30673191 life-of-elijah-chapter-one

LIFE OF ELIJAH CHAPTER 1
I KIGS 17 COMMETARY
Written and edited by Glenn Pease
PREFACE
Many other authors are quoted in this study, and some are not named. Credit will
be given if the name of the author is sent to me. Some may not want their wisdom
shared in this way, and if they object and wish it to be removed they can let me
know also at my e-mail address which is glenn_p86@yahoo.com
Don't let my numbering system puzzle you. It is just a way to add new material
without having to change all the numbers each time I add a new paragraph.
ITRODUCTIO
1. Alexander Whyte said of Elijah, “He was a Mount Sinai of a man with a heart
like a thunderstorm.” F. B. Meyer said, “This Colossus among ordinary men who
dwarfs us all...” J. R. MacDuff, “life of ELIJAH is, in the truest sense of the word, a
poem, - an inspired epic. It is surrounded throughout with a blended halo of
heroism and saintliness. Though neither angel nor demigod, but a man of like
passions, intensely human in all the varied incidents and episodes of his
picturesque history, - he yet seems as if he held converse more with Heaven than
earth. His name, which literally means My GOD the Lord, or Jehovah is my
GOD, introduces us to one who had delegated to him superhuman powers; not only
an ambassador from above, but the very viceroy and representative of
Omnipotence.
1B. All are agreed that Elijah was sent by God to appear out of nowhere because the
land had reached a depth of depravity where God's near infinite patience could no
longer tolerate it. A long list of evil kings had corrupted the nation, and then came
Ahab and his wife Jezebel. The wives of kings are seldom mentioned, but she is
mentioned because she became a dominate force in the land with her focus on
idolatry. This wicked woman and her evil ways called for a special man to enter the
history of her time to be a counter force against her worship of false gods. A
powerful man of the true God was needed to bring about a change in the direction
Israel was going. Pink tells us how bad it was. “This marriage of Ahab to a heathen
princess was, as might fully be expected (for we cannot trample God’s Law beneath
our feet with impunity), fraught with the most frightful consequences. In a short
time all trace of the pure worship of Jehovah vanished from the land and gross

idolatry became rampant. The golden calves were worshipped at Dan and Bethel, a
temple had been erected to Baal in Samaria, the groves of Baal appeared on every
side, and the priests of Baal took full charge of the religious life of Israel.”
2. Pink, “ Elijah appeared on the stage of public action during one of the darkest
hours of Israel’s sad history. He is introduced to us at the beginning of 1 Kings 17,
and we have but to read through the previous chapters to discover what a
deplorable state God’s people were then in. Israel had grievously and flagrantly
departed from Jehovah, and that which directly opposed Him had been publicly set
up. ever before had the favored nation sunk so low. Fifty eight years had passed
since the kingdom had been rent in twain following the death of Solomon. During
that brief period no less than seven kings had reigned over the ten tribes, and all of
them without exception were wicked men.”
3. J. Sidlow Baxter, “His eminence is seen both in the religious reformation which
he wrought, and in the fact that the ew Testament speaks of him more often than
of any other Old Testament prophet. Moreover, it was he who was chosen to appear
with Moses at our Lord’s transfiguration. And further, it is from this point that the
ministry of the prophets in the two Hebrew kingdoms becomes more prominently
emphasized. One of Israel’s most startling and romantic characters, he suddenly
appears on the scene as the crisis-prophet, with thunder on his brow and tempest in
his voice. He disappears just as suddenly, swept skywards in a chariot of fire.
Between his first appearing and his final disappearing lies a succession of amazing
miracles.”
4. Krummacher begins his book on Elijah with these words, “Alas! alas ! bow is the
glory of Israel departed ! how is Abraham^s seed become so little discernible, the
fight so dark, the salt so savor-less, the gold so dim. A dreary dark night on all sides,
and naught but night, and with only one cheering little star in the heaven; Then
does the history suddenly break out with the words, And Elijah, As one fallen from
heaven like a shot of lightning, as a gleaming thunderbolt hurled from Jehovah's
hand, this man comes into the midst of the awful scene, without father, without
mother, as Melchizedek. There he stands in the midst of the desolation with his God
alone, in the wide world; Almost the only grain of salt in the universal corruption,
the only leaven to leaven the whole lump ; and that we may learn at once who he is,
he begins his career almost like a god with an unheard-of deed of faith, by closing,
in the name of his Lord, the heavens over Israel, and changing the firmament into
iron and brass. God be praised, the night is no longer so dismal as before, for one
man of God stands in the midst of it, and that makes it feel cheerful, as if the moon
had risen over the scene.”
5. Matthew Henry, “So sad was the character both of the princes and people of
Israel, as described in the foregoing chapter, that one might have expected God
would cast off a people that had so cast him off; but, as an evidence to the contrary,
never was Israel so blessed with a good prophet as when it was so plagued with a

bad king. ever was king so bold to sin as Ahab; never was prophet so bold to
reprove and threaten as Elijah, whose story begins in this chapter and is full of
wonders. Scarcely any part of the Old-Testament history shines brighter than this
history of the spirit and power of Elias; he only, of all the prophets, had the honour
of Enoch, the first prophet, to be translated, that he should not see death, and the
honour of Moses, the great prophet, to attend our Saviour in his transfiguration.
Other prophets prophesied and wrote, he prophesied and acted, but wrote nothing;
but his actions cast more lustre on his name than their writings did on theirs.”
6. Geikie, “To realize Elijah's character and acts, it is necessary to remember the
circumstances of the times. The worship of Jehovah, rudely shaken by the
introduction of the Egyptian ox-worship, as a symbol, at Dan and Bethel, had been
well-nigh crushed by the support weakly lent by Ahab to the idolatrous fanaticism
of his wife Jezebel. A gorgeous temple to Baal adorned Samaria; another equally
splendid had been raised at Jezreel. Eight hundred and fifty priests, and a corres-ponding
multitude of lower attendants, gave pomp and grandeur to the worship of
the idols. The sensuality of the rites ; the influence of the court and throne as leaders
of fashion ; the relentless persecution of Jehovah- worshipers on the one hand, and
the open road to promotion offered by apostasy on the other, had resulted in an
apparently complete victory for the new religion. So far as Elijah could see, he was
himself the last survivor of those who clung to the faith of their fathers.”
7. Dr. Steve Cook puts this study into the larger context of history.
A. In our study of 1 Kings 11 we found that Solomon had miserably failed to
lead the nation of Israel, and according to the promise of God in the Davidic
Covenant, the kingdom would be rent from Solomon’s son.
1 Kings Ch. 12-16 record the Beginning of the End for Israel’s united kingdom –
and with the death of Solomon, the nation’s glory began to fade.
The Book of 1 Kings covers about 125 years of history – 40 years of Solomon’s reign
85 years of divided kingdom.
Only 5 kings reigned in Judah during this time, while 8 kings ruled in Israel –
However, MOST of them were wicked kings!
B. When we get to 2 Kings we will learn of the accounts of the Assyrian captivity
of Israel and the Babylonian captivity of Judah.
Elijah Fed by Ravens

1 ow Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe [a] in
Gilead, said to Ahab, As the LORD, the God of
Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither
dew nor rain in the next few years except at my
word.
1. Elijah had to appear out of nowhere, for all of the priests had been corrupted by
idolatry, and so all the spiritual training of the land was corrupted. God could not
draw from the usual resources to do his will. He had to draw from the lay people of
the land where corruption had not penetrated completely. He came from a place
where the worship of the true God of Israel was still practiced. He came out of a
minority group still faithful to the Lord. All through history minority groups have
been great resources for men and women of God to change the course of history.
Thank God for the minorities that preserve the faith in times of great evil. The very
name of Elijah shouted in the face of Ahab, for it means My God is Jehovah, and
that is why I can inform you of the future, for my God controls the weather, and not
your puny gods made by human hands.
1B. J. Hampton Keathley, III “Elijah is the Hebrew Eliyahu that means “My
God is Yahweh.” ote several things: In Elijah’s name, given to him perhaps by a
godly parent, we can see how the sovereign providence of God is often at work in the
historical circumstances of our lives. God picked out, raised up, and used a man
whose very name was significant to the religious climate of his day and the contest
that would follow. The nation was following after Baal who was, of course, no god at
all. Elijah boldly appeared and proclaimed the true God of Israel, Yahweh, who was
His God. This proclamation was the point of Elijah’s prayer in 1 Kings 18:36-37 1
Kings 18:36-37 1 Kings 18:36-37 . As the months rolled by after Elijah’s declaration
of no rain, whenever people saw or thought of Eliyahu, they were faced with the
message of his name, “My God is Yahweh.” In other words, my God is Yahweh, not
Baal. The prophet’s name, therefore, declared something of who he was. It was a
standing declaration of his faith in that it demonstrated his protest against Baalism,
his allegiance to God, and the key issue of the day as it is today--who or what is our
God?”
1B2. We don't know where Tishbe was, and we don't know who his mother and
father was. It is a good thing that Ahab and Jezebel did not know these things as
well, for they would have corrupted the place, and tried to prevent a man like Elijah
from ever being able to appear in representing Jehovah. When you see the terrible
corruption of the land, it makes sense why we know little of the background of this
great man of God. He had to have a mysterious background in order to have
survived, and for his family to have survived. He was an enemy of the state, and
Jezebel who wanted him dead would have slaughtered everyone who knew him had

