Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Kings 17:17
And it came to pass 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.
17 24. Death and restoration of the widow’s son (Not in Chronicles)
17. his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him ] Josephus interprets this expression as if the youth were only seemingly dead; . Yet both the mother and the prophet speak in the narrative of the ‘slaying’ of the son. The soul was departed, and it is the breathing into man of the breath of life, which makes him ‘a living soul.’ All the language of Scripture speaks in the same tone. ‘When the breath of man goeth forth, he shall turn again to his earth.’
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
No breath – Or, no spirit, no soul. (Compare Gen 2:7). The word used is translated spirit in Pro 20:27; Ecc 3:21; Job 26:4; and elsewhere.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
1Ki 17:17-24
And it came to pass after these things.
The test of the home-life
Many a man might bear himself as a hero and saint in the solitudes of Cherith, or on the heights of Carmel, and yet wretchedly fail in the home-life of Zarephath. It is one thing to commune with God in the solitudes of nature, and to perform splendid acts of devotion and zeal for Him in the presence of thousands; but it is quite another to walk with Him day by day in the midst of a home, with its many calls for the constant forgetfulness of self. And yet it would be idle to deny that there is much to try and test us just where the flowers bloom, and the voices of hate and passion die away in distant murmurs. There is a constant need for the exercise of gentleness, patience, self-sacrifice, self-restraint. And beneath the test of home, with its incessant duties and demands, many men break down, whose character seems, like some Alpine peak, to shoot up far beyond the average of those with whom they associate in the busy world. Thy home-life was chosen for thee by the unerring skill of One who knows thee better than thou knowest thyself, and who could not mistake. It has been selected as the best school of grace for thee. And now, looking down upon thee, the Master says: There is nothing in thy life that may not be lived in Me, for Me, through Me: and I am willing to enable thee to be sweet and noble and saint-like in it all. Elijah was the same man in the widows house as on Carmels heights. He is like one of those mountains to which we have referred, piercing the heavens with unscaleable heights; but clothed about the lower parts with woodlands, and verdant fields, and smiling bowers, where bees gather honey, and children play. He shows that when a man is full of the Holy Ghost, it will be evidenced by the entire tenor of his daily walk and conversation.
I. Elijah teaches us contentment. Gods rule is–day by day. The manna fell on the desert sands day by day. Our bread is promised to us for the day. As our day, so will our strength be. And they who live like this are constantly reminded of their blessed dependence on their Fathers love. If God guarantees, as He does, our support, does it much matter whether we can see the sources from which He will obtain it? It might gratify our curiosity; but it would not make them more sure.
II. Elijah also teaches us gentleness under provocation. Art thou come to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? A remark, so uncalled-for and unjust, might well have stung the prophet to the quick, or prompted a bitter reply. And it would have doubtless done so, had his goodness been anything less than inspired by the Holy Ghost. But one of the fruits of His indwelling is Gentleness. We need more of this practical godliness. Many deceive themselves. If the Holy Spirit is really filling the heart, there will come over the rudest, the least refined, the most selfish, a marvellous change; there will be a gentleness in speech, in the very tones of the voice; a tender thoughtfulness in the smallest actions; a peace passing understanding on the face; and these shall be the evident seal of the Holy Ghost, the mint-mark of heaven. Are they evident in ourselves?
III. Elijah teaches also the power of a holy life. Somewhere in the background of this womans life there was a dark deed, which dwarfed all other memories of wrong-doing, and stood out before her mind as her sin–my sin (1Ki 17:18). What it was we do not know; it may have been connected with the birth of that very son. There is a wonderful invention, recently perfected, by which sound can be fixed pictorially; and, from the picture, it may be produced again, long years after it was spoken. Imagine your hearing once again the voices long bushed in death! But memory is like this: it fixes all impressions and retains them; it never permits them to be destroyed, though it may not always be able to produce them instantly to a given call. Some memories are like well-classified libraries, in which you can readily discover even the smallest pamphlet; others are so confused that they are useless for practical purposes: yet even in these, nothing that ever came within their range has ever been lost; and whenever the right clue is presented, there is an immediate resurrection and recovery of sounds, and sights, and trains of thought long buried. How terrible will it be, when the lost soul is met on the threshold of the dark world to which it goes, by the solemn words, Son, remember!
