1 Kings 17:12

_SO HE AROSE AND WENT TO ZAREPHATH. AND WHEN HE CAME TO THE GATE OF THE CITY, BEHOLD, THE WIDOW WOMAN WAS THERE GATHERING OF STICKS: AND HE CALLED TO HER, AND SAID, FETCH ME, I PRAY THEE, A LITTLE WATER IN A VESSEL, THAT I MAY DRINK._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

8-16 Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, and some, it is likely, would have bidden him welcome to their houses; yet he is sent to honour and bless with his presence a city of Sidon, a Gentile city, and so becomes the first prophet of the Gentiles. Jezebel was Elijah's greatest enemy; yet, to show her how powerless was her malice, God will find a hiding-place for him even in her own country. The person appointed to entertain Elijah is not one of the rich or great men of Sidon; but a poor widow woman, in want, and desolate, is made both able and willing to sustain him. It is God's way, and it is his glory, to make use of, and put honour upon, the weak and foolish things of the world. O woman, great was thy faith; one has not found the like, no not in Israel. She took the prophet's word, that she should not lose by it. Those who can venture upon the promise of God, will make n...

Verse 1 Kings 17:12. _A HANDFUL OF MEAL IN A BARREL_] The word כד _cad_ is to be understood as implying an _earthen jar_; not a _wooden vessel_, or _barrel_ of any kind. In the East they preserve their corn and meal in such vessels; without which precaution the insects would destroy them. Travellers in Asiatic countries abound with observations of this kind. The word _cruse_, צפחת tsappachath, says Jarchi, signifies what in our tongue is expressed by _bouteille_, a bottle. Jarchi was a French rabbin....

AS THE LORD THY GOD LIVETH - The words do not prove that the woman was an Israelite, or a worshipper of the true God; any Phoenician, recognizing in Elijah’s appearance the garb and manner of a Jehovistic prophet, might have thus addressed him: Baal-worshippers would have admitted Yahweh to be “a” living God. The woman does not say “as the Lord my God liveth.” THAT WE MAY EAT IT AND DIE - Phoenicia always depended for its cereal supplies on the harvests of Palestine (1 Kings 5:9 note); and it is evident that the famine was afflicting the Phoenicians at this time no less than the Israelites....

EXPOSITION ELIJAH AND THE GREAT DROUGHT.—The picture which the historian has just drawn of the shameless idolatry and the gross degeneracy of the earlier part of Ahab's reign forms a fit prelude to an account of the ministry of the great prophet Elijah, which occupies this and several succeeding chapters; for the two stand together in the closest connexion. It was only the unprecedented corruption of that age which necessitated such a mission, and a mission armed with such credentials as his. It will be obvious to the most cursory reader that the narratives comprised in the remaining portion of this book and the earlier part of 2 Kings are of a very different character from those which have so far been before us. The ministry of Elijah and Elisha alike is little more than a series of miracles. Of their words comparatively few are recorded; we hear of little but the signs and w

AND SHE SAID, AS THE LORD THY GOD LIVETH,.... Which shows her to be a good woman, swearing by the living God, and him only, and that she took Elijah to be a good man, and a prophet of the Lord: I HAVE NOT A CAKE; greater or less, not a morsel of bread in the house: BUT A HANDFUL OF MEAL IN A BARREL, AND A LITTLE OIL IN A CRUSE; these separate and unmixed, and not made into a cake, and dressed as she intended to do with them: AND, BEHOLD, I AM GATHERING TWO STICKS; or a few, which would be sufficient to bake such a quantity as her meal and oil would make; she speaks by the figure "meiosis", which expresses less than what is meant, as Ben Melech observes: THAT I MAY GO IN AND DRESS IT FOR ME, AND MY SON, THAT WE MAY EAT IT, AND DIE; having nothing more left, and no expectation of any elsewhere, and the famine strong in the land; so that she could look for nothing but death after this w...

IV. THE PROPHET ELIJAH AND KING AHAB 1. Elijah's Prediction and Miracles CHAPTER 17 _ 1. Elijah's message to Ahab (1 Kings 17:1)_ 2. At the brook Cherith (1 Kings 17:2) 3. With the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8) 4. The widow's son restored to life (1 Kings 17:17) Upon this scene of complete departure of God, when Ahab and his heathen wife worshipped Baal and all the vileness connected with that cult flourished in Israel, there appeared suddenly one of the greatest of God's prophets, Elijah (my God is Jehovah) the Tishbite. “A grander figure never stood out even against the Old Te

ELIJAH IS FED BY RAVENS, AND RAISES THE WIDOW'S SON. Elijah appeared suddenly: we hear nothing of his birth or parentage. He simply announced to Ahab, in the name of Yahweh, before whom I stand (_cf._ Jeremiah 35:19), that there should be no rain for three years. Elijah is described as one of the sojourners of Gilead. Probably the LXX is correct in saying that he came from Tishbe (_mg.),_ said to be in Gilead to distinguish it from another Tishbe in Galilee (Tob_1:2). He then retired (1 Kings 17:3) to the brook Cherith, E. of Jordan, where he was fed by ravens. In the valley of the Jordan was the rock of Oreb the raven (Judges 7:25;...

A LITTLE OIL. From Joshua 19:24 Zidon fell to Asher. From Deuteronomy 33:24 Asher had abundance of oil, though water was scarce. Compare Genesis 49:20. CRUSE. flask. Compare Matthew 25:4....

_meal in a_[R.V. THE] _barrel … oil in a_[R.V. THE] _cruse_ The definite article is expressed in the original, and represented by the LXX. The barrel and the cruse were the special domestic articles in every house, and would be spoken of definitely. _two sticks_ i.e. some small quantity. Thus we often say -a couple" when we do not mean -two" only. _my son_ The LXX. renders by the plural -sons," perhaps because it is said, in 1 Kings 17:15, that -she and he and _her house_did eat many days." Josephus gives the singular -my son" as the Hebrew. _eat it, and die_ The drought had already brought so poor a person to the point of starvation....