1 Kings 17:1-16
Elijah Proclaims a Drought
1 And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, ”As the LORD God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”
2 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3 “Get away from here and turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 4 And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, for he went and stayed by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. 7 And it happened after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
Elijah and the Widow
8 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying, 9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”
12 So she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the LORD sends rain on the earth.’”
15 So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the LORD which He spoke by Elijah.
The prophet Elijah spoke the word of God’s judgment on evil Ahab and the nation that followed his sins of idolatry and rejection of the LORD. He proclaimed a drought that would seem endless to them and then vanished into the wilderness to find provision by God’s hand through the ravens sent to bring him food by a brook of water that fed the Jordan to nourish and keep him through the dry three and a half years (Luke 4:25) ahead. We likewise are fed by the providence of God’s provision wherever we go, and especially as we face tribulation for His sake and the word of the gospel. Elijah stayed there until the brook dried up and the LORD led him to a poor faithful widow living in Zarephath of Sidon on Mediterranean coast north of Tyre and just south of Sidon which is now in modern-day Lebanon. He stayed with the widow whom God led him to stay with to provide room and board from what nothing she seemed to have. God provided for her, her son, and him by miraculously giving her an unending supply of flour and oil in bottomless jars, reminiscent of Jesus feeding the five thousand () later. He provided this as long as necessary until it was time to bring the rain back after such a long time of judgment. This is an example of God’s provision in times of drought in a physical manner, but we also find it translates into spiritual provision for strength in the midst of trials and tribulations as well, for we partake of the body of Christ as our manna (John 6:32-33, 35, 48-50) to nourish both body and soul. As it has been famously said, God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply. We are called to trust and obey equally in the face of opposition in the wilderness and in good times of plenty to (Isaiah 55:1) drink deeply of His goodness of grace and supply our lack in times of need.
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