IV. Elijah teaches, lastly, the secret of giving life. It is a characteristic of those who are filled with the Holy Ghost, that they carry with them everywhere the spirit of life, even resurrection-life. We shall not only convince men of sin; but we shall become channels through which the Divine Life may enter them. Thus was it with the prophet. But mark the conditions under which alone we shall be able to fulfil this glorious function.
1. Lonely wrestlings. He took him out of her bosom, etc. We are not specific enough in prayer; and we do not spend enough time in intercession, dwelling with holy ardour on each beloved name, and on each heart-rending case. What wonder that we achieve so little!
2. Humility. He measured himself upon the child. How wonderful that so great a man should spend so much time and thought on that slender frame, and be content to bring himself into direct contact with that which might be thought to defile! It is a touching spectacle.
3. Perseverance. He measured himself three times, and cried unto the Lord. He was not soon daunted. It is thus that God tests the genuineness of our desire. These deferred answers lead us to lengths of holy boldness and pertinacity of which we should not otherwise have dreamed, but from which we shall never go back. Men ought always to pray, and not to faint. (F. B. Meyer, M. A.)
The dead made alive
There are some good suggestions here for every one of us who would win souls to Christ. For the condition of every one who is living without faith and confidence in God is compared in the Scriptures to spiritual death, and the conversion of a soul is spoken of as bringing the dead to life. First, there is–
1. The personal interest, the actual effort; how many times we think about winning some one to Christ, but we let all our interest ooze out in thinking; we do not act.
2. We have suggested to us that we are to save them by prayer. Elijah knew he had no power to bring this boy to life, but he knew God had the power. He gave himself in prayer to God, and God heard his prayer.
3. We must add our personal influence to prayer. Elijah, as if to infuse some of his own vitality into the body of the dead child, stretched himself upon it three times. We never can tell when a personal touch may win a soul to the Lord. (L. A. Banks, D. D.)
Germs of thought
The resurrection of the widows son at Zarephath.
I. Man the organ of the miraculous. This is confessedly a miracle–an event altogether out of the ordinary course of nature. In this very chapter there are no less than three miracles wrought by Elijah. The heavens were sealed by him;-there was no rain or dew for three years; and there was a famine. The widows meal and oil remained undiminished, after supplying the wants of the widow, her son, and himself:–and now her son is brought to life. Why does the Almighty thus employ man as the medium of His miraculous agency?
1. It serves to impress us with the infinite regard which God has for good men.
2. It serves to foreshadow the wonderful power which good men, when perfected in eternity, may possess. May it not be that the grandest of their miracles here are but symbols and types of their splendid achievements there?
II. Poverty the home of the great. Elijahs chamber was a small loft in that humble cottage. This should teach us–
1. Not to make secular position a test of moral character. This in every age man has been apt to do. Jobs friends did this.
2. Not to make secular wealth an end of life. Our life consisteth not in the abundance of things.
3. Not to shun men because they are poor.
4. Not to neglect the cultivation of spiritual excellence because of our poverty. Poverty is no excuse either for impiety or uselessness. Paul said, Though poor, yet making many rich.
III. Evil the occasion of good. This womans trial was great in the death of her son. It would teach her–
1. How absolutely life is in the hands of God. It taught her that He can take it away and give it back at pleasure. The Lord gave, etc.
2. How great the influence a truly good man has with heaven. (Homilist.)
Out of the depths
Gods chastisements are always for our profit. It is only out of the depths that we can rise to the highest knowledge of God. So it was not in vain that both the prophet and the widow passed through the furnace at Zarephath.
