Lesson 4 - 1 Kings 17:1-24 - ELIJAH PREDICTS A DROUGHT
INTRODUCTION: Last week, in 1 Kings 8:1, 6, 10-11, 22-30, 41-43, we studied the completion and dedication of Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. We saw the priests bring the Ark of the Covenant into the Holy of Holies, at which point a cloud filled the house, signifying the glory of the LORD God and His acceptance of the Temple. We saw Solomon assemble all the elders and leaders of Israel and voice a prayer of dedication for the kingdom and its people. The prayer contained seven petitions that, in general, asked God to protect them from wars, famines and other disasters, with the added request to forgive and restore them when they repented of their sins. The petitions were amazingly farsighted in that they anticipated the many troubles the kingdom would face in the future-division, apostasy, conquest, and captivity. Significantly in the fifth petition, Solomon asked God to hear the prayer of the "foreigner" who comes from the "far country for Your name's sake," which was a stunning prophecy that faith in the One True God would be extended to all people of the world. The main truth we took from this was that the only hope for the survival of Israel rested in its obedience to the LORD God and alternatively, in its repentance when the people sinned. The same principle applies equally to modern Christians when they stumble in their walk with God because of their sin and need to repent by humbling themselves before God in confession and repentance.
This week, in 1 Kings 17:1-24, we will fast forward about 70 years and be introduced to the prophet Elijah. To summarize 1 Kings, the first 16 chapters deal with the activity of kings, the first eleven focusing on the reign of Solomon, and the remaining five reporting the reigns of the kings of Judah and Israel after the kingdom divided. Following Solomon's death in 931 B.C., a conflict arose between the two tribes of the south and the ten tribes of the north, which resulted in the kingdom being split between the kingdom of Judah in the south and the kingdom of Israel in the north (see map). Then, in chapter 17, the prophet Elijah comes on the scene to challenge King Ahab, ruler of the northern kingdom of Israel, who had married Jezebel and began worshipping the false god Baal. In the next 15 chapters (1 Kings 17 through 2 Kings 9), the prophets Elijah and Elisha will dominate the storyline. The last verses of Chapter 16 set the stage for today's lesson, telling how King Ahab took as his wife Jezebel, the daughter of the king of the Sidonians (Phoenicians) and began to worship Baal.
Read 1 Kings 17:1-7 - ELIJAH FROM TISHBE
1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word". 2 The word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3 "Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4 It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there". 5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook. 7 It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
Summary of vv. 1-7: These verses identify Elijah as being from Tishbe in Gilead. As a spokesman for the LORD God, Elijah challenged king Ahab, a Baal worshiper, and prayed that the LORD would cause a severe drought in the land for a period of years (James 5:17 later credits Elijah's prayer as causing a drought that lasted three and a half years). Elijah's word not only challenges Ahab, but also Baal, the storm god who supposedly provided rain; and when he pronounces the drought, he's affirming that it is the LORD God, not Baal, who controls all of the weather. After this, God directed Elijah to go to the brook Cherith, where God provided the prophet with water and bread and meat brought to him twice a day by ravens, thus demonstrating God's authority over both over nature and provision. This miracle compares to God's earlier provision of manna from heaven and water brought forth from rocks to sustain the needs of the Israelites in the Wilderness. Finally, when the brook went dry, it fulfilled Elijah's prophecy of the coming drought.
Read 1 Kings 17:8-16 - ARISE, GO TO ZAREPATH
8 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9 "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you". 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, "Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink". 11 As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, "Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand". 12 But she said, "As the LORD your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die". 13 Then Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. 14 For thus says the LORD God of Israel, "The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the face of the earth". 15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke through Elijah.
v. 8-9a: "Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9 "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there"; - "Zarapeth," was located on the Phoenician coast between Sidon and Tyre (see map) and was the region where Jezebel grew up. It was the heartland of Baal worship. While working, in effect, behind enemy lines, Elijah will prove the LORD, not Baal, is the one true God.
