1Elijah after foretelling a long drought is sent by God to the brook Cherith, and fed there by ravens. 8He is afterwards sent to a widow of Zarephath, and miraculously reneweth her barrel of meal and cruse of oil. 17The widow's son dieth, and is restored to life by Elijah's prayer: the woman believeth him to be sent from God.
1AND Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of 1Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, 2before whom I stand, 3therea shall not be dew nor rain 4these years, but 5according to my word.
1 A land situated beyond the Jordan. See Gen. 31 on verse 21. Some understand a part of that land, which was situated east-ward, which the Reubenites, Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh had taken from the Hagarites in Saul’s time, and thereafter had occupied it with new inhabitants from their own people, 1 Chron. 5:20, 21, 22, who from this new occupation got the name of Tishbites: for toschab with the Hebrews signifies an inhabitant.
2 That is, Whom I serve. See Deut. 10 on verse 8.
3 This is a manner of making an oath, of which see Gen. 14 on verse 23, and below verse 12.
a James 5:17.
4 Understand the ensuing years, three and a half in number, Luke 4:25; James 5:17.
5 That is, only then when I shall proclaim it, having received charge and command for it from the Lord; or as I shall by my prayer obtain dew and rain from the Lord.
2And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
3Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook 6Cherith, that is before Jordan.
6 This brook has its origin from mount Ephraim, and empties into the Jordan.
4And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have 7commanded the 8ravens to feed thee there.
7 That is, determined with Myself so to use them by My providential disposal, that they shall bring food unto thee. To command, signifies here to purpose, intend, upon which the execution follows. Also verse 9; Psalm 78:23; Isa. 5:6; Amos 9:3, 4.
8 Seeing God used the service of these creatures to feed the prophet, this makes His miracle to be so much the more admired; forasmuch as this fowl is so greedy, and so bent for its own self, that they forsake their own young ones, which would perish and die of hunger, if God did not in a wonderful manner feed and sustain them, Job 38:41; Psalm 147:9.
5So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
6And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
7And it came to pass 9after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
9 Hebr. from the end of days, that is, after the end of many days. Also Gen. 4:3; Num. 9:22. See the annotations there. Now these many days seem to have been six months, and that by comparing the first verse of the following 18th chapter, so that Elijah would have been six months by the brook Cherith, and three years with the widow of Zarephath.
8¶And the word of the LORD came unto 10him, saying,
10 Namely unto the prophet Elijah.
9Arise, get thee tob11Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have 12commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
b Luke 4:25, 26.
11 Otherwise called Sarepta, Luke 4:26. A city situated in the tribe of Asher, between Tyre and Zidon: of which see also Obadiah verse 20.
12 That is, determined to stir up and to utilize a widow woman to provide food for thee. Compare above the annotation on verse 4.
10So 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, 13Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
13 Hebr. take me, etc., that is, fetch some water, to give it me afterward. See Gen. 12 on verse 15. Also in the following verse: Hebr. take me a morsel, etc., that is, fetch it, or bring it to give me afterwards.
11And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
12And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a 14cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering 15two sticks, that I may go in and dressc it for me and my son, that we may eat it, 16and die.
14 The word signifies properly a loaf of bread or cake, baked under or upon the coals, and not in the oven. See Gen. 18 on verse 6. The meaning is: that she had no baked bread in her house to serve her need, even not so much as a little cake baked with coals on the hot hearth.
15 That is, some few sticks; and as we say, one or two.
c prepare for use*
16 As if she had said: When this shall be eaten up, we have no more in store, so that we have nothing else to expect, but to die of hunger.
13And 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.
14For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, 17The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.
17 Hebr. the pitcher of meal, etc., and the bottle of oil, etc. The meaning is: that this would surely come to pass, if the woman believed the promise of God, and did what was here commanded her.
15And she went 18and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her 19house, did eat many 20days.
18 The obedience of this work proceeded out of the sure assent of her faith, whereby she embraced the foresaid promise.
19 That is, household. See Gen. 7 on verse 1.
20 Some think for the time of three years. Compare the annotation on verse 7; 1 Kings 18 on verse 1.
16And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake 21by Elijah.
21 Hebr. by the hand of.
17¶And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, 22that there was no breath left in him.
22 That is, until he had given up the ghost, and was dead indeed. For the Hebrew nesama is often taken for the soul or spirit of a man, which is distinguished from the body, and by death departs out of it, as Gen. 2:7; Job 27:3, etc.
18And she said unto Elijah, 23What have I to do with thee, 24O thou man of God? 25art thou come unto me to call my sin 26to remembrance, and to slay my son?
23 Hebr. what is me and thee? See of this phrase, 2 Sam. 16 on verse 10. As if she had said: I have willingly entertained thee in my house, expecting by means of thee God’s blessing, but now, by the decease of my son, I perceive that God’s judgment is fallen upon me, because thou hast perhaps discerned some failings in me, and hast prayed unto God against me. If it be so, I have entertained thee to mine own hurt.
24 See 1 Kings 13 on verse 1.
25 Other, thou art come unto me, etc.; but these words are for the most part translated by way of a question.
26 Namely, with the Lord, and consequently to provoke Him to anger against me?
19And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft,d where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.
d upper story
20And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, 27hast thou 28also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?
27 He speaks thus, not to reprove God for visiting this widow, but to lament that he feared that hence God’s name might come to be blasphemed, and His worship despised, because he had promised that God’s blessing would light upon this house.
28 Namely, as well as many others who perish through hunger and thirst.
21And he 29stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul 30come into 31him again.
29 Hebr. he measured himself. See similar examples, 2 Kings 4:34; Acts 20:10.
30 An excellent proof, showing that the soul of man is a distinct being from the body, departing out of it by death, and returning into it again by the resurrection. See Gen. 35 on verse 18.
31 Hebr. into his middle or inner, inmost part, also in the following verse. Other, into his body.
22And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came 32into him again, and he revived.
32 Hebr. into his inmost part.
23And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.
24¶And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.