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.