1 Kingschapter 17

Elijah Raises the Son of the Widow of Zarephath — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

A.Neither dew nor rain, but according to my wordvv. 1-7

1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!” 2 Then a revelation from the LORD came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. 4 And you are to drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So Elijah did what the LORD had told him, and he went and lived by the Brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan. 6 The ravens would bring him bread and meat in the morning and evening, and he would drink from the brook. 7 Some time later, however, the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

B.A handful of meal that would not spendvv. 8-16

8 Then the word of the LORD came to Elijah: 9 “Get up and go to Zarephath of Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.” 10 So Elijah got up and went to Zarephath. When he arrived at the city gate, there was a widow gathering sticks. Elijah called to her and said, “Please bring me a little water in a cup, so that I may drink.” 11 And as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, “Please bring me a piece of bread.” 12 But she replied, “As surely as the LORD your God lives, I have no bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. Look, I am gathering a couple of sticks to take home and prepare a meal for myself and my son, so that we may eat it and die.” 13 “Do not be afraid,” Elijah said to her. “Go and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake of bread from what you have, and bring it out to me. Afterward, make some for yourself and your son, 14 for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be exhausted and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the LORD sends rain upon the face of the earth.’” 15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah, and there was food every day for Elijah and the woman and her household. 16 The jar of flour was not exhausted and the jug of oil did not run dry, according to the word that the LORD had spoken through Elijah.

C.Stretched upon the child three times: now I knowvv. 17-24

17 Later, the son of the woman who owned the house became ill, and his sickness grew worse and worse, until no breath remained in him. 18 “O man of God,” said the woman to Elijah, “what have you done to me? Have you come to remind me of my iniquity and cause the death of my son?” 19 But Elijah said to her, “Give me your son.” So he took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. 20 Then he cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on this widow who has opened her home to me, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out over the child three times and cried out to the LORD, “O LORD my God, please let this boy’s life return to him!” 22 And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah, and the child’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Then Elijah took the child, brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. “Look, your son is alive,” Elijah declared. 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the LORD from your mouth is truth.”

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition

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Chapter summary

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Out of nowhere, with no genealogy, Elijah the Tishbite stands before Ahab: 'As Jehovah, the God of Israel, liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word' (17:1). Then hiding by the brook Cherith, fed morning and evening by ravens, until the brook dries. Sent to a Sidonian widow at Zarephath. Baal's own country. Gathering two sticks for a last meal, he asks for it first, and 'the jar of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail.' When her son dies, Elijah stretches himself on the child three times: 'See, thy son liveth.' Jesus makes this widow his text in Luke 4.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament.

Context

History · Jeremiah — 1 Kings overview

A. 1–7 Neither dew nor rain, but according to my word
B. 8–16 A handful of meal that would not spend
C. 17–24 Stretched upon the child three times: now I know

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

2 Kings 46 verses
- 2 Kings 4:2“How can I help you?” asked Elisha. “Tell me, what do you have in the house?” She answered, “Your servant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil.”
- 2 Kings 4:18And the child grew, and one day he went out to his father, who was with the harvesters.
- 2 Kings 4:32When Elisha reached the house, there was the boy lying dead on his bed.
- 2 Kings 4:33So he went in, closed the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the LORD.
- 2 Kings 4:36Elisha summoned Gehazi and said, “Call the Shunammite woman.” So he called her and she came. Then Elisha said, “Pick up your son.”
- 2 Kings 4:42Now a man from Baal-shalishah came to the man of God with a sack of twenty loaves of barley bread from the first ripe grain. “Give it to the people to eat,” said Elisha.
- Read 2 Kings 4 →
Hebrews 113 verses
- Hebrews 11:17By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac on the altar. He who had received the promises was ready to offer his one and only son,
- Hebrews 11:35Women received back their dead, raised to life again. Others were tortured and refused their release, so that they might gain a better resurrection.
- Hebrews 11:38The world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and hid in caves and holes in the ground.
- Read Hebrews 11 →
Luke 42 verses
- Luke 4:25But I tell you truthfully that there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and great famine swept over all the land.
- Luke 4:26Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to the widow of Zarephath in Sidon.
- Read Luke 4 →
James 52 verses
- James 5:15And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
- James 5:17Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.
- Read James 5 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

Luke 12 verses
- Luke 1:17And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
- Luke 1:37For no word from God will ever fail.”
- Read Luke 1 →
1 Kings 172 verses
- 1 Kings 17:1Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was among the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As surely as the LORD lives—the God of Israel before whom I stand—there will be neither dew nor rain in these years except at my word!”
- 1 Kings 17:9“Get up and go to Zarephath of Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.”
- Read 1 Kings 17 →
Psalms 782 verses
- Psalms 78:15He split the rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink as abundant as the seas.
- Psalms 78:23Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens.
- Read Psalms 78 →
Matthew 62 verses
- Matthew 6:31Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’
- Matthew 6:33But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.
- Read Matthew 6 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.