V² W 17:1-24. Elijah's retirement.
X 18:1-46. Mission to Ahab.
W 19:1-14. Elijah's flight.
X 19:15-21. Mission to Hazael and others.
W Y r 1-4. Command.
s 5,6. Obedience.
t 7. Circumstance. The brook and ravens.
Y r 8,9. Command.
s 10-. Obedience.
t -10-24. Circumstance. The widow.822 to 800 B.C.
1 Kings 17)
1 And Elijah (= GOD [El] is Yah [or Yahaveh]. First mention) the Tishbite (= sojourner. Probably a priest) , [who was] of the sojourners of Gilead, said to Ahab, “[As] the Lord of Israel lives, before Whom I stand (probably a priest. See above), there shall not be dew (= night-mist. Cp. Deut. 32:2. 2 Sam. 1:21. Job 38:28) nor rain these years (not 3 years. No definite period stated. "Years" is plural, not dual. In Luke 4:25 and James 5:17 = "three years and six months". These six months must be reckoned before the three years, not added at the end because of "the third year" [18:1]: i.e. the third full year), but according to my word.”
2 And the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
3 “Get you from this place, and turn you eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that [is] before Jordan (i.e. on the east side).
4 And it shall be, [that] you shall drink of the brook; and I have commanded (Elijah miraculously fed 3 times: (1) by raven [17:6];(2) by widow [17:9]; (3) by an angel [19:5,6]) the ravens (note "I have commanded". All things possible when He speaks. Almighty power is better and easier explanation than all rationalistic inventions) to feed you there” (nowhere else. Note the special lesson. Anywhere but in God's appointed place he would have perished).
5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that [is] before Jordan.
6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
8 And the word of the Lord came to him, saying,
9 “Arise, get you to Zarephath (= smelting-place. The Sarepta of Luke 4:26), which [belongs] to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain you (1 of 9 widows mentioned. See v.4 and Gen.38:19).
10 So he arose and went to Zarephath.
t Z¹ -10-16. Maintenance. Z² 17-24. Bereavement.
Z¹ u¹ -10-11. Elijah. Request.
v¹ 12. The widow. Excuse.
u² 13,14. Elijah. Promise.
v² 15-. The widow. Compliance.
u³ -15,16. Elijah. Promise fulfilled.
And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman [was] there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, “Fetch me, I pray you, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.”
11 And as she was going to fetch [it], he called to her, and said, “Bring me, I pray you, a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 And she said, “[As] the Lord your God lives, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil (from Josh. 19:24-28 Zidon fell to Asher. From Deut. 33:24 Asher had abundance of oil, though water was scarce. Cp. Gen. 49:20) in a flask (cp. Matt.25:4): and, behold, I [am] gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
13 And Elijah said to her, “Fear not; go [and] do as you have said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring [it] to me, and after make for you and for your son.
14 For thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘The barrel of meal (fig. = meal in the barrel) shall not waste, neither shall the flask of oil fail, until the day [that] the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’ ”
15 And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah:
and she, and he, and her house, did eat [many] days.
16 [And] the meal in the barrel wasted not, neither did the flask of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which He spoke by Elijah.
Z² w y 17. Son. Death.
z 18. Widow. Complaint.
x a 19. Son taken.
b 20,21. Prayer made.
x b 22. Prayer answered.
a 23-. Son restored.
w y -23. Son. Life.
z 24. Widow. Acknowledgment.
17 And it came to pass after these things, [that] the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
18 And she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you (see 2 Sam. 16:10), O you man of God? (see Deut. 33:1) are you come to me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?”
19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.
20 And he cried to the Lord, and said, “O Lord my God, have You also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?”
21 And he measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said, “O Lord my God, I pray You, let this child's soul (= life. Cp. v.23, "lives". Heb. nephesh) come into him again.”
22 And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.
23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him to his mother: and Elijah said, “See, your son lives” (the result of life's being given, making the child "a living soul" [Gen. 2:7]).
24 And the woman said to Elijah, “Now by this I know that you [are] a man of God, [and] that the word of the Lord in your mouth [is] truth.”