And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As Jehovah the God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except by my word.
Elijah steps into the story with no introduction — no father named, no call described. His first recorded sentence shuts the sky over a whole nation. Two questions follow: why did God act so severely, and where did one man find such boldness?
The verse lands at the end of a long slide. Look at the kings before Ahab.
Fifty-eight years had passed since the kingdom was torn in two at the death of King Solomon. During this period seven kings had reigned, all, without exception, wicked men. ...Ahab, son of Omri, did worse than his father: he married the vile and idolatrous Jezebel and became the leader in turning the nation from God. In his day all trace of the public worship of the LORD vanished from the land. Idolatry was everywhere... To all appearances Baal lived and the LORD had ceased to exist.
The drought is judgment. The man who announces it is mercy.
The LORD could no longer hold back. He could not allow the tide of evil to rise any higher. So He sent out from His quiver a polished arrow to pierce the conscience of Israel. He hoped to bring them back to their place of happy loyalty to Himself. This arrow was none other than Elijah the Tishbite. He was the bold and uncompromising witness for God who stood in the gap. Everyone else seemed to have fled the field of conflict, unable to stem the overwhelming flood.
Elijah arrives with no title and no backing. Commentators find a principle in the silence.
Nothing is said of him except that he was a Tishbite of Gilead. The history does not say who he was. It does not say how a man with no official authority — no standing — could push his way into the king's presence and make such a dreadful announcement. But there is a great underlying principle: when the official representation of God is false, God's Spirit will raise up a witness from outside.
The nation had replaced the LORD with idols. Elijah still calls Him the God of Israel.
Ahab and his people might refuse the God of their fathers and choose their own idols; but for faith, and so for Elijah, the LORD was still the God of Israel. But there is more: "As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives." Dead idols had taken His place. Ahab and Israel were acting as if the LORD were like the gods they had made for themselves. In contrast to this, He was for Elijah the living God.
Elijah's name declares whose he is. His words then say where he stands.
His name is characteristic: Elijah means "Whose God is the LORD." His God is the one Israel had abandoned... He enjoys a relationship with God and lives in communion with Him. Like Elijah, Abraham "still stood before the LORD" (Gen. 18:22)... When you stand before God, you receive His thoughts. "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?" says the LORD. It is the same for Elijah: standing before the Lord, he knows His thoughts and can declare them... When he says, "except by my word," it is because his word is the Lord's word which had been revealed to him.
Elijah did not invent this penalty. It already stood in God's Word, and he prayed on the strength of it.
He loved the people. He longed to see them right with God. But the worst evils had taken such deep root that he felt only something drastic would bring the people to their senses. So he turned to prayer. Acceptable prayer must be based on the Word of God. The prophet no doubt remembered Deut. 11:16-17: "Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain."
A man tying heaven's rainfall to his own speech sounds outrageous. Commentators read it as the opposite of arrogance.
It was in secret that he sought God's presence and wrestled in prayer until the Lord sent him out with the message of judgment. Prayer, persevering prayer, is the one great need in days of decline and departure from God. It is the one resource of God's faithful ones... When Elijah told Ahab "except by my word," he was not being presumptuous. He stood in the LORD's own presence as His mouthpiece, so he had a perfect right to speak with divine authority.
- Ruin. Seven wicked kings, then Ahab and Jezebel. Public worship of God vanished, and to all appearances Baal lived and the LORD did not.
- Mercy. The prophet comes before the drought. God pierces the conscience before He shuts the sky.
- Prayer. The public announcement grew out of secret prayer, resting on a warning already written in Scripture (Deut. 11:16-17).
- Standing. "Before whom I stand" tells us the source. Whoever stands before God learns His thoughts and can declare them.
- Word. As God's mouthpiece, Elijah could say "except by my word" — authority, not presumption.
And the word of Jehovah came to him saying,
This word comes right after Elijah's bold announcement to Ahab, and it sends him out of sight. Why does God hide a servant He has just used in front of the nation? What is a hidden man meant to learn?
The same voice that sent Elijah to the king now speaks to him again. This phrase has a history in Scripture, and one plain consequence.
We first meet the phrase "the word of the Lord" in Genesis 15, and there it occurs twice. Abram was being addressed. But whenever God is pleased to speak, He expects to be obeyed.
Elijah had no power of his own. What he had was a word, and the readiness to act on it.
We see already then that Elijah had no power, but had faith in God and knew that all blessing is in obedience. From the moment the word reached him, he submitted to it and went to the brook Cherith, where he learnt to depend on God.
The timing is striking. His errand finished, God pulls him straight out of sight.
As soon as Elijah's work was done for the moment, God at once withdrew him from public notice… The servant has no importance in himself. He must matter to others only as the representative of his Master… Happy is the servant who understands his place. He seeks nothing for himself. He always tries to hide behind the One who sends him, and never seeks notice or favour on his own account.
Elijah had just stood in the highest visibility a man could have in Israel. The order to hide is read as God's care for the man himself.
Elijah had taken a very prominent place in front of Israel… Yet the faithful One he served saw it necessary to take him away into privacy again. He was to hold not only a high place before his brothers, but also a low place before God. All this is full of teaching for us. We must be kept low. Flesh must be crushed. Our time of training in secret must far exceed our time of acting in public.
The destination is no accident. Its name and its location both carry weight.
The Lord tells him to hide by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan. You know what "Jordan" means — the great river that pictures death. And "Cherith" means "cutting off." The Lord brings him to that significant place, and there makes him drink of the brook, sustained by the ravens, which feed him there.
Being set aside costs something. The man who shut the heavens now waits for birds to feed him.
Being set aside is painful beyond measure to the flesh, which loses everything that feeds it. But it is easy for faith, for faith finds its happiness in obedience. The great prophet must hide himself. This energetic man must fold his hands and wait alone for the Lord's time. The man who had power to shut up the heavens must now depend in a unique way on the Creator, who sends out birds to feed His servant… A painful situation for the flesh, as we said, but a blessed school for dependence! While all Israel was perishing of thirst and hunger, he could say, "I lack nothing."
Elijah is not lifted out of the famine he announced. He passes through it in dependence on God.
He is not to be outside the afflictions and judgments God brings on His people. But through dependence on God he is to be above them… If God has answered his prayer in a striking way, he must learn that for that very reason he must live more in dependence than ever… Very often when God graciously answers our requests, we keep the place of dependence less carefully. Yet the very benefit we gained from it should make us more careful.
Elijah heard words no one could misread. We hear nothing so direct, so where does guidance come from now?
None of us need expect God to speak to us in the same way as He spoke to Elijah… God speaks to us now in the written Word. We are privileged to hold in our hands the complete revelation of God. We also have the Holy Spirit living in us, and He delights to guide willing minds into all truth… But we must be at home in the book of God, or we shall be at a serious disadvantage in the hour of need.
- Word first. Elijah's course moves on a word from God, not on his own strength. His obedience starts the moment the word reaches him.
- Word withdraws. Message delivered, God hides the messenger — a servant matters only as the one who represents his Master.
