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?”