1 Kings 17:8 - Meaning and Application

Here we see Elijah given further protection and further provision in his retreat. When famine comes, the person who has God as a friend can still rejoice, because God will guard and sustain him. The brook Cherith dries up, but God’s care for his people never slackens or fails. It stays the same and continues to those who know him (Psalm 36:10).

When the brook dried up, Jordan did not. Why did God not send Elijah there? Surely because he wanted to show that he has many ways to provide for his people, and he is not limited to one. God now provides for Elijah in a place where he will have some company and some chance to be useful, instead of being hidden away and alone.

Notice, first, the place where Elijah is sent, Zarephath, or Sarepta, a city of Sidon, outside the borders of Israel (1 Kings 17:9). Jesus later pointed to this as an early sign that God meant to show kindness to poor Gentiles in time to come (Luke 4:25-26). There were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s day, and some likely would have welcomed him, yet he is sent to honor and bless a Gentile city with his presence.

Israel had copied the idols of the nations and become worse than them. So it is fitting that God’s favor now begins to move outward to the world. Elijah had been hated and driven out by his own people, so he turns to the Gentiles, just as the apostles were later told to do (Acts 18:6). Why a city of Sidon? Perhaps because Baal worship, which had become Israel’s great sin, had recently come from there with Jezebel, Ahab’s Sidonian wife (1 Kings 16:31). So God sends Elijah there, as if to say, “Even from Sidon I have called my prophet and reformer.”

Jezebel was Elijah’s greatest enemy, but God shows the powerlessness of her hatred by giving him a hiding place in her own country. Christ himself never went among the Gentiles except once, into the region of Sidon (Matthew 15:21).

Second, consider the person chosen to receive him. It was not one of Sidon’s rich merchants or leading men, and not someone like Obadiah, Ahab’s palace administrator who had fed the prophets. Instead, a poor widow, needy and alone, was commanded, that is, made both able and willing, to support him. It is God’s way, and his glory, to use weak and unlikely people and give them honor.

He is especially the God of widows, and he feeds them. That should lead them to think carefully about what they owe him in return.

Third, look at the provision made for Elijah there. Providence brought the widow to meet him at just the right moment, at the city gate (1 Kings 17:10). From what happens between them, we see several things about her.

She was very poor and in real need. She had only a handful of flour and a little oil, already brought low by the famine. After she and her son ate what little she had left, she expected they would die from hunger (1 Kings 17:12). She had no fuel except the sticks she gathered in the streets, and no servant, so she had to gather them herself (1 Kings 17:10). She was in a better position to receive help than to give hospitality. Elijah was sent to her so he could still live by God’s providence, just as he had when the ravens fed him. God sent the prophet to her out of compassion for her low state, not to beg from her, but to stay with her, and he would repay her well for it.

She was also humble and hardworking. Elijah found her gathering sticks and getting ready to bake bread for herself and her son (1 Kings 17:10, 17:12). Her heart had accepted her hard condition. She did not complain about the trouble she was in or blame God for withholding rain. She made the best of her situation as well as she could. People with that spirit in times of trouble are best prepared for help and honor from God.

She was also charitable and generous. When the stranger asked her to bring him some water, she went at once (1 Kings 17:10-11). She did not object that water was scarce, or ask what he would pay for it. She did not complain that he was a stranger, and likely an Israelite, with whom Sidonians may not have wanted dealings, just as Samaritans felt about Jews (John 4:9). She did not excuse herself because of her weakness or her urgent need, but left her work to bring him water. Perhaps she was moved by the seriousness of his face. We should be ready to show kindness even to strangers. If we have nothing to give the needy, we should at least be willing to labor for them. Even a cup of cold water, if it only costs us the trouble of fetching it, will not lose its reward.

She also had great trust in God’s word. Her faith and obedience were tested when Elijah, after learning how little meal and oil she had, told her to make a cake for him first and then prepare for herself and her son. If we think about it, this was as hard a test as could be imagined in such a small matter. She could have said, “Let the children eat first. Charity begins at home. I cannot be expected to give when I have so little, and do not know where more will come from.”

She had even more reason than Nabal to ask, “Should I take my food and oil and give them to someone I do not know?” Elijah did speak in the name of the God of Israel (1 Kings 17:14), but what did that matter to a Sidonian woman? Even if she respected the name of the Lord and believed the God of Israel was the true God, how could she know this stranger was truly his prophet and had authority to speak for him? A hungry wanderer could easily deceive her. Yet she set aside all these doubts and obeyed, trusting the promise. She went and did as Elijah said (1 Kings 17:15).

Woman, great was your faith. No one had found faith like that, not even in Israel, all things considered. It was greater than the faith of the widow who gave her two small coins into the treasury. She believed Elijah’s word that she would not lose by her giving, but would be repaid with interest. Those who can trust God’s promise will not hesitate to give themselves up in his service, giving him what is due from their little supply and giving him his share first. Those who deal with God must deal on trust. Seek first his kingdom, and then other things will be added.

By the law, the firstfruits belonged to God, the tithe was taken off first, and the offering from their dough was first given (Numbers 15:20-21). But the growth of this widow’s faith was surely as great a miracle in the life of grace as the increase of her oil was in ordinary providence. It is a blessed thing when people can believe and obey in hope, even when everything seems hopeless.

2. God also cared for his prophet’s guest. The jar of meal did not run out, and the jug of oil did not fail. Instead, as they kept taking from them, God’s power kept supplying more, as we see later (1 Kings 17:16). Bishop Hall says no grain or olive ever increased so much while growing as these did while being used. The multiplying of seed in regular life (2 Corinthians 9:10) is also a sign of God’s power and goodness, though people may overlook it because it happens so often.

The meal and oil increased, not by storing them up, but by using them. There is one who scatters and yet grows richer. When God blesses a little, it can go far beyond what we expect. On the other hand, when God withholds his favor, even a large amount comes to little (Haggai 1:9; Haggai 2:16).

This was daily provision for the prophet, Elijah. He was still living on miracles, like daily bread. At first he had bread and meat, but now he had bread and oil, which they used much as we use butter. Manna had both qualities, for its taste was like fresh oil (Numbers 11:8). Elijah was thankful for this, even though he had once been used to meat twice a day and now had none. People who think they cannot live without meat, at least once a day, because they are used to it, would not have been content living with Elijah, even if it meant living on a miracle.

It was also provision for the poor widow and her son, and a reward for her kindness in receiving the prophet. No one loses by being kind to God’s people and ministers. She who welcomed a prophet received a prophet’s reward. She gave him a room and food, and he repaid her by providing for her whole household. Christ has promised that those who open the door to him will be blessed, and he will come in and eat with them, and they with him (Revelation 3:20). Like Elijah here, Christ brings to those who welcome him not only what he needs, but what they need too.

See how the reward matched the service. She made one cake for the prophet, and in return she had many cakes for herself and her son. When Abraham offered up his only son to God, he was promised that he would become the father of many nations. What is spent in devotion or charity is placed at the best interest rate, on the safest security. This poor widow gave the prophet one small meal, and in return she and her son ate for many days (1 Kings 17:15), more than two years, during a time of famine. To have their food come from God’s special favor, and to eat it in such good company as Elijah, made it more than twice as sweet. It is promised to those who trust in God that they will not be put to shame in hard times, but in famine they will be satisfied (Psalm 37:19).