1 Kings 17
17
Elijah Visits a Widow in Sidonian Territory
1 Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As certainly as the Lord God of Israel lives (whom I serve),#tn Heb “before whom I stand.” there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command.”#tn Heb “except at the command of my word.” 2 The Lord told him:#tn Heb “and the word of the Lord came to him, saying.” 3 “Leave here and travel eastward. Hide out in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan. 4 Drink from the stream; I have already told#tn Heb “commanded.” the ravens to bring you food#tn Heb “to provide for you.” there.” 5 So he did#tn Heb “So he went and did.” as the Lord told him; he went and lived in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan. 6 The ravens would bring him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he would drink from the stream.
7 After a while,#tn Heb “And it came about at the end of days.” the stream dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 The Lord told him,#tn Heb “And the word of the Lord came to him, saying.” 9 “Get up, go to Zarephath in Sidonian territory, and live there. I have already told#tn Heb “Look, I have commanded.” a widow who lives there to provide for you.” 10 So he got up and went to Zarephath. When he went through the city gate, there was a widow gathering wood. He called out to her, “Please give me a cup#tn Heb “a little.” of water, so I can take a drink.” 11 As she went to get it, he called out to her, “Please bring me a piece of bread.”#tn The Hebrew text also includes the phrase “in your hand.” 12 She said, “As certainly as the Lord your God lives, I have no food, except for a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. Right now I am gathering a couple of sticks for a fire. Then I’m going home to make one final meal for my son and myself. After we have eaten that, we will die of starvation.”#tn Heb “Look, I am gathering two sticks and then I will go and make it for me and my son and we will eat it and we will die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you planned.#tn Heb “according to your word.” But first make a small cake for me and bring it to me; then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The jar of flour will not be empty and the jug of oil will not run out until the day the Lord makes it rain on the surface of the ground.’” 15 She went and did as Elijah told her; there was always enough food for Elijah and for her and her family.#tn Heb “and she ate, she and he and her house [for] days.” 16 The jar of flour was never empty and the jug of oil never ran out, just as the Lord had promised#tn Heb “out, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke.” through Elijah.
17 After this#tn Heb “after these things.” the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. His illness was so severe he could no longer breathe. 18 She asked Elijah, “Why, prophet, have you come#tn Heb “What to me and to you, man of God, that you have come.” to me to confront me with#tn Heb “to make me remember.” my sin and kill my son?” 19 He said to her, “Hand me your son.” He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him down on his bed. 20 Then he called out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, are you also bringing disaster on this widow I am staying with by killing her son?” 21 He stretched out over the boy three times and called out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, please let this boy’s breath return to him.” 22 The Lord answered Elijah’s prayer; the boy’s breath returned to him and he lived. 23 Elijah took the boy, brought him down from the upper room to the house, and handed him to his mother. Elijah then said, “See, your son is alive!” 24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a prophet and that the Lord really does speak through you.”#tn Heb “you are a man of God and the word of the Lord is truly in your mouth.”sn This episode is especially significant in light of Ahab’s decision to promote Baal worship in Israel. In Canaanite mythology the drought that swept over the region (v. 1) would signal that Baal, a fertility god responsible for providing food for his subjects, had been defeated by the god of death and was imprisoned in the underworld. While Baal was overcome by death and unable to function like a king, Israel’s God demonstrated his sovereignty and superiority to death by providing food for a widow and restoring life to her son. And he did it all in Sidonian territory, Baal’s back yard, as it were. The episode demonstrates that Israel’s God, not Baal, is the true king who provides food and controls life and death. This polemic against Baalism reaches its climax in the next chapter, when the Lord proves that he, not Baal, controls the elements of the storm and determines when the rains will fall.
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1 Kings 17
17
1Elijah the Tishbite (from Tishbe in Gilead), told Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, the one I serve, in the years to come there will not be any dew or rain unless I say so!”
2Then the Lord told Elijah, 3“Leave here and go east. Hide in the valley of the Cherith brook where it meets the Jordan. 4You can drink from the brook, and I have ordered ravens to bring you food you there.”
5So Elijah did what the Lord told him. He went to the valley of the Cherith brook, where it meets the Jordan, and stayed there. 6Ravens brought him bread and meat both in the morning and in the evening, and he drank from the brook. 7A while later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
8Then the Lord told Elijah, 9“Leave here and go to Zarephath near Sidon and stay there. I have given instructions to a widow there to provide you with food.”
10So he left for Zarephath. When he arrived at the entrance to the town, he saw a woman, a widow, gathering sticks. He called her over and asked her, “Could you bring me a little water in a cup so I can have a drink?” 11As she was going to get it, he called after her and said, “Oh, and please bring me a piece of bread.”
12She replied, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour is left in a jar and a little bit of olive oil in a jug. Right now I am gathering a few sticks so I can go and cook what's left for myself and my son so we can eat it, and then we'll die.”
13Elijah said to her, “Don't be afraid. Go home and do what you said. But first make me a small loaf of bread from what you have and bring it to me. Then make something for yourself and your son. 14For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not become empty and the jug of olive oil will not run out until the day the Lord sends rain to water the ground.’”
15She went and did as Elijah had told her, and Elijah, the widow, and her household were able to eat for many days. 16The jar of flour did not become empty and the jug of olive oil did not run out, just as the Lord had said through Elijah.
17Later on the woman's son fell sick. (She was the one who owned the house.) He went from bad to worse, and finally he died.
18“What are you doing to me,#17:18. The literal phrase in the Hebrew is “What for me and for you?” It is sometimes translated “What do I have to do you with you?” but here it is clearly being used as a question regarding the death of the widow's son. man of God?” the woman asked Elijah. “Have you come to remind me about my sins and cause my son to die?”
19“Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He picked him up from her arms, carried him upstairs to the room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20Then he cried out to the Lord, saying, “Lord my God, why have you allowed this to happen to this widow who has opened her home to me, this terrible tragedy of causing her son to die?”
21He stretched himself out on the boy three times, and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, please let this boy's life return to him!” 22The Lord responded to Elijah's cry. The boy's life returned to him, and he lived!
23Elijah took the boy and brought him down from the room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “See, your son is alive,” Elijah told her.
24“Now I'm convinced that you are a man of God, and that what the Lord speaks through you is the truth,” the woman replied.
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Dr. Jonathan Gallagher. Released under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Unported License. Version 4.3. For corrections send email to jonathangallagherfbv@gmail.com