. When we are overwhelmed with
pain and sorrow, He gives us grace to work through our grieving. When we sit and
stare at the empty chair He gives us His presence and peace.”
3. Pink, “"Change and decay in all around I see." We live in a mutable world where
nothing is stable, and where life is full of strange vicissitudes. We cannot, and we
should not, expect things to go on smoothly for us for any length of time while we
are sojourning in this land of sin and mortality. It would be contrary to the present
constitution of our lot as fallen creatures, for "man is born unto trouble as the
sparks fly upward"; neither would it be for our good if we were altogether
exempted from affliction. Though we be the children of God, the objects of His
special favour, yet this does not free us from the ordinary calamities of life. Sickness
and death may enter our dwellings at any time: they may attack us personally or
those who are nearest and dearest to us, and we are obliged to bow to the sovereign
dispensations of Him who ruleth over all. These are commonplace remarks, we
know, nevertheless they contain a truth of which—unpalatable though it be—we
need constant reminding.
Though we are quite familiar with the fact mentioned above, and see it illustrated
daily on every side, yet we are reluctant and slow to acknowledge its application to
ourselves. Such is human nature: we wish to ignore the unpleasant, and persuade
ourselves that if our present lot be a happy one it will remain so for some time to
come. But no matter how healthy we be, how vigorous our constitution, how well
provided for financially, we must not think that our mountain is so strong it cannot
be moved (Ps. 30:6, 7). Rather must we train ourselves to hold temporal mercies
with a light hand, and use the relations and comforts of this life as though we had
them not, I Cor. 7.30, remembering that "the fashion of this world passeth away."
Our rest is not here, and if we build our nest in any earthly tree it should be with the
realization that sooner or later the whole forest will be cut down.” “Even though the
smile of the Lord be upon us and He is showing Himself strong on our behalf, this
does not grant us an immunity from the afflictions to which flesh and blood is the
heir. As long as we are left in this vale of tears we must seek grace to "rejoice with
trembling" (Ps. 2:11).”
18 She said to Elijah, "What do you have against
me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of
my sin and kill my son?"
1. The �ew English Bible reads, "What made you interfere, you man of God? You
came here to bring my sins to light and kill my son!" The Living paraphrase reads,
"O man of God, she cried, what have you done to me?" This woman jumped to the
conclusion that so many jump to in times of suffering, and especially when it is
radical suffering. She assumed that her losing her son was due to some past sin that
she was being punished for. She got by with it, but now it has caught up with her
and God is getting vengeance on her for his cover up of hidden sin. She recognizes
Elijah as a man of God, and so he seems to be God's agent to come and get her for
her past transgressions. Like all parents who lose a child, she asked, “Why me?”
And the only answer that they can come up with is that it must be God judging me
for my sins. This is the way the friends of Job saw things as well, but God rejected
their theories as nonsense. God is not behind all of the suffering of the world. Jesus
came healing and delivering from suffering to show us God's attitude toward it. He
wants it to be overcome because it is a part of the kingdom of darkness.
1B. Henry, “Then she spoke deliberately, now in haste; the death of her child was
now a surprise to her, and it is hard to keep our spirits composed when troubles
come upon us suddenly and unexpectedly, and in the midst of our peace and
prosperity. She calls him a man of God, and yet quarrels with him as if he had
occasioned the death of her child, and is ready to which she had never seen him,
forgetting past mercies and miracles: "What have I done against thee?" (so some
understand it), "Wherein have I offended thee, or been wanting in my duty? Show
me wherefore thou contendest with me." 2. Yet she expresses herself penitently:
"Hast thou come to call my sin to thy remembrance, as the cause of the affliction, and
so to call it to my remembrance, as the effect of the affliction?" Perhaps she knew of
Elijah's intercession against Israel, and, being conscious to herself of sin, perhaps
her former worshiping of Baal the god of the Sidonians, she apprehends he had
made intercession against her.”
2. Tragedy and suffering produce anger, and often it is the preacher or some other
representative of God who is the target because they are angry at God. The
assumption is that God is doing this bad thing to them, and the fact is, seldom are
bad thing the will of God. Most tragedy and suffering is not God's will, and it has no
connection with sin and judgment. It is just a part of life in a fallen world. We need
to be thankful that God often has a servant available who can meet our desperate
need for his miracle working power. That power is channeled through a man or
woman whom God has chosen to have the gift of healing. Elijah had it, and this
tragedy was soon turned into a celebration.
3. Matthew Henry, “She expresses herself passionately: What have I to do with thee,
O thou man of God? How calmly had she spoken of her own and her child's death
when she expected to die for want (v. 12) — that we may eat, and die! Yet now that
her child dies, and not so miserably as by famine, she is extremely disturbed at it.
We may speak lightly of an affliction at a distance, but when it toucheth us we are
troubled, Job 4:5. Then she spoke deliberately, now in haste; the death of her child
was now a surprise to her, and it is hard to keep our spirits composed when troubles
come upon us suddenly and unexpectedly, and in the midst of our peace and
prosperity. She calls him a man of God, and yet quarrels with him as if he had
occasioned the death of her child.”
