It’s not surprising with the current spiritual condition of Israel that one of God’s prophets appears on the scene. It was time to work miracles through Elijah, 1 Kings 17:1, who was certainly a man of great faith. If you remember there were already a few false prophets around who were involved in idolatry, who were put in place by Ahab and Jezebel, 1 Kings 16:29-33, but now it was time for a true prophet.
When Elijah speaks to Ahab, he tells him that God is the God of Israel and He is the living God, which is used in contrast the Baal who wasn’t. He also prophesies that there will be no dew or rain for the next few years, 1 Kings 17:1. This tells us that a severe drought was coming and it was coming from God as a form of punishment for nation’s idolatry, Deuteronomy 11:16-17 / 2 Samuel 2:3.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Drought was one of the punishments threatened by the Law, if Israel forsook Yahweh and turned after other gods, Deuteronomy 11:17 / Deuteronomy 28:23 / Leviticus 26:19, etc.’
When we read James 4:17, we learn that the drought was the request of Elijah. This tells us that it was Elijah who was standing up against the idolatrous practices of Ahab and he was preparing the way for God’s judgment upon the northern kingdom of Israel. As we shall see later, this drought prepared the way for that famous showdown between Elijah and all the false prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, 1 Kings 18:16-40.
It appears that the Lord planned to hide Elijah for a period of time in the wilderness by the Brook Kerith, 1 Kings 17:2-3, and then later, in the house of the widow of Zarephath, 1 Kings 17:8.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This brook, and the valley through which it ran, are supposed to have been on the western side of Jordan, and not far from Samaria. Others suppose it to have been on the eastern side, because the prophet is commanded to go eastward, 1 Kings 17:3. It was necessary, after such a declaration to this wicked and idolatrous king, that he should immediately hide himself; as, on the first drought, Ahab would undoubtedly seek his life. But what a proof was this of the power of God, and the vanity of idols! As God’s prophet prayed, so there was rain or drought; and all the gods of Israel could not reverse it! Was not this sufficient to have converted all Israel?’
God tell him he will drink from the brook, and He has directed the ravens to supply him with food, 1 Kings 17:4 / 1 Kings 17:24. Elijah goes to the Kerith Ravine, and stayed there as God told him to, 1 Kings 17:5. What we read here is nothing short of miraculous, as God commands ravens to bring Elijah food, 1 Kings 17:6. They brought bread in the morning and meat in the evening, 1 Kings 17:6. God was using the ravens to provide His prophet food. This has to be miraculous because there is simply no other explanation for what has been recorded here.
We are told that later the brook dried up because there was no rain, 1 Kings 17:8 / Deuteronomy 11:16-17. The journey from Gilead, 1 Kings 17:1, to Zarephath in the region of Sidon, 1 Kings 17:8, was quite a journey, but this region was out of Ahab’s jurisdiction. Zarephath was a relatively safe place because it was near where Jezebel’s father lived. When Jesus spoke about Zarephath, it was in relation to His lesson about a prophet not being accepted in his own town, Luke 4:26.
We saw earlier how God miraculously fed Elijah by using ravens, now we read about how God is going to use a widow, whose name isn’t mentioned, to feed Elijah out of her poverty, 1 Kings 17:9. She was willing to take care of Elijah, even though she was in a desperate state of poverty and had no hope for the future.
While the widow was gathering sticks, Elijah first asks for water, 1 Kings 17:10, which she was gladly going to get, despite there being a drought, 1 Kings 17:7, but then Elijah asks for some bread, 1 Kings 17:11. She is honest enough to say that she only has a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug and enough bread for one more meal for her and her son, 1 Kings 17:12.
Elijah tells her to go and make that bread and bring it to him because God has told him, that as long as she takes care of him, the flour and the oil will never run out in your house, 1 Kings 17:13-14. Now she had a decision to make. Is she going to trust the God of Israel and obey Him and let Him take care of tomorrow?
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This was certainly putting the widow’s faith to an extraordinary trial: to take and give to a stranger, of whom she knew nothing, the small pittance requisite to keep her child from perishing, was too much to be expected.’