she had that information. He had to have an unlisted number and have his whole
past hidden away from all public knowledge just like someone today in the witness
protection program.
1B3. H. B. HOWAT, “He seems as if he had fallen from heaven. He startles us like a
meteor. ' He comes in with a tempest,* says Bishop Hall, ' who went out with a
whirlwind.* Melchisedec-like, we read of neither ' father nor mother.* There is
nothing of his early years, nothing of his call to the prophetic office. He steps upon
the sacred page as suddenly as he leaves it ; and were it not for subsequent events,
we might almost believe him an apparition.”
Howat goes on to describe how this beginning led Elijah to become one of the most
notable prophets of Bible history. “Elijah's work in Israel, and the impression it
produced. As to the former, he was essentially an Iconoclast His mission was not to
build up, but to destroy ; his functions were not those of the trowel, but the axe.
ever since the days of Moses and Pharaoh had two such opposites met as Elijah
and Ahab, or a greater contrariety still, Elijah and Jezebel. It was the conflict of
subtlety, cruelty, scorn, with the wisdom of the Omniscient, and the energy of the
Almighty. It was history repeating itself — Dagon in the presence of the ark ; but '
behold Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth.' That this last was really so,
is apparent from the check which Baal-worship received in Israel in the days of
Ahab, and from the kindred fact that, for centuries after the departure of Elijah, it
was a universal belief he would return to renew and complete the work he had so
auspiciously begun. Five hundred years, for example, after his ascension, the canon
of the Old Testament closes on this wise : ' Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.' ine
hundred years, also, after his ascension, when the world's Redeemer asked his
disciples, ' Whom say the people that I am ?' a part of the reply was this : * Some
say Elias.* When Herod, afraid of the resurrection of John the Baptist, inquired
who the strange preacher was who was filling both the land and the palace with his
fame, a portion of the reply again was this : ' It is Elias.' When the Jews sent priests
and Levites from Jerusalem to investigate the character of the mission of John, this
was part of the interrogatory: * Art thou Elias } and he saith, I am not.' When Peter
saw Elijah on the holy mount, he instinctively proposed to build for him a tent or
tabernacle, regarding his presence, according to the wide-spread popular belief, the
most natural thing in the world. And when on the cross the suffering Savior
addressed His Father by a term strongly resembling in sound the name of the
prophet, the assembled multitude, at once catching the word, exclaimed : ' This man
calleth for Elias.' ' The rest said. Let be.; let us see whether Elias will come to save
him.'”
1C. Jamison has these two notes: 1. “or residents of Gilead, implying that he was not
an Israelite, but an Ishmaelite, as MICHAELIS conjectures, for there were many of
that race on the confines of Gilead. The employment of a Gentile as an
extraordinary minister might be to rebuke and shame the apostate people of Israel.”
2. “there shall not be dew nor rain these years--not absolutely; but the dew and the

rain would not fall in the usual and necessary quantities. Such a suspension of
moisture was sufficient to answer the corrective purposes of God, while an absolute
drought would have converted the whole country into an uninhabitable waste.”
1D. Constable quotes House, “Why choose a drought? Why emphasize that
Yahweh lives? Elijah determines to attack Baalism at its theological center. Baal
worshipers believed that their storm god made rain, unless, of course, it was the dry
season and he needed to be brought back from the dead. To refute this belief Elijah
states that Yahweh is the one who determines when rain falls, that Yahweh lives at
all times, and that Yahweh is not afraid to challenge Baal on what his worshipers
consider his home ground.
1E. Maclaren calls our attention to a special phrase that Elijah and Elisha used.
ˇgThis solemn and remarkable adjuration seems to have been habitual upon
Elijah’s lips in the great crises of his life. We never find it used by any but himself,
and his scholar and successor, Elisha. Both of them employ it under similar
circumstances, as if unveiling the very secret of their lives, the reason for their
strength, and for their undaunted bearing and bold fronting of all antagonism. We
find four instances in their two lives of the use of the phrase. Elijah bursts abruptly
on the stage and opens his mouth for the first time to Ahab, to proclaim the coming
of that terrible and protracted drought; and he bases his prophecy on that great
oath, ‘As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand.’ And again, when he is sent to
confront Ahab once more at the close of the period, the same mighty word comes,
‘As the Lord of Hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto
him this day.’ And then again, Elisha, when he is brought before the three
confederate kings, who taunt, and threaten, and flatter, to try to draw smooth things
from his lips, and get his sanction to their mad warfare, turns upon the poor
creature that called himself the King of Israel with a superb contempt that stayed
itself on that same great name and tells him, ‘As the Lord liveth before whom I
stand, were it not that I had regard for the King of Judah, I would not look toward
you or see you,’ And lastly, when the grateful aaman seeks to change the whole
character of Elisha’s miracle, and to turn it into the coarseness of a thing done for
reward, once again the temptation is brushed aside with that solemn word, ‘As the
Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none.’
So at every crisis where these prophets were brought full front with hostile power;
where a tremendous message was laid upon their hearts and lips to utter; where
natural strength would fail; where they were likely to be daunted or dazzled by
temptations, by either the sweetness or the terrors of material things, these two
great heroes of the Old Covenant, out of sight the strongest men in the old Jewish
history, steady themselves by one thought,―God lives, and I am His servant.......My
brethren, here is our defense against being led away by the gauds and shows of
earth’s vulgar attractions, or being terrified by the poor terrors of its enmity. Go
with that talisman in your hand, ‘The Lord liveth, before whom I stand,’ and
everything else dwindles down into nothingness, and you are a free man, master and
lord of all things, because you are God’s servants, seeing all things aright, because

you see them all in God, and God in them all.........He professes that he stands before
the Lord, girt for His service, watching to be guided by His eye, and ready to run
when He bids.”
2. Clarke, “The history of this great man is introduced very abruptly; his origin is
enveloped in perfect obscurity. He is here said to be a Tishbite. Tishbeh, says
Calmet, is a city beyond Jordan, in the tribe of Gad, and in the land of Gilead. Who
was his father, or from what tribe he sprang, is not intimated; he seems to have been
the prophet of Israel peculiarly, as we never find him prophesying in Judah. A
number of apocryphal writers have trifled at large about his parentage, miraculous
birth, of his continual celibacy, his academy of the prophets, first view appears
strange, bears more resemblance to truth than any of the above, viz., that he had no
earthly parentage known to any man; that he was an angel of God, united for a time
to a human body, in order to call men back to perfect purity, both in doctrine and
manners, from which they had totally swerved. His Hebrew name, which we have
corrupted into Elijah and Elias, is Alihu, or, according to the vowel points, Eliyahu;
and signifies he is my God. Does this give countenance to the supposition that this
great personage was a manifestation in the flesh of the Supreme Being? He could
not be the Messiah; for we find him with Moses on the mount of transfiguration
with Christ. The conjecture that he was an angel seems countenanced by the
manner of his departure from this world; yet, in James 5:1 James 5:1 7, he is said to
be a man of like passions, or rather with real human propensities: this, however, is
irreconcilable with the conjecture.”
3. Pink imagines how hard it must have been for Elijah to begin his public ministry
by appearing before such a wicked king as Ahab. He wrote, “The task which now
confronted Elijah was no ordinary one, and it called for more than common
courage. For an untutored rustic of the hills to appear uninvited before a king who
defied heaven was sufficient to quell the bravest; the more so when his heathen
consort shrank not from slaying any who opposed her will, in fact who had already
put many of God’s servants to death. What likelihood, then, was there of this lonely
Gileadite escaping with his life? But the righteous are bold as a lion, (Prov. 28:1):
they who are right with God are neither daunted by difficulties nor dismayed by
dangers. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, that have set themselves
against me round about, (Ps. 3:6); Though a host should encamp against me, my
heart shall not fear, (Ps. 27:3): such is the blessed serenity of those whose
conscience is void of offense and whose trust is in the living God.”
3B. Sure, it takes a lot of courage
To put things in God's hands...
To give ourselves completely,
Our lives, our hopes, our plans;
To follow where He leads us
And make His will our own
But all it takes is foolishness

To go the way alone! Betsey Kline
4. Just being there in the palace of the king had to be scary, but to make matters
worse Elijah had to give him the worst news he had ever heard. Fortunately it was
such a report that could not be known to be true until time passed, and so Elijah
could get far away and hidden before Ahab would be angry about it. It probably
seemed like a joke to Ahab that this unknown country hick could have any influence
on the weather. Ahab likely did not know about God's weather warning from the
past. Pink expounds on it, “ow there was one particular passage in the earlier
books of Scripture which seems to have been specially fixed on Elijah’s attention:
Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and
serve other gods, and worship them; and then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against
you, and He shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her
fruit, (Deut. 11:16, 17): That was exactly the crime of which Israel was now guilty:
they had turned aside to worship false gods. Suppose, then, that this Divinely-threatened
judgment should not be executed, would it not indeed appear that
Jehovah was but a myth, a dead tradition? And Elijah was very jealous for the
Lord God of hosts, and accordingly we are told that he prayed earnestly that it
might not rain, (Jas. 5.17): Thus we learn once more what true prayer is: it is faith
laying hold of the Word of God, pleading it before him, and saying, do as Thou
hast said, (2 Sam. 7:25).
5. Pink, There shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.
Frightful prospect was that! From the expression the early and the latter rain
(Deut. 11:14; Jer. 5:24), we gather that, normally, Palestine experienced a dry
season of several months’ duration: but though no rain fell then, heavy dews
descended at night which greatly refreshed vegetation. But for neither dew nor rain
to fall, and that for a period of years, was a terrible judgment indeed. That land so
rich and fertile as to be designated one which flowed with milk and honey, would
quickly be turned into one of drought and barrenness, entailing famine, pestilence
and death. And when God withholds rain, none can create it. Are there any among
the vanities (false gods) of the Gentiles that can cause rain? (Jer. 14:22)—how that
reveals the utter impotency of idols, and the madness of those who render them
homage!
In 1 Kings 18:1 the sequel says, And it come to pass after many days, that the word
of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab;
and I will send rain upon the earth (1 Kings 18:1). On the other hand, Christ
declared many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias (Elijah), when the heaven
was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the
land (Luke 4:25). How, then, are we to explain those extra six months? In this way:
there had already been a six months’ drought when Elijah visited Ahab: we can well
imagine how furious the king would be when told that the terrible drought was to
last another three years!”