1. The first is this, Trust and Obey. The departure from Cherith, the journey through Samaria, the encounter with a widow so poor that she was forced to gather sticks by the highway, were all a severe test of Elijahs faith. He had to look, not at outward appearances, but at the word of the Lord. So, too, with the widow. If she had asked for a full barrel and a new cruse to start with, it would have been only what our hearts are always craving. We say, Give us this day our daily bread, but we like to see an assured income between us and want.
2. But the woman was to learn a deeper lesson still. It may be summed up in Remember and Repent. Before long Gods hand was laid upon her son, and he fell sick and died. This awakened memories that had slumbered long. Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? We do not know whether it was her general sinfulness that was brought home to her or some particular offence–some forgotten sin, buried and covered over in the rubbish-heap of the past. We notice, however, that this sense of sin was not awakened until death threatened her home, and her own son paid the first instalment of the dread penalty of sin. And yet surely she had not been resisting Gods grace. The word of the Lord in Elijahs mouth had not been rejected by her. It needed death, however, to bring about in this widow a true sense of sin. Grace and Truth are both needed for the development of spiritual life. Grace was manifest in the daily supply of food. Truth shone forth with awful and searching power in the death of her son. Grace revealed the goodness of God–Truth made to pass before her the evil of her own heart. And Gods people, as well as the careless and ungodly, need to remember and repent.
3. Our third motto is Ask and Receive. There are deep mysteries in life which yield to nothing but prayer. What a tangle there was in that home! How mysterious–how, from the human standpoint, inexplicable, the blow that had fallen! We are all prejudiced against God by nature, and unwilling to accept judgment without murmuring. But in this case Gods dealings must have seemed terribly severe. There is one explanation, however, of all these mysterious and inexplicable dealings of Gods providence. They are sent to teach us the value of prayer, to draw us out of ourselves, and to make us lay hold of that power of God, which reaches even beyond the grave. What a prayer was this of Elijahs! Prayer is still all-powerful along the line of Gods will. We, too, may know the power of Christs resurrection; indeed, a measure of resurrection power should be manifest in our lives, if we are indeed risen with Christ.
4. Love and know, is illustrated by this story. It is beyond our power to conceive the deep effect upon this widow of her sons resurrection. Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, was the widows comment. Clearly the bitterness had given place to love. She had learnt that God only wounds to heal. (F. S. Webster, M. A.)
Raising the widows son
The mother, overwhelmed with sorrow, severely rebukes Elijah, and charges him with the loss of her son. This conduct may be accounted for
(1) By a feeling of human nature which always seeks.to blame something, or some person, for any calamity which may befall us; and
(2) By a feeling of superstition which looks upon all afflictions as judgments from God. But how different is Elijahs conduct towards the widow. He does not resent her rebuke, as he might have done; he does not cross her troubled spirit, but sympathises with her, and treats her with exquisite tenderness.
I. No home exempt from the trials and sufferings of this life. This widow would doubtless be looked upon with envy by her neighbours. They would think that in the midst of the distress suffered by them that she was free, and protected by an unseen hand from wretchedness and woe. But a deeper sorrow than they imagined was soon her portion. And in looking upon some homes we are apt to think that they are strangers to the ordinary trials and sorrows of life. There is no home that can exclude these.