v. 9b: "behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you." -This prepares us for vv. 10-11, where Elijah requests water and food from a widow. A widow would be the least likely candidate to provide hospitality, because they were among the poorest people in the land. So, God's choice of a widow to provide for Elijah is comparable to God choosing to a boy to fight a Philistine giant. It's a demonstration of God's power using the most unlikely people to accomplish an impossible task.
v. 10a: "So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, 'Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink' "- Notice that Elijah doesn't hesitate but obeys the Lord just as did when he went to the Brook Cherith. At Zarephath, he sees a widow "gathering sticks," which showed that this widow was so poor that she was forced to gather sticks every day for cooking and heating.
v. 10b: "and he called to her and said, please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink". - In the midst of a severe drought, Elijah's request for water exceeded the normal requirements for generosity. (Note: v.9b indicates God had earlier commanded the widow to provide for him.)
v. 11: As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, "Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand." - While the widow is going to get him the jar of water, Elijah raises to ante by asking her to bring him some bread as well. And because of the drought, bread would be just as scarce as water due to the failed crops.
v. 12: "But she said, "As the LORD your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die." - The widow acknowledges Elijah's request, but in desperation, admits, "As the LORD your God lives," that she only has only a very small amount of meal and oil with which she planned to prepare one last meal for herself and her son so that they might eat one more time before they die. Her mother's instinct was to provide for her son even at the expense of her own life.
v. 13: "Then Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son". - Now, Elijah challenges the widow to make a giant leap of faith: That somehow, after she a made cake for Elijah, she would still be able to make a cake for herself and her son. "Do not fear" are the key words of this request: She should obey the prophet's command even if it made no sense.
v. 14: "For thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the face of the earth'". While we might think this promise is contingent on the widow's obedience to feed the prophet, that's not what Elijah said: Notice that he doesn't say that 'if you feed me first the jar of meal won't be emptied,' but instead makes an unconditional promise-that the Lord has her covered until the rain returns. Wow!
v. 15a: "So she went and did according to the word of Elijah,"- By doing what Elijah asked of her, the widow was in truth obeying LORD's original command in v. 9 that she should feed the prophet. The text doesn't explain how God did this, only that He had communicated it to the widow.
v. 15b: "and she and he and her household ate for many days." - The Lord is as good as His Word. Just as He provided for the Israelites in the wilderness, he gives this woman sufficient food and water to sustain her son, her guest, and herself during the crisis caused by the drought.
v. 16: "The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke through Elijah". - This wasn't some clever magic trick, but something that was made to happen through the sovereign, creative power of God's Word.
Read 1 Kings 17:17-24 - ELIJAH RAISES THE WIDOW'S SON
17 Now it came about after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 So she said to Elijah, "What do I have to do with you, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death!" 19 He said to her, "Give me your son." Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living and laid him on his own bed. 20 He called to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?" 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the LORD and said, "O LORD my God, I pray You, let this child's life return to him." 22 The LORD heard the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child returned to him and he revived. 23 Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, "See, your son is alive". 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth".
v. 17: "Now it came about after these things that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him". -This verse introduces an entirely new scenario involving the same prophet, widow, and son. It sounds like the boy died of pneumonia, usually fatal in those times. Regardless of the cause, it will provide the LORD God with yet another opportunity to demonstrate that He not only has power over Baal, nature, and provision but over life and death itself.
v. 18: "So she said to Elijah, "What do I have to do with you, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my iniquity to remembrance and to put my son to death"! - The widow has already seen that Elijah works by the power of God; and out of her grief she makes an accusation against Elijah that assumes that the prophet, by extension, is somehow connected to the death of her son.
v. 19: "He said to her, "Give me your son." Then he took him from her bosom and carried him up to the upper room where he was living, and laid him on his own bed." - Notice that Elijah responds to the widow's accusation with action rather than words: He takes the dead boy from his mother to his own room and lays him on his own bed. We should note that he did this despite the Jewish ritual prohibitions against touching a dead body or even being in the same room with one (Num. 19:11-18).