4. �athan Buttery, “In a situation like this, it is only natural that we think we
ourselves are to blame for the situation. We wonder whether we have done
something to deserve this tragic turn of events. Is God punishing me? We cry. Is
God giving me back only what I deserve? That was certainly what the woman
thought was happening. Verse 18: "She said to Elijah: 'What do you have against
me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?'" She saw
Elijah as God's spokesman and she believed that Elijah had come on behalf of God
to bring judgement on her. "Did you come to remind me of my sin?" she says. Well
it's certainly a common enough reaction, but it's not the teaching of the Bible. Very
rarely do specific sins get punished with specific judgement. In fact, Jesus in John 9
goes out of his way to show people that a blind man's blindness was in no way
related to a sin the man or his parents had done. When he is asked in Luke 13 about
a recent tragedy in Siloam when a tower fell on a crowd killing eighteen, Jesus again
makes it clear that they were no worse than anyone else. Job's comforters try and
get Job to confess a sin because they are convinced that all the suffering Job is
enduring is because he has sinned against God. One of them says to Job: "As I have
observed, those who plough evil and those who sow trouble reap it. At the breath of
God they are destroyed; at the blast of his anger they perish." (Job 4 vv 8-9) It may
be true that if you live a loose life you may end up in prostitution or drug addiction.
In that sense you may reap what you so, but it wasn't like that for Job, and nor was
it for this woman in Elijah's day. And nor it is for us. But it is mistaken theology to
think that because we are suffering God is therefore punishing us. It simply doesn't
work like that. But perhaps the hardest thing of all in situations like this woman's is
that often there are no clear answers. Often we simply do not know why such an
event has happened. And it is in this sense that God's ways are unfathomable. We
cannot always know why he has allowed such an event to happen. There are often
no easy answers to life's deepest problems. But is that all we have? Is that the only
comfort for this woman? Well no, for whilst her theology is mistaken, yet Elijah
provides an example of the godly response to such a tragedy. And that is humble
dependence.
5. Pink, “The poor widow was deeply distressed over her loss, and her language to
Elijah is a strange mixture of faith and unbelief, pride and humility. It was the
inconsistent outburst of an agitated mind as the disconnected and jerky nature of it
intimates. First, she asks him, "What have I to do with thee?"—what have I done to
displease thee? wherein have I injured thee? She wished that she had never set eyes
on him if he was responsible for the death of her child. Yet second, she owns him as
"thou man of God"—and who was separated unto the Divine service. She must have
known by this time that the terrible drought had come upon Israel in answer to the
prophet’s prayers, and she probably concluded her own affliction had come in a
similar way. Third, she humbled herself, asking, "Art thou comes to me to call my
sin to remembrance?—possibly a reference to her former worship of Baal.” “The
petulant outburst of this agitated woman was a cruel a one to make unto the very
man who had brought deliverance to her house. Her "Art thou come to call my sin
to remembrance, and to slay my son?" was uncalled for and unjust, and might well
have prompted a bitter reply. It had undoubtedly done so had not the subduing
grace of God been working with him, for Elijah was naturally of a warm temper.”
6. It has been many days that this woman and her son have been kept alive by the
miracle of God's provision, but now her faith is tested again, and her experience of
God's wonderful provision loses its impact and she is tempted to give up her faith in
the God of Israel represented by her guest Elijah. We can go a long time with a
strong faith, and then tragedy hits and we seem to lose it all and fall back into
unbelief. We need to be prepared to face this danger of losing faith and giving up on
our trust in God. Be prepared to say with Job, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust
him.”
When things go wrong as they sometimes will,
When the road you're trudging seems all uphill,
When the funds are low and the debts are high,
And you want to smile but you have to sigh,
When care is pressing you down a bit
Rest if you must, but don't you quit.
Success is failure turned inside out,
The silver tint on the clouds of doubt,
And you can never tell how close you are,
It may be near when it seems afar.
So, stick to the fight when you're hardest hit
It's when things go wrong that you mustn't quit.
-- Unknown.
Cheer up, take courage, do not falter,
Truth will triumph by and by,
Time all evil things will alter,
Vice and wickedness must die...
-- Colfax Burgoyne
19 "Give me your son," Elijah replied. He took
him from her arms, carried him to the upper
room where he was staying, and laid him on his
bed.
1. For some reason not recorded Elijah knew he had to lay on this child to have any
hope of restoring him to life. Where he got the idea we do not know, but we see that
it was effective. We do not know how large a role it played in his recovery, for we
assume that God did the work of restoring his life, but it could very well be that the
efforts of Elijah to raise the child did make a difference. This would illustrate the
cooperation of man and God in healing. Doctors and therapists do their best, and
God comes to their assistance and people are healed. Would it happen anyway even
if there were no doctors and medicine of various kinds? Most of the time the answer
would be, no! God expects man to do his best in fighting all forms of evil such as
disease and sickness of all kinds. This is an act of faith, for it is done with the belief
that these efforts will be blest by God with his added power of making these efforts
effective.
