1 Kings 17:4

“ And it shall be, that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

There he would be able to drink water from the Wadi, regularly refreshing himself, and he was promised that YHWH would send the ravens (or wandering Arabs) to feed him. This is not strictly comparable with Exodus 16, although it similarly indicates that YHWH can feed His people how He wills.

1 Kings 17:5

‘ So he went and did according to the word of YHWH, for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, which is before the Jordan.'

Unlike Israel Elijah obeyed the word of YHWH. He went and dwelt by the Wadi Cherith by the Jordan, was fed and was content.

1 Kings 17:6

‘ And the ravens brought him food and flesh in the morning, and food and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook.'

And there he received food and flesh which was brought to him by large scavenger birds (or wandering Arabs) both morning and evening. If we wish to rationalise we should consider that there would be so many dead beasts around, due to the drought, that the scavenging birds would be collecting larger amounts of food than normal and may well have dropped some by Elijah as they flew by or even have come to rest nearby. Presumably it was as popular site for ravens. Thus YHWH may well have used this natural situation in order to feed Elijah. Palestinian ravens could be sixty five centimetres (two feet) long and only scavenged for meat that was comparatively fresh. They would thus carry reasonably sized pieces of comparatively fresh meat which would be edible to human beings.

1 Kings 17:7

‘ And it came about after a while, that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.'

But inevitably after a while as a result of the lack of rain the Wadi began to dry up. Elijah would now have to look elsewhere for water.