6. It is sort of funny that a man of God begins his career with a weather report. It
was truly long range as well, for it did not rain for three and a half years. That
would make the job of weather reporting very easy. Every day it would be, “o
clouds in sight, and no rain for today, or any time in the foreseeable future. All
umbrella's now 99 % off at the local market.”
7. Elijah would add a comic element in any group for he had a rather strange
appearance as we read in II Kings 1:8, “And they answered him, He was an hairy
man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins. And he said, It is Elijah the
Tishbite.” It was such an unusual garment that when it was described the king knew
instantly that it was Elijah, for nobody else wore such a thing. Like John the Baptist
he was easily identified by his wardrobe. Some might say he looked like a hillbilly.
Alan Carr tells us, “This verse tells us that Elijah was from a place called Tishbe in
the region known as Gilead. Gilead was a rough, mountainous area known for its
high peaks and deep valleys. The very name Gilead in its Hebrew form means
raw or rugged. This tells us that Elijah was a backwoods man. When he stepped
onto the scene and began his ministry, his methods, his mannerisms and his message
were as rough and rugged as the place he called home.” Bruce Goettsche wrote, “So
Elijah, it appears, is kind of a backwoods kind of guy. Today he might wear flannel,
drive an old pick-up with a gun rack, have long hair and perhaps be missing a few
teeth. He was not the kind of guy you would expect to gain an audience with the
king. I suspect he would get a good laugh at some of the modern You might be a
redneck jokes. He could come up with his own and say, If you find something
dropped by a raven and you eat it, you might be a redneck.
7B. J. R. MacDuff, “, in the selection of the human instrument for a great revival in
Israel, would magnify the sovereignty of His own grace; He brings balm from half-heathen
Gilead to heal the hurt of the daughter of His people;- He chooses no Rabbi
nor learned doctor of the schools - no Hierarch with the prestige of hereditary office
or outward form of consecration,- but a lay preacher from the Highlands of
Palestine,- a man who had graduated in no school but nature – who had been
taught, but taught only of Heaven.
Some, indeed, have supposed that Elijah was not Hebrew in his origin at all,- that
the blood of roving Ishmael was [7] in his veins,- that he sprang from a tribe of
Gentiles who inherited from the patriarch Abraham the knowledge of the one true
GOD, and retained it longer than the heathen around, owing to their proximity to
the land of Canaan; that such a selection, moreover, was purposely made by GOD
to rebuke the wayward apostasy of His chosen Israel, and shew them that even from
strangers and foreigners He could raise up honored men for the vindication of His
truth and the accomplishment of His purposes.”
8. One might jump to the conclusion that he was a superman type person with the
power to pray for rain to stop and start again, plus one miracle after another in his
career. This is not the case, for as James 5:17 says, “Elias was a man subject to like

passions as we are...” In other words he was just a normal man that God used to do
some amazing things. In himself he had the emotions of great anger and severe
depression and loneliness. He was used to do amazing things because he was fully
obedient to what God called him to do. This can be true in any of our lives if we walk
in obedience.
9, “It was only by the exercise of strong faith in the unfailing power of God's word
that Elijah delivered his message. Had he not possessed implicit confidence in the
One whom he served, he would never have appeared before Ahab. On his way to
Samaria, Elijah had passed by ever-flowing streams, hills covered with verdure, and
stately forests that seemed beyond the reach of drought. Everything on which the
eye rested was clothed with beauty. The prophet might have wondered how the
streams that had never ceased their flow could become dry, or how those hills and
valleys could be burned with drought. But he gave no place to unbelief. He fully
believed that God would humble apostate Israel, and that through judgments they
would be brought to repentance. The fiat of Heaven had gone forth; God's word
could not fail; and at the peril of his life Elijah fearlessly fulfilled his commission.
Like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, the message of impending judgment fell upon
the ears of the wicked king; but before Ahab could recover from his astonishment,
or frame a reply, Elijah disappeared as abruptly as he had come, without waiting to
witness the effect of his message. And the Lord went before him,
making plain the way.” author unknown
10. Like John the Baptist, Elijah was not a married man, and it is good that it was
so, for he had to live a life in hiding for three and a half years, and that would not be
good for any marriage. God can use single people to do things for the kingdom of
God that would be intolerable for married people. We can thank God for singles,
for in the history of missions we see a great force of them doing tasks that would be
so hard for those with family commitments. Very few leaders in the Old Testament
were single, and so Elijah stands out as being unique in these sense. Men wanted to
carry on their name by having children, for this was also the way they could be a
part of the chain to the Messiah. Elijah gave up this almost universal hope of Old
Testament people. He is one of the rare and great singles of God's people.
10B. J. Hampton Keathley J. , “Elijah stands in striking contrast to the Baal priests
and the populace of the city in every way. His dress and appearance, though not
mentioned here, are mentioned in 2 Kings 1:7-8 . The way they are mentioned
suggests the people were a little awed by the prophet’s distinctive looks and manner.
He wore a garment of black camel’s hair girded with a leather belt about his waist
to hold in his garment for freer movement. This was to become the official dress of a
prophet (Zech. 13:4 ) and stood in striking contrast to the affluent inhabitants of
Samaria, and especially the Baal priests.

His dress was symbolic and stood for: (a) His chosen poverty and priorities--
material things were not on his priority list. (b) His separation and denouncement of
the world--he was not controlled by the lifestyle of the world. He was separated to
the Lord as God’s servant. (c) His official office and purpose in life--he was a
proclaimer of the Word of Yahweh. He knew who he was (God’s representative),
where he was (in a sinful world that stood opposed to the purposes of God) and why
he was there (to give out God’s message of light to people in darkness). What a
contrast Elijah must have been to the people in the rich luxurious city of Samaria,
especially the effeminate, perverted Baal priests. Edersheim tells us they wore white
linen gowns, high pointed bonnets, and lived on the delicacies of the palace. This
rugged mountain man, dressed in his camel’s hair garment, was the sight that
people saw striding down the streets of Samaria, up the steps of the palace right into
the throne room and presence of Ahab and Jezebel. Can’t you picture him as a kind
of Grizzly Adams or a rugged Abraham Lincoln? I am sure no soldier, priest,
citizen, or member of Israel’s secret police dared stand in his way.”
“Elijah’s appearance was dramatic and sudden. His message was short, direct, and
somewhat curt. Elijah did not follow the political protocol of the day. He did not
come bowing and scraping. He was not full of pious platitudes in order to get the
king in the mood for what he had to say. He leveled with Ahab. He laid it on the line
and then left just as suddenly as he had come.”
11. Most commentators agree that it took a great deal of courage for Elijah to tell
this wicked king that he was going to turn off the water supply of heaven, and force
him to suffer miserable conditions and great loss of life and resources. This king and
his wife were notorious for killing the prophets of God, and he would go on the most
wanted list right at the top. God starts this man off with the most dangerous job
possible. We are not told anything about how he felt, and if it was a fearful
undertaking in his mind, but we can assume that because he was, as James tells us, a
man of like passions with us all, that he had his fearful times in heading for the
palace of the king. Eddie Rickenbacker said, “Courage is doing what you're afraid
to do. There can be no courage unless you're scared.” So we can assume that Elijah
was afraid as he went to the king with his negative message, but he knew, “The only
thing required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” He refused to do
nothing out of fear, but chose to obey God and speak the truth. “Take a chance! All
life is a chance. The man who goes farthest is generally the one who is willing to do
and dare.”-- Dale Carnegie.
12. One man changed the weather of a vast area of the earth. One is always enough
when it is the will of God to change things. J. R. MacDuff wrote, “tells us, prayed
earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not on the earth
by the space of three years and six months. Oh, wondrous power! - a mortal
pleading with GOD! - Omnipotence being moved by weakness! The seasons arrested
in their course;- nature's processes curbed; - the windows of Heaven closed, and the
fields and granaries of earth emptied and spoiled - all - all owing to the voice of one

man!” There is mystery here as to why Elijah had to pray so earnestly for the rain
to cease for this time. Was this whole drought his idea to bring Israel to repentance,
or was it God's idea, and if God's, why would any prayer be involved? Unless it was
God's idea and will, but the timing of it was determined by Elijah's plea that it
begin, for there was no other way to change things. othing else was working, and
the nation was going deeper and deeper into idolatry. Elijah was concerned that if
judgment did not start now it might be too late to save the minority of the righteous
followers of Jehovah.
13. The number 12 paragraph opens up the issue-is it right to ever pray for
judgment to fall on people as Elijah did? It was right for him, for it was obviously
God's will and plan, but what about us? I have been tempted to pray for bad
consequences in a persons life who was going astray from God, and living a life
unworthy of a believer. If they will only repent by suffering some bad consequences
of their sinful choices, then I want them to suffer those consequences. It seems
paradoxical to want bad things to happen in order to bring about good things, but
the fact is, many people never change their lives and stop going in the wrong
direction until they suffer damage for going the wrong way. If nothing else will
make them turn around, it is an act of love to pray for judgment to motivate them to
see the folly of the direction they are going. God forbid that this idea becomes a
common practice, for it could lead to people praying for disaster to come upon our
nation for all of the wickedness and godlessness within our borders. It could lead to
people who are judgmental spending much time in praying for curses upon all kinds
of perverted persons who do things that are disgusting. I do not want to promote
this negative idea, for it is one that can be so abused that it becomes a great sin in
itself. However, it is valid to pray that negative consequences would have an impact
on people to turn back to God.
2 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah:
1. Rich Cathers points out how the word of the Lord is a key theme in this chapter.
(1 Ki 17:1 KJV) …but according to my word.
(1 Ki 17:2 KJV) And word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
(1 Ki 17:5 KJV) So he went and according unto the word of the LORD
(1 Ki 17:8 KJV) And word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
(1 Ki 17:14 KJV) For saith the LORD God of Israel …
(1 Ki 17:16 KJV) And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail,
to the word of the LORD
(1 Ki 17:24 KJV) And the woman said to Elijah, ow by this I know that thou art a
man of God, and that word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.
It is obvious that God is direction Elijah step by step, and Elijah is taking those
steps just as the Lord directs. That is why God could use this nobody from nowhere