2. Henry, “The prophet's address to God upon this occasion. He gave no answer to
her expostulation, but brought it to God, and laid the case before him, not knowing
what to say to it himself. He took the dead child from the mother's bosom to his own
bed, 1 Kings 17:19. Probably he had taken a particular kindness to the child, and
found the affliction his own more than by sympathy. He retired to his chamber, and,
1. He humbly reasons with God concerning the death of the child, 1 Kings 17:20. He
sees death striking by commission from God: Thou hast brought this evil for is there
any evil of this kind in the city, in the family, and the Lord has not done it? He
pleads the greatness of the affliction to the poor mother: "It is evil upon the widow;
thou art the widow's God, and dost not usually bring evil upon widows; it is
affliction added to the afflicted." He pleads his own concern: "It is the widow with
whom I sojourn; wilt thou, that art my God, bring evil upon one of the best of my
benefactors? I shall be reflected upon, and others will be afraid of entertaining me,
if I bring death into the house where I come." 2. He earnestly begs of God to restore
the child to life again, 1 Kings 17:21 .”
3. Pink, “T he prophet made no harsh reply to the unkind and unjust charge, but
instead, quietly said, "Give me thy son." Observe that he did not autocratically lay
hands upon the corpse, but courteously requested that the body should be turned
over to him. We believe that Elijah’s design therein was to still her passion and
cause her "against hope to believe in hope" (Rom. 4:18), as long before Abraham
had done, when he "believed God who quickeneth the dead," for it was (in part) in
response to her faith that she "received her dead restored to life again" (Heb.
11:35).”
20 Then he cried out to the LORD, "O LORD my
God, have you brought tragedy also upon this
widow I am staying with, by causing her son to
die?"
1. Bob Deffinbaugh, “Providing sanctuary for Elijah was the best thing that could
have happened to the widow and their son. It was God’s means of saving their lives.
They were about to die of starvation when Elijah arrived, and yet God provided for
all three for the remainder of the drought and famine. One can imagine the grief of
this widow when her son became ill and stopped breathing. To her, it looked like a
cruel joke: God saved her son’s life only to take it later on. Her words to Elijah are
an admission of her sin, and of her perception that God, through His prophet, had
punished the sins of this woman by killing her son. Elijah’s prayer in some ways
reiterates the thoughts the widow had just expressed: “O LORD, my God, are you
also bringing disaster on this widow with whom I am staying by killing her son?”
(verse 20, emphasis mine). I am especially curious about that word “also.” It is
almost as though Elijah were saying: “Alright, God, I can understand you bringing
disaster (this drought and famine, and men seeking my life) on me―that’s my role
as a prophet. But did you have to include her in my disaster by taking the life of her
son?” It is as though the widow is saying, “It’s my fault; why did he have to
suffer?”―while Elijah says, “It is my fault; why did she have to suffer because You
killed her son?”
2. Howat, “How must we regard this language ? As a complaint, a questioning of
God's goodness, a reflection on the Most High? We think not We view the words as
deprecatory, not as murmuring ; as if the prophet had said, ' Surely, O God, Thou,
the God of Love, wilt not afflict with the death of her child this already severely
afflicted widow, in whose home I dwell, and whose hospitality I have shared.'
3. Pink, “The prophet himself must have been quite oppressed and disconcerted by
the sad event which had overtaken his hostess. Stern as Elijah might be in the
discharge of duty, yet he possessed a tender spirit underneath (as such stern men
usually do), full of benignity and sensitive to the misery of others. It is quite evident
from the sequel, Elijah grieved that one who had been so kind to him should be so
heavily afflicted since he had come to her hospitable abode, and it would add to his
distress that she should think he was responsible for her loss.
It must not be lost sight of that this dark dispensation occasioned a real testing of
Elijah’s faith. Jehovah is the God of the widow and the rewarder of those who
befriend his people, especially of those who show kindness to His servants. Why,
then should such evil now come upon the one who was affording him shelter? Had
he not come by the Lord’s own appointment as a messenger of mercy to her house?
True, he had proved himself to be such; but this was forgotten by her under the
stress for the present trail, for he is now regarded as the emissary of wrath, an
avenger of her sin, the slayer of her only child. Worst of all, would he not feel that
the honour of his Master was also involved? that the name of the Lord would be
scandalized! Might the widow not ask, Is this how God repays those who befriend
His servants?”
21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three
times and cried to the LORD, "O LORD my God,
let this boy's life return to him!"
1. Here we have the first resurrection in the Bible, and it was a young boy who has
no name and no other record about what he did with his restored life. He was an
obscure person known only to a few, and God blest him and his mother by giving
him life from the dead. God's amazing grace does not fall just on the great and
noble, but on the unknown little people who have no name or glory in history. The
fact is, God is doing things on this planet all through history that we know nothing
about, and he is doing wonderful things in the lives of people that we will never
know about until we get into eternity. We will be amazed in heaven as to all the
workings of God that we never knew about because it never made it in the news or
the history books.
1B. Clarke, “It is supposed that he did this in order to communicate some natural
warmth to the body of the child, in order to dispose it to receive the departed spirit.
