1 Kings · chapter 17 of 22
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1 Kings 17 introduces the prophet Elijah, who announces to King Ahab a drought by the word of the Lord. God feeds him with ravens by the brook Cherith and then sends him to Zarephath, where a widow shares her last flour and oil, which do not run out. When the widow's son dies, Elijah prays and the boy revives, and the woman acknowledges that the word of the Lord in his mouth is true.
After the wickedness of Ahab and Jezebel in 1 Kings 16, God raises up a prophet almost without introduction. The drought Elijah announces is the first confrontation with Baal, the god of rain, and the chapter shows how the Lord sustains his servant and a foreign widow in the middle of scarcity.
Elijah the Tishbite, from Gilead, appears before Ahab and tells him, in the name of the Lord, the God of Israel, that there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except by his word. Then the Lord commands him to hide by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan. There Elijah drinks from the brook, and ravens bring him bread and meat morning and evening. After a while the brook dries up because there had been no rain.
Then the Lord sends him to Zarephath of Sidon, where a widow will feed him. At the gate of the town, Elijah finds a widow gathering sticks and asks her for water and a piece of bread. She answers that she has only a handful of flour and a little oil, and is about to prepare a last meal for herself and her son before they die. Elijah tells her not to fear, to make a small cake for him first and then for them, because the Lord promises that the flour and oil will not run out until the rain returns. She obeys, and they ate for many days.
Some time later, the widow's son falls gravely ill and dies. The woman reproaches Elijah, thinking his presence exposed her to judgment for her sins. Elijah takes the boy, carries him to the upper room, lays him on the bed and cries out to the Lord, stretching himself on the child three times. The Lord hears and the boy lives again. Elijah gives him back to his mother, and she says that now she knows he is a man of God and that the word of the Lord in his mouth is truth.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Elijah declares, before the living Lord in whose presence he stands, that there will be neither rain nor dew except by his word. The drought is a direct challenge to Baal, and it begins with Elijah's confidence that Israel's God is the one who gives rain.
Ravens bring bread and meat to Elijah every morning and evening, and he drinks from the brook. God provides in unexpected ways and sustains his servant while he obeys.
Elijah tells the widow, on behalf of the Lord, that the flour and oil will not run out until the Lord sends rain on the earth. The promise comes with a test of faith: she must give first, then she will receive.
The widow acknowledges that Elijah is a man of God and that the word of the Lord in his mouth is truth. A foreigner from Sidon, in the heart of Jezebel's territory, comes to know the living God.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: That there would be neither dew nor rain in these years except by his word. — 1 Kings 17:1
Answer: Ravens, which brought him bread and meat every morning and evening. — 1 Kings 17:4-6
Answer: Because it dried up, since there was no rain in the land. — 1 Kings 17:7
Answer: To Zarephath, in Sidon, where a widow would feed him. — 1 Kings 17:9
Answer: That the flour in the jar and the oil in the jug would not run out until the Lord sent rain. — 1 Kings 17:13-14
Answer: He died, but Elijah prayed to the Lord and the boy came back to life. — 1 Kings 17:17-22
Elijah learned to depend on God day by day, first by a brook and then in a poor widow's home. In a small group, talk about times when God provided in ways you did not expect, and what 'brooks drying up' you face today, that is, situations where the Lord asks you to trust in a new step.
The widow gives an example of practical faith: she gave the little she had, trusting God's word. Ask yourselves what the Lord is asking you to share generously, and what fears keep you from doing it.
1 Kings 17 shows Elijah prepared in the school of dependence on God while the drought continues. In 1 Kings 18, in the third year, the Lord sends him again before Ahab for the confrontation on Mount Carmel.
He was a prophet of the northern kingdom in the days of Ahab, called the Tishbite, from Gilead. His name means 'my God is the Lord.' He appears suddenly in the story, with no genealogy, and his ministry confronts the worship of Baal. The Gospels mention him in connection with John the Baptist and Jesus' transfiguration.
Ravens were birds considered unclean in the law, which makes it more striking that God uses them to sustain his prophet. The text underlines that God can provide by unusual means and does not depend on human resources.
In Luke 4, Jesus recalls that Elijah was sent to a foreign widow in Sidon and not to a widow of Israel. In this he shows that God's grace reaches those we do not expect, and that the faith of people outside Israel sometimes shames those who reject his word.