to do great things, for he was always ready to obey every word the Lord spoke to
him. Cathers says, “If you want to be a person God uses, you MUST know His
Word.”
3. Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the
Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan.
1. There is a valid time to hide from a person who is likely to kill you if he finds you,
and that was the case here. God does many miracles in his life, but he still demands
that he do what he can do to avoid being killed. God does what only he can do, and
expects us to do what we can do. To expect God to do for us what we can do is
presumption, and if Elijah had stayed in the public eye he likely would have been
killed by Ahab. God's primary working in history is by natural means and not by
miracle. If somebody is out to kill you, just hide, and do not defy them to kill you
because you are in God's will, and so depending on a miracle. God could have made
it so that swords would not penetrate his body, but the simple way of avoiding the
swords is the way God usually works. If someone is looking to kill you, don't pray
for super powers, just go and hide. He could have gone on a preaching mission
gathering crowds and becoming a popular revival preacher like John the Baptist.
He would have been killed, however, and that was not God's plan for him. He had to
hide out to survive for the big showdown later.
2. Pink gets a laugh out of other commentators because of their interpretation of
this command to hide as a necessity to protect Elijah. He wrote, “It is almost
amusing to see how commentators have quite wandered from the track here, for
almost all of them explain the Lord’s command as being given for the purpose of
providing protection for His servant. As the death-dealing drought continued, the
perturbation of Ahab would increase more and more, and as he remembered the
prophet’s language that there should be neither dew nor rain but according to his
word, his rage against him would know no bounds: Elijah, then, must be provided
with a refuge if his life was to be spared. Yet Ahab made no attempt to slay him
when next they met, (1 Kings 18:17-20)! Should it be answered, That was because
God’s restraining hand was upon the king, we answer, granted, but was not God
able to restrain him all through the interval?”
2B. Pink preferred his own view which he stated like this: “...the most valuable gift
He grants any people is the sending of His own qualified servants among them, and
that the greatest possible calamity which can befall any land is God’s withdrawal of
those whom He appoints to minister unto the soul, then no uncertainty should
remain. The drought on Ahab’s kingdom was a Divine scourge and in keeping
therewith the Lord bade his prophet get thee hence. The removal of the ministers

of His truth is a sure sign of God’s displeasure, a token that He is dealing in
judgment with a people who have provoked Him to anger.” Henry goes along with
this perspective as well, as do others.
2C. I think his perspective is far more laughable than the one he rejects, for there is
a difference between taking yourself out of the public eye and hiding, for hiding
means someone is trying to find you. The king would be looking for Elijah after
much suffering, and this makes more sense than God punishing the people by taking
Elijah out of circulation and thus denying them a religious teacher. Having no rain
for three and a half years was punishment enough. The fact is, we do not know that
anybody in that day knew of this prophet who appeared suddenly with not a word
about his past life or ministry. He may have been like Jesus in that he just started
his public ministry at a ripe age at this announcement to Ahab. How could the
people feel bad about his disappearance if they never heard of him before. He could
not be missed if he had not been known, and we have no hint that he was known. It
is only speculation that he might be missed and people would feel the judgment of
God because of it. If they did know of him he could just stop preaching to achieve
this judgment. He would not have to hide and be fed in secret by ravens. This was a
radical way to prevent his teaching people.
What we know for fact is the record in chapter 18 where Obadiah, the man in
charge of Ahab's palace said to Elijah in verse 10, “..there is not a nation or
kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you. And whenever a
nation or kingdom claimed you were not there, he made them swear they could not
find you.” Ahab had everyone out looking for Elijah, and so to question that he was
hiding to escape detection is to question the record. The traditional view that he was
hiding for his protection is not laughable, but any other theory is. Does anyone think
that Ahab had the whole world looking for him so he could bring him out of hiding
to preach to the people? He did not arrest him on the spot when he made his
prophecy because it was a joke to him. It was the word of a lunatic. He did not
arrest him later because he realized he was dealing with a most powerful man in
partnership with God. He had reason to fear and respect him. Pink, however, does
go on in his commentary to acknowledge a number of times that he was hiding for
his protection. I just make an issue of this because a number of commentators seem
to reject the obvious, and put forth a theory that has no basis in the text. This theory
says his preaching was so tremendous that taking it away was a serious judgment. If
so, why is there none of his great teaching in Scripture for the rest of history to
enjoy? Elijah was not a great teacher or preacher, but a great man of action
endowed by God with the power to make his actions count.
3. Elijah just steps out on the stage, says a sentence, and then is told to leave the
stage and hide. It looks like a really bit part that only takes a few seconds and few
words, and then it is off to hide. It takes time for his role to develop from this slow
and seemingly insignificant beginning. God often starts big things with very small
beginnings, for what could have been bigger than the incarnation, but at the same

time what can be smaller than a baby? It can be seen to be humorous when you
consider that his first job is to report the weather, and then he is to run and play
hide and seek with the king and his soldiers. It looks like God is writing a comedy.
He was so unknown to begin with that nothing of his past is available, and the first
thing he has to do is go into hiding where nobody can know where he is at, and what
he is doing. He goes from obscurity into obscurity.
4. Jack VanderPlate, “God commanded Elijah - Leave, retreat, go hide yourself.
He was told to go the Kerith Ravine. Cherith means a cutting, and is the same
root as the word used for divorce. Cut yourself off, God told Elijah. Cut
yourself off from Ahab, and from your people. Hide yourself in a secret place,
the word used for the womb--a place of shelter and nurture. (Ps 139:15-16) It may
be very difficult for us to hear this word of God. We don't have time for hide-aways
and secret places. We pride ourselves on our busy, workaholic activism, and value
the very things that often keep us from hearing God's word. Of all people, we should
ponder... Show the wonder of your great love; save by your right hand those who
take refuge in you from their foes. Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the
shadow of your wings. (Ps 17:7-8)”
5. God had two major moves for Elijah. Go and Hide Thyself (17:2) and Go and
Show Thyself (18:1).
4 You will drink from the brook, and I have
ordered the ravens to feed you there.
1. The comedy continues with the Raven's Catering Service. God had all kinds of
possibilities. He could have had fruit grow on the trees, and fish leaping on shore for
Elijah to fry. He could have revived the manna from heaven in the wilderness, but
he chooses to use the birds to minister to his prophet. God has a sense of humor for
sure, and on top of it, he does not use lovely type birds like the doves, and pigeons,
but the unclean ravens, which he made forbidden as food for his people. They are
birds who like to come down and feast on road kill and carcasses in the woods. ot
the most appetizing image when they are catering your breakfast and dinner. God
never sends us anywhere to do anything without his presence and provision. The
promise of scripture is my God shall supply all your need (Phil. 4:19).
2. Everyone, of course, wants to know where the ravens got the food to bring to
him. This is not revealed, but Rich Cathers tells this interesting story: “We used to
have a children’s book of Bible stories that suggested that the ravens were part of
God’s air force, and every day they would make a run through the kitchens of
Ahab’s palace, snatching up the king’s goodies, and heading off for Elijah’s hiding
place.” That is so funny that it fits Elijah so perfectly, and I can believe he prayed
for just that so he could remove even more of the kings abundance to bring him

down.
3. We note all through this chapter that God is in control of nature, for he controls
the rain, and he is in control of the ravens, and he is in control of the oil and flour,
and in control of whatever germ or virus took the life of the young boy. The only
thing God has a problem controlling is human nature, and that is because he gave
them freedom of will. It can be as yielded as nature, however, and that is what we
see in Elijah.
4. Pink is right about these accommodations and resources for survival not being
very luxurious, but even painful. A child of the king, when God is the king, does not
always live on the highest level in terms of earthly riches. Ahab lived in luxury,
while Elijah lived in what is less than poverty. The bad guys often have it better
than the good guys. Pink wrote, “ Let us now take a closer look at the particular
place selected by God as the one where His servant was next to sojourn: by the
brook Cherith. Ah, it was a brook and not a river—a brook which might dry up
any moment. It is rare that God places His servants, or even His people, in the midst
of luxury and abundance: to be surfeited with the things of this world only too often
means the drawing away of the affections from the giver Himself. How hardly shall
they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! It is our hearts God requires,
and often this is put to the proof. The way in which temporal losses are borne
generally makes manifest the difference between the real Christian and the
worldling. The latter is utterly cast down by financial reverses, and frequently
commits suicide. Why? Because his all has gone and there is nothing left to live for.
In contrast, the genuine believer may be severely shaken and for a time deeply
depressed, but he will recover his poise and say, God is still my portion and I shall
not want.
5. Spurgeon, “There was a poor man who had no bread for his family, and they
were almost starving. One of his children said to him, Father, God sent bread to
Elijah by ravens.
Ah yes, he replied, but God does not use birds in that way now. He was a
cobbler, and a short time after he spoke these words there flew into his workshop a
bird, which he saw was a rare one, so he caught it and put it in a cage. A little later,
a servant came in and said to him, Have you seen such-and-such a bird?
Yes, he answered, it flew into my shop, so I caught it and put it into a cage.
It belongs to my mistress, said the maid.
Well then, take it, he replied, and away she went. When the girl took the bird to
her mistress, the lady sent her back to thank the cobbler for his care of her pet, and
to give him half a sovereign. So, if the bird did not actually bring the bread and
meat in its mouth, it was made the medium of feeding the hungry family although
the father had doubted whether such a thing could be.