Elisha, his disciple, did the same in order to restore the dead child of the
Shunammite, 2 Kings 4:34. And St. Paul appears to have stretched himself on
Eutychus in order to restore him to life, Acts 20:10"
Let this child's soul come into him again
Surely this means no more than the breath. Though the word nephesh may
sometimes signify the life, yet does not this imply that the spirit must take possession
of the body in order to produce and maintain the flame of animal life?”
1C. George Barlow, “He pleaded for the restoration of life to the dead boy – a bold
and hitherto unheard of request from the lips of mortal man! It was a mighty
demand indeed, for a mortal to make a request that had no previous parallel in
praying lips. (Homiletic Commentary: Volume 8 - Kings, page 278)
1D. Hamilton Smith, “The faith of Elijah keeps God between himself and the
sorrowful circumstances. But Elijah recognizes that in himself he has no power.
This may be signified by the act of stretching himself on the child, or, as the margin
reads, he “measured” himself. He thoroughly identifies himself with the dead child;
he takes his measure and realizes that, like the dead child, he has no strength. Elijah
is powerless in the presence of death. But if the child is dead, God is living. If Elijah
has no power, Elijah can pray. By the act of stretching he identifies himself with the
powerlessness of the child. (Elijah: A Prophet Of The Lord, page 26-27 / Serious
Christian – Series 2: Volume 1)”
1E. Howat, “There is, indeed, great boldness here, boldness almost bordering on
presumption, and yet it is boldness which one so near to God as Elijah could use ; it
is boldness also which God accepted, and which may, therefore, be spared our
human censure. The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and. the violent take it
by forced ' Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may
obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
2. Dr. Ray Pritchard, “Of all the episodes in the life of Elijah, this is probably the
most troublesome. There really isn’t anything else like it in the Old Testament. In
our text Elijah lays himself out over the body of a dead child and the boy comes
back to life. And it’s not exactly like the story of the resurrection of our Lord on
Easter Sunday morning, which is surrounded by angels and a sense of glorious
triumph. It doesn’t even carry with it the same feel of Jesus crying out, “Lazarus,
come forth” (John 11:43 .) Because this story is so unusual, some people have
discounted it as being a myth. They see it as a kind of folk story, almost like a fairy
tale. Some critical scholars suggest that either the boy wasn't really dead or that it
never really happened at all. But I also acknowledge the emotional difficulties
because it raises questions we don't often talk about. If God can do this some of the
time, why doesn't he do this all the time? That is a great question, but I don't know
how you can deal with the story without coming to grips with some of the great
mysteries of God in his mercy and sovereignty, what God does and what God
doesn't do.”
2B. Dr. Pritchard answers with this, “There are so many mysteries about why God
does what he does. I’m reminded of the words of Tony Evans who said, “Everything
in the universe is either caused by God or allowed by God, and there is no third
category.” That’s a hugely important statement. So many times we look at
heartbreaking tragedy, and we want to invent a third category called, “Bad things
that just happened for no reason.” But there is no such category. When the text says
that it came about that the child grew ill, it’s the writer’s way of saying that what
happened to this young boy was not an accident. It was not chance. It was not fate.
God was present in the home when that boy died.”
2C. The problem with this answer is that it still leaves the problem, for if everything
is either caused by God or allowed by God, it is still a question, “Why does God
allow such things to happen?” If God caused the boy to be sick because he was
planning to give Elijah the chance to raise him up, the it was all for the good, but
this does not have any answer for the mother who loses a young son who does not
get raised up. It is still an unanswered question of why? Then the only answer is that
God allows it in this fallen world because disease is a part of it, and nobody is
immune to all disease or all disaster. It can strike anyone at any time, and it it a part
of the kingdom of evil that we will only completely escape from in heaven. God does
not cause evil, but he allows it to function for a time until his final victory is
achieved when Christ returns. Here is a boy living with a miracle a day in providing
his meals, and yet he gets ill and dies. You can be living in God's will and still suffer
the consequences of evil in the world. The only answer is that evil is real and you are
living in that kind of world where God allows evil to be real. If he did not, we would
already be in heaven.
3. Dr. Pritchard goes on, “There is no easy way to explain what happens next.
Elijah lays down on top of the body of the child. Foot to foot. Leg to leg. Chest to
chest. Arm to arm. Hand to hand. Face to face. He does it not once, not twice, but
three times. �o one really knows exactly why he laid down even once, much less why
he did it twice or three times. Perhaps Elijah understood that to do anything for this
boy he was going to have to get very personally involved. As a side note, since the boy
was dead, he was now unclean under Jewish law. It was wrong for a prophet of God
to touch a dead body, but extreme cases call for extreme measures. And so by lying
down on the body of the child, it is as if he is saying “Oh Lord, take some of the life
from within me and give it to this boy.” He prayed for a miracle because he believed
in a power greater than death.”
4. Gill, “And he stretched himself upon the child three times…
Or "measured himself" on it, or put himself into a posture in some respects equal to
the child; putting his mouth on its mouth, his eyes on its eyes, his hands on its hands,
as Elisha afterwards did in a like case, perhaps in imitation of him, (2 Kings 4:34) ,
thereby showing his great affection to the child, and in order to increase it the more,
and to make him the more fervent and importunate in his prayers for its life; and
hereby signifying also that he would if he could infuse his breath and life into it, and
warm it with his own heat:
and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this
child's soul come into him again:
which shows that the child was really dead; and a proof this that the soul dies not
with the body, but exists in a separate state without it.”