v. 20: "He called to the LORD and said, 'O LORD my God, have You also brought calamity to the widow with whom I am staying, by causing her son to die?'" - While Elijah's prayer is couched in the form of a question, it's at the same time an accusation: Given the faithfulness of this poor widow, Elijah can't even fathom why God would allow this boy to die, yet it is clear to him that the Lord must in some way be involved with the son's death. A real puzzle.
v. 21: "Then he stretched himself upon the child three times, and called to the LORD and said, 'O LORD my God, I pray You, let this child's life return to him.'" - The apparent purpose of this physical contact was to transfer Elijah's bodily warmth to the boy or perhaps to impart life from his body to the child's. Yet, Elijah's prayer here makes it abundantly clear that he expected the life of the child to return by the power of the LORD rather by than his own meager efforts.
v. 22: "The LORD heard the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child returned to him, and he revived." - Previously, when the LORD commanded Elijah what to do, he obeyed; so now, God "heard the voice of Elijah" and brought the boy back to life. In the NT, James said, "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much" (James 5:16). Note: This and two incidents involving the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 4:35; 13:21) are the only accounts of someone being raised from the dead until Jesus does so in the NT (Matt. 9:25; Luke 7:15; John 11:44).
v. 23: "Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave him to his mother; and Elijah said, 'See, your son is alive.'" - While Elijah's prophetic office has thus far been validated by his stopping the rain and providing water, grain, and oil to the widow, the raising of the boy from the dead is definitely the strongest confirmation of him seen so far.
v. 24: "Then the woman said to Elijah, 'Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.'" - The widow had already addressed Elijah as a "man of God" in v. 18, but now she had experienced this truth in a much deeper sense that caused her to say "the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth." Though we might think that the mother should give the credit to God rather than the prophet who spoke for Him, faith is often kindles by a personal relationship with a person of faith and begins to grow and flourish from that point.
APPLICATION-God's Testing
1. Elijah's experience in Zarephath shows us a good example of a personal outreach ministry to others. The testing and needs of the Prophet became a means of ministry to a poor widow and her son. As modern Christians, we should never lose sight of the fact that the same events that test us often become the means by which God is able to use us in ministry to others. In other words, our trials often become channels for ministry and opportunities to display the life of Jesus Christ and the reality and power of God to others.
2. Zarephaph showed that all of God's ministries are important. We saw how God moved Elijah out of his comfort zone at the Brook Cherith to an obscure but important ministry at Zarephath. From Elijah's faithfulness at Zarephath greater things would come. God was building Elijah's faith and his abilities in ministry, and at the same time, using him to comfort a poor widow and her son. As modern Christians, how we perform a small task is often an indication of how we will handle a much larger one. We may think that the small things are not so important-that they don't really matter in the large scheme of God's kingdom; however, faithfulness in the small things prepares us to handle the larger things when they come to us. Even the small things of life can be tests of our faith to teach us who-Almighty God-is really in control of our life.
3. We should not be surprised with the instruments God sometimes uses to involve us in a ministry. Who would we choose to align ourselves with in ministry? We might imagine strong figures--rich and powerful people or perhaps those prominent in our communities-but in Elijah's case, the Lord chose a destitute widow. The instruments that God chooses to use, like the widow in Elijah's case, are often a test our submission and faith. God may choose to use the despised and the small, or He might reduce our resources to teach us He is really the One who provides.
4. Finally, this lesson teaches us God can use any of us for His glory. He can take whatever we have and multiply it many times over just as He did with the meager resources of the widow or as our Savior did when feeding the five thousand. What was Elijah's response? We simply read v.10 that "he arose and went . . ."No questions asked, no arguments, no complaints--just obedience. Undoubtedly, it was in the expectation of not only what the Lord would do for him, but through him. Elijah ultimately that he was sent there not simply to be ministered to, but to minister to others.