The ravens owe their own meat day by day to God's providing, and yet he employs
them for the supply of his servant. So poor saints, deeply dependent on God for
their humblest needs, he enables to help saints yet poorer still. His prophet shall be
sustained by ravens, who, perhaps, have little ones that cry for their food. The Lord
will provide. We know not how, but he has his own ways and methods.”
6. An unknown author wrote, “When the LXX (the Septuagint, an ancient Greek
translation of the Old Testament) and the Latin Vulgate both talk about ravens,
then many other translations have copied that and also have ravens. The Hebrew
word in question is orebim. If one looks at it without the later added vowel-points,
then one can see that that passage may instead have referred to Arabians, or to
merchants, rather than to ravens. ow, where was Elijah staying, at that time?
On the Arabian border, east of Jordan. So, a more likely translation is that some
Arabs (Arabians) brought bread and meat to Elijah, and not ravens. The Fenton
translation has Arabs. But, the Hebrew word in question could also have referred
to merchants.” Most do not accept this view, for it defeats the whole point of Elijah
being hidden. If Arabs are twice a day carrying food into the hidden area to Elijah,
it would not take long before the secret was out, and this went on for many months.
7. Howat, “Hebrew language was written without ' points' or vowels, these being
supplied orally in reading. It so happened, then, that when the Masorites -that is,
the Jewish doctors who invented the vowel-points were dealing with this narrative
of Elijah, they inserted beneath the consonants of the word in dispute, the particular
points which gave it exclusively the meaning of 'ravens. Those who rejected this
interpretation, however, found it a very simple thing to show that, by the slightest
change of the vowel-points, the word might mean several other things besides, in
order to suit their peculiar views of the passage. And thus the consonants may have
been made to signify ' ravens, Arabs and Orebites,' all of which meanings have been
applied to them in the narrative ; in addition to which they can mean (of course with
the change of the vowel-points), 'evenings* or 'willow-trees* (the points for both
words being the same), ' gad-flies,* and ' the woofs or wefts,* as in Lev. xiii. 48. Our
own view of the matter most unquestionably is, as we have shown already, that the
word means 'ravens. Christian scholars are not in every case bound to the decision
of the Masorites, we nevertheless think that, in a case like the present, which
involves not a matter of doctrine, but of fact, we do well to accept the rendering of
the great Jewish scholars, who indeed only embodied in visible form what had been
the oral reading and testimony of centuries.” “We are shut up to the conclusion,'
says Dr. Eadie, * that the orebim were literally ravens. Such, too, is the translation
of Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion, the Septuagint, and other ancient versions, with
only one exception.'”
“It requires no stretch of faith to believe that the same God who supported the
wandering Israelites in the wilderness for forty years, by miracle, with manna and

quails, could equally support, by miracle, Elijah at the Cherith, for a few months at
the most, with food brought in the beaks of birds. Is anything too hard for the
Lord ? Admit the miracle, and all becomes plain. Deny the miracle, and attempt by
rationalizing theories to account for it, and you only produce a clumsy piece
of patchwork. It is surely sad and shameful to see the plainest declarations of God's
word coolly set aside, and mere myths and fancies substituted in their room. We
demand Scripture as it stands, not as some would tinker it Inspiration is not to be
cut and carved ; the simplest meaning is generally the correct one ; and far more
likely is the child to know the truth about Elijah in the matter in hand, who, turning
over its nursery story-book, sees the prophet in his woody glen, and, overhead, the
winged messengers of God bringing him his morning and evening meal, than are
those who would try to persuade us that the miracle at Cherith was produced by
an extraordinary combination of circumstances, to believe which would require far
more faith than fifty such miracles as the narrative unfolds.”
5 So he did what the LORD had told him. He went
to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and
stayed there.
1. It does not look like a pleasant assignment to go into such isolation, but he was
doing this in obedience to God's orders. He was in full compliance with the will of
God, and when this is the case a man is in the happiest place he can be. Other places
could be much easier to endure, and have much better accommodations and better
food, but they would not be where God wanted him to be. It can be hard to obey
God when we see other choices that seem superior to his choice for us, but we
cannot be happy there, for there is no greater happiness than knowing you are just
where God wants you to be. We see the contrast between Elijah and Jonah. Elijah
went where God wanted him to go and be was provided with food. Jonah ran from
where God wanted him to be, and he became food for the whale. Whether you eat or
become eaten depends on your obedience or disobedience to God.
2. Pink, “ot only did God’s injunction to Elijah supply a real test of his submission
and faith, but it also made a severe demand upon his humility. Had pride been in the
ascendant he would have said, Why should I follow such a course? It would be
playing the coward’s part to hid myself. I am not afraid of Ahab, so I shall not go
into seclusion. Ah, my reader, some of God’s commands are quite humiliating to
haughty flesh and blood. It may not have struck His disciples as a valorous policy to
pursue when Christ bade them when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into
another (Matthew 10:23); nevertheless, such were His orders, and He must be
obeyed. And why should any servant of His demur at such a command as hide
thyself, when of the Master Himself we read the Jesus hid Himself (John 8:59).

Ah, He has left us an example in all things.
Without hesitation or delay the prophet complied with God’s command. Blessed
subjection to the Divine will was this: to deliver Jehovah’s message unto the king
himself, or to be dependent upon ravens, he was equally ready. However
unreasonable the precept might appear or however unpleasant the prospect, the
Tishbite promptly carried it out. How different was this from the prophet Jonah,
who fled from the word of the Lord; yes, and how different the sequel—the one
imprisoned for three days and nights in the whale’s belly, the other, at the end,
taken to Heaven without passing through the portals of death! God’s servants are
not all alike, either in faith, obedience or fruitfulness. O that all of us may be as
prompt in our obedience to the Lord’s Word as Elijah was.”
3. Melvin Tinker gives us a brief study of faith that illustrates the life of Elijah, for
he trusted God's word completely and just followed his instructions to the letter
every time God spoke to him. He did not just have faith, he lived faith. Tinker
wrote, “According to Lewis Caroll's White Queen in 'Alice Through the looking
Glass' , 'faith' is believing six impossible things before breakfast. And I guess if ever
there was a misunderstood word today both within and outside Christian circles it is
that little word 'faith.' Part of the problem is that it is seen as something distinctly
religious. The religious person has 'faith' whereas the non-religious person doesn't.
'Faith' is pretty uncertain and takes over when the facts end. And that is a great pity
really, because the Bible's use of the word 'faith' is not intrinsically religious at all.
It is a very common word referring to something which all people are doing all of
the time. And perhaps for the sake of clarity we should drop the word 'faith'
altogether and substitute some of the more ordinary alternatives. And the
alternatives are these: 'trust', 'rely', 'depend'. And there are two reasons why these
words are better than the word 'faith' to get over the real meaning. First, because
faith isn't a thing we posses, it is something we do- 'trusting', 'relying' ,'depending'-
there is no such word as 'faithing'. And second, they underscore the importance of
the object of faith, for when someone says 'I trust', you ask, 'Trust in what'? When
they say, 'I depend' you ask 'on what are you depending?' When they say ' I rely'
well, the sentence is incomplete isn't it? you have to finish it by saying upon what it
is you are relying. But if you simply say 'I have faith' it appears very mystical but
doesn't tell you very much. And furthermore, it is the object of faith that makes faith
rational in that you depend upon something dependable, you rely upon something
reliable, you trust something that is trustworthy. So this word 'faith' has a flip side.
You must put your faith in something faithful, for to put your trust in something
untrustworthy isn't faith, it is gullibility. And so everyone has faith. At the moment
you are all exercising a tremendous amount of faith in your pew. You are relying on
the pew to support you, and your faith in the pew is rational because it is the pew
that is reliable. So what is it that is keeping you up at the moment? Is it your faith or
your pew? Well, if you think it is your faith, try sitting down without a pew and see
what happens! And therefore, in many ways it is the object of your faith that is far
more important than faith itself. And that is precisely what the Bible teaches.”

6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the
morning and bread and meat in the evening, and
he drank from the brook.
1. We note that the menu was not very large in variety. God did not by some miracle
provide special delicacies for the prophet. He used natural means to get just the
basics of life to him. It amounted to an old time prison diet of bread and water with
some sort of meat thrown in. It is good the nature of the meat is not given, for
ravens are noted for feeding on dead carcases. I think we can assume that only fresh
kill was brought to Elijah, and not spoiled meat that does not bother the ravens.
This is so unusual that Clarke has done an amazing study to prove that it could not
be literal ravens that is meant. His study is in Appendix 1 for those interested, but it
has not changed the translations.
1B. Gill, “..it seems better to interpret them of ravens, as we do, these creatures
delighting to be in solitary places, in valleys, and by brooks; nor need it be any
objection that they were unclean creatures by the law, since Elijah did not feed upon
them, but was fed by them; and supposing any uncleanness by touch, the ceremonial
law might be dispensed with in an extraordinary case, as it sometimes was; though it
is very remarkable that such creatures should be employed in this way, which are
birds of prey, seize on anything they can, live on carrion, and neglect their own
young, and yet feed a prophet of the Lord; which shows the power and providence
of God in it. Something like this Jerome relates, of a raven bringing a whole loaf of
bread, and laying it before the saints, Paulus and Antonius.
1C. o man in history has ever watched two miracles a day for many months. It, no
doubt, became such a common occurrence that he did not think of it as a miracle
any more, but just a normal daily routine. But the fact is, if ravens can deliver a
meal twice a day for many months, it is the greatest series of miracles in history in
terms of numbers of times it occurred. This was a once in a lifetime experience for
Elijah, and a once in a history of mankind miracle. It only fed one man, but it is the
longest lasting miracle ever recorded.
2. Ron Daniels has compiled some verses and comments on the ravens, and they
show that even though they are detestable as food, they are cared for by God who
delights to see that they have food.
Lev. 11:13-15 ‘These, moreover, you shall detest among the birds; they are
abhorrent, not to be eaten: the eagle and the vulture and the buzzard, and the kite