- Word cuts off. Cherith means "cutting off," and it sits by the Jordan, the river that pictures death.
- Word sustains. Cut off from every visible supply, ravens feed the man who shut the heavens, and he can say he lacks nothing.
- Word governs us. We are not promised audible orders; God now speaks in the written Word, so we must be at home in it before the hour of need.
Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the torrent Cherith, which is before the Jordan.
Elijah has just told King Ahab that no dew or rain would fall except at his word. God's next word sends him east, out of sight, to hide by a brook — so why withdraw a servant the moment his public work is done?
Every move Elijah makes starts with a word from God, and he obeys at once.
It is said to him, "Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan." Then in verse 5 we read that he obeyed this command. We see then that Elijah had no power, but had faith in God and knew that all blessing is in obedience. From the moment the word came to him, he submitted to it. He went to the brook Cherith, where he learned to depend on God.
The same man who is told to hide here is later told to show himself. One writer sets the two commands side by side and draws out what makes obedience possible at all:
"Go, show yourself to Ahab" (v. 1). Previously it had been, "Hide yourself by the torrent Cherith." Elijah obeys without arguing. His obedience stems from implicit confidence in God, His authority, His power, and His goodness. Every disobedient act of a Christian demonstrates a lack of appreciation of what God is.
Announcing a drought to a hostile king put Elijah in danger. But fear is not why he leaves.
The word of Jehovah, then, tells him to flee. He had been bold in telling the king — the guilty king. But now his testimony had been given. The terrible calamity of years without dew or rain, felt above all in the east, was about to fall on the people. It would also be tied in some measure to the prophet, and not to God only. That would have at once exposed him to the anger of a wicked people and their king. So God tells His servant to flee and hide himself by the brook Cherith — not as a mere human resource, still less out of fear, but according to the word of Jehovah.
Elijah finishes his mission and drops out of public view at once. One writer draws from this the true place of a servant.
As soon as Elijah's work was, for the moment, done, God at once withdraws him from public notice... The servant has no importance in himself, nor must he have any in the eyes of others, except so far as he is the representative of his Master... Happy is the servant who understands his place in this way. He seeks nothing for himself. He tries at all times to hide himself behind the One who sends him, and he never courts notice or favour on his own account.
For a man of energy, being set aside is harder than being sent out.
To be set aside is a situation infinitely painful to the flesh, which is stripped of all that feeds it. But it is easy for faith, because faith finds its happiness in obedience. The great prophet must hide himself. This energetic man must fold his hands and wait alone for the Lord's time. The man who had the power to shut up the heavens must depend in a unique way upon the Creator... A painful situation for the flesh, we have said, but a blessed school for dependence!
The brook and the birds were real provision, but they were never meant to become the object of Elijah's trust.
Is he to exercise faith in the living God before Israel? Then he must first learn to live by faith from day to day in secret before God. God provides the brook and the ravens to meet His servant's needs. But Elijah's confidence must be in the unseen and living God, not in the things he can see — not in brooks and ravens. "I have commanded," said the Lord, and faith rests in the word of the Lord.
One writer finds meaning in the two names themselves.
He is told to turn eastward and hide himself by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan. You know what "Jordan" means — the great river that pictures death. And "Cherith" means "cutting off." The Lord brings him to that meaningful place. There He makes him drink from the brook, and the ravens feed him.
Elijah heard commands he could not misread. We should not expect the same, and one writer shows where God directs us now.
None of us need expect God to speak to us in the same way as He spoke to Elijah. Words like "Hide yourself by the brook Cherith," "Go to Zarephath," and "Show yourself to Ahab" could not be misunderstood. God speaks to us now in the written Word... The Scriptures are so full and complete that there is something in them to suit every circumstance any believer may face at any time.
- Word first. Elijah moves only when God speaks, and he moves at once — all blessing lies in obedience.
- Word hides. The same voice that sent him to Ahab now takes him out of sight; the servant counts for nothing apart from the One who sends him.
- Word cuts off. Cherith means "cutting off," beside the river that pictures death — a place stripped of every natural support.
- Word feeds. Faith rests not on brook or ravens but on "I have commanded"; secret dependence is what makes public faith possible.
- Word sends again. The hiding was a school, not a shelf. The same word that trained Elijah now reaches us in Scripture, suited to every circumstance.
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the torrent; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
reason: unsupported detail (east of Jordan, "through Elijah's word"); split hard sentences
Elijah's supply looked fragile. One writer shows where the prophet's confidence actually rested.
The Lord would take care of His dear servant while he was hidden from public view. He would meet his needs, even if it was through ravens. What a strange provision! What a constant exercise of faith! He was called to watch each day for the visits of birds that would naturally want to devour the prophet's meal. But was it on the ravens that Elijah lived? Surely not. His soul rested in the precious words, "I have commanded." It was God, and not the ravens, for him.
The choice of bird is the point of the miracle. Ravens eat dead flesh and hoard what they find.
The law of Israel called "every raven of any kind" unclean (Lev. 11:15; Deut. 14:14). Ravens are meat eaters. That they brought Elijah flesh as well as bread shows God's miraculous power. He caused them to feed His servant. 1 Kings 17:4, 6. They are greedy eaters, and have no storehouse or barn, yet God feeds them, and will surely feed those who trust in Him. Job 38:41; Ps. 147:9; Prov. 30:17; Song 5:11; Isa. 34:11; Luke 12:24.
God had a reason for not using an ordinary household. The arrangement also taught Elijah a lesson.
Israel was in no condition to care for a prophet of God, and God used the unclean birds for this. Ravens, as their name suggests, are ravenous. So it was a miracle of God that they brought food to the prophet, both in the morning and the evening. So Elijah learned literally not to worry about his life as to what he would eat and drink (Matt. 6:25).
The promise is tied to a location. Feed you there — at the brook God named, and nowhere else.
The path of obedience is the path of sufficiency. The disciples were without food in John 21:5 because they were acting in self-will. They should have waited in Galilee until the Lord came to them, as He had appointed (Matt. 26:32). Instead Peter said, "I am going fishing," and his companions answered, "We will go with you." A whole night of work yielded nothing but disappointment. The Lord's word to Elijah about Cherith was, "I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." Elijah did not choose his own hiding place. The Lord chose for him, and there his need was met.
God now sends Elijah out of sight. The hiding place has a purpose in his training.
There was probably a twofold purpose in sending Elijah to hide himself by the brook Cherith. The first was that he might grasp that all strength for service comes from being alone with God… Second, he was to learn his complete dependence on his Master. By the brook Cherith he was cut off from all visible sources of natural support. By feeding him through the ravens, the Lord God of Israel would teach him that He Himself was enough for him in all circumstances. But, as always, the Lord taught His servant step by step, as he was able to bear it. At the beginning there was water in the brook. Then "the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land." Now the Lord would test Elijah harder still.
Elijah drinks from a brook in a land under God's judgment. God does not place him outside the trouble falling on Israel.
