What is the story of Elijah and the widow?

But by-and-by the brook dries up. That too was part of the ways of God with His servant, and "Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongs to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee" (1 Kings 17:9) is the next word. When God commands, all a servant has to do is to obey. Without a single word, away goes Elijah to this widow woman. He finds the widow gathering some sticks. There is nothing left in her house but a barrel of meal and a cruse of oil. And she says, "And, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die" (1 Kings 17:12). Elijah says, "Fear not; go and do as thou hast said; but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it to me, and after make for thee and for thy son," and then adds this sweet word, "For thus says the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth" (1 Kings 17:13-14). What light and joy came to that woman's house. It is a great thing to care for the servants of God. She did it, "and she and he and her house did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Elijah" (1 Kings 17:15-16). God sustained them. God can do anything. That is the great point, and that is the lesson which faith learns in a scene like this.

After awhile the widow's son dies. God would teach her, as well as His prophet, that He was the God of resurrection. When he died she said to Elijah," What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come to me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?" (1 Kings 17:18). Yes, there was something that God had to settle with her. And perhaps God has some sin to bring to your remembrance. While things are outwardly smooth you can go on, but by-and-by when death comes in, and you lose your boy, or husband, or father, or mother it may be, what comes up? There is some long-forgotten sin that comes up upon the conscience. That is ofttimes the way God puts His finger on the souls of men.

Arriving at Zarephath, he was instantly brought into contact with the poor widow who was to be his hostess. There she was, by the gate of the city, "gathering of sticks." The faith of Elijah perceived no difficulty, either in her appearance, or in the evident poverty of her circumstances. He knew that she had been commanded to sustain him, and therefore, resting on the sure word of Jehovah, he requested that she would fetch him a little water in a vessel, that he might drink. As she was going to fetch the water, he added another request: "Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand." This second requirement was used to elicit the condition in which this poor widow was found. She concealed nothing: "As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die." She had thus come to the end of all her resources, and for her and her son there was only the prospect of death; and yet it was to this destitute widow that Elijah was sent for sustainment.

When Elijah came to the gate of Zarephath he saw a widow gathering sticks and asked her to get him a drink of water (v.10). She willingly went to get it and he called after her to also bring him a little bread to eat (v.11). But this was too much for the poor woman. She told him she had no bread, but only a little flour and a little oil from which she planned to make a small meal for herself and her son, before expecting to die from famine.

But God was not only caring for Elijah. He also intended to care for the widow and her son. It may sound selfish on Elijah's part that he should tell her to first make him a small cake, and afterward make this for herself and her son. But this was a test of her faith. Elijah is a type of Christ, and if we put Him first, we will have all our needs supplied. Elijah promised the widow that her store of flour would not diminish nor the jar of oil run dry until the day that the Lord would send rain.

Whenever God commands He bestows the power for obedience, if we can receive it. So in the case of this poor widow; and hence her own state of soul is the first thing brought to light. Her obedience and confidence in God and His word are to be tested. Thus, notwithstanding her declaration of utter poverty, Elijah said, "Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son." How hard and unreasonable such a request would have seemed to the natural mind, one that unbelief might have said ought never to be preferred. But He who made it, in the person of His servant, sustained the widow's faith with a sure word of promise: "For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth." If all things are possible with God, all things are also possible to him that believeth; and accordingly the widow, trusting in God (the mark of a "widow indeed"), "went and did according to the saying of Elijah."

Elijah said to her: "Fear not (oh, how blessed are God's "Fear-nots!"): go and do as thou hast said; but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it to me, and after make for thee and for thy son." If the prophet had said no more than this, his words would have sounded heartless and selfish. With only enough meal left to make one cake, he asked her to make him one first! The word "first" should, of course, be noted. Elijah stood before the woman as the representative of the Great God, and his request really meant that she was to put God first, even at this grave crisis in her life. The Lord Jesus taught this in Matt. 6:33; and when a man once asked Him to let him "first" go and bury his father, He rebuked such an 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 affections and lives of His saints, blessing is sure.