II. The deepest sorrow may be made the instrument of our highest good.
III. An illustration of the power of prayer. (Thomas Cain.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. There was no breath left in him] He ceased to breathe and died.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Or, no soul, or life, as this Hebrew word oft signifies, i.e. he died, as is manifest from the following verses. See also Heb 11:35.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17-24. the son of the woman, themistress of the house, fell sickA severe domestic calamityseems to have led her to think that, as God had shut up heaven upon asinful land in consequence of the prophet, she was suffering on asimilar account. Without answering her bitter upbraiding, the prophettakes the child, lays it on his bed, and after a very earnest prayer,had the happiness of seeing its restoration, and along with it,gladness to the widow’s heart and home. The prophet was sent to thiswidow, not merely for his own security, but on account of her faith,to strengthen and promote which he was directed to go to her ratherthan to many widows in Israel, who would have eagerly received him onthe same privileged terms of exception from the grinding famine. Therelief of her bodily necessities became the preparatory means ofsupplying her spiritual wants, and bringing her and her son, throughthe teachings of the prophet, to a clear knowledge of God, and a firmfaith in His word (Lu 4:25).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And it came to pass after these things,…. Not only after the conversation that passed between the prophet, and the widow, but after they had lived together many days, a year or years, upon the miraculous provision made for them:
that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; that is, the son of the widow woman in whose house the prophet dwelt; the Jews say h this woman was the mother of Jonah, and that he was this son of her’s:
and his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him: it was a sickness unto death, it issued in it; for that he was really dead appears from all that follows.
h Pirke Eliezer, c. 33.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The widow’s deceased son raised to life again. – 1Ki 17:17. After these events, when Elijah had taken up his abode in the upper room of her house, her son fell sick, so that he breathed out his life. , literally till no breath remained in him. That these words do not signify merely a death-like torpor, but an actual decease, is evident from what follows, where Elijah himself treats the boy as dead, and the Lord, in answer to his prayer, restores him to life again.
1Ki 17:18 The pious woman discerned in this death a punishment from God for her sin, and supposed that it had been drawn towards her by the presence of the man of God, so that she said to Elijah, “What have we to do with one another ( ; cf. Jdg 11:12; 2Sa 16:10), thou man of God? Hast thou come to me to bring my sin to remembrance (with God), and to kill my son?” In this half-heathenish belief there spoke at the same time a mind susceptible to divine truth and conscious of its sin, to which the Lord could not refuse His aid. Like the blindness in the case of the man born blind mentioned in John 9, the death of this widow’s son was not sent as a punishment for particular sins, but was intended as a medium for the manifestation of the works of God in her (Joh 9:3), in order that she might learn that the Lord was not merely the God of the Jews, but the God of the Gentiles also (Rom 3:29).
1Ki 17:19-20 Elijah told her to carry the dead child up to the chamber in which he lived and lay it upon his bed, and then cried to the Lord, “Jehovah, my God! hast Thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, to slay her son?” These words, in which the word also refers to the other calamities occasioned by the drought, contain no reproach of God, but are expressive of the heartiest compassion for the suffering of his benefactress and the deepest lamentation, which, springing from living faith, pours out the whole heart before God in the hour of distress, that I may appeal to Him the more powerfully for His aid. The meaning is, “Thou, O Lord my God, according to Thy grace and righteousness, canst not possibly leave the son of this widow in death.” Such confident belief carries within itself the certainty of being heard. The prophet therefore proceeds at once to action, to restore the boy to life.
1Ki 17:21 He stretched himself ( ) three times upon him, not to ascertain whether there was still any life left in him, as Paul did in Act 20:10, nor to warm the body of the child and set its blood in circulation, as Elisha did with a dead child (2Ki 4:34), – for the action of Elisha is described in a different manner, and the youth mentioned in Act 20:10 was only apparently dead, – but to bring down the vivifying power of God upon the dead body, and thereby support his own word and prayer.
(Note: “ This was done, that the prophet ‘ s body might be the instrument of the miracle, just as in other cases of miracle there was an imposition of the hand. ” – Seb. Schmidt.)
He then cried to the Lord, “Jehovah, my God, I pray Thee let the soul of this boy return within it.” , inasmuch as the soul as the vital principle springs from above.
1Ki 17:22-23 The Lord heard this prayer: the boy came to life again; whereupon Elijah gave him back to his mother.
