And Elijah said to her, “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.
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 meaning of "first"
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.
W. W. FeredayElijah 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.
Why God did not make it easier
He could have filled her jar before asking anything of her. He did not — and commentators see that as deliberate.
William KellyThe 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.
"Me and my son"
Her earlier answer had named the two people she intended to feed. That instinct is not unique to her.
C. H. MackintoshOur 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 promise that made obedience possible
The command did not stand alone. Elijah backed it with a promise from God, and her faith rested on that.
The Christian's FriendWhenever 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.
First, and after
The two words of the verse set an order, and the order held for the rest of the famine.
A. J. PollockBut 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.
What the flour and oil stand for
Commentators also read the jar and the jug as a picture of something larger.
The Christian's FriendFew 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.
Summary
- 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.