I Kings 17 · The Lantern

The Ravens Feed Elijah

And Elijah the Tishbite, who was 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, but according to my word.

Exactly at the time when the prophet and father of the prophets Elijah appeared, the rebellion of Ahab and his wife Jezebel had increased to such an extent that they not only trampled the law and fear of God underfoot, nor were content to promote the worship of idols, but even persecuted and killed the prophets and the saints.

Great is the virtue of fasting. Indeed, its military appearance is so beautiful that it delightfully attracts and elevates humans to heaven for fasting and for Christ: so powerful that it raises men up to heaven. And to use more human than divine examples, from the fasting mouth of Elijah a voice was uttered that closed heaven to the sacrilegious people of the Jews.

Faith is a command, and its command ruleth; it prayeth with confidence, and according to its confidence its prayer is straightway perfected into works. There are instances in which faith doth not even offer up prayer and then give a command concerning something; but it speaketh with authority like unto God.

And the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

Get you hence, and turn you eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

And it shall be, that you shall drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.

So he went and did according to the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.

"The ravens brought him bread in the morning and meat in the evening." The bread represents perfection and justice accomplished together.

It was because they lusted that they were condemned and not because they ate flesh, for behold Elijah did not ask for food with lust, but the ravens fed him with bread and flesh, evening and morning, and he drank water from the brook; and when flesh was sent unto the prophet by the Giver, he by the power of his freedom received it like a meal of garden herbs.

It is taught: When the priests, his brothers, saw that he had escaped the anger of Ahab, they saved for him a part of the food and bread reserved [to them], and a raven brought it to him through divine intervention.The Schools say, A raven stole the [food] from houses, inns, markets and peasants, since it is an impudent, wild and merciless bird by nature.

And it happened after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

The Widow of Zarephath

And the word of the LORD came to him, saying,

Arise, get you to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there: look, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain you.

So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, look, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray you, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.

And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray you, a morsel of bread in your hand.

And she said, As the LORD your God lives, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and indeed, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

And Elijah said to her, Fear not; go and do as you have said: but make its me a little cake first, and bring it to me, and after make for you and for your son.

For thus says the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.

And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.

And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spoke by Elijah.

Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son

And it happened after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.

And she said to Elijah, What have I to do with you, O you man of God? have you come to me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?

And he said to her, Give me your son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he remained, and laid him upon his own bed.

And he cried to the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, have you also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?

And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried to the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray you, let this child’s soul come into him again.

And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.

And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him to his mother: and Elijah said, See, your son lives.

And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.

I Kings17

The Ravens Feed Elijah

The Widow of Zarephath

Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son