He is not to be outside the afflictions and judgments God brings on His people. But through dependence on God he is to be above them. So it is with every true servant; so it was with Elijah. For the wilful, this period is nothing but affliction. For the man of faith, it becomes an especially profitable season. Has God answered his prayer in a striking way? Then for that very reason he must learn to live in dependence more than ever.
- Command. The strength of the verse is not the brook or the birds. It is the two words "I have commanded." Elijah lived on God's word, not on his supply line.
- Carriers. God used greedy, unclean birds, so no one could call the meals a natural event. Birds with no storehouse became Elijah's storehouse.
- Place. The promise is tied to one word: "there." God feeds His servant where He sends him. Ground we choose ourselves leaves us to feed ourselves.
- Concealment. God cut Elijah off from every visible support. In secret he learned that God alone was enough.
- Course. The drought still touched him. Faith did not lift him out of his people's trouble. It kept him above it, in daily dependence.
And he went and did according to the word of Jehovah; he went and abode by the torrent Cherith, which is before the Jordan.
Elijah had just told Ahab that the rain would stop. God's next word to him was not "stand your ground" but "hide." Verse 5 records his answer in the plainest terms — he went, and he stayed. So why did God hide a prophet of such public power in a ravine? And how did he live once he got there?
The verse records no speech from Elijah, only movement. His going matched the telling, point for point:
Unquestioning obedience to the word of the Lord is the only path of blessing. And Elijah took this path, for we read, "So he went and did according to the word of the LORD." He went where the Lord told him to go, he did what the Lord told him to do.
This is the man who had just shut up the sky. Yet the power was never his own:
We see already then that Elijah had no power, but had faith in God and knew that all blessing is in obedience. And from the moment the word came to him, he submitted to it and went to the brook Cherith, where he learnt to depend on God.
The place names carry their own message:
He is told to turn east and hide by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan. You know what "Jordan" pictures — the great river of death. And "Cherith" means "cutting off." The Lord brings him to that meaningful place, and there gives him the brook to drink from and the ravens to feed him.
Hiding him also removed a temptation:
He was not to stay and boast that his prophecy came true. God knows how to teach the messenger that the messenger is not important, but his message is.
Ravens make unlikely caterers. Giving up food is against everything in them.
The raven is the last bird on earth to give up a nice piece of meat, but "I have commanded" lets us into the secret of this remarkable service by birds. God was there. That is the whole point.
Elijah accepted the delivery without confusing it with the provider:
God used the ravens to minister to Elijah, but Elijah did not use them to exclude God. If the heart is really trusting in God, it will not worry about His means. It waits on Him, in the sweet assurance that by whatever means He pleases, He will bless, He will minister, He will provide.
Being set aside costs one thing and teaches another:
To be set aside is a situation infinitely painful to the flesh, which is robbed of all that feeds it. But it is easy for faith, because faith finds its happiness in obedience... The man who had the power to shut up the heavens must depend in a unique way on the Creator. God sends out birds to feed His servant. He makes the water of the brook last exactly as long as He wants to keep His prophet at Cherith. A painful situation for the flesh, we have said, but a blessed school for dependence! Elijah enjoys its fruits. While all Israel was perishing of thirst and hunger, he could say, "I lack nothing."
Commentators name two purposes in the hiding:
There were probably two purposes in sending Elijah to hide by the brook Cherith. The first was that he might grasp that the source of all strength for service lay in his being alone with God. The times were difficult, and his demanding service among a people who had turned away from God would take immense spiritual energy. So he had to deal with God in the secret of his own soul. There he would learn what he himself was, and then what God was, with all His boundless resources for those who trusted in Him. Secondly, he was to learn his complete dependence on his Master.
The drought Elijah announced fell on Elijah too:
He is not to be outside the afflictions and judgments God brings on His people. But through dependence on God, he is to be above them... The time that brings nothing but affliction to those who go their own way becomes an unusually profitable season to the man of faith... It is faith in God that sets His servant above the afflictions of God's people, and not some special set of circumstances kept just for him.
- Obeyed — Elijah had no power of his own. He went where God sent him and did what God said, and blessing lay on that path.
- Hidden — Cherith means "cutting off." God cut His servant off from public view, so that the message, not the messenger, would stand.
- Commanded — ravens are the least likely birds to hand over food. The secret of the miracle lies in two words: "I have commanded."
- Dependent — God stripped him of every visible supply. In that hard school Elijah learned that God Himself was enough. While Israel starved, he lacked nothing.
- Above it — faith does not lift the servant out of what God sends on His people. It carries him through, and turns a season of judgment into a season of profit.
And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the torrent.
Elijah has just announced a drought to Ahab, and God tells him to hide by the brook Cherith. Why would God feed His prophet by ravens, and what was Elijah living on?
The raven's name and its habits both work against the idea of it carrying food to anyone. One reference work explains both:
The word oreb comes from a root meaning "to be black." It seems to cover not only the common raven but birds of the same family, like the crow and the rook, since the law counts every kind of raven as unclean. The meat-eating ravens brought meat as well as bread to Elijah. That shows God's miraculous power; He caused them to feed His servant. They are greedy eaters, and have no storehouse or barn, yet God feeds them, and He will surely feed those who trust in Him.
No human hand fed him. One writer ties that to the state of the nation and to a lesson God was teaching His servant:
He was not to remain and boast that his prophecy came true. God knows how to teach the messenger this: the messenger is not important, but his message is… Israel was in no condition to care for a prophet of God, so God used the unclean birds instead. Ravens, as their name suggests, are ravenous. It was a miracle of God that they brought food to the prophet, both in the morning and the evening. So Elijah learned in a literal way not to worry about his life, about what to eat and drink (Matthew 6:25).
Elijah had to watch each day for birds that would rather eat his dinner than deliver it. One writer asks where the prophet's confidence rested:
The Lord would take care of His dear servant while he stayed hidden from public view. He would meet his needs, even if it was through ravens. What a strange provision! He was told to watch each day for the visits of birds that by nature would want to eat the prophet's meal. What a constant exercise of faith that was! But was it on the ravens that Elijah lived? Surely not. His soul rested in the precious words, "I have commanded." It was God, and not the ravens, for him.
God's promise had an address attached to it. The supply belonged to the place God picked, not to any place Elijah might prefer:
The path of obedience is the path of sufficiency… The Lord's word to Elijah about Cherith was, "I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." God did not leave him to choose his own hiding place. The Lord chose it for him, and there He met his need. If we are sure we are where the Lord wants us, we need have no fear.
The verse repeats itself, morning and evening. Nothing was left over for tomorrow:
All the way through, Elijah has to learn the lesson of dependence. Dependence, of course, is nothing else than faith. The Lord puts His servant where faith will be a constant necessity… Faith grows by exercise. God arranges for it, in Elijah's case, constant exercise. He has no stock of his own, we may say, ever to live on. The ravens bring him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening. The next day, and the next, it is the same thing again.
