1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe 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.”
Chapter 17 opens up the story of Elijah, the great prophet who torments King Ahab. Interestingly, we hear nothing about Elijah until he comes on the scene to oppose Ahab and Israel. But why is Elijah rising now? Why does he come on the scene and announce a drought?
We need to understand where Israel is spiritually at this time. From the beginning of the split of Israel into two sections (chp. 12), Israel took two different paths. Northern Israel, home of the 10 tribes, followed Jeroboam while southern Israel (Judah and Benjamin) followed Rehoboam. The difference between the two are striking. In the south, Rehoboam is at first a young, petulant leader, but ultimately confesses his sin and returns Judah to the path of following God. It is not the same for the 10 tribes of northern Israel.
First led by Jeroboam, he leads them into a false worship of God, taking Israel off the path immediately. The subsequent kings and generations have the incorrect way to worship as their guide and Israel gets worse over time. When King Ahab comes on the scene (874 BC) he is regarded as the worst of the kings, the most vile and unworthy of following God.
Elijah appears at a time when true worship of God is in jeopardy; Elijah has come as a warning against Israel. Elijah, meaning “Yahweh is my God,” announces that no rain will come until he says it will come, directly to the king. No rain (drought) is bad enough. Crops will not grow, people will go thirsty, famine will result. This is an indictment against the pre-eminent god worshipped by the royal family and decreed as the god of Israel’s society: Baal. Baal is the rain god, the god that makes the rain and thunder come, He makes the crops grow, or so it is thought by the wayward Israelites.
James 5:17 tells us that Elijah was not superhuman, but a regular man who was afforded this great power by God. Of course, Elijah isn’t acting on his own accord; God is directing him. This will become more apparent as the story continues. Elijah is a man of great faith. He does more than just hears God; he listens. His faith is on display in this story. It is what propels him forward, to confront the man with all the power.
Elijah Fed by Ravens 2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.
God instructs Elijah to leave and hide in a ravine named Kerith. Kerith is a Hebrew word to cut away, showing us that in this story, God had some cutting to do, some work to do on Elijah. But it also shows us that Elijah was to cut himself away from society for a time, to this place of solitude that offered little.
This set of verses may sound arbitrary, but there is great importance in them. God led Elijah to safety. That safety He led him to was not the end of the story. God didn’t tell Elijah the whole story of what he would be doing, but started Elijah on a journey he needed to take one step at a time. Elijah had to follow in faith, knowing that he would be taken care of in this place and whatever place he ended up next. When he follows in faith, there is protection and provision. Elijah is learning to trust God one step at a time.
In our lives, God never tell us the entire story in advance. It’s always our job to follow God into the chapters of the story, in faith. We may understand the story at the end of our lives or perhaps never will, but the point is our following where God needs us. Elijah understands this. Kerith Ravine offers nothing for him. It is a desolate place for him. But there is a brook, ravens feed him and he is beyond the reach of Ahab.
Elijah and the Widow at Zarephath 7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
The brook dries up. Why? Because there is no rain in the land! This seems cruel to one who may look at this as a trick. God tells him to go to place which ultimately won’t provide for him. But there is a hidden gem of understanding in this verse.
God doesn’t want us to rely on the provision; He wants us to rely on Him. As an example, let’s say you have been out of work for a long time. After a lot of prayer a job comes along and you are thankful beyond words. You praise God and vow to do your job the best you can. A few years go by. You still have the job but the praises have stopped. You’ve had a few years of steady income. Now let’s say the economy begins to rumble and quake. Your job maybe in jeopardy. You can’t lose the job. The job is the only thing that’s gotten you out of debt, helped you afford that car and the vacation. The job needs to be retained at all costs. Because it is your provision.
Provision is from God and we often get it backwards somewhere along the way. The prayer stops, the gratitude stops and often times we don’t even realize it. We get into the rhythm of life and there we stay, fat and comfortable. The brook drying up is a good reminder that aprovision is often temporary and we must always be turning our eyes back to the source of the provision.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.”
When we trust in God’s provision, we can do His work even in seemingly impossible conditions. After the brook dries up God tells Elijah to go to a place called Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Sidon was a polytheistic society and the place Jezebel, Ahab’s queen, is from. It’s the very land she brought Baal worship to Israel. God is telling Elijah to go to a place that is openly hostile to him.
Next, God instructs him to seek out a widow. Widows in this culture are impoverished. When a husband dies, the widow is deemed damaged goods. Virgins are the most prized wives. Plus, once a husband died there is no other way for a widowed woman to earn money outside of prostitution. It is only through a son that a widow had a chance at any sort of life.
