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Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

1 Kings 17:12

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.

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See also 1 Kings 17:12 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    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 thei...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    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 Zarep...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    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._...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    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...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    _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 i...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    AN HANDFUL OF MEAL IN A BARREL— Sandys tells us, that in the east they kept their corn in long _vessels of clay,_ it being subject to be eaten by worms without that precaution: this he observed at Gaz...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    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...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _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 WAT...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    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 wo...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    _As_ THE LORD.. LIVETH] Elijah was probably recognised by speech or dress as an Israelite. MAY EAT IT, AND DIE] implying that the drought and consequent famine extended to Zarephath: see on Luke 4:1....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    GOD’S LESSONS FROM HISTORY 1 KINGS _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 17 ELIJAH THE *PROPHET V1 Now Elijah from Tishbe in Gilead spoke to Ahab. ‘I promise this in the name of the *Lord because he is definit...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    I HAVE NOT A CAKE. — The famine may have already extended to Phœnicia; for there, according to Menander, it lasted for a year; or, since the country depended upon Israel for supplies, the distress may...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    וַ תֹּ֗אמֶר חַי ־יְהוָ֤ה אֱלֹהֶ֨יךָ֙ אִם ־יֶש

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE JAR OF MEAL THAT WASTED NOT 1 Kings 17:8 Even at Cherith we cannot be exempt from trial, and it is hard to sit beside a gradually dwindling brook. But God always provides. None of them that trust...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Here began a new order, the prophetic. Of course there had been prophets before, but with the coming of Elijah the office was elevated to national importance. From this point onwards, in the economy o...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    And she said, [As] the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I [am] gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (10) 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...

  • Introductory Lectures - Commentary by William Kelly

    The days were very dark in Israel. Not only rebellion. And rebellion, always serious, was peculiarly so in Israel, for there it was insubordination in a direct manner against not only God's providence...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 17 AND 18. Elijah and Elisha, on the contrary (witnesses for God in the midst of a people that according to grace God still recognised as His own, but who had...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    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 HAV...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    And she said, [As] the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I [am] gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Behold, the widow woman was gathering sticks_ He knew, by some secret divine intimations, that this was the woman that was to sustain him. _Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water_ Water, in consequenc...

  • KJV Original Language Details

    1 Elijah hauing prophecied against Ahab, is sent to Cherith, where the rauens feed him. 8 He is sent to the widow of Zarephath. 17 Hee raiseth the widowes sonne. 24 The woman beleeueth him. 1 AND ...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    And she said, As the Lord, thy God, liveth, her oath being in the name of Jehovah, whom she undoubtedly worshiped, although surrounded on all sides by heathen, I HAVE NOT A CAKE, such as she understoo...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    ELIJAH IN ZAREPHATH...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    ELIJAH PROPHESIES A DROUGHT (vs.1-7) Ahab was suddenly confronted by a prophet who had never been mentioned before, Elijah the Tishbite, the first prophet of God spoken of as arising from among the t...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    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 Ge...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    AS THE LORD THY GOD LIVETH; by which she discovers, that though she was a Gentile, yet she owned the God of Israel as the true God. TWO STICKS, i.e. a few sticks, that number being oft used indefinite...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    1 Kings 17:12 said H559 (H8799) LORD H3068 God H430 lives H2416 have H3426 bread H4580 handful H

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    YHWH MAKES PROVISION FOR ELIJAH WITH A WIDOW OF ZAREPHATH (1 KINGS 17:8). The water in the Wadi Cherith having almost dried up, God now directed Elijah to go to Zarephath, where He would arrange for a...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Elijah's ministry and prediction of drought. Elijah fed. Raising of the widow's son. CHARACTERS: God, Elijah, Ahab, Sarephath woman, her son. CONCLUSION: God can wonderfully raise up serva...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    1 Kings 17:1. _Elijah the Tishbite._ His parentage is not named, but the Jews call him a levite or a priest. He swore to Ahab in the name, not of Baal, but of Jehovah. As the Lord had promised covenan...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    1 KINGS—NOTE ON 1 KINGS 17:1 Elijah and Ahab. Other prophets had addressed earlier kings (see 1 Kings 14:7;...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.— 1 Kings 17:9. ZAREPHATH, WHICH BELONGETH TO ZIDON—_Sarepta_, situate between Tyre and Sidon, in the native land of Jezebel. Yet this “widow” knew JEHOVAH (1 Kings 17:...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    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...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    By Chuck Smith Let's turn to the First Kings, chapter seventeen. The seventeenth chapter of First Kings introduces us now to a very interesting character, Elijah the Tishbite, whatever Tishbite means....

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 Kings 17:1; 1 Samuel 14:39; 1 Samuel 14:45; 1 Samuel 20:21; 1

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    JEHOVAH-JIREH _Selections from 1 Kings 17:1_ INTRODUCTORY WORDS Our God is the God who is enough. There is no good thing which He withholds from them who walk uprightly. Our God is able to make all...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    She said — Therefore though she was a Gentile, yet she owned the God of Israel as the true God. Two sticks — A few sticks, that number being often used indefinitely for any small number. And die — For...

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