Elijah's whole supply — the birds and the brook — was out of his hands. He had nothing left to do but wait:
The great prophet must hide himself. This energetic man must fold his hands and wait in solitude for the Lord's time. The one who had power to shut up the heavens must now depend in a unique way on the Creator. God sends out birds to feed His servant, and He makes the water of the brook last just as long as He wishes to keep His prophet at Cherith. A painful situation for the flesh, we have said, but a blessed school for dependence! Elijah enjoys its fruits. While all Israel was perishing of thirst and hunger, he could say, "I lack nothing."
- Command. Elijah lived on God's word, "I have commanded" — not on the birds he watched for.
- Creature. God sent greedy, unclean birds that eat meat to carry bread and meat. The stranger the courier, the plainer the miracle.
- Place. God promised the supply there. The obedient place is the supplied place; the path of obedience is the path of sufficiency.
- Rhythm. Morning and evening, nothing was stored. God arranged constant need so faith would get constant exercise.
- Sufficiency. Elijah was hidden and idle while a nation starved. Still he could say, "I lack nothing."
And it came to pass after a while that the torrent dried up, for there had been no rain in the land.
Elijah had obeyed God. He went to the hiding place God named and drank from the water God provided — and then that water ran out. So what does it mean when God Himself takes away the supply He gave?
The difficulty is not that Elijah wandered off course.
of God's appointment; he was obeying the word of the Lord — and yet the brook dried up.
So why did God let the stream fail?
Faith must be put to the test. The man of faith cannot be left to settle down undisturbed; he must be poured from vessel to vessel... So the prophet's soul had to be tried, to show whether he was depending on Cherith or on the Lord God of Israel. That is why, "after a while the brook dried up."
The same test drew a line between God's gifts and God Himself.
Had not Elijah boldly said before the king that he stood before the living God? Now he faces the drying brook, and it tests whether that faith is real. Will it stand firm when earthly streams run dry? If God lives, what does it matter if the brook dries? God is greater than all the mercies He gives. Mercies may be withdrawn, but God remains... That the Giver is greater than His gifts is the deep lesson of the brook that dried up.
The drought that emptied the brook came in answer to Elijah's own prayer. He was not spared from it.
Elijah was not praying for something that would bring pleasant consequences for himself. He shared in the miseries of the long drought and suffered along with the people. God did make special provision that kept him from starving... He hated Israel's terrible turning away to Baal. His heart burned for the glory of the Lord's name, and he felt the time had come for God to act in the judgment He had specified... The rod of correction was better than utter ruin. So he prayed for the stroke of chastisement, even though it would fall on his own back along with everyone else.
The water did not vanish on day one; the lesson came in stages.
As always, the Lord taught His servant by degrees — as he was able to bear it. At the beginning there was water in the brook. Then "after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land." The Lord will now test Elijah harder... We note only this: the more we learn that this world is a dry and thirsty land where there is no water, the more fully we know the all-sufficiency of God.
The dried brook moved Elijah on. Commentators see in that move a picture of grace reaching beyond Israel.
So after a season the brook dries up, but not before God had another purpose in hand. He sends him now to a place outside the land, to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon. Our Lord Himself teaches us how important this is. In Luke 4 the Saviour picks out this very fact... as the witness of grace to the Gentile, when the Jew had counted himself unworthy of the government of the Lord. Grace must work somewhere if the chosen people cast it out and will have none of it. God will not let that brook of grace dry up. Its waters will only flow in fuller volume to refresh weary souls elsewhere.
The pattern repeats in ordinary lives.
We all like to have some earthly resource to draw on. Yet a Father who knows we need these things often brings us to face the brook that dries up. It crosses our path in different forms. Maybe through the loss of someone we love, or a breakdown in health, or the sudden failure of some source of supply, we find ourselves beside the brook that has dried up... The very trial we shall then find to be the means God is using to unfold to us the vast resources of His heart of love.
- Right place. A dried brook is not proof of a wrong turn. Elijah was where God sent him, drinking what God gave, when the supply failed.
- Right test. God removed the gift to reveal what the prophet leaned on — Cherith, or the Lord God of Israel who made it flow.
- Right cost. Elijah had prayed for the drought, and he took the blow of correction on his own back along with everyone else.
- Right pace. The Lord taught him by degrees: first water in the brook, then none. God's all-sufficiency grew clearer as the land grew drier.
- Right destination. Cherith failed so Zarephath, outside Israel, could open. The waters do not stop; they flow in fuller volume elsewhere.
And the word of Jehovah came to him saying,
The brook at Cherith, where God had hidden Elijah, has dried up. What comes next is not the prophet's own plan but a fresh word from God. It sends him out of Israel — to Sidon, to a widow who has nothing.
Elijah's supply changed, but the ground of his confidence did not.
Elijah's faith must still rest on the same unchanging basis. "I have commanded." How truly blessed this is! Circumstances change. Human things fail. The streams of creation dry up. But God and His Word are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Nor does the prophet seem to have been disturbed in the least by this fresh order from on high.
Elijah answered this word as he had answered the last one — he went. That says more about his power than his public victories do.
An unfailing mark of a true servant is obedience. When God told Elijah to hide by the brook Cherith, "he went and did according to the word of the LORD." Now, told to go to Zarephath, "he arose and went to Zarephath." … If asked to name the greatest display of power in Elijah's service, many would point to the scene on Mount Carmel. … But true spiritual power is silent and constant, and obedience to the will of God shows it far more clearly to the spiritual eye.
God did not send him somewhere safe. He sent him out of Israel, into the land whose worship had ruined Israel.
He is to leave the promised land and go to a city of the Gentiles. And of all cities, one that belonged to Sidon — the home of Baal, whose worship had brought ruin on the land. It was the home, too, of the wicked Jezebel, who had brought in the worship of Baal and murdered the prophets of the Lord. … And stranger still: once he arrived in that foreign land, the great prophet had to depend on a widow for his daily food. … Had the Lord commanded the prophet to sustain the widow we might think it more fitting. But no, God's plan is that the widow is to sustain the prophet.
The word that came to Elijah had two ends in view. Here the widow feeds Elijah; in Luke's Gospel he is sent to feed her.
When the brook had dried up, Elijah was sent to Zarephath to be sustained there by a widow (v. 9). In Luke 4:25-26 he is sent to the widow to sustain her. Both of these are true, and our account proves it. God had a double purpose: to sustain His servant, and to bring a message of grace to the widow through him. … The evangelist finds his own sustenance in bringing the good news of grace to others. … It is the same word, whether it comes straight to the prophet or whether it reaches people through him. So it is today with the gospel.
The choice of the poorest possible host was itself part of Elijah's training. It also follows a pattern that runs right through Scripture.
Everywhere in the Scriptures we learn the same thing. When God's people fall away and refuse His testimony, He turns, as it were, to those outside. There He displays the sovereignty of His grace. … A widow in Scripture stands for someone desolate and without resources. Elijah had to go to such a person for support. In this way he would learn the lesson himself, and be ready for his future work: when all created streams are dried up, the fullness of God remains unchanged.
Even the name of the town he was sent to carries a lesson.
Now Zarephath means the place of the smelting furnace. The prophet has passed the test of the failing brook at Cherith; he must now face the furnace of trial at Zarephath. But this is God's road to Carmel. Is he to call down fire from heaven? Then he must indeed pass through the fire on earth.
