1 Kings 19:5

This is thought to refer to the Arabic ratam, the Retama raetam, and not to the juniper. It is a "broom" that grows twelve feet high. A person could sit under it for shelter. 1 Kings 19:4-5.

In 1 Kings 17 Elijah by faith could make the widow's oil and meal last. But here he is weak. He needs an angel to come, strengthen him, and give him some food. He eats, drinks, and like a man without strength lies down. But the Lord sends the angel back again, for He is rich in grace and mercy. He watches over all our ways. He feeds our souls according to our needs and all our circumstances.

Yet the Lord can graciously meet his poor servant even asleep under a juniper tree. "He knows our frame, He remembers that we are dust." So He does not grant the sulky request of His hard-pressed and disappointed servant. Instead He seeks to feed and strengthen him for more work. This is not "the manner of man." It is — blessed forever be His name — the manner of God, whose ways and thoughts are not like ours. People often treat one another in a rough and harsh way. They make no allowance, and act in haste and severity. Not so God.

This was a deeper and a closer token of God's interest and care for him than the supply of the ravens or the widow's barrel. The cake baked on the coals and the jug of water at his head show him how God provides for him. But the angel is there to point them out and urge him to take them. That shows the Lord's own personal interest in him. Solitary as he was, he was not left alone or unattended.

At the prayer of Elijah, fire had fallen from heaven upon the sacrifice on Mount Carmel. Rain had fallen on the dry land, from a sky opened at the prayer of that same righteous man. But God gave him the burning coals, the hot cakes, and the jug of water without his asking. How faithful was and is our God!

Here we have a truly wonderful display of the kindness of God. An angel sent from heaven to provide a meal for a failing servant! This was a man who had left an important post of duty, and who was now completely outside the path of God's leading.

In 1 Kings 17 Elijah himself received food, and then he gave food to others. Here, in the place his lack of faith had driven him to, he had no food at all. But God does not abandon him: He thinks of him... He eats, but does not understand what God wants of him, and goes to sleep again. A second time he finds the same food. The angel says to him, "Arise, eat; for the journey is too great for you." God fed him so that he could walk. An important lesson for us!

The Lord knows better than we do what may be demanded of us. In His grace He strengthens us to match what He knows those demands to be. The prophet wished to sleep for sorrow, but the Lord wished to strengthen him and steady him for future service.