1st Kings Chapter 17

From The Open Bible Project

17:1 Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the foreigners of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word."

• (a) That is, whom I serve.
• (b) But as I will declare it by God’s revelation.

17:2 The word of Yahweh came to him, saying,

17:3 "Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.

17:4 It shall be, that you shall drink of the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."

• (c) To strengthen his faith against persecution, God promises to feed him miraculously.

17:5 So he went and did according to the word of Yahweh; for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.

17:6 The ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.

17:7 It happened after a while, that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

17:8 The word of Yahweh came to him, saying,

• (d) As the troubles of the saints of God are many, so his mercy is always at hand to deliver them.

17:9 "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you."

17:10 So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks: and he called to her, and said, "Please get me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink."

• (e) All this was to strengthen the faith of Elijah, to the intent that he would look for nothing worldly, but only trust God’s providence.

17:11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, "Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand."

17:12 She said, "As Yahweh your God lives, I don't have a cake, but a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die."

• (f) For there is no hope of any more sustenance.

17:13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me of it a little cake first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son.

17:14 For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, 'The jar of meal shall not empty, neither shall the jar of oil fail, until the day that Yahweh sends rain on the earth.'"

• (g) God receives no benefit for the use of his own, but he promises an ample recompence for them.

17:15 She went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, ate [many] days.

• (h) That is, till he had rain and food on the earth.

17:16 The jar of meal didn't empty, neither did the jar of oil fail, according to the word of Yahweh, which he spoke by Elijah.

17:17 It happened after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.

• (i) God would test whether she had learned by his merciful providence to make him her only stay and comfort.

17:18 She said to Elijah, "What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!"

17:19 He said to her, "Give me your son." He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed.

17:20 He cried to Yahweh, and said, "Yahweh my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?"

• (k) He was afraid lest God’s name be blasphemed and his ministry contemned, unless he continued his mercies as he had begun them, especially while he remained there.

17:21 He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to Yahweh, and said, "Yahweh my God, please let this child's soul come into him again."

17:22 Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.

17:23 Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, "Behold, your son lives."

17:24 The woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of Yahweh in your mouth is truth."

• (l) It is hard to depend on God, unless we are confirmed by miracles.