Now let us examine what Elijah's apparently strange request was founded upon. He gave the poor widow a direct and definite message from God. "Thus says 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 sends rain upon the earth" (1 Kings 17:14). He who pledged Jehovah for judgement with Ahab, now pledged Him for blessing with the widow. Her flagging faith promptly responded, "and she went and did according to the saying of Elijah"; i.e. she made first a cake for him: and then found to her delight that there was sufficient meal in the barrel to make another cake for herself and for her son. She found God true to His word, and for a whole year the household of three was thus divinely fed. We need not suppose that either the barrel or the cruse ever filled up. She would probably be always working on the bottom; but day after day there was sufficiency for them all.

But how could it be done? Only thus; if she cared for God’s interests “FIRST,” He would care for her’s “AFTER.” This putting God first brought her the brightest reward of her life.

She went to the barrel of meal, took out its remaining handful, all that stood between her and a lingering death by starvation, and, lo! there was no diminution of the meal. What she took out did not affect the quantity she found. She went to the cruse of oil. She poured out the oil, but still the quantity left was equal to what she found there. And this went on “many days”—indeed, all the days of need. What a story!

Arrived at the city gate the prophet is confronted by the widow. To natural sight and human reason it seems impossible that this can be the widow by whom he is to be sustained. In absolute poverty, this desolate and starving woman has reached the end of her resources. With only a handful of meal and a little oil in a cruse, she is gathering a few sticks to prepare one last meal for herself and her son, and then to wait for death to end their sufferings. With only sufficient for one more meal, how can she sustain the prophet? The widow speaks indeed of the living God, but it is Elijah's God, for she says "thy God," not "my God." She had no personal faith in the living God: her hopes were connected with the barrel of meal and the cruse of oil, and, as they are failing, there is nothing before her but the gates of death. God, however, has another way than death for the widow. His sovereign grace has purposed that life — resurrection life — shall fill her home with blessing. As for Elijah, in God's due time he shall pass into the glory, not through the gates of death but by a chariot of fire and horses of fire. Meanwhile he must dwell for a time at Zarephath. Now Zarephath signifies the place of the smelting furnace. The prophet has passed the test of the failing brook at Cherith, he must now face the furnace of trial at Zarephath. But this is God's road to Carmel. Is he to call down fire from heaven? Then indeed he must pass through the fire on earth. Is he going to stand for the living God before all Israel? Then first he must learn in secret the sustaining power of God in the furnace of trial. The failing brook at Cherith, and the refining fire at Zarephath, are steps in the journey to Carmel and the chariot of fire.

Yet how humbling to pride to be sustained by a widow woman; how withering to all self-confidence the distressing circumstances. But the desolate widow, the handful of meal, the cruse of oil, and death hovering over all, only serve to unfold the resources of the living God. And, the utter weakness and hopelessness of the circumstances being revealed, God is free to unfold the resources of grace. Elijah's request for "a little water" and "a morsel of bread" bring to light the condition of the widow woman. And truth being maintained, grace can be displayed. How rich the grace that filled the widow's home! All fear was banished, for the first words of grace were "Fear not."

The moment the lesson concerning herself was learnt God came in, and, through Elijah, and in answer to his prayer, raised the widow's son to life again, and the prophet "delivered him unto his mother." (Compare Luke 7:15.) The Lord thus revealed Himself to her soul as the God of resurrection, thereby establishing her in the truth, and confirming her faith, by causing her to rest upon a foundation, which, because it is beyond death, is for ever immutable. The effect was to demonstrate, beyond all doubt, the character of Elijah as a man of God, and the certainty of the word of the Lord as spoken by him. (v. 24.) So also our blessed Lord Himself was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:4), and thereby, moreover, His word was confirmed. (Luke 24:6-8.)

A new experience, and one fraught with still larger blessing, was in store for this pious widow. She had received succour and deliverance through the visit and sojourn of Elijah, but she was now to learn, in a still deeper way, the nature of the One who had so graciously cared for her. Death - death which is the end of all human hopes - came into her household. Her only son, the light and joy of her life, like the son of the widow of Nain, fell sick and died, and she was bereft and desolate. If the sword entered into her soul, it was yet in mercy, for through it, in the very poignancy of her grief, she learnt what she was in the presence of God (v. 18); and therein she was prepared for further blessing. For until we come to the end of self, we cannot apprehend what God is for us in grace.

Elijah restored the boy to his mother, saying, "See, your son lives" (v.23). How appropriate was the widow's response, "Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth" (v.24). Similarly, when we have learned that the Lord Jesus has the power of resurrection life, we know He is not only a man of God, but the eternal Son of God, whose resurrection takes from us the fear of death.