Again, to the outside observer, this may seem like a cruel trick. Why would a loving God send Elijah, His servant, into the heart of a hostile place to be taken care of someone who couldn’t possibly take care of him? When we listen to God, He isn’t necessarily going to bring us to a place of contentment; He will instead bring us to a place of spiritual challenge.
Elijah must trust God every step of the way. At Kerith Ravine, he had to trust God that his needs would be met in a desolate place. That place where he was “cut off” built him spiritually for the next test of trust. This third step of trust (1st being confronting Ahab, 2nd provision in the ravine) brings him into an area of mistrust all around him. Again he must trust in the provision.
Why does God challenge us? Because spiritual growth tends not to happen in our successes. It tends to happen through our trials. Luke 8:14-15 says this:
14 The seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures, and they do not mature. 15 But the seed on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, retain it, and by persevering produce a crop.
The parable of the sower is an example of how the word of God affects different people. In this example, the seeds thrown by the farmer (the word of God) falls among thorns. The people who hear the word of God, however, are consumed with their daily lives and troubles and fall away because of their circumstance. These people, according to Jesus, do not mature. Maturity is attained through struggles, not in spite of them. Growth happens when we battle our daily struggles.
The next reason God challenges us is found in 1 Corinthians 10:13:
13 No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Temptations and sin are common to all of us. God knows this. But it is important to know that God is in charge of even our sinful nature. He allows sin in our life for a specific reason: so we can eventually overcome them. It isn’t about living a sinless life but about turning our sin into something that doesn’t entangle us. God provides a way out of our sin and it’s our choice to take it, and as long as we continue to battle, we become stronger over time, allowing ourself to make that choice. Growth happens when we battle our sins.
The third way God challenges us is found in 1 John 5:4:
for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.
The world is our constant enemy. The world (the organized oppositional force to God. Our job here is to overcome that oppressive system to find God and follow Him. Growth happens when we battle the world.
Romans 12:21 gives us the fourth lesson:
21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
There is evil out there in the world, in the air, between your ears. You can find it just about everywhere. Your life will not end with defeating evil. Even in your wildest dreams you won’t make a dent in it. Your job isn’t to eradicate it, but to battle it. Keep it out of your life, help others walk the path to righteousness. Growth happens when we battle evil. 1 Timothy 6:12 says this:
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.
Our fight isn’t to win, but to be in the fight. You may never completely overcome the sin in your life, you may never ever get to the holy aspirations you have. But you’re already saved, if in fact you’ve chosen Christ as your savior. This is where the battle begins. It’s about making your life align with what Jesus wants.
Jeremiah 17:7-8
“But blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. 8 They will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.”
Look at the picture Jeremiah gives. For the people who trust in God, who are anchored in faith in Him, there is a great strengthening, a resolve that lasts through the turmoil of life.
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?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” 12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”
The widow, who Elijah meets upon his arrival, is gathering sticks. This is a dire scene to begin their meeting. Why is she gathering sticks? It shows us a picture of her poverty. She may not have the strength to chop wood or gather bigger pieces. She is relegated to the leftovers. Still, Elijah asks her for the provision God promised. The widow understands he is a man of God, just not her god. All she has is a measly jar of olive oil and some bread. It’s the last of her food. The stick gathering was for a final fire, for she and her son are at the very end of their supplies. There is no more. They will die of starvation. But Elijah knows that God has sent him there. He trusts in God’s provision and listens to Him.
13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’” 15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.
In Elijah’s request, the widow has to make a choice. She has to trust in a God she knows little of. In giving him the final bits of her supplies she is making a valid choice in trusting that God’s provision will be extended to her. The promise is clear: you supply Elijah with his needs, in trust to God, and you will be provided for. In this, a miracle is performed. Because of her trust the miracle comes to be, God fulfills His promise. When we trust in God’s promises, we can draw from God’s strength. Isaiah 40:31:
but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” 19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” 22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”
The same widow has another test of faith come her way. The woman’s son becomes ill. Although this is tragic, it carries a deeper sense of dread during this time: if her son dies, the woman has absolutely no opportunity for a life. The son would be the only one to bring the pair into some sort of future prosperity. She initially blames Elijah. But what does Elijah do? He performs the first resurrection in scripture. It will be copied by Elisha and then, of course, by Jesus. But there’s more to the resurrection than just bringing the boy back to life. Because for the widow’s faith, the boy is brought back to life. God provided for her on every level, from daily provision to resurrection. But he provided only because the widow trusted and was faithful. She understood who the true God is.