1Ki 17:24 Through this miracle, in which Elijah showed himself as the forerunner of Him who raiseth all the dead to life, the pious Gentile woman was mightily strengthened in her faith in the God of Israel. She now not only recognised Elijah as a man of God, as in 1Ki 17:18, but perceived that the word of Jehovah in his mouth was truth, by which she confessed implicite her faith in the God of Israel as the true God.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Widow’s Child Raised to Life. | B. C. 908. |
17 And it came to pass 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. 18 And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? 19 And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. 20 And he cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? 21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again. 22 And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. 24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.
We have here a further recompence made to the widow for her kindness to the prophet; as if it were a small thing to be kept alive, her son, when dead, is restored to life, and so restored to her. Observe,
I. The sickness and death of the child. For aught that appears he was her only son, the comfort of her widowed estate. He was fed miraculously, and yet that did not secure him from sickness and death. Your fathers did eat manna, and are dead, but there is bread of which a man may eat and not die, which was given for the life of the world, Joh 6:49; Joh 6:50. The affliction was to this widow as a thorn in the flesh, lest she should be lifted up above measure with the favours that were done her and the honours that were put upon her. 1. She was nurse to a great prophet, was employed to sustain him, and had strong reason to think the Lord would do her good; yet now she loses her child. Note, We must not think it strange if we meet with very sharp afflictions, even when we are in the way of duty, and of eminent service to God. 2. She was herself nursed by miracle, and kept a good house without charge or care, by a distinguishing blessing from heaven; and in the midst of all this satisfaction she was thus afflicted. Note, When we have the clearest manifestations of God’s favour and good-will towards us, even then we must prepare for the rebukes of Providence. Our mountain never stands so strong but it may be moved, and therefore, in this world, we must always rejoice with trembling.
II. Her pathetic complaint to the prophet of this affliction. It should seem, the child died suddenly, else she would have applied to Elijah, while he was sick, for the cure of him; but being dead, dead in her bosom, she expostulates with the prophet upon it, rather to give vent to her sorrow than in any hope of relief, v. 18. 1. She expresses herself passionately: What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? How calmly had she spoken of her own and her child’s death when she expected to die for want (v. 12) —that we may eat, and die! Yet now that her child dies, and not so miserably as by famine, she is extremely disturbed at it. We may speak lightly of an affliction at a distance, but when it toucheth us we are troubled, Job iv. 5. Then she spoke deliberately, now in haste; the death of her child was now a surprise to her, and it is hard to keep our spirits composed when troubles come upon us suddenly and unexpectedly, and in the midst of our peace and prosperity. She calls him a man of God, and yet quarrels with him as if he had occasioned the death of her child, and is ready to which she had never seen him, forgetting past mercies and miracles: “What have I done against thee?” (so some understand it), “Wherein have I offended thee, or been wanting in my duty? Show me wherefore thou contendest with me.” 2. Yet she expresses herself penitently: “Hast thou come to call my sin to thy remembrance, as the cause of the affliction, and so to call it to my remembrance, as the effect of the affliction?” Perhaps she knew of Elijah’s intercession against Israel, and, being conscious to herself of sin, perhaps her former worshipping of Baal the god of the Sidonians, she apprehends he had made intercession against her. Note, (1.) When God removes our comforts from use he remembers our sins against us, perhaps the iniquities of our youth, though long since past, Job xiii. 26. Our sins are the death of our children. (2.) When God thus remembers our sins against us he designs thereby to make us remember them against ourselves and repent of them.
