So he went and did according to the word of the LORD. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of 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?
Obedience as the whole of his response
The verse records no speech from Elijah, only movement. His going matched the telling, point for point:
Hamilton SmithUnquestioning 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:
J. N. DarbyWe 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.
Why the messenger was hidden
The place names carry their own message:
Frederick W. GrantHe 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:
Leslie M. GrantHe 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.
Living on "I have commanded"
Ravens make unlikely caterers. Giving up food is against everything in them.
W. T. P. WolstonThe 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:
C. H. MackintoshGod 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.
The ravine as a training ground
Being set aside costs one thing and teaches another:
H. L. RossierTo 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:
The Christian's FriendThere 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.
Not exempt from the drought — carried through it
The drought Elijah announced fell on Elijah too:
The Bible TreasuryHe 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.
Summary
- 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.