5. Henry, “He is very particular in his prayer: I pray thee let this child's soul come
into him again, which plainly supposes the existence of the soul in a state of
separation from the body, and consequently its immortality, which Grotius thinks
God designed by this miracle to give intimation and evidence of, for the
encouragement of his suffering people.”
6. Pink, “Was this proof of the prophet’s humility? How remarkable that so great a
man should spend so much time and thought on that slender form, and bring
himself into immediate contact with that which ceremonially defiled! Was this act
indicative of his own affection for the child, and to show how deeply he was stirred
by his death? Was it a token of the fervency of his appeal unto God, as though he
would, if he could, put life into his body from the life and warmth of his own? Does
not his doing this three times over so intimate? Was it a sign of what God would do
by His power and accomplish by His grace in the brining of sinners from death unto
life, the Holy Spirit overshadowing them and imparting His own life to them? If so,
is there not more than a hint here that those whom He employs as instruments in
conversion must themselves become as little children, bringing themselves to the
level of those to whom they minister, and not standing on a pedestal as though they
were superior beings.”
22 The LORD heard Elijah's cry, and the boy's
life returned to him, and he lived.
1. Clarke, “And the soul nephesh, of the child came into him again, al kirbo, into the
midst of him; and he revived, vaiyechi, and he became alive. Did he not become alive
from the circumstance of the immaterial principle coming again into him? Although
ruach is sometimes put for the breath, yet generally means the immortal spirit, and
where it seems to refer to animal life alone, it is only such a life as is the immediate
and necessary effect of the presence of the immortal spirit. The words and mode of
expression here appear to me a strong proof, not only of the existence of an
immortal and immaterial spirit in man, but also that that spirit can and does exist in
a separate state from the body. It is here represented as being in the midst of the
child, like a spring in the centre of a machine, which gives motion to every part, and
without which the whole would stand still.”
2. Constable, “...is the first restoration to life of a dead person that Scripture
records. Elijah prayed persistently, one of the fundamental requisites for obtaining
one's petitions in difficult cases (v. 21; cf. Matt. 7:7-8; Luke 11:5-13). God restored
the lad's life.” “God could raise a dead Gentile boy back to life in response to
believing prayer, He could also revive the chosen people of Israel who had become
spiritually dead.”
3. Pink, “"Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed
earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth by the space of three
years and six months," (Jas. 5:17). Elijah is here brought before us as an example of
what may be accomplished by the earnest prayers of one "righteous man," (v. 16).
Ah, my reader, mark well the descriptive adjective, for it is not every man, nor even
every Christian, who obtains definite answers to his prayers. Far from it! A
"righteous man" is one who is right with God in a practical way: one whose conduct
is pleasing in His sight, one who keeps his garments unspotted from the world, who
is in separation from religious evil, for there is no evil on earth half so dishonoring
and displeasing to God as religious evil (see Luke 10:12-15; Rev. 11:8). Such a one
has the ear of Heaven, for there is no moral barrier between his soul and a sin-
hating God. "Whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His
commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight," (1 John 3:22).”
3B. Pink, “What a demonstration of the potency and efficacy of prayer! Ours is a
prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God: to Him therefore let us have recourse
whatever be our distress. Hopeless as our case may be to all human help, yet nothing
is too hard for the Lord. He is able to do far more exceeding abundantly above all
that we ask or think. But let us "ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that
wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that
man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord" (Jas. 1:6, 7). "This is the
confidence that we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, He
heareth us" (1 John 5:14). Surely we have need, all of us, to cry more earnestly,
"Lord, teach us to pray." Unless this be one of the effects produced by pondering
the incident now before us, our study of the same has availed us little.”
“It is now sufficient for us to cry, "Lord, teach us to pray!", however, we must also
carefully ponder those portions of His Word which chronicle cases of prevailing
intercession, that we may learn the secrets of successful prayer. In this instance we
may note the following points. First, Elijah’s retiring to his own private chamber,
that he might be alone with God. Second, his fervency: he "cried unto the Lord"—
no mere lip-service was this. Third, his reliance upon his own personal interest in
the Lord, avowing his reliance upon his own personal interest in the Lord, avowing
his covenant relationship: "O Lord, my God." Fourth, his encouraging himself in
God’s attributes: here, the Divine sovereignty and supremacy—"hast Thou also
brought evil upon the widow." Fifth, his earnestness and importunity: evidenced by
his "stretching himself upon the child" no less than three times. Sixth, his appeal to
God’s tender mercy: "the widow with whom I sojourn." Finally, the definiteness of
his petition: "Let this child’s soul come into him again."
4. Dr. Ray Pritchard, “James 5:17 says Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. He
had the same fears, the same doubts, the same worries and the same concerns. The
previous verse in the King James Version says that the effectual, fervent prayer of a
righteous man avails much. The word fervent comes from a Greek word that means
boiling. The boiling prayers of the righteous avail much with God. What’s a boiling
prayer? It has nothing to do with standing or sitting, kneeling or lying down. It has
nothing to do with lifting your voice or speaking in a whisper. It has nothing to do
with how loud or how long you pray. I really don’t need to define it all. When they
take your son or daughter away for surgery, you’ll discover what a boiling prayer is.
