Provision In The House

Scripture(s): I Kings 17:1-16

Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, surely there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word."

The word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. "It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there." So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and lived by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he would drink from the brook.

It happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, "Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there; behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you." So he arose and went to Zarephath, and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks; and he called to her and said, "Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink."  As she was going to get it, he called to her and said, "Please bring me a piece of bread in your hand." But she said, "As the LORD your God lives, I have no bread, only a handful of flour in the bowl and a little oil in the jar; and behold, I am gathering  a few sticks that I may go in and prepare for me and my son, that we may eat it and die."

Then Elijah said to her, "Do not fear; go, do as you have said, but make me a little bread cake from it first and bring it out to me, and afterward you may make one for yourself and for your son. "For thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'The bowl of flour shall not be exhausted, nor shall the jar of oil be empty, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the face of the earth.'" So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate for many days. The bowl of flour was not exhausted nor did the jar of oil become empty, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke through Elijah.

Background:
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. Never 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. In this chapter we have, I. His prediction of a famine in Israel, through the want of rain (v. 1). II. The provision made for him in that famine, 1. By the ravens at the brook Cherith (v. 2-7). 2. When that failed, by the widow at Zarephath, who received him in the name of a prophet and had a prophet’s reward; for (1.) He multiplied her meal and her oil (v. 8–16). (2.) He raised her dead son to life (v. 17–24). Thus his story begins with judgments and miracles, designed to awaken that stupid generation that had to deeply corrupted themselves (Henry, 1996).

Commentary:
We have here an account of the further protection Elijah was taken under, and the further provision made for him in his retirement. At destruction and famine he shall laugh that has God for his friend to guard and maintain him. The brook Cherith is dried up, but God’s care of his people, and kindness to them, never slacken, never fail, but are still the same, are still continued and drawn out to those that know him, Ps. 36:10. When the brook was dried up Jordan was not; why did not God send him thither? Surely because he would show that he has a variety of ways to provide for his people and is not tied to any one. God will now provide for him where he shall have some company and opportunity of usefulness, and not be, as he had been, buried alive. Observe, (Henry, 1996)

I. The place he is sent to, to Zarephath, or Sarepta, a city of Sidon, out of the borders of the land of Israel, v. 9. Our Saviour takes notice of this as an early and ancient indication of the favour of God designed for the poor Gentiles, in the fulness of time, Lu. 4:25, 26. Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, and some, it is likely, that would have bidden him welcome to their houses; yet 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 (Henry, 1996).

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 (ch. 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, Mt. 15:21 (Henry, 1996)

Reflection:
Elijah was taken care of by God for three years at the brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. When the brook dried up, He sent Elijah to a poor widow, who had a son. When he arrived on the scene, he asked the widow for water. She went to get the water for him. When he asked her for bread, she said that she did not have any bread. She stated all that she had was a bowl of flour, and a jar of oil. She planned to prepare the oil and the flour with sticks, and then die. Elijah told her that God would provide continuously for her, upon her obedience of preparing a little cake for him first, and then for herself; and her son.  Even though the water had dried up at the brook, it had not dried up at the Jordan. God made sure that Elijah, and the widow were well taken care of, in the land of his arch enemy; Jezebel of Sidon. Not only was he taken care of, but so were the hundred prophets that were hidden by Obadiah, a servant in Jezebel's house. Even when enemies think they have a foothold on a situation, God has a ram in the bush; which will spring forth at the appointed time. So be encouraged to know that God is at work in the midst of a drought, and he will continually make provision in the house.

References:

Blue Letter Bible. "Book of 1 Kings 17 - (NASB - New American Standard Bible)." Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2010. 11 May 2010. http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=1Ki&c=17&t=NASB

Henry, Matthew. "Commentary on 1 Kings 17." . Blue Letter Bible. 1 Mar 1996. 2010. 11 May 2010. http:// www.blueletterbible.org/commentaries/comm_view.cfm?
AuthorID=4&contentID=945&commInfo=5&topic=1%20Kings&
ar=1Ki_17_1 >

Higgins, S. (2010). Provision In the House. Devotions For Thought. Higgins Publishing. Http://www.devotionsforthought.blogspot.com, http://www.higginspublishing.com