III. The prophet’s address to God upon this occasion. He gave no answer to her expostulation, but brought it to God, and laid the case before him, not knowing what to say to it himself. He took the dead child from the mother’s bosom to his own bed, v. 19. Probably he had taken a particular kindness to the child, and found the affliction his own more than by sympathy. He retired to his chamber, and, 1. He humbly reasons with God concerning the death of the child, v. 20. He sees death striking by commission from God: Thou hast brought this evil for is there any evil of this kind in the city, in the family, and the Lord has not done it? He pleads the greatness of the affliction to the poor mother: “It is evil upon the widow; thou art the widow’s God, and dost not usually bring evil upon widows; it is affliction added to the afflicted.” He pleads his own concern: “It is the widow with whom I sojourn; wilt thou, that art my God, bring evil upon one of the best of my benefactors? I shall be reflected upon, and others will be afraid of entertaining me, if I bring death into the house where I come.” 2. He earnestly begs of God to restore the child to life again, v. 21. We do not read before this of any that were raised to life; yet Elijah, by a divine impulse, prays for the resurrection of this child, which yet will not warrant us to do the like. David expected not, by fasting and prayer, to bring his child back to life (2 Sam. xii. 23), but Elijah had a power to work miracles, which David had not. He stretched himself upon the child, to affect himself with the case and to show how much he was affected with it and how desirous he was of the restoration of the child–he would if he could put life into him by his own breath and warmth; also to give a sign of what God would do by his power, and what he does by his grace, in raising dead souls to a spiritual life; the Holy Ghost comes upon them, overshadows them, and puts life into them. He is very particular in his prayer: I pray thee let this child’s soul come into him again, which plainly supposes the existence of the soul in a state of separation from the body, and consequently its immortality, which Grotius thinks God designed by this miracle to give intimation and evidence of, for the encouragement of his suffering people.
IV. The resurrection of the child, and the great satisfaction it gave to the mother: the child revived, v. 22. See the power of prayer and the power of him that hears prayer, who kills and makes alive. Elijah brought him to his mother, who, we may suppose, could scarcely believe her own eyes, and therefore Elijah assures her it is her own: “It is thy son that liveth; see it is thy own, and not another,” v. 23. The good woman hereupon cries out, Now I know that thou art a man of God; though she knew it before, by the increase of her meal, yet the death of her child she took so unkindly that she began to question it (a good man surely would not serve her so); but now she was abundantly satisfied that he had both the power and goodness of a man of God, and will never doubt of it again, but give up herself to the direction of his word and the worship of the God of Israel. Thus the death of the child (like that of Lazarus, John xi. 4) was for the glory of God and the honour of his prophet.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Dead Boy Raised, Verses 17-24
When Elijah had been with the widow for some time a disaster came on her house. Her son became very ill, and the Scripture says, “there was no breath left in him.” Some question whether the boy actually died, but the context certainly seems to indicate that he did. Note that it is said, 1) his breath left him; 2) the widow’s accusation of Elijah implied that he was at the point of death, or had died; 3) Elijah’s petition to the Lord, speaks of the son as having been slain; 4) Elijah prayed for the return of the boy’s soul into his body; 5) the Scripture says his soul returned, and he revived, or lived again.
The widow felt some moral compunction about the incident. There was a sin in her background, for which she felt the Lord was punishing her, and that it was a result of the prophet of God’s coming to her house. It has been speculated that her sin consisted of adultery by which the child had been born. This is possible, of course, but it may be also that she, as an Israelite, had violated God’s law in marriage with a heathen man of Phoenicia, where she lived, and he had fathered her son. Of course the Bible is silent concerning the actual cause.
Elijah took the body of the boy to an upper chamber and called on the Lord concerning his death, asking Him to allow the boy to live again. It appears that God restored the child’s life through the natural application of mouth to mouth resuscitation. The Lord uses means already present in nature to effect His own miracles sometimes, as in this case (cf. Joh 9:6-7).
The miracle of her son’s restoration to life erased all the widow’s doubts about the Lord, or of Elijah, His servant. She avowed that she now was convinced that Elijah’s preaching is the word of God in his mouth and that it is true and reliable. The sadness brought about by her son’s illness and death was replaced with great joy in his restoration and vastly strengthened faith in the Lord (Rom 8:28).