When your children are in trouble, you’ll pray boiling prayers to God. It’s what
happens when you pray like there’s nothing else in the world really matters.”
4B. Dr. Pritchard gives us an interesting illustration about the way out is the way
up. Elijah looked up to God as his way out of a hopeless situation, and that up look
changed the outlook. He wrote, “You can catch a wild buzzard and put him in an
open pen that's, let's say, 6 x 6, and he will die there. He cannot file away. Why? A
buzzard needs at least a 12 foot runway to take off! Take a bat, place him on the
ground and he will flop around there until he dies. Why? He can only achieve flight
from an elevated position. He must launch out into the air. Take a bumblebee and
put him in a tumbler, leave the top open and that bee will never find his way out. He
is so interested in trying to fly through the glass in front of him, he will never think
to look up and find the way out. What is the point? All three of these, the buzzard,
the bee and the bat all fail to notice the freedom that is right above them. As a
result, they remain trapped in their prison.”
5. Pink, “These words are important for clearly establishing the definite distinction
which there is between the soul and the body, a distinction as real as that which
exists between the house and its inhabitant. Scripture tells us that, in the day of his
creation, the Lord God first formed man’s body out of "the dust of the ground,"
and, second, that He "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life," and only then
did he become "a living soul" (Gen. 2:7). The language employed on this occasion
affords clear proof that the soul is distinct from the body, that is does not die with
the body, that it exists in a separate state after the death of the body, and that none
but God can restore it to its original habitat (compare Luke 8:55). Incidentally we
may observe that this request of Elijah’s and the Lord’s response make it quite clear
that the child was actually dead.
Relatively speaking, though in a very real sense nevertheless, the age of miracles has
ceased, so that we cannot expect to have our dead supernaturally restored to us in
this life. Yet the Christian may and ought to look forward with certain assurance to
meeting again with those beloved relatives and friends who departed hence in
Christ. Their spirits are not dead, not even sleeping as some erroneously assert, but
have returned to God who gave them (Eccl. 12:7), and are now in a state that is "far
better" (Phil. 1:23), which could not be were they deprived of all conscious
communion with their Beloved. Being absent from the body they are "present with
the Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8), and in His presence is "fulness of joy" (Ps. 16:11). As to their
bodies they await that great Day when they shall be fashioned like unto Christ’s
glorious body.”
23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him
down from the room into the house. He gave him
to his mother and said, "Look, your son is alive!"
1. Elijah was so thrilled that he quickly got that child to his mother. She was in
despair, and it hurt the heart of Elijah that she was in such doubt and guilt, and
going through an emotional crisis. He did not want to prolong that agony of her's
for another second. He shouts as he approaches her, “Look at this. It is your son and
he is not dead. He is alive!” Elijah was shouting, but you can count on it, that he was
drowned out by the screams of joy from this mother in seeing her son alive.
2. Henry, “The good woman hereupon cries out, Fow I know that thou art a man of
God; though she knew it before, by the increase of her meal, yet the death of her
child she took so unkindly that she began to question it (a good man surely would
not serve her so); but now she was abundantly satisfied that he had both the power
and goodness of a man of God, and will never doubt of it again, but give up herself
to the direction of his word and the worship of the God of Israel. Thus the death of
the child (like that of Lazarus, John 11:4 ) was for the glory of God and the honor of
his prophet.”
3. So have I seen the sun kiss the frozen earth, which was bound up with the images
of death and the colder breath of the north, and then the waters break from their
enclosures, and melt with joy, and run in useful channels, and the flies do rise again
from their little graves in walls, and dance awhile in the air to tell there is joy
within. So are the hearts of the sorrowful under the discourses of a wise comforter ;
they break from the despairs of the grave, and the fetters and chains of sorrow ;
they bless God, and God is pleased with no music from below so much as the
thanksgiving songs of relieved widows, of supported orphans, of the rejoicing, and
comforted, and thankful.*— Jeremy Taylor.
4. Howat, “Here was the second part of 'the prophet's reward. The widow fed a
stranger, that stranger gives her back her son. His meal has brought a truly rich
return. She feared that if she gave it, her son would die ; but, strong in faith, she
made the sacrifice, and lo ! her son is restored from the dead. Whatever hard
thoughts of Elijah she may have had for the moment in the paroxysm of her grief,
have all vanished now like frost-work from before the sun. The mystery about him
may be deepened, as one who can deal successfully with the invisible world But the
deeper the mystery, the stronger the persuasion of his great divine work.”
5. Pink, “What joy must have filled the prophet’s heart as he witnessed the
miraculous answer to his intercession! What fervent ejaculations of praise must
have issued from his lips unto God for this additional manifestation of His goodness
in delivering him from his grief. But it was no time for delay: the sorrow and
suspense of the poor widow must now be allayed. Elijah therefore promptly took the
child downstairs and gave him to his mother. Who can imagine her delight as she
saw her child restored to life again? How the prophet’s procedure on this occasion
reminds us of our Lord’s action following upon the miracle of restoring to life the
only son of the widow of �ain, for no sooner did he sit up and speak than we are
told that the Saviour "delivered him to his mother" (Luke 7:15).”