and the falcon in its kind, every raven in its kind They were not to be eaten, but on
the other hand, God made sure that they were always eating. They are three times
used as illustrations of God's provision. The Lord asked Job,
Job 38:41 “Who prepares for the raven its nourishment, when its young cry to God,
and wander about without food?
And the Psalmist wrote that the Lord...
Ps. 147:9 ...gives to the beast its food, and to the young ravens which cry.
Jesus also taught,
Luke 12:24 “Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; and they have no
storeroom nor barn; and {yet} God feeds them...
God is the one who feeds the ravens. He consistently provides for them.
ow He is using the ravens to feed Elijah. Think about that for a moment. God
provides for them, and they provided for Elijah. This is a picture of how the
kingdom of God is supposed to work. When God supplies you with provision,
whether it is money, food, etc., it is not only for your use. It is not just an exclusive
blessing for you. When God supplies you, it is also so that you will obey the
command of the Lord to supply others.”
2. I think it is funny that the ravens listen to God's orders and carry them out fully,
but the leaders and people of Israel do not pay attention to their God, and fail to
carry them out. The animal kingdom is sometime more in conformity to the will of
God than the human kingdom, and this is a disgrace on man. When a bird is more
of a servant of God than the leaders of God's people you know it is a desperate time,
and calls for judgment such as drought. Imagine how Elijah must have felt that first
morning when the ravens came flying in with food. It would be so strange that he
would have to raise his voice in praise to God for such a unique way of providing for
his needs. I can just hear him laughing at the awesome way God was supplying him
in his isolation where without God he would perish with hunger. God keeps his
promises.
In Psalm 34:10 we read, The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek
the Lord lack no good thing. In Philippians 4:19 Paul tells us, My God will supply
all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. To add to the humor
here, the Jews have a tradition that the ravens took the food from the table of Ahab
in his palace to bring to Elijah. This whole story is illustrating God's laughter in
Psalm 2 where all the nations are plotting against God in their rebellion, and verse 4
says, “The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them.” Why?
Because it is so stupid to think you can outwit and overcome God. He will always be
able to out wit and overcome all opposition, and rebellion against him is as silly as a
fly trying to derail a locomotive. It is laughable, and so we see much for God to
laugh at in the whole story of Elijah against the world of rebels like Ahab and
Jezebel, and their hoard of Baal worshipers.
3. Pink, “Observe, no vegetables, fruit, or sweets are mentioned. There were no

luxuries, but simply the bare necessities. Having food and raiment let us be
therewith content, (1 Tim. 6:8). but are we? Alas, how little of this godly
contentment is now seen, even among the Lord’s people. How many of them set
their hearts upon the things which the godless make idols of. Why are our young
people dissatisfied with the standard of comfort which sufficed their parents? Self
must be denied if we are to show ourselves followers of Him who had not where to
lay His head.
But why should not God supply the water in a miraculous way, as He did the food?
Most certainly He could have done so. He could have brought water out of the rock,
as He did for Israel, and for Samson out of a jawbone (Judges 15:18, 19). Yes, but
the Lord is not confined to any one method, but has a variety of ways in brining the
same end to pass. God sometimes works one way and sometimes another, employing
this means today and that tomorrow, in accomplishing His counsels. God is
sovereign and acts not according to rule and rote. He ever acts according to His own
good pleasure, and this He does in order to display His all-sufficiency, to exhibit His
manifold wisdom, and to demonstrate the greatness of His power. God is not tied
and if He closes one door He can easily open another.”
4. Alexander Maclaren, “People take offence at the abundance of miracles in the
lives of Elijah and Elisha, and assert that some of them, this among the rest, are for
unworthily trivial occasions. But the grave crisis in Israel is to be taken into account,
which involved the necessity for unusual manifestations of divine power, and very
evident credentials for the prophets; and the preparation of Elijah for his
tremendous struggle was, even to our eyes, surely an adequate end for miracle. How
could he doubt that God had sent him and would care for him, with such memories
as those of his winged purveyors? How could he doubt future words which should
come to him, when he recalled how marvellously this one had been fulfilled? The
silence of the ravine, the long days and nights of solitude, the punctual arrival of his
food, would all tend to weld his faith into yet more close-knit strength. If we may so
say, it was worth God’s while to work miracles, to make Elijah. The highest end of
creation is the production of God-fearing men. All things serve the soul that serves
God.”
5. Elijah had two good meals a day, but what did he do when he was not eating for
all of these months? It is usually thought that he spent the first year by this brook. It
is a pattern in Scripture and history that men are sent into isolation for the purpose
of training for the greater task God has for them. For example, J. R. MacDuff gives
these notes:
- Moses had forty years' separation from the world in the Sinai desert, before
entering on his unparalleled mission as the liberator and leader of the many
thousands of Israel.

- John had his loving spirit fed and refreshed and disciplined in the solitudes of
Patmos.
- John's loving Master had His days and nights of sacred seclusion on the mountains
of Judea and Galilee, where His holy human soul was strengthened for arduous
conflict.
- Paul, in training for the great work of the apostolate, had three years of retirement
amid the deserts of Arabia.
- Luther,- the Elijah of his age,- had his spirit braced for hero-deeds during an
uninterrupted season of prayer and the study of the sacred oracles, in the lone castle
of Wartburg in the forest of Thuringia.”
We have to assume that Elijah did not just kill time, but that he had resources for
study, and that he spent much time in prayer and in fellowship with God so that he
could be the person he needed to be to take on the world of false prophets that
awaited his challenge.
5B. H. T. Howat put it this way, “o companions has he, save ravens, who, his
divinely commissioned servants, wait upon him, ' in their black livery,' at break of
morning and at fall of eve. It seems a strange scene altogether : that wierd-like
grotto among the rocks, from whence is heard now, some solitary song of morning
worship, or some fervid utterance of evening prayer. We see the prophet as he
receives from his ravens his appointed food, or, rude cup in hand, or perhaps none
at all, steps down to the rivulet to quench his thirst. Much thinks he of God, we do
not doubt, so manifestly is he a dependent upon His bounty. Much thinks he also of
Israel, and the work before him there, while this second season of seclusion is
recruiting and training him for it This is frequently God's way. Our blessed Lord
was forty days in the wilderness ; Moses was forty years in the land of Midian ;
David was long an exile in the solitudes of Engedi ; Paul was three years in Arabia ;
John the Evangelist was for nearly two years in Patmos ; Luther was long in a
monastery ; Tyndale' the first translator of the English Bible, was a fugitive at
Marburg and Worms, Antwerp and Cologne ; John Knox was several years
prisoner in the French galleys ; and so Elijah is sent to Cherith, not merely to escape
the rage of Ahab, but there, amid the calm and solitude of nature, to grow up to his
full height as champion and conservator of God's despised and trampled truth.”
6. We tend to think of Elijah as a man of great miracles as he stands on the
mountain and calls fire down from heaven, and becomes one of the great heroes of
Israel. This is a valid picture of this great prophet, but we need to also see that he
spent many months sitting by a brook with no great task except to keep himself
hidden. It had to be lonely and boring, but he endured this being isolated and
seemingly useless to anyone because that was God's will for him at this time. It is not
all glorious victories for the person in God's will. There are times of sheer boredom

and being cut off from any useful ministry. It may come as a result of sickness or an
accident, or any number of things beyond our control. This is not a time to despair,
but a time to prepare, and to get yourself in a frame of mind that will make you
stronger when God opens up the next step he wants you to take. We do not know
how Elijah prepared, but we can assume he did a lot of meditation, and a lot of
prayer for guidance. It took an enormous amount of patience and persistence to
endure this hideout experience, and that is what made him great.
7. John Loweie, “We need riot wonder at the miraculous method of his supply, for
indeed God's providential wonders are often as great as these. That birds of prey
should bring the prophet food may be justified on several accounts. These birds,
being unfit for human food, would remain unmolested when other birds might be
destroyed by the famishing people; being accustomed to seek for prey, their instincts
could be more easily turned to this service; their regular flight in a time of distress,
when such birds might find more food, would attract less special attention; and
birds so strong might fly in a wider range, and even snatch their food from the
altars of other lands. That Elijah should eat such food from such carriers would
teach that the ceremonial laws might be set aside by just necessity; as in a less
pressing case our Lord argues that God will have mercy and not sacrifice.
“ othing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is
more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded
genius is almost a proverb. Education will not the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, 'Press on,' has
solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.”
-- Calvin Coolidge.
“ Extraordinary people survive under the most terrible circumstances and they become
more extraordinary because of it.”
-- Robertson Davies.
The Widow at Zarephath
7 Some time later the brook dried up because
there had been no rain in the land.
1. His prophecy is coming true, and now without rain his source of water is gone,
and so he is a victim of his own prediction. You can be in the place where God wants
you to be and still have a problem. Circumstances change, and so what was God's
will can also change, and lack of water meant Elijah had to move on to a different
place. You have to move with the changes that come in life, for history and culture

are ever changing, and call for new means and methods to accomplish the will of
God. It is always right to move on when the present location does no longer meet the
need it once did. Again, God could have kept that stream going by miracle, but
nature's laws were not going to be changed when he could just move to a different
location. God did many miracles in Elijah's life, but not any more than necessary to
achieve his purpose. God does not throw miracles around helter skelter, but uses
them in a conservative manner. He works by natural means and common sense.
2. He suffered a loss due to his own prayer for rain to stop. God's people suffer with
everyone else when the nation is judged. Pink wrote, “That the brook dried up.
Cherith would not flow for ever, no, not even for the prophet. Elijah himself must
be made to feel the awfulness of that calamity which he had announced. Ah, my
reader, it is no uncommon thing for God to suffer His own dear children to become
enwrapped in the common calamities of offenders. True, He makes a real difference
both in the use and the issue of their stripes, but not so in the infliction of them. We
are living in a world which is under the curse of a Holy God, and therefore man is
born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. or is there any escape from trouble
so long as we are left in this scene. God’s own people, though the objects of the
everlasting love, are not exempted, for many are the afflictions of the righteous.
Why? For various reasons and with various designs: one of them being to wean our
hearts from things below and cause us to set our affection on things above.”
3. Many authors make much of the brook drying up as a good lesson for us all, but
the fact is, the text just says it dried up because of the lack of rain. The brooks that
satisfy us in life do often dry up, however, and so men make this text a test of how
we will respond when our brook runs dry. David Guzik, for example wrote, Ah, it
is hard to sit beside a drying brook - much harder than to face the prophets of Baal
on Carmel. (Meyer) He also mentions different kinds of drying brooks we might
experience:
· The drying brook of popularity, ebbing away as from John the Baptist.
· The drying brook of health, sinking under a creeping paralysis, or a slow
consumption.
· The drying brook of money, slowly dwindling before the demands of sickness,
bad debts, or other people's extravagance.
· The drying brook of friendship, which for long has been diminishing, and
threatens soon to cease.
Why does God let them dry? He wants to teach us not to trust in His gifts but in
Himself. He wants to drain us of self, as He drained the apostles by ten days of
waiting before Pentecost. He wants to loosen our roots ere He removes us to some
other sphere of service and education. He wants to put in stronger contrast the river

