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.