1 Kings 17
17
Elijah Proclaims a Drought.#The story of Elijah is in three parts. The first (chap. 17) describes how Elijah proclaimed a drought on God’s authority and how he survived during the drought. The second (chap. 18) describes how he ends the drought by bringing the populace back to exclusive worship of the Lord. The third (chap. 19) describes Elijah’s despair at the failure of his prophetic mission and his consequent attempt to resign from the prophetic office. 1Elijah the Tishbite,#This verse introduces the enigmatic figure of Elijah the Tishbite. (The name “Elijah” means “the Lord is my God.” The meaning of “Tishbite” is unknown; it may refer to a place or to a social class.) His appearance before Ahab is abrupt and involves several matters that will unify the whole Elijah story. His claim to “serve the Lord” (lit., to “stand before the Lord”) points forward to 19:13, where he refuses to do so; the center of narrative tension on this level is the question of the prophet’s autonomy in God’s service. His proclamation of a drought points forward to 18:41–45 where he announces the drought’s end; the center of narrative tension on this level is the struggle between the Lord and the Canaanite fertility god Baal for the loyalties of Israel. His claim that the drought is due to his own word of power (“except at my word”) points forward to 17:24 where the widow acknowledges the divine source of the word Elijah speaks; the center of narrative tension on this level is the gradual characterization of the prophet as one who receives a divine word (vv. 2, 8), obeys it (v. 5), conveys an effective divine word of threat (v. 1) or promise (vv. 14, 16), and even speaks an effective human word of entreaty to God (vv. 20, 22). #Sir 48:1–12; Jas 5:17–18. from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab: “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, during these years there shall be no dew or rain except at my word.” 2The word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3Leave here, go east and hide in the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. 4You shall drink of the wadi, and I have commanded ravens to feed you there. 5So he left and did as the Lord had commanded. He left and remained by the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan. 6#Ex 16:8, 12. Ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the wadi.
7After some time, however, the wadi ran dry, because no rain had fallen in the land. 8#2 Kgs 4:1–7; Lk 4:25–26. So the word of the Lord came to him: 9Arise, go to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow there to feed you. 10He arose and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the entrance of the city, a widow was there gathering sticks; he called out to her, “Please bring me a small cupful of water to drink.” 11She left to get it, and he called out after her, “Please bring along a crust of bread.” 12She said, “As the Lord, your God, lives, I have nothing baked; there is only a handful of flour in my jar and a little oil in my jug. Just now I was collecting a few sticks, to go in and prepare something for myself and my son; when we have eaten it, we shall die.” 13Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake and bring it to me. Afterwards you can prepare something for yourself and your son. 14For the Lord, the God of Israel, says: The jar of flour shall not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, until the day when the Lord sends rain upon the earth.” 15She left and did as Elijah had said. She had enough to eat for a long time—he and she and her household. 16The jar of flour did not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord spoken through Elijah.
17#2 Kgs 4:18–37; Lk 7:11–16. Some time later the son of the woman, the owner of the house, fell sick, and his sickness grew more severe until he stopped breathing. 18So she said to Elijah, “Why have you done this to me, man of God? Have you come to me to call attention to my guilt and to kill my son?” 19Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” Taking him from her lap, he carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. 20He called out to the Lord: “Lord, my God, will you afflict even the widow with whom I am staying by killing her son?” 21Then he stretched himself out upon the child three times and he called out to the Lord: “Lord, my God, let the life breath return to the body of this child.” 22The Lord heard the prayer of Elijah; the life breath returned to the child’s body and he lived. 23Taking the child, Elijah carried him down into the house from the upper room and gave him to his mother. Elijah said, “See! Your son is alive.” 24The woman said to Elijah, “Now indeed I know that you are a man of God, and it is truly the word of the Lord that you speak.”
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
1 Kings 17
17
Elijah and the Drought
1 #
Jas 5.17
A prophet named Elijah, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to King Ahab, “In the name of the LORD, the living God of Israel, whom I serve, I tell you that there will be no dew or rain for the next two or three years until I say so.”
2Then the LORD said to Elijah, 3“Leave this place and go east and hide yourself near the brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. 4The brook will supply you with water to drink, and I have commanded ravens to bring you food there.”
5Elijah obeyed the LORD's command, and went and stayed by the brook of Cherith. 6He drank water from the brook, and ravens brought him bread and meat every morning and every evening. 7After a while the brook dried up because of the lack of rain.
Elijah and the Widow in Zarephath
8Then the LORD said to Elijah, 9#Lk 4.25–26“Now go to the town of Zarephath, near Sidon, and stay there. I have commanded a widow who lives there to feed you.” 10So Elijah went to Zarephath, and as he came to the gate of the town, he saw a widow gathering firewood. “Please bring me a drink of water,” he said to her. 11And as she was going to get it, he called out, “And please bring me some bread, too.”
12She answered, “By the living LORD your God I swear that I haven't got any bread. All I have is a handful of flour in a bowl and a drop of olive oil in a jar. I came here to gather some firewood to take back home and prepare what little I have for my son and me. That will be our last meal, and then we will starve to death.”
13“Don't worry,” Elijah said to her. “Go ahead and prepare your meal. But first make a small loaf from what you have and bring it to me, and then prepare the rest for you and your son. 14For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The bowl will not run out of flour or the jar run out of oil before the day that I, the LORD, send rain.’ ”
15The widow went and did as Elijah had told her, and all of them had enough food for many days. 16As the LORD had promised through Elijah, the bowl did not run out of flour nor did the jar run out of oil.
17Some time later the widow's son fell ill; he got worse and worse, and finally he died. 18She said to Elijah, “Man of God, why did you do this to me? Did you come here to remind God of my sins and so cause my son's death?”
19“Give the boy to me,” Elijah said. He took the boy from her arms, carried him upstairs to the room where he was staying, and laid him on the bed. 20Then he prayed aloud, “O LORD my God, why have you done such a terrible thing to this widow? She has been kind enough to take care of me, and now you kill her son!” 21#2 Kgs 4.34–35Then Elijah stretched himself out on the boy three times and prayed, “O LORD my God, restore this child to life!” 22The LORD answered Elijah's prayer; the child started breathing again and revived.
23Elijah took the boy back downstairs to his mother and said to her, “Look, your son is alive!”
24She answered, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the LORD really speaks through you!”
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.