- Word. When the brook failed, the word came. Supplies change; God and His Word do not, and Elijah's faith rested on "I have commanded," not on Cherith.
- Obedience. He arose and went. Quiet obedience to that word is a truer display of spiritual power than the fire on Carmel.
- Furnace. Zarephath means the place of the smelting furnace. The road to calling down fire from heaven ran through fire on earth.
- Grace. The word sent him out of Israel into Sidon — Baal's home, and Jezebel's. God turns to those outside when His own people refuse His testimony.
- Supply. The double purpose held: the widow sustained the prophet, and the prophet carried grace to her. Once every created stream is dry, the fullness of God remains unchanged.
Arise, go to Zarephath, which is by Zidon, and abide there behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to maintain thee.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the entrance of the city, behold, a widow woman was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
Elijah goes to Zarephath on nothing but a word he has been given. What he finds there matches the word in no visible way, and one writer draws out how little the scene offered him.
This was the scene that met the prophet's eye when he arrived at the place God had appointed. It was a gloomy and depressing sight to flesh and blood. But Elijah did not consult flesh and blood. The unchanging Word of the Lord held up his spirit. His confidence rested on the faithfulness of God, and he needed no help from the things around him. The horizon might look dark and heavy to human sight, but the eye of faith could see through the clouds.
The sending itself was already a test for the prophet, before he ever reached the city gate.
A widow in Scripture stands for someone who is desolate and without resources, and it was to such a person that Elijah had to go for support. He had to learn the lesson for himself, to fit him for his later work: that when all created streams are dried up, the fullness of God stays unchanged.
Elijah could have judged by her rags and looked for a better-off host. His first request is also strikingly small — water, not bread.
When faith is simple — and it is always simple when it comes only from the Word of God — we find the right thing in the right place. He might have passed by the widow who was to support him, because she was poor, and looked for someone better off. But he kept his eye on God, and her extreme poverty did not put him off, for faith always finds confirmation in its own activity. A soul led by God always feels its way. It does not doubt its way, but at first it asks only for the least; The answer it gets then encourages it to press on to its full requirement.
Israel had its own starving widows. God sent His prophet to the land that gave Israel Baal worship and Jezebel.
He is to leave the promised land and go to a city of the Gentiles — and of all cities, one that belonged to Zidon. Zidon was the home of Baal, whose worship had ruined the land. It was also the home of wicked Jezebel, who brought in Baal worship and murdered the prophets of the Lord. Stranger still, in that foreign land the great prophet was to depend on a widow woman for his daily food. … There were "many widows" in Israel in as sad a state, but they will not suit God's plan. As always, God has Christ in view. A thousand years later, in the city of Nazareth, the Lord would need an illustration of sovereign grace. So Elijah must go to a needy widow in the guilty land of Zidon.
This errand runs in two directions at once.
When the brook had dried up, Elijah was sent to Zarephath to be sustained there by a widow woman (v. 9). In Luke 4:25-26 he is sent to the widow to sustain her. God had a double purpose: to sustain His servant, and to bring a message of grace to the widow through him. … The evangelist finds his own support in bringing the good news of grace to others.
The stick-gathering is not thrift; it is the end of everything. Her own words later expose how thin her hold on God was.
At the city gate the prophet comes face to face with the widow. To natural sight and human reason it seems impossible that this can be the widow who is to sustain him. In complete poverty, this desolate and starving woman has come to the end of her resources. … The widow does speak of the living God, but He is Elijah's God, for she says "your God," not "my God." She had no personal faith in the living God. Her hopes hung on the barrel of meal and the cruse of oil, and as they run out there is nothing ahead of her but the gates of death. God, however, has another way for the widow than death. … Zarephath means the place of the smelting furnace. Elijah passed the test of the failing brook at Cherith; now he must face the furnace of trial at Zarephath.
She left home that morning for sticks and nothing more.
She had gone out of the city with no object higher or happier than the "two sticks," but she found the Lord, as it were, at the gate. There she met His prophet, and there she heard His word. How many believers are like her that day, full of their own thoughts and fears! In what they have and what they seek, self is their motive. So they rise no higher and see no further than the couple of sticks. They have not yet met the Lord at the gate. In other words, they have not yet received their commission, the service He has assigned to them here.
- Word first. Elijah moved on a command, not on evidence. The scene at Zarephath gave his senses nothing. His confidence rested on God's faithfulness alone.
- Word finds. Simple faith found the right person in the right place. Her poverty did not stop Elijah, and he asked at first only for a little water.
- Word reaches. God sent him past Israel's own widows into Zidon, the home of Baal and Jezebel. The errand fed the servant and carried grace to the woman.
- Word exposes. The widow at the gate was down to her last resources and had no faith of her own; she spoke of Elijah's God, not hers.
- Word commissions. She went out for two sticks and a last meal. She met God's messenger at the gate, and got a life and a service instead.
And she went to fetch [it], and he called to her and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand.
God sent Elijah to a foreign town, to a widow who would feed him. He finds her at the gate, gathering sticks for what she expects to be her last meal. He asks her for water. Then, while she is already on her way, he calls after her for bread. Why would a prophet press a starving woman like this?
Elijah did not size up the widow before speaking. God had told him she would feed him, and he acted on that alone. So the second request was not thoughtless. It was a probe, and it drew the truth out.
When he arrived at Zarephath, he met the poor widow who was to be his hostess straight away. There she was, by the gate of the city, gathering sticks. Elijah's faith saw no difficulty in her appearance, or in her obvious poverty. He knew God had told her to sustain him. So, resting on the sure word of the Lord, he asked her to fetch him a little water in a vessel to drink. As she was going to fetch the water, he added another request: "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." This second request drew out the condition this poor widow was in. She hid nothing.
One writer hears an echo of the Gospels in how Elijah asks. He also finds something surprising in her reply: a woman outside Israel names Israel's God, while Israel was turning away from Him.
When Elijah found himself face to face with the widow of whom the Lord had told him, he asked her for a drink of water, much in the same way as the Lord Jesus asked a drink from the woman of Samaria. As the widow turned to fetch it, he said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." … Notice that she brought in the name of the Lord. This is wonderful! The foolish people of Israel were turning their backs on the one true God, preferring the false gods of the Zidonians. Yet here is a woman who, despite the ungodly influences around her, believed that Israel's God was the true God.
The two small requests did not create her poverty. They uncovered it. That uncovering is necessary, not cruel. God gives nothing until the truth is out.
Yet how humbling to pride, to be kept alive by a widow! How the distressing circumstances wither all self-confidence! But the desolate widow, the handful of meal, the cruse of oil, and death hovering over all, only serve to unfold the resources of the living God. And once the utter weakness and hopelessness of the circumstances comes to light, God is free to unfold the resources of grace. Elijah's request for "a little water" and "a morsel of bread" bring to light the condition of the widow. Truth is upheld, and so grace can be displayed.
God could have stocked her house before Elijah ever knocked. Instead every detail presses harder. One writer says this is how God treats faith He means to bless.