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, "�ow I know
that you are a man of God and that the word of
the LORD from your mouth is the truth."
1. Clarke, “Three grand effects were produced by this temporary affliction: 1. The
woman was led to examine her heart, and try her ways; 2. The power of God
became highly manifest in the resurrection of the child; 3. She was convinced that
the word of the Lord was truth, and that not one syllable of it could fall to the
ground. Through a little suffering all this good was obtained.”
2. Dr. Ray Pritchard, “Don’t we believe in miracles? Yes we do. Christianity is a
religion of miracles. Take the miraculous out of our faith and you are left with
nothing but a set of ethical instructions that has no power to change the heart.
Subtract the miracles and suddenly Christianity becomes just another religion.
Without the miracles, we have no good news to share with the world. And the Bible
is book of miracles from first to last. Take the miracles away and suddenly the Bible
is no longer the Word of God. It’s just another book. You can no more take miracles
out of Christianity than you can take light from the sun. Without the light, there is
no sun. Without the miracles, there is no Christianity. Having said that, I readily
confess that miracles are a problem for many people. The miracle stories of the
Bible pose problems that are partly historical (did this really happen?), partly
theological (why did this happen), partly personal (can something like this happen
to me?) and partly emotional (why doesn’t something like this happen to me?).
We read of amazing miracles in the time of Moses when he led the children of Israel
out of Egypt. We read of more miracles during the days of Elijah and Elisha. We
read of amazing things that happened during the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we read of other miracles in the book of Acts. That’s one side of the
story. The other side is that you can read page after page after page in the Bible
without running into any miracles at all. It’s not as if miracles were an everyday
occurrence even in Bible times. They did not happen routinely or predictably.” Dr.
Pritchard is saying something we need to understand, and that is that miracles
though real are rare, and most of God's people all through history have not seen one
or experienced one. Don't feel left out if you do not see a miracle in your life even
though you pray fervently for one. Most children who die are not raised up to life
again, and there are millions of them. This miracle gives us hope that it can happen,
but we ought not to feel cheated by God if it does not happen when our child dies.
3. Howat, “' We know, said �icodemus to the Master, ' that Thou art a teacher come
from God, for no man can do these miracles that Thou doest, except God be with
him. With equal emphasis exclaims the Sareptan widow, ' �ow by this I know that
thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth. She had
had the 'grace' before ; she has the 'truth now. In the resurrection-power exercised
over her circumstances — the daily replenished 'cask and cruse, — she saw the love
of God dispensed through His prophet ; in the resurrection-power exercised over
her son — not merely life sustained, but life restored, — she sees the noblest
vindication of that prophet himself. She had been a believer in God before ; she is a
stronger and more decided believer now. She has been touched and tried in the
keenest and tenderest part of her being, and she has been also delivered. What can
she say ?
4. �athan Buttery, “You see this woman came to the conclusion that God's word
through this prophet was trustworthy. "The word of the Lord from your mouth is
true." We've already been told that this woman had obeyed the word of the prophet
back in verse 15. She'd done as the prophet had asked. But it seems here that at last
it had sunk in. She was willing to trust the prophet and the word of the Lord. God
had shown himself to be entirely trustworthy in the very darkest days of her life. He
was there for her and had provided for her in the most remarkable way possible.
And what makes this profession of faith all the more amazing was that this woman
was a pagan living outside the covenant land. She of all people was the last person
you'd expect to trust in the living God. She was right in the middle of Baal country
and yet she worshiped the true and living God. But contrast her with the end of
chapter 16. What do we find there? A covenant king, Ahab, who should have been
the first to trust in God who gave him the throne, despising the word of the Lord
and setting up altars to Baal. The contrast could not be clearer. One despises God's
word, another depends on God's word.
And the question God's asks us is which are we? Do we despise the word of God or
depend on it. Do we live life with no real concern for God and his ways, even though
we might profess to be Christians, or do we depend on him like this pagan widow?
As we saw a few weeks ago, it's a matter of whether we have true godly faith? For
true faith is seen in the way we live our lives. True faith is practical. It affects the
way we work, the way we bring up our families, the way we spend our money, the
way we use our time. �ow of course we might say: "Well it's OK for her. She had a
sign. She had her son raised up from the dead. Anyone would believe after that?"
Sadly that's simply not true. Jesus himself said that even if someone came back from
the dead, still people would not believe. It's not a question of needing more signs. It's
a question of whether or not you trust God's word. He's shown himself to be
dependable time and again.”
APPE�DIX I CLARKE O� RAVE�S
“THE subject in the fourth verse of this chapter deserves a more particular
consideration.
I have commanded the ravens to feed thee.-It is contended that if we consider orebim
to signify ravens, we shall find any interpretation on this ground to be clogged with
difficulties. I need mention but a few. The raven is an unclean bird, And these ye
shall have in abomination among the fowls-every raven after his kind; Leviticus
11:13-15 ; that is, every species of this genus shall be considered by you unclean and
abominable. Is it therefore likely that God would employ this most unclean bird to
feed his prophet? Besides, where could the ravens get any flesh that was not
unclean? Carrion is their food; and would God send any thing of this kind to his
prophet? Again: If the flesh was clean which God sent, where could ravens get it?
