1 Kings 17:13

_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 17:13. _BUT MAKE ME THEREOF A LITTLE CAKE FIRST_] This was certainly putting the widow's faith to an extraordinary trial: to take and give to a stranger, of whom she knew nothing, the small pittance requisite to keep her child from perishing, was too much to be expected....

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 ELIJAH SAID UNTO HER, FEAR NOT,.... That she and her son should die, it would not be the case: GO AND DO AS THOU HAST SAID: mix her meal and her oil, and make a cake thereof, and bake it: BUT MAKE THEREOF A LITTLE CAKE FIRST, AND BRING IT UNTO ME, AND AFTER MAKE FOR THEE AND FOR THY SON: 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....

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;...

_do as thou hast said_ i.e. Set about preparing bread from the meal which remains, but instead of taking first for yourselves, bring what is first ready to me. _and bring_it [R.V. adds FORTH] _unto me_ It appears from what follows that Elijah dwelt afterwards in the house of the widow, but at first he waited outside till she made ready the food, which it must have needed much faith to give forth for the supply of the stranger. For -after" R.V. reads -after WARD " to bring the language into accord with modern usage....

C. ELIJAH AT ZAREPHATH 17:8-24 As the water supply at Cherith began to fail, God instructed Elijah to leave the land of Israel and journey to the Phoenician village of Zarephath. Two great miraculous occurrences are connected with the prophet's sojourn therethe miraculous provision of food in the home of a widow (1 Kings 17:8-16); and the resurrection of the widow's son (1 Kings 17:17-24). _1. THE MIRACULOUS PROVISION OF FOOD_ (1 Kings 17:8-16) TRANSLATION (8) And the word of the LORD came onto him, saying, (9) Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold I have commanded a woman, a widow, to feed you. (10) And he arose and went to Zarephath

ELIJAH AND THE WIDOW OF ZAREPHATH The prophet Elijah, who occupies so large a space in the succeeding history, is, like his successor Elisha, conspicuous among the prophetic figures of the OT. as a worker of miracles; and to him belongs the further distinction of having been removed from earth without dying. His prophecies differed from those of most later prophets in having in view only certain critical occasions of contemporary history, and in having no reference to the remote future or the Messianic age, though the moral and religious principles which they affirmed had, of course, a wide application....