Introduction
We are introduced to the prophet Elijah. He prophesied in the northern part of the divided kingdom in the reign of king Ahab.
Verses
1Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”
2Then the LORD’s word came to him, saying,
3“Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.
4You shall drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5So he went and did according to the LORD’s word; for he went and lived by the brook Cherith that is before the Jordan.
6The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
7After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8The LORD’s word came to him, saying,
9“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.”
10So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her, and said, “Please get me a little water in a jar, that I may drink.”
11As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12She said, “As the LORD your God lives, I don’t have a cake, but a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jar. Behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and bake it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
13Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you have said; but make me a little cake from it first, and bring it out to me, and afterward make some for you and for your son.
14For the LORD, the God of Israel says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.’ ”
15She went and did according to the saying of Elijah; and she, and he, and her house, ate many days.
16The jar of meal didn’t run out, and the jar of oil didn’t fail, according to the LORD’s word, which he spoke by Elijah.
17After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
18She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!”
19He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed.
20He cried to the LORD, and said, “LORD my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?”
21He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to the LORD, and said, “LORD my God, please let this child’s soul come into him again.”
22The LORD listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
23Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, “Behold, your son lives.”
24The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the LORD’s word in your mouth is truth.”
Questions
1. What did Elijah tell Ahab?
v 1 ... there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word."
2. What did the ravens bring Elijah to eat?
v 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat ...
3. What did Elijah promise about how the widow would be fed during the drought?
v 14 For the LORD, the God of Israel says, ‘The jar of meal will not run out, and the jar of oil will not fail, until the day that the LORD sends rain on the earth.’ ”
Summary Points
- v 1 to 7 After Elijah warns king Ahab of a future drought, God tells him to go to the brook Cherith, where he will be fed by ravens. Eventually the brook dries up
- v 8 to 16 Elijah is sent to Zarephath to stay with a widow who will feed him. She feeds him with the last from a jar of meal and a little oil. These then miraculously last until the end of the drought
- v 17 to 24 Elijah brings the widow's dead son back to life and she acknowledges that Elijah is a man of God
Audio