1 Kings 17:17 - Meaning and Application

Here we have another reward given to the widow for her kindness to the prophet. It was as if being kept alive were a small thing, so her son, when dead, is brought back to life and restored to her. Notice this first: the child’s sickness and death.

From all that appears, he was her only son, the comfort of her life as a widow. He had been fed by a miracle, and yet that did not keep him from sickness and death. The fathers in Israel ate manna and still died, but there is bread a person may eat and not die, the bread given for the life of the world (John 6:49, John 6:50). This sorrow was like a thorn in the flesh, keeping her from becoming proud because of the special favors and honors she had received.

She had been caring for a great prophet, Elijah, a man of God, and had every reason to think the Lord would do her good. Yet now she loses her child. We should not think it strange if very painful troubles come even when we are doing our duty and serving God well. She herself had been kept alive by a miracle and had run a good household without expense or worry, by a clear blessing from heaven. Even then, she was struck with this grief. When we have the clearest signs of God’s favor, we still need to be ready for the hard blows of providence. Our strongest mountain can still be shaken, so in this world we must always rejoice with caution.

Next we see her sad complaint to the prophet. It seems the child died suddenly, because if he had only been sick, she would likely have asked Elijah to heal him. But when he died, and died in her arms, she spoke to the prophet out of grief, more to pour out her sorrow than to ask for help (1 Kings 17:18).

She speaks very sharply: “What do I have to do with you, O man of God?” She had spoken calmly before about her own death and her son’s death when she thought they would die of hunger (1 Kings 17:12), saying, in effect, “let us eat, and then die.” But now that her child has died, and not by famine, she is deeply upset. We may talk lightly about trouble when it is far away, but when it touches us, we are shaken, as Job says (Job 4:5). Then she had spoken carefully, but now she speaks in haste. Her child’s death surprised her, and sudden trouble is hard to bear when it comes in the middle of peace and comfort.

She calls him a man of God, yet she speaks as if he had caused her child’s death. She is ready to wish she had never seen him, forgetting the mercies and miracles of the past. Some understand her words as, “What have I done against you? Where have I offended you, or failed in my duty? Show me why you are contending with me.” Her grief is so strong that it turns into complaint.

Still, her words also show some repentance. She asks whether he has come to call her sin to mind as the cause of the trouble, and to make her remember it through the pain of the loss. Perhaps she knew that Elijah had prayed against Israel, and, being aware of her own sin, maybe even her former worship of Baal, the god of the Sidonians, she feared he had also prayed against her. When God takes away our comforts, he may be remembering our sins against us, even sins from long ago, like the sins of our youth (Job 13:26). Our sins are the death of our children. And when God remembers our sins against us, he means to help us remember them against ourselves and repent.

Then we see the prophet’s response before God. Elijah gives no answer to her complaint. Instead, he takes the matter to God because he does not know what to say himself. He takes the dead child from the mother’s arms to his own bed (1 Kings 17:19). He may have grown especially attached to the child and felt the loss deeply himself, beyond simple sympathy. He goes apart to his room and speaks with God about the death of the child (1 Kings 17:20).

He reasons humbly with God. He sees death coming by God’s command: “You have brought this evil.” Is there any trouble like this in a city or family unless the Lord has allowed it? He pleads the weight of the sorrow for the poor mother. It is evil coming on a widow, and God is the widows’ God. He does not usually bring such harm on widows, so this is affliction added to one already afflicted. He also pleads his own concern. This is the widow with whom he stays. If harm comes to one of his greatest helpers, others may blame him, and people may fear to receive him if he brings death into a home.

Then he earnestly asks God to bring the child back to life (1 Kings 17:21). We do not read of anyone being raised from the dead before this, yet Elijah, moved by God’s prompting, prays for this child’s resurrection. That does not mean we are meant to do the same in every case. David did not expect fasting and prayer to bring his child back to life (2 Samuel 12:23), but Elijah had power to do miracles, and David did not. Elijah stretches himself on the child. This likely helped him feel the child’s condition more deeply and showed how strongly he desired the child’s return. If he could, he would put life into him by his own breath and warmth. It also pointed ahead to what God does by his power and grace when he brings dead souls to spiritual life. The Holy Spirit comes upon them, covers them, and gives them life.

His prayer is very specific: “I pray you, let this child’s soul come into him again.” This clearly assumes that the soul exists after it leaves the body, and so that it is immortal. Grotius thinks God meant this miracle to give a sign of that truth, to encourage his suffering people.

Finally, we see the child raised and the mother’s great joy. The child lives again (1 Kings 17:22). See both the power of prayer and the power of the One who hears prayer, who kills and makes alive. Elijah brings the child to his mother, and we may imagine she could hardly believe her eyes. So Elijah makes it clear: “See, your son is alive” (1 Kings 17:23).

The good woman then says, “Now I know that you are a man of God.” She had already known it by the increase of her meal, but when her child died, she was so hurt that she began to question it. She may have thought, “A true man of God would not treat me this way.” Now she is fully satisfied that Elijah has both the power and the goodness of a man of God. She will not doubt it again, but will give herself to the guidance of his word and to the worship of the God of Israel. In this way, the child’s death, like Lazarus’s death later (John 11:4), served the glory of God and the honor of his prophet.