of throne-water that never dries. (Meyer)”
4. Maclaren, “The little stream that came down the wady dried up ‘after a while’;
and Elijah, no doubt, would wonder what was to be done next, as he saw it daily
sending a thinner thread to Jordan. But he was not told till the channel was dry, and
the pebbles in its bed bleaching in the sun. God makes us sometimes wait on beside a
diminishing rivulet, and keeps us ignorant of the next step, till it is dry. Patience is
an element in strength. It was a far cry from Cherith to Zarephath, right across the
kingdom of Ahab; and to run for refuge to a dependency of Zidon, Jezebel’s
country, looked like putting his head in the lion’s mouth. But the same ‘command’
which the ravens had obeyed had smoothed his way.”
5. If this brook is dried up, and its water coming from the mountain streams, how
much worse must things be in the rest of the land, and especially in the gardens of
Ahab and Jezebel. Howat describes what is happening in the mind of the king from
the day of his hearing Elijah's message to the present. “the monarch must have
thought the prophet mad. This wild mountaineer, with the long straggling locks and
the sheep-skin mantle, asserting that ' the secret chemistry' of sun, and cloud,
and sky was completely in his power ! First we can believe that Ahab laughed. 'The
thing's ridiculous,' we hear him say. He points to the cloudless firmament ; to the
infinite azure, peaceful as a slumbering child ; to the orb of day, in all his majesty of
power, and all his magnificence of sunbeam. 'What means this fool ?* he says again.
' There be no signs of evil here. ever was the grass greener, or the flowers more
beautiful, or the fruit hanging in richer or riper luxuriance.' But the cloudless sky
continues ; and the infinite azure slumbers on ; and the orb of day lavishes his
wealth of sunbeam, till the grass is rotting, and the flowers are drooping, and the
fruit-trees threaten to present nothing but long, bare arms — the skeletons of
their former glory. Ahab is alarmed. There is no laughing now.” “Where is that
Gileadite ?' cries Ahab, * Where is that wild fanatic ?' cries Jezebel. The word of the
Lord' has come to him, and he is safe, For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in
His pavilion ; in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me...”
6. Howat, “There can be no doubt the feelings of Elijah would be very peculiar as he
saw the Cherith lessening day after day, while possibly the very name of the
streamlet, which in the original Hebrew signifies ' drought,' only tended to deepen
his sense of alarm. A preliminary question rises. Could not the same God who had
miraculously supplied the prophet with food, as miraculously have supplied him
with water? Was the difficulty greater to make Cherith flow, than to make the
voracious ravens Elijah's ministers? And yet blessings perpetuated too often become
mere matters of course. There is a tendency in the very uniformity with which the
sun rises, our pulses beat, and our lungs breathe, to beget a feeling of indifference
and forgetfulness to the great Source of them all. All life is a miracle; new mercies
and new mornings dawn together.” The point being that it was time for a new
challenge and new ministry. It had to be a blessing for Elijah to move on to

something new. Variety is the spice of life, and he needed a little variety in his life,
and his diet.
8 Then the word of the LORD came to him:
1. Hudson Taylor served the Lord in China and experienced God's steady presence
and provision. He said, God's work, done in God's way, will receive God's supply.
That is why Elijah had to move on to get the supply he needed to survive.
Watchman ee once said, Because of our proneness to look at the bucket and
forget the fountain, God has frequently to change His means of supply to keep our
eyes fixed on the source.
2. Elijah had to be thrilled to hear from the Lord again, for without his brook he
would soon be seeing vultures rather than ravens flying overhead. He knew it was
time to move on, and that was just what the Lord had in mind for him.
3. Because he was guided by the word of the Lord we see these three things stand
out in this chapter.
1. HE HAD PURPOSE. It was his purpose to carry God's message to Ahab.
2. HE HAD PROVISIOS. He was kept fit and healthy by God's grace.
3. HE HAD POWER. By means of his prayer a life was restored.
Life is good when you have a purpose, and have all your needs supplied, and the
power to minister the grace of God to others. Elijah had all that was necessary for a
happy life that was pleasing to both God and man.
4. He also had a fourth thing that is implied by staying by this brook until it dried
up, and that would be the virtue of patience. How hard it would be to be isolated for
a year with no contact with another human being. One of the basic needs of anyone
in God's service is patience. Some of the greatest missionaries of history devotedly
spread the seed of God's Word and yet had to wait long periods before seeing the
fruit of their efforts. William Carey, for example, labored 7 years before the first
Hindu convert was brought to Christ in Burma, and Adoniram Judson toiled 7
years before his faithful preaching was rewarded. In western Africa, it was 14 years
before one convert was received into the Christian church. In ew Zealand, it took 9
years; and in Tahiti, it was 16 years before the first harvest of souls began.
5. Pink, “Patience is a most necessary grace for the Christian. That requires little
proof, for the experience of every believer confirms it. Some difficulty accompanies
every duty and the putting forth of every grace, not only because the
commandments of God run counter to our corruptions but also because they run
counter to the spirit and course of this world. Therefore patience is required in

order to perform our duties constantly, and to continue in the exercise of that grace.
To swim against the tide of popular sentiment, willing to be deemed singular,
plodding along the narrow way, which is an uphill course throughout, and not
fainting near the end, calls for much fortitude and endurance.”
5B. Pink goes on to describe three kinds of patience. “There is a threefold patience
spoken of in Scripture. First, a laboring patience, which consists in our doing the
will of God in self-denying obedience, however irksome it proves to the flesh. The
same Greek word rendered patiently waiting in our text is translated patient
continuance in well doing in Romans 2:7, which is in contrast with those whose
goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away (Hosea 6:4).
Christ defined the stony-ground hearers as those which for a while believe, and in
time of temptation fall away. He described the thorny-ground hearers as they who
are choked with the cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to
perfection. But He declared that the good-ground hearers are they who having
heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience (Luke 8:13-15). Many
of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him (John 6:66), but of the
apostles He said, Ye are they which have continued with me (Luke 22:28).
Second, suffering patience, which meekly bears affliction and does not rebel against
whatever God has appointed for us. Where that grace is thus exercised, the soul
does not faint in the time of adversity nor turn back in the day of battle. When the
dispensations of divine providence are most trying to flesh and blood, and we are
tempted to resist them, we are enabled to say, What? shall we receive good at the
hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? (Job 2:10). Piety does not exempt any
from trouble and sorrow, but it does enable us to make manifest the sufficiency of
divine grace in all conditions and circumstances. As God is honored by the exercise
of our love and zeal in performing His precepts, so He is greatly glorified by our
quietness and submission when He calls upon us to experience suffering. Our
fidelity to Him must be tested by enduring evil as well as in doing good, and the
exercise of patience is as much needed for an unrepining and unflagging bearing of
the one as it is for the joyous and unremitting performance of the other.
Third, a waiting patience, which consists of quietly tarrying for God’s pleasure after
we have both done the preceptive will of God and fulfilled His providential will.
Some find this more difficult to exercise than either of the former, yet it is required
of us. Be not slothful, but followers of them who through patience inherit the
promises. For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God,
ye might receive the promise (Heb. 6:12; 10:36). God has anticipatory mercies
which come without our tarrying for them; He also has rewarding mercies which
must be waited for, for He is pleased to test our patience, and often there is no
reward for doing His will unless we do wait. Though God is never behind His time,
He seldom comes at ours. It came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty
years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all of the hosts of the LORD went
out from the land of Egypt. It is a night much to be observed unto the LORD for
bringing them out (Ex. 12:41-42). That great promise of deliverance was

performed punctually, not only to the day but to the very hour. Those four hundred
and thirty years expired during the hours of darkness, and God did not wait till the
morning light.
We read of the shortening of evil times (Matthew 24:22) but not of their
lengthening! God never keeps His people waiting for good any longer than He has
purposed or promised. But though He keeps His time exactly, and works just at the
moment He has ordained and made known, yet we are apt to antedate the divine
promise and set a time before His. As one of the Puritans quaintly expressed it, We
are both short-sighted and short-breathed. That which is but a moment in the
calendar of heaven seems an age to us, and therefore we have need of patience in
referring all to God’s pleasure. The vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the
end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely
come, it will not tarry (Hab. 2:3). There appears to be a verbal contradiction there:
though it tarry and it will not tarry; yet the meaning is simple. Though what is
promised may tarry beyond our time, it shall not beyond the hour God has prefixed.
There is no remedy or relief for us but in patiently waiting, calmly but confidently
expecting the divine performance.”
9 Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay
there. I have commanded a widow in that place to
supply you with food.
1. Elijah has been lying around for about a year, and all of sudden God tells him to
hurry up and get moving. “Go at once” is the message from God. Hurry up Elijah,
and get going to Zareophath of Sidon. It sounds like Elijah is in the army where the
saying, “hurry up and wait,” is a common expression. You need both quick
responses and patience. You do little to nothing, and then it is get a move on. Snap
to it soldier, and then wait, and wait, and wait. Life is like that in God's service. You
sometime have to hurry, and then just wait. Opportunities come and you have to
move fast to take advantage of them, and then their can be long periods where there
are no open doors calling you to hurry before they close. These are some of the
realities for those who are in the Lord's army, as was the case with Elijah. He had to
know how to hurry up, and how to sit still.
1B. Howat, “Phoenicia was the last place in the world to have found a worshiper of '
the Lord, the living God/ It was also the last place in the world to have found an
Elijah. And yet both are here ― the one ' a lily among thorns ;' the other, in the
quaint but fine thought of Lightfoot, the first apostle to the Gentiles.