Here must be at least three miracles: one to bring from some table the flesh to the
ravens; another, to induce the ravenous bird to give it up; and the third, to conquer
its timidity towards man, so that it could come to the prophet without fear. �ow,
although God might employ a fowl that would naturally strive to prey on the flesh,
and oblige it, contrary to its nature, to give it up; yet it is by no means likely that he
would employ a bird that his own law had pronounced abominable. Again, he could
not have employed this means without working a variety of miracles at the same
time, in order to accomplish one simple end; and this is never God's method: his
plan is ever to accomplish the greatest purposes by the simplest means.
The original word orebim has been considered by some as meaning merchants,
persons occasionally trading through that country, whom God directed, by
inspiration, to supply the prophet with food. To get a constant supply from such
hands in an extraordinary way was miracle enough; it showed the superintendence
of God, and that the hearts of all men are in his hands.
But in answer to this it is said, that the "original word never signifies merchants;
and that the learned Bochart has proved this." I have carefully read over cap. 13,
part. ii., lib. 2, of the Hierozoicon of this author, where he discusses this subject; and
think that he has never succeeded less than in his attempt to prove that ravens are
meant in this passage. He allows that the Tyrian merchants are described by this
periphrasis, , the occupiers of thy merchandise, Ezekiel 27:27; and asserts that
orebim, per se, mercatores nusquam significat, "by itself, never signifies merchants."
�ow, with perfect deference to so great an authority, I assert that oreby, the
contracted form of orebim, does signify merchants, both in Ezekiel 27:9, and that
maarab signifies a place for merchandise, the market-place or bazaar, in Ezekiel
27:9,13,; as also the goods sold in such places, Ezekiel 27:33; and therefore that for
aught proved to the contrary, signify merchants in the text.
As to Bochart's objection, that, the prophet being ordered to go to the brook
Cherith, that he might lie hid, and the place of his retreat not be known, if any
traders or merchants supplied his wants, they would most likely discover where he
was, there is no weight in it; for the men might be as well bound by the secret
inspiration of God not to discover the place of his retreat, as they were to supply his
wants; besides, they might have been of the number of those seven thousand men
who had not bowed their knees to the image of Baal, and consequently would not
inform Ahab and Jezebel of their prophet's hiding place.
Some have supposed that the original means Arabians; but Bochart contends that
there were no Arabians in that district: this is certainly more than he or any other
man can prove. Colonies of Arabs, and hordes and families of the same people, have
been widely scattered over different places for the purpose of temporal sojournment
and trade; for they were a wandering people, and often to be found in different
districts remote enough from the place of their birth. But, letting this pass merely
for what it is worth, and feeling as I do the weight of the objections that may be
brought against the supposition of ravens being the agents employed to feed the
prophet, I would observe that there was a town or city of the name of Orbo, that was
not far from the place where Elijah was commanded to hide himself. In Bereshith
Rabba, a rabbinical comment on Genesis, we have these words ir hi bithchom
Beithshean, veshemo Orbo; "There is a town in the vicinity of Beth-shan,
(Scythopolis,) and its name is Orbo." We may add to this from St. Jerome, Orbim,
accolae villae in finibus Arabum, Eliae dederunt alimenta; "The Orbim, inhabitants
of a town in the confines of the Arabs, gave nourishment to Elijah." �ow, I consider
Jerome's testimony to be of great worth, because he spent several years in the holy
land, that he might acquire the most correct notion possible of the language and
geography of the country, as well as of the customs and habits of the people, in
order to his translating the sacred writings, and explaining them. Had there not
been such a place in his time, he could not have written as above: and although in
this place the common printed editions of the Vulgate have corvi, "crows or ravens;"
yet in 2 Chronicles 21:16 2 St. Jerome translates the same word "the Arabians;" and
the same in �ehemiah 4:7; it is therefore most likely that the inhabitants of Oreb or
Orbo, as mentioned above, furnished the aliment by which the prophet was
sustained; and that they did this being specially moved thereto by the Spirit of the
Lord. Add to all these testimonies that of the Arabic version, which considers the
words as meaning a people, [Arabic] Orabim, and not ravens or fowls of any kind.
In such a case this version is high authority.
It is contended that those who think the miracle is lost if the ravens be not admitted,
are bound to show, 1. With what propriety the raven, an unclean animal, could be
employed? 2. Why the dove, or some such clean creature, was not preferred? 3. How
the ravens could get properly dressed flesh to bring to the prophet? 4. From whose
table it was taken; and by what means? 5. Whether it be consistent with the wisdom
of God, and his general conduct, to work a tissue of miracles where one was
sufficient? 6. And whether it be not best, in all cases of this kind, to adopt that mode
of interpretation which is most simple; the wisdom, goodness, and providence of
God being as equally apparent as in those cases where a multitude of miracles are
resorted to in order to solve difficulties?”