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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Kings 17:8 - 17:16
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Elijah in Zarephath
v. 8. And the word of the Lord came unto him, when the brook no longer furnished him water to drink, saying,
v. 9. Arise, get thee to Zarephath, in the Phoenician country, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee, He had made provisions to take further care of His prophet, and would in due time influence her heart to do His bidding.
v. 10. So he, Elijah, arose, and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks, Elijah recognizing her as a widow either by her clothes or by the fact that she was engaged in this lowly task. And he called to her, to find out whether she were the woman of whom the Lord had spoken, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel that I may drink, the vessel being his own drinking-cup, which he had carried with him from the land of Israel.
v. 11. And as she, readily complying with his request, was going to fetch it, he called to her and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand, the smallest-sized loaf, in the form of a cake or bun, being understood, as such were baked in hot ashes.
v. 12. 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 understood Elijah to have reference to, but an handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse, the oil being mixed with the flour in baking; and, behold, I am gathering two, that is, a few, sticks that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, bake a last batch, that we may eat it and die, for she saw starvation staring her in the face.
v. 13. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said; but make me thereof a little cake first and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. To the word of comfort was added a demand, which must have been a sore test for the woman's faith.
v. 14. For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, not be consumed, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth, whose fruitfulness would thereby be restored and the famine broken.
v. 15. And she, with a faith which would scarcely hare been found in Israel, went and did according to the saying of Elijah. And she and he and her house, including not only her son, but such other relatives as partook of her bounty, did eat many days, a long while.
v. 16. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord which He spake by Elijah, and with which He had reassured her. The story of this widow is used by Christ Luk_4:25, in order to warn all men against despising His Word. God is not mocked; when men reject His message of salvation, they have but themselves to blame if they are overlooked in the distribution of spiritual blessings.