She went home and she made that little bit of bread and she brought it to Elijah and they went back to her house and there was flour in that jar and oil in that jar, 1 Kings 17:15. There was flour and oil in her house as long as the prophet lived there, 1 Kings 17:16, and so, she chose to obey God and trust Him for her long term future, 2 Kings 4:1-7.
This reminds me of the times when Jesus fed the multitude with only a few fish and loaves, Matthew 14:13-21 / Mathew 15:32-39. She trusted God’s Word, that His mercies were new every morning, Lamentations 3:21-26. She trusted God for her daily bread, Matthew 6:11, and she certainly didn’t worry about tomorrow, Matthew 6:25-34.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This is the first recorded miracle of its kind, a supernatural and inexplicable multiplication of food, 2 Kings 4:42-44 / Matthew 14:15-21 / Matthew 15:32-38.’
Sadly, sometime later, the widow’s son became ill and died, 1 Kings 17:17 / Genesis 2:7, and she appears to be blaming Elijah for this happening, 1 Kings 17:18.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘She seems to be now conscious of some secret sin, which she had either forgotten, or too carelessly passed over; and to punish this she supposes the life of her son was taken away. It is mostly in times of adversity that we duly consider our moral state; outward afflictions often bring deep searching of heart.’
Elijah asks for her son, took him, and carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed, 1 Kings 17:19. After questioning God, 1 Kings 17:19, Elijah throws himself on top of the boy three times and cries out to the Lord, 1 Kings 17:20-21.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘It is supposed that he did this in order to communicate some natural warmth to the body of the child, in order to dispose it to receive the departed spirit. Elisha, his disciple, did the same in order to restore the dead child of the Shunammite, 2 Kings 4:34. And St. Paul appears to have stretched himself on Eutychus in order to restore him to life, Acts 20:10.’
God graciously heard his prayer and granted his request and the boy was raised back to life, 1 Kings 17:22. Elijah picks up her son, carries him down from the room into the house and gave him to his mother and said, Look, your son is alive! 1 Kings 17:23. With this miracle, the widow was overwhelmed that her son was now alive and she then knew that Elijah was indeed a true prophet of God, 1 Kings 17:24.
Although this was a private event, when we get to the New Testament we see Jesus demonstrating that He too could raise people from the dead for God’s glory so that the people would know He was from God, John 11:38-43.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
Three grand effects were produced by this temporary affliction.
1. The woman was led to examine her heart, and try her ways.
2. The power of God became highly manifest in the resurrection of the child.
3. She was convinced that the word of the Lord was truth, and that not one syllable of it could fall to the ground.
Hebrew tradition suggests that the boy who was raised back to life was actually Jonah and his father, his mother’s husband was Amittai, Jonah 1:1, but this can’t be proven. If Jonah was the son of the widow at Zarephath, he would have been around eighty years old at the beginning of Jeroboam II’s reign. But the beginning of Jeroboam’s reign is not marked by the bitter affliction of Israel. On the contrary, the end of his father’s reign, Joash, was marked by repeated victories over Syria, 2 Kings 13:25, and a great victory over Judah, 2 Kings 14:12-13.
In fact, Scripture talks about Joash in terms of ‘his might’, 2 Kings 14:15. So we see the bitter affliction spoken of in 2 Kings 14:26, as rising sometime afterwards during the reign of Jeroboam II. If we allow five to ten years for the affliction to become bitter, this will place the prophesy around one-hundred years after the son of the widow of Zarephath would have been born. I think it is unlikely that Jonah was the widow’s son.
But this doesn’t mean that it’s impossible that Jonah was the son of the widow, but it is highly unlikely. We also note that the widow was a foreigner from Zarephath in the territory of Sidon, 1 Kings 17:9. Jonah was from Gath Hepher, 2 Kings 14:25, which was in the territory of Zebulun, about two miles from Nazareth. If Jonah was the son of the widow, one wonders why he is said to be from Gath Hepher rather than from Zarephath. Once again, I don’t find any good evidence to link Jonah and the widow.