1 Kings 17:21

17-24 Neither faith nor obedience shut out afflictions and death. The child being dead, the mother spake to the prophet, rather to give vent to her sorrow, than in hope of relief. When God removes our comforts from us, he remembers our sins against us, perhaps the sins of our youth, though long since past. When God remembers our sins against us, he designs to teach us to remember them against ourselves, and to repent of them. Elijah's prayer was doubtless directed by the Holy Spirit. The child revived. See the power of prayer, and the power of Him who hears prayer....

Verse 1 Kings 17:21. _STRETCHED HIMSELF UPON THE CHILD THREE TIMES_] 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 נפש _nephesh_ may sometimes signify the _life_, yet does not this imply that the spirit must take possession of the body in o

HE STRETCHED HIMSELF UPON THE CHILD THREE TIMES - This action of Elijah is different from that of Elisha (marginal reference), and does not imply the use of any natural means for the restoration of suspended animation. It is nearly parallel to the “touch,” through which our Lord performed similar miracles Matthew 9:25; Luke 7:14....

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 HE STRETCHED HIMSELF UPON THE CHILD THREE TIMES,.... Or "measured himself" i 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. i ויתמדד "et mensus e

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;...

STRETCHED. measured. SOUL. life. Compare 1 Kings 17:23, "liveth". Hebrew. _nephesh._ App-13....

_And he stretched himself_ As though he would give of his own vitality to restore the life of the boy. The LXX. reads ἐνεφύσησε τῷ παιδαρίῳ = -he breathed upon the child." This is an exposition of the later words which speak of the child's soul returning to him....

AND HE STRETCHED HIMSELF UPON THE CHILD THREE TIMES— We are persuaded, that neither words nor gestures have any virtue; and yet we read, that the prophets of the Old Testament used extraordinary gesticulations, which would be smiled at now-a-days, and considered as superstitious ceremonies. Elijah, in raising up the only son of the widow of Sarepta, _stretched himself upon the child three times;_ and Elisha, the disciple of this great prophet, did the same thing when he raised up the son of the Shunamite woman, 2 Kings 4:34. Certainly no one can think that these children were only entranced with cold, or in a swoon; so that the prophets, by stretching themselves upon them, only warmed them afresh, 1:e. cured them. They were perfectly dead, as appears from the event; for, _the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived._ Besides, how could a recovering from a swoon, or