1B2, Elijah must have said to himself, “Thank God I can move from this isolated
place with no one to talk to, and nothing to eat but bird food.” He was told to go to a
city and actually have contact with another human being. This was good news for
him and the widow he was going to meet. Both of them were alone and needed
human companionship. It was a radical step up from his isolation, and he at last had
someone to talk to and share with in their quite desperate situation. God was saying
of Elijah what he said of Adam, “It is not good for man to be alone.” He provided
companionship for two people, and actually three, for the widow's son was old
enough to appreciate a man around the house. We see the mercy of God in
providing food for the soul as well as for the body in this move. Elijah was always
ready to move on, for he knew the next step in God's plan for him would be a
blessing and a greater opportunity to be useful for good. Brian Tracy said, “Develop
an attitude of gratitude, and give thanks for everything that happens to you,
knowing that every step forward is a step toward achieving something bigger and
better than your current situation.”
1C. Bob Deffinbaugh, “Zarephath is in Sidon, not that far from where Jezebel’s
father, the king of Sidon lived, not far from where she had grown up. Zarephath is
where the Baal worship of Ahab and Jezebel originated. The Sidonian gods of
Phoenicia have the home field advantage. Elijah is on their turf. It was often
believed that the gods were territorial. This seems even to be true of Abraham, who
feared that God could not protect him outside the promised land (see Genesis 20:11-
13 ). It was true of the Syrians, who thought that Yahweh was the God of the
mountain, while Baal was a god of the valleys, (1 Kings 20:28 ). If this were true
(which it is not!) then Elijah is taking a huge risk by moving to Zarephath. Who
would live there as one who worshipped Yahweh? Who would hide him? You would
think that everyone living there would want to turn him over to Ahab. And yet so
far as we are told no one laid a hand on him while he was there. The safest place in
the world was under Baal's nose. The safest place in the world was where God told
you to be.”
1D. We see God's sense of humor again, for he sends his hunted prophet right into
the heart of Baal country to keep hiding, and to the poorest of the poor to keep
providing for his needs for daily food. God's choices are ridiculous from a human
point of view, and none of us would ever plan to do things the way God does. His
ways are so often mysterious, and when you think about them, they are laughable,
for it seems like God is telling a joke by the way he protects and provides for Elijah.
God's sense of humor runs all through the life of this chosen servant, and many
others as well. “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise;
God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly
things of this world and the despised things-- and the things that are not-- to nullify
the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.”(1Cor 1:27-29)
1E. Henry, “..he is sent to honour and bless with his presence a city of Sidon, a

Gentile city, and so becomes (says Dr. Lightfoot) the first prophet of the Gentiles.
Israel had corrupted themselves with the idolatries of the nations and become worse
than they; justly therefore is the casting off of them the riches of the world. Elijah
was hated and driven out by his countrymen; therefore, lo, he turns to the Gentiles,
as the apostles were afterwards ordered to do, Acts 18:6 . But why to a city of
Sidon? Perhaps because the worship of Baal, which was now the crying sin of Israel,
came lately thence with Jezebel, who was a Sidonian (1 Kings 16:31 ); therefore
thither he shall go, that thence may be fetched the destroyer of that idolatry, Even
out of Sidon have I called my prophet, my reformer. Jezebel was Elijah's greatest
enemy; yet, to show her the impotency of her malice, God will find a hiding-place
for him even in her country. Christ never went among the Gentiles except once into
the coast of Sidon, Matthew 15:21.
2. Dr. Ray Pritchard, “...when the Lord does speak to Elijah, He commands him to
go to Zarephath. This is a strange command considering the fact that Zarephath is
in a Gentile nation. It is country of Jezebel. It is a land of idolaters. It is a wicked
place filled with wicked people. Yet, that is exactly where the Lord sends His
prophet! To top it off, to get to Zarephath from Cherith will force Elijah to march
over 100 miles through territory ruled over by king Ahab, who is looking for Elijah
everywhere. It seems like this command of the Lord makes no sense at all! Of
course, one of the reason for sending Elijah to Zarephath was to vividly illustrate
the impotence of Jezebel's wrath and power!”
2B. Clarke, “This was a town between Tyre and Sidon, but nearer to the latter, and
is therefore called in the text Zarephath which belongeth to Sidon; or, as the Vulgate
and other versions express it, Sarepta of the Sidonians. Sarepta is the name by which
it goes in the ew Testament; but its present name is Sarphan. Mr. Maundrell, who
visited it, describes it as consisting of a few houses only on the tops of the mountains;
but supposes that it anciently stood in the plain below, where there are still ruins of
a considerable extent.”
2C. Rich Cathers, “Zarephath – Tsar@phath – “refinery”. A city up north on the
coast of Israel, belonging to the Phoenicians at Sidon, the city is located between the
Phoenician cities of Tyre and Sidon. This isn’t a short journey. Zarephath is at least
100 miles from Cherith (as the raven flies). The name comes from tsaraph, to smelt,
refine, test.”
3. This widow is very interesting, for she is a Gentile that God has chosen to be his
instrument of providing for his prophet. Why in the world would he pick a Gentile
for this task? It was because the land of Israel was so corrupt that most of the
widows in Israel were idolaters. We know this because of the words of Jesus in the
Gospel of Luke 4:25-29 where we read, “But I tell you of a truth, many widows were
in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six
months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26 But unto none of them
was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.
27 And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of

them was cleansed, saving aaman the Syrian. 28 And all they in the synagogue,
when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29 And rose up, and thrust
him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was
built, that they might cast him down headlong.” Jesus put himself in great danger
by his calling attention to these Jews that God chose Gentiles over them because
they had become so corrupt and ungodly. This says a lot for this woman, for she was
godly in a time when idolatry was overwhelming popular.
4. God never runs out of options, for when his people are too corrupt to be useful, he
goes to the world of those outside his people and finds those who will listen and
follow his will. God is not limited to his own people, for he has people in all the
world who are open to him. In the pagan world there are always those who pray to
him and believe in him in the midst of all the idolatry around them. God works in
all people to choose his elect. Spurgeon wrote, “Election passed over all the poor
widows of Israel who might have been expected, as belonging to God’s Covenant
people, to be first provided for in the day of scant, and it lighted in sovereignty upon
a heathen, a woman living in a country which had been accursed of God and given
over before to the sword of the seed of Jacob. Election, I say, passed over all the
likeliest ones and pitched upon her who seemed to be beyond the verge of
hope―ordaining in mercy that she, entertaining the Prophet, should be saved
thereby. Surely, Brothers and Sisters, we have here an instance of the sovereignty of
electing love!”
4B. Spurgeon continues, “Divine Grace must go to Sidon for its object, why must it
select a widow? She seemed to be the least likely person to answer the design of the
decree, namely, the sustenance the Prophet. Were there not princes Sidon with
secret stores of food? Were there not merchants who had passed over the salt sea
and knew where grain was to be found? Were there not men of understanding who
could, by their conversation, cheer the Prophet’s lonely hours? o, but though they
be great or wise, or wealthy, God bids His chariot downward to roll away from the
lofty towers of nobles to the humble cottage of the poorest in all Sidonia’s
dominions, and a poor widow woman becomes the object of special Grace!”
5. Pink, “This was indeed a severe testing of Elijah, not only to take a long journey
through the desert but to enter into an experience which was entirely opposed to his
natural feelings, his religious training and spiritual inclinations, to be made
dependent upon a Gentile in a heathen city. He was required to leave the land of his
fathers and sojourn at the headquarters of Baal-worship. Let us duly weigh this
truth that God’s plan for Elijah demanded from him unquestioning obedience. They
who would walk with God must not only trust Him implicitly but be prepared to be
entirely regulated by His Word. ot only must our faith be trained by a great
variety of providences, but our obedience by the Divine commandments.” “ot only
was the faith and obedience of Elijah tested by God’s call for him to go to
Zarephath, but his humility was also put to the proof. He was called to receive
charity at the hands of a desolate widow. How humbling to pride to be made

dependent upon one of the poorest of the poor. How withering to all self-confidence
and self-sufficiency to accept relief from one who did not appear to have sufficient
for her own urgent needs! Ah, it takes pressure of circumstances to make us bow to
what is repugnant to our natural inclinations.”
5B. Elijah was guided step by step in the providence of God.
There is a light in yonder skies,
A light unseen by outward eyes ;
But clear and bright to inward sense,
It shines, the star of Providence.
The radiance of the central throne,
It comes from God, and God alone :
The ray that never yet grew pale.
The star that shines within the veil. ' —
Madame Guyon.
10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the
town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He
called to her and asked, Would you bring me a
little water in a jar so I may have a drink?
1. We see the providence of God making his task easy by him seeing the widow he
was directing him to as the first person he came upon. The chances were slim that
this would happen. We could call it quite a coincidence, but it was God's providence
that she would be there when he arrived at the town gate. Elijah knew he was in the
will of God completely when he found this widow woman without a search. It is not
always so, but God made his will easy in this case. In many other cases it can get
very complicated.
1B. Howat describes what his trip must have been like. “Let us see Elijah on his
journey. He takes his last look of the dry bed of the Cherith ; of the rocky grot
where, like oah in the ark, the Lord had ' shut him in ; of his ravens, who, perched
overhead, survey his movements with wondering eye. He is unburdened with
equipage of travel. He throws around him his sheepskin mantle. He has a staff
already, or improvises one from the forest before he leaves. He steps out to the
open country again. Led by a heavenly instinct and impulse, he makes for the
Jordan. He crosses it. He reaches tlic mountains of Gilboa, memorable as the
scene of the death of Saul. Passing over their eastern ridge, he finds himself in the

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