The prophet asks a great deal of her pity. He puts her faith fully to the test. If he had not been a prophet, and if this had not been a trial of faith, his words would have been most cruel and selfish… But this was exactly the trial of it. God, when He gives a trial of faith, does not pare it down so as to spoil the very force of His blessing; but the opposite. The greater the faith the more He tries… clearly God did not use the prophet to give her a barrel of meal to encourage her, or a cruse that began pouring out oil in a wonderful way — though He could easily have done it. This would have spoiled the whole teaching.
God did not send Elijah to a stranger by chance. It follows a pattern, and Jesus later pointed back to this very household.
We learn this everywhere in the Scriptures. When God's people drift away and refuse His testimony, He turns, as it were, to those outside. There He shows the sovereignty of His grace. The Lord Himself reminded His hearers in the synagogue of Nazareth of this fact. He cited this very case of the widow of Zarephath in support, along with that of Naaman the Syrian… In Scripture a widow stands for someone who is desolate and has no resources. Elijah had to go to such a person for support, so that he might learn the lesson himself… when all created streams are dried up, the fullness of God remains unchanged.
- The ask — Elijah's call for a morsel of bread rests on God's word to him, not on anything he could see in the woman at the gate.
- The exposure — The request does not cause her emptiness. It reveals it, and her whole situation comes into the open.
- The opening — Once the truth of her weakness is told, God is free to show what He has. Truth maintained first, grace displayed after.
- The pressure — God does not soften a trial of faith. He leaves the difficulty standing, so the blessing carries full weight.
- The reach — When His own people refuse His message, God turns to an outsider. Jesus later named this household as proof.
And she said, As Jehovah thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a 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 for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
A famine grips the land. Elijah reaches Zarephath and asks a starving stranger for bread. Her reply lists all she owns: a handful of flour, a little oil, two sticks — and a plan to die. What happens when someone hits the end of their resources and meets the word of God there?
She lives among the Sidonians, in Jezebel's own country, yet she swears by Israel's God.
Notice that she brought in the name of Jehovah. This is wonderful! The foolish people of Israel were turning their backs on the one true God, preferring the false gods of the Sidonians. Yet here is a woman who believed that Israel's Jehovah was the true God, despite the corrupting influences around her… But the widow's faith when Elijah arrived was very low. She did not say "my God," as Paul does in Philippians 4:19. Her heart was indeed towards Jehovah — no other god had any place with her. But perhaps she felt that He had quite forgotten her! Her words were the words of despair.
Her inventory is honest, and the total comes to death. What she leaves out is God.
Here is a gloomy picture. An empty barrel, an exhausted jar, and death! Was that all? That was all for blind unbelief… God is shut out, though she could say, "As the LORD your God lives." In reality she was outside His presence. She had lost the sense of His all-sufficiency to meet her need and her household's… She looked at the things that are seen, not at the things that are unseen.
Elijah stood in the same famine and read it differently, because he had a word from God about it.
Not so the man of faith. He looked beyond the barrel and the jar. He had no thought of dying of hunger. He rested on the word of the Lord. Here was his precious resource. God had said, "I have commanded a widow there to feed you." This was quite enough for him. He knew that God could multiply the flour and the oil to sustain both him and her.
The same famine pressed on the king of Israel. He and this woman faced the same death.
This woman was going to die, and she knew it. Elijah's words stirred up the faith that lay in her heart… What he promised would happen in a way human reason could not grasp. She did not doubt it. She accepted this impossibility and found salvation in it for herself and her son. The king of Israel also felt this coming death pressing on himself and his people. But instead of being sure of his lot, he looked for ways to escape it. This is the opposite of faith: it is unbelief. Ahab thought he could find human resources against famine and death; this woman had none.
Jesus later pointed back to this widow.
When the brook had dried up, God sent Elijah to Zarephath to be sustained there by a widow (v. 9). In Luke 4:25-26 God sends him to the widow to sustain her. Both are true… God had a double purpose: to sustain His servant, and to bring a message of grace to the widow through him… The widows of Israel are set aside. Judgment on Israel's state opens the door for the nations to receive grace — in the very territory that Jezebel, the great corrupter of God's people, came from.
Two sticks are the smallest detail in the verse. One writer makes them a picture of a shrunken Christian life.
How many believers today are like this poor widow before she met Elijah. They know so little of the wonderful service the Lord has appointed them to do for Him here. So they look only for a couple of sticks. They reckon they have just enough in the barrel and the jar to die on, but nowhere near enough to live on! They have hardly grasped that they already have Christ and the Holy Spirit as the endless resources of faith — pictured by the flour and the oil. So their piety is mainly getting ready for death.
Those same two sticks end up lighting a different fire.
This widow from outside Israel gathered her "two sticks" for one last desperate mouthful before death. But Jehovah's bounty used them to prepare "enough and to spare" — the beginning of a new lease of life for herself and for the prophet.
What Elijah said next asked her for the very last of it.
Whenever God commands, He also gives the power to obey, if we can receive it… So, despite her declaration of utter poverty, Elijah said, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son." How hard and unreasonable such a request would have seemed to the natural mind. Unbelief might have said it should never have been made. But He who made it, through His servant, upheld the widow's faith with a sure word of promise… If all things are possible with God, all things are also possible to the one who believes.
- Empty. Her count was honest: flour, oil, two sticks, death. Unbelief leaves God's all-sufficiency out of the inventory.
- Named. She swore by Israel's God but said "your God," not "my God" — real faith, at a very low ebb, in Jezebel's own country.
- Chosen. God sent His prophet past the widows of Israel to a woman outside Israel, for a double purpose: to feed His servant, and to carry grace to her.
- Asked. He then asked her for the last cake of all — and God gives the power to obey what He commands.
- Multiplied. Two sticks gathered for a dying meal lit the fire of a new lease of life, with flour and oil that picture resources never running out.
And Elijah said to her, Fear not; go, do as thou hast said; but make me thereof a little cake first; and bring it to me; and afterwards make for thee and for thy son.
Elijah reaches Zarephath during a famine. He asks a starving widow for the last food she owns — and he asks for it first, before she feeds herself and her son. It sounds cruel until you see what surrounds it: a "do not fear" in front of it, and a promise from God behind it.
The whole verse turns on one small word. Elijah did not ask as a hungry traveller. He asked as the man who stood for God, so the order he set was a claim on her.
Elijah said to her: "Do not fear" — oh, how blessed are God's "fear nots!" — "go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son." If the prophet had said no more than this, his words would have sounded heartless and selfish. With only enough meal left for one cake, he asked her to make him one first! Note the word "first." Elijah stood before the woman as the representative of the great God. He was asking her to put God first, even at this grave crisis in her life. The Lord Jesus taught the same thing in Matthew 6:33. And when a man once asked Him to let him "first" go and bury his father, He rebuked that attitude towards His call (Luke 9:59). God must stand first with every one of us, and where He has His rightful place in the hearts and lives of His people, blessing is sure.
