The prophet Elijah
1 Now Elijah, the pro phet from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel whom I serve lives, neither dew shall drop nor rain fall except at my command.”
2 Then the word of Yahweh came to Elijah,
3 “Leave this place and go eastward. Hide yourself by the brook Che rith, east of the Jordan.
4 You shall drink from the brook and, for your food, I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
5 So Elijah obeyed the word of Yahweh and went to live by the brook Cherith, east of the Jordan.
6 There the ravens brought him bread in the morning and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
The widow of Zarephath
7 After a while, the brook dried up be cause no rain had fallen in the land.
8 Then Yahweh spoke to Eli jah,
9 “Go to Zarephath of the Sido nites and stay there. I have given word to a widow there to give you food.”
10 So Elijah went to Zare phath. On reaching the gate of the town, he saw a widow gathering sticks. He called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel that I may drink.”
11 As she was going to bring it, he called after her and said, “Bring me also a piece of bread.”
12 But she answered, “As Yahweh your God lives, I have no bread left but only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am just now gathering some sticks so that I may go in and prepare something for myself and my son to eat – and die.”
13 Elijah then said to her, “Do not be afraid. Go and do as you have said, but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me; then make some for yourself and your son.
14 For this is the word of Yahweh, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of meal shall not be emptied nor shall the jug of oil fail, until the day when Yahweh sends rain to the earth.”
15 So she went and did as Elijah told her; and she had food for herself, Elijah and her son from that day on.
16 The jar of flour was not emptied nor did the jug of oil fail, in accordance with what Yahweh had said through Elijah.
The widow’s son raised to life
17 After this, the son of this housewife became ill. And such was his illness that he stopped breathing.
18 She then said to Elijah, “What did you do, O man of God? Have you come to uncov er past sins and cause my son’s death?”
19 He answered, “Give me your son.”
Taking him from her lap, he carried him up to the upper room where he was staying and laid him on his own bed.
20 Then he called on Yahweh, “O Yahweh, my God, will you afflict even the widow with whom I am residing by letting her son die?”
21 Then he stretched himself on the child three times and called on Yahweh, “O Yahweh, my God, let this child’s breath return to him.”
22 Yahweh listened to the pleading of Elijah and the child’s breath returned to him, and he lived.
23 Elijah then took the child and brought him down from the upper room. He gave him to his mother and said, “See, your son is alive.”
24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I am certain that you are a man of God, and that your words really came from Yahweh.”
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Comments 1 Kings, Chapter 17
• 17.1 Now Elijah appears; his name will remain the greatest among the prophets. At Jesus’ transfiguration, Elijah will be beside him (Mk 9:2).
Elijah’s name is symbolic, meaning: Yahweh is my God. He is from Tishbe, a town beyond the Jordan. This poor and remote region, protected from new influences, had remained faithful to its faith.
Facing apostasy, i.e., the infidelity of all the peo ple, Elijah stands alone. He feels himself responsible for God’s cause, and acts without waiting for others to begin.
Neither dew shall drop nor rain fall. Elijah, the man of faith, knows that his words come from God and will be true. With regard to this, see James 5:17 where Elijah is presented as a model of faith.
There will be neither dew nor rain. Of course, drought is a natural event. God, however, without directly intervening at every moment, arranges events. The faith of the believer is a force, like the physical laws of the universe, and when we ask of God the impossible, confident that he himself wants to give it, he is not without the means to make this happen.
The people consider the Baals as gods of rain and nature. The drought that comes will show them that Yahweh, God of hosts, is also God of creation.
Elijah begins his mission as a prophet by at-tacking the greatest disorder: failing to place God above all.
• 7. Go to Zarephath. The drought harms everybody, including Elijah who had asked God for this sign. But for the believer, the very plague is an opportunity to experience that the heavenly Father does not abandon the believer.
I have given word to a widow there to give you food. The prophet will receive his food, and he will also get comfort from God through discovering this believing woman. the poor widow has something to give the great pro phet, and this is a grace for both of them.
Bring me a little water is a first step. Bring me also a piece of bread. Elijah tests her faith: “First you shall make me a little bread,” and the widow gives him this. This widow is similar to the one whom Jesus praises in Mark 12:41.
The jar of meal shall not be emptied. God rewards this kind of faith which goes to the extent of risking everything one possesses.
• 17. This is the first resurrection we en counter in the Bible.
God usually directs the world and his church through the natural process of things, by the effect of the laws of nature which he himself established. He also reserves to himself the right to make exceptions to these laws sometimes: the water changes into wine, the bread is multiplied.
Have you come to uncover past sins and cause my son’s death? The death of her only son is enough to arouse in the poor woman the unfounded fears of those who see God as an accuser who spies on people to punish them. She thinks that the prophet’s presence has attracted Yahweh’s attention to her house and that he is punishing her with this grief.
He stretched himself on the child three times. In this gesture of the prophet, who communicates life with his own breath, who would fail to recognize Christ who comes to unite himself closely with humanity to communicate to it the power of resurrection?
Yahweh listened to the pleading of Elijah. Elijah is the man chosen to reverse a desperate situation and to upset all human foresight. Yahweh allows him to resuscitate the widow’s son and, a little later on Mount Carmel, he will let him resuscitate the faith of his people.