He could have filled her jar before asking anything of her. He did not — and commentators see that as deliberate.
The prophet makes no small demands upon her pity. He puts her faith fully to the test. If he had not been a prophet, and if this had not been a trial of faith, his words would have been most cruel and selfish... God, when He gives a trial of faith, does not trim it down so as to spoil the force of His blessing. He does the opposite. The greater the faith, the more He tests it... God could easily have given her, through the prophet, a jar of flour to encourage her, and a jug that started to pour out oil. Clearly He did not. This would have spoiled the whole teaching of the Lord.
Her earlier answer had named the two people she intended to feed. That instinct is not unique to her.
Our prophet heard no such words as "me and my son" when he took up his home by the brook. There was there no selfish interest acting as a barrier to his sustenance and enjoyment. But the moment he left his quiet retreat and came among people, he had to feel that the human heart does not like its own objects interfered with in the least. He had to enter into the deep meaning of the words "me and my son." They uncover the hidden springs of selfishness that drive humanity in its fallen condition.
The command did not stand alone. Elijah backed it with a promise from God, and her faith rested on that.
Whenever God commands He gives the power for obedience, if we can receive it... God tests her obedience and her confidence in Him and in His word. So, despite her statement of utter poverty, Elijah said, "Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it..." But He who made that demand, through His servant, sustained the widow's faith with a sure word of promise. The LORD, the God of Israel, said that the jar of flour would not run out, and the jug of oil would not fail, until the day He sent rain on the earth. And so the widow trusted God, and went and did as Elijah said.
The two words of the verse set an order, and the order held for the rest of the famine.
But how could it be done? Only in this way: if she cared for God's interests FIRST, He would care for hers AFTER. This putting God first brought her the brightest reward of her life.
Commentators also read the jar and the jug as a picture of something larger.
Few will doubt that the jar of flour and the jug of oil carry a deeper meaning. The flour points to Christ, and the oil to the Holy Spirit. The lesson has two parts. First, Christ and the Holy Spirit supply all our needs in full, as long as faith is at work... Christ is all-sufficient in our deepest needs. Yet even though we have the Holy Spirit, we cannot use the resources we have in Him without faith. Second, we may be cut off from the usual means of blessing and from all Christian fellowship. Even then the Lord will prove Himself enough for us in the power of the Holy Spirit. All our springs are in Him.
- Fear not. The hardest demand in the verse opens with God's reassurance, not with a threat.
- First. Elijah stood as God's representative, so the little cake was God's claim on her last supply — and Jesus taught the same order (Matthew 6:33).
- No shortcut. God did not soften the test by filling her jar in advance. He never trims a trial of faith down to a size that would spoil the blessing.
- Me and my son. Those words uncover the hidden springs of selfishness in the human heart.
- Afterward. The demand came with a promise — flour and oil until the rain came — and Christ and the Spirit still meet every need where faith is at work.
For thus saith Jehovah the God of Israel The meal in the barrel shall not waste, neither shall the oil in the cruse fail, until the day that Jehovah sendeth rain upon the face of the earth!
A starving widow in Zarephath has flour for one last meal, and a stranger asks for it first. He backs that request with a promise from the God of Israel, and everything turns on whether she trusts that word more than her empty jar.
Elijah does not argue about how much flour is left. He points her to something outside the jar.
He did not deny that the jar and the jug were almost empty, as the woman had said. That could have given her no comfort, since she knew the facts of her case too well. But he brought the living God and His faithful Word before her aching heart. That is why he could say, "Fear not." He wanted to lead her soul to the true resting place where he himself had found rest. That place is the Word of the living God — blessed, unfailing, a divine resting place for every anxious soul!
The same prophet who had just carried God's word to King Ahab now speaks to a starving woman.
He who pledged the LORD for judgement with Ahab now pledged Him for blessing with the widow. Her weak faith answered at once: "she went and did as Elijah said." She made a cake for him first. Then she found, to her delight, that there was enough flour in the jar to make another cake for herself and her son.
The order he asks for — his cake before hers — is not rudeness. It puts a claim on the little she has.
Elijah was putting God's claim on the widow's resources. And as we know, a true and ready response to that claim brings a rich harvest of blessing to the soul. But all this made a demand on the widow's faith. She was called to play a hard and testing part, in the strength of faith in a divine promise.
Notice what God does not promise. He does not offer a full storehouse, only flour that will not run out.
The life given by grace is a dependent life. It was not a jar of flour or a jug of oil that God promised. The supplies of grace are indeed unlimited, but grace gives no stock in hand such as nature loves to have. The promise was that the handful of flour would never run out, and the oil in the jug would never grow less. There would be enough for each day, but no store for tomorrow. Grace teaches us to live in dependence on the Giver of the grace.
The promise carries a time limit, and that limit is itself good news — the drought has an end date fixed by God.
Note the words, "until the day." They come from the very heart of a faithful God, who would give deliverance and blessing at His own time. The fields would not always be scorched, nor the trees fruitless, nor the streams dry. The LORD graciously meant to reverse these disastrous conditions... The crowds around them might be full of unbelief. Even so, the little group in the cottage would treasure the words of God and wait in faith for Him to act in goodness by His almighty power.
Her town lies outside Israel's borders. Commentators note that Scripture describes this errand from two directions.
When the brook had dried up, Elijah was sent to Zarephath to be sustained there by a widow woman (v. 9). In Luke 4:25-26 he is sent to the widow to sustain her. Both of these are true, and our account proves it. God had a double purpose: to sustain His servant and to bring a message of grace to the widow through him. The Lord, speaking in the synagogue, compares this message to the good news spread among the nations beyond the borders of Israel. The one who preaches finds his own sustenance in bringing the good news of grace to others.
She acted on a single sentence from God. That should press on anyone who owns a whole Bible.
One verse from God was enough at Zarephath. Without hesitation the hungry woman acted on it. She proved God's word true; and it is always true. We must pause here and take account of ourselves. We have what the widow did not have — the whole Word of God... The widow of Zarephath gave her all on the strength of one verse from God.
- Word first. Elijah never disputes the empty jar. He sets the faithful Word of the living God in front of her, and then says, "Fear not."
- Claim first. The cake made for the prophet first is God's claim on her resources, and a real demand on her faith.
- Daily, not stored. God promises flour that never runs out, not a full pantry. Grace supplies each day and keeps her leaning on the Giver.
- Dated, not endless. "Until the day" the rain comes sets a limit on the famine and gives the household a hope to wait for.
- Outward, not confined. One errand feeds the prophet and carries grace beyond Israel's borders. The messenger is fed while he brings good news to others.
And she went and did according to the word of Elijah; and she, and he, and her house, ate a whole year.
In the town of Zarephath, Elijah meets a starving widow. She has one handful of flour and one last meal planned, a stranger has just asked her to feed him first — and this verse records what she did.
One message from God was all she had, and she acted on it at once. One writer turns that into a question for readers who own the whole Bible.
One verse from God was enough at Zarephath. Without hesitation the hungry woman acted on it. She proved God's word true; and it is always true. We must pause here and take account of ourselves. We have what the widow did not have — the whole Word of God... The widow of Zarephath gave her all on the strength of one verse from God.
Verse 16 calls that same message the word of the Lord. One writer ties it back to verse 5, where Elijah obeyed in the same way, and then forward to how God speaks now. (The quote follows an older translation of verse 15: "she went and did according to the word of Elijah.")
This widow's faith is of the same kind and quality as that of the prophet; so she walks the same path he does. It is always so: "And he went and did according to the word of Jehovah" (v. 5). "And she went and did according to the word of Elijah" (v. 15), but the word of Elijah was "the word of Jehovah which he had spoken through Elijah" (v. 16). It is the same word, whether it comes directly to the prophet or whether it is addressed to men through him. So it is today with the gospel.
Elijah asked her to bake for him before she fed herself. One writer puts the whole test in that order.
But how could it be done? Only in this way: if she cared for God's interests FIRST, He would care for hers AFTER. Putting God first brought her the brightest reward of her life.
The miracle never produced a surplus. The jar was never full; it just never ran empty.
All the way through, Elijah has to learn the lesson of dependence... He has no stock of his own, we may say, ever to live on... And then when he comes to Zarephath you find the same thing. The widow is called on to sustain him, and there is a little oil in a jar and a handful of flour in a barrel. The flour does not fail in the barrel, and the oil does not fail in the jar. It does not increase, however — it stays a handful of flour and a little oil. That keeps him in constant dependence on God.
The verse widens from the woman and her son to her household. One writer draws four points from that wording.
The first is that if God commanded the widow to sustain Elijah, He Himself supplied her with the means of doing it. The second follows from the first: when we use what we have for the Lord, our means are multiplied... Another is that the son is no longer mentioned; now it is "her house." This shows God's ways of grace with His people, blessing their households through those who head them... Lastly, God will magnify His own faithfulness. His word had promised, and the blessing came according to His word — the word which He spoke by Elijah.
She was not an Israelite. One writer traces her place in the story back to God's own choice.
There was the electing grace of God at work in this widow... There were many widows in Israel; God chose this one outside Israel... But if grace works, God will prove that it is grace. He will show that there is no ground for acceptance to be found. Any such ground would strip grace of its character.
One writer reads the flour and the oil as a picture of what keeps believers fed now.
We can picture a happy, contented household in Zarephath. The flour and the oil did not fail. The woman and her son had the benefit of Elijah's helpful conversations and his prayers. There was no home on earth more favoured by God at that time. The food suggests what nourishes the souls of believers today. The flour speaks of Christ, and the oil of the Holy Spirit.
- One word. She had a single sentence from God and gave everything on it; we have the whole Bible and must ask what we have done with it.
- Same word. God's word to Elijah and His word through Elijah to her carried the same authority. The gospel carries it now.
- First, then after. God's interests came before her own, and that order was both the test and the way into blessing.
- Daily, not stored. The supply never became a stockpile. It stayed a handful, so prophet and widow leaned on God every morning.
- Her house. One woman's obedience fed a whole household for many days. God chose her from outside Israel, which shows grace to be grace.
The meal in the barrel did not waste, neither did the oil in the cruse fail, according to the word of Jehovah which he had spoken through Elijah.
God sent Elijah to a widow who had almost nothing, and told her to feed him. Day after day her flour and oil held out, and the verse gives the reason: not the size of her supply, but the word spoken through Elijah. (The quotations below say "barrel of meal" and "cruse of oil." That is older wording for the jar of flour and the jug of oil.)
The verse ends by tracing the miracle back to a promise. One writer draws several threads out of that single sentence — who funded her obedience, what her giving returned, and who is honoured at the end.
Several points in these words are worth attention. The first is that if God commanded the widow to sustain Elijah, He Himself supplied her with the means of doing it. The second follows from the first: using what we have for the Lord multiplies our means. Can anyone give to the Lord without reaping an abundant return? Another is that the text now says "her house" instead of the son. This shows God's ways of grace with His people: He blesses their households through the head of the house... Lastly, God will magnify His own faithfulness. His word had promised, and according to His word the blessing came — the word which He spoke by Elijah.
Elijah asked for his share before hers, and the request was not rudeness but a claim.
Elijah was simply putting in God's claim upon the widow's resources. As we know, a true and ready response to that claim brings a rich harvest of blessing to the soul. There was, however, a demand upon the widow's faith in all this. She had to act a trying and difficult part, in the strength of faith in a divine promise.
The order of the two cakes turned out to be the order of her whole future.
But how could it be done? Only this way: if she cared for God's interests FIRST, He would care for hers AFTER. This putting God first brought her the brightest reward of her life.
Notice what the promise did not say. It never offered a full barrel.
Not only does grace bring salvation to the needy, it teaches us how to live. The life given by grace is a dependent life. It was not a barrel of meal or a cruse of oil that was promised. The supplies of grace are unlimited. But grace gives no store in hand, the kind of store nature loves to have. The promise was that the handful of meal should not waste nor the oil in the cruse grow less. There would be enough for each day but no store for tomorrow. Grace teaches us to live in dependence on the Giver of the grace.
Commentators picture the containers differently — some see the quantity always replaced, others see her scraping the bottom every morning — but they agree the supply arrived as it was needed.
We need not suppose that either the barrel or the cruse ever filled up. She would probably always be working on the bottom; but day after day there was enough for them all.
God chose a home outside Israel for this. That says something about how He acts when His own people shut Him out.
We learn this everywhere in the Scriptures. When God's people slide away from Him and refuse His testimony, He turns, as it were, to those outside, and shows there the sovereignty of His grace... So it was with Elijah. Israel would not listen to his message. So the LORD sent him for a time to a woman outside the community of Israel, a stranger to the covenants of promise. Yet the very service He sent him on tested his own faith. In Scripture a widow stands for someone left alone and without resources. Elijah had to go to such a person for support, so that he might learn the lesson himself... that when all created streams dry up, the fullness of God remains unchanged.
Writers read the two containers as a picture, with a warning inside the comfort.
The barrel of meal points to Christ and the cruse of oil to the Holy Spirit. And the lesson is twofold. First, Christ and the Holy Spirit richly supply all our needs, as long as faith is active... Christ is all-sufficient in our deepest needs. Yet even though we have the Holy Spirit, we cannot draw on the resources we have in Him without faith. Secondly, we may be cut off from the ordinary channels of blessing and isolated from all Christian fellowship. Even then the Lord will prove Himself enough for us in the power of the Holy Spirit.
- Word. The flour and oil held out "according to the word of the LORD." The miracle rests on a promise, so that God magnifies His own faithfulness.
- First. She put God's interests first and her own after. That order brought her the brightest reward of her life.
- Daily. God never promised a full barrel. There was enough for each day and no store for tomorrow, because grace teaches us to live depending on the Giver.
- House. God supplied the very means she needed to obey Him, and the blessing widened from the son to "her house."
- Outside. Israel refused the message, so God sent His prophet to a widow outside Israel. When every created stream dries up, the fullness of God remains unchanged.