Some lessons from chapter 17 1) God will provide all needed boldness to speak His message by His servants; 2) faithfulness to the Lord in one place begets His care for His children in all places; 3) there is no scarcity with God, whose providential care is sufficient at all times (Php_4:18-19); 4) God has power in life or in death, to accomplish all His purpose in believers, or unbelievers (Php_1:19-21).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.
1Ki. 17:17. Fell sick no breath left in himThis phrase does not absolutely imply death (comp. Dan. 10:17; also 1Ki. 10:17). Josephus renders the incident thus . We may concede that the boy was in a state of fatal exhaustion, sinking away into death, and not absolutely dead. But whichever was the case, his recovery was as really supernatural and miraculous.
1Ki. 17:18. What have I to do with thee?The bitter upbraiding of incoherent grief. My sin to remembranceNo particular sin, but the current error that affliction was a punishment (comp. Joh. 9:3). In the first passion and dismay of sorrow we strangely misread Gods design.
1Ki. 17:19. Carried him into a loftThe upper chamber; alone there with God, to plead for Divine interpretation and removal of this unexpected calamity.
1Ki. 17:21. Stretched himself upon the child three timesStretched himself, &c., thereby employing rational means for warming, and thus revivifying the body; but not relying on natural methods for his restoration, but on Gods intervention, using means of themselves ineffectual for the miraculous result. Three times because the calling upon the name of Jehovah in the old covenant was a threefold act (Psa. 55:18; Dan. 6:10); thrice in the high priestly benediction was the name of Jehovah laid upon Israel (Num. 6:22); thrice did the seraphim before the throne of Jehovah cry out holy (Isa. 6:3).Lange. And Jesus himself left them and went away and prayed the third time, saying the same words. (Mat. 26:44).
1Ki. 17:24. Now by this I knowBecause thou hast seen thou hast believed; yet she had already shown faith when proof was not visible. This was a most gracious seal to her faith, which had thus been doubly end sorely tried.W. H. J.
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki. 17:17-24
THE MARVELLOUS POWER OF AN INTREPID FAITH
I. We see here how an intrepid faith may be sorely tried.
1. By sudden and unexpected bereavement (1Ki. 17:17). The youth who had escaped from the merciless fangs of famine, and who, for some time, was sustained by a miraculous supply of God, is smitten down with a mysterious disease, and, as it would appear, with appalling suddenness, expires. It is sad to lose our health, sad to lose our fortune, but it is sadder still to lose the loved ones of our hearth and home.
Tis hard to lay our darling
Deep in the cold, damp earth;
His empty crib to see, his silent nursery,
Once gladsome with his mirth.
The thought of death gives a tinge of melancholy to every event of life, and reveals the frailty and transitoriness of all earthly things. The Roman Emperor who had commanded a world, exclaimed, when he came to die, I was everything, and have found that everything is nothing. And yet, if it were something, in one moment death robs us of it all. No wonder that while complaining of life we turn away from death. We live hating life, yet full of fear to die. And when death comes, slowly or suddenly, it tests the faith of the staunchest believer.
2. By the spectacle of a bewildering sorrow (1Ki. 17:18). Only a mother knows a mothers grief. How ready we are, says Bishop Hall, to mistake the grounds of our afflictions, and to cast them upon false causes. The passionate mother cannot find weather to impute the death of her son but to the presence of Elijah, to whom she ones distracted with perplexity, not without an unkind challenge of him from whom she had received both that life she had lost and that she had: What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? As if her son could not have died if Elijah had not been her guest, whereas her son had died but for him. Why should she think that the prophet had saved him from the famine to kill him with sickness? He who had appeased God towards her is suspected to have incensed him. This wrongful misconstruction was enough to move any patience. Elijah was of a hot and fiery temperament, and a strain was put upon his self-control. But his faith in God, and the sympathy roused within him for the afflicted widow, not only taught him forbearance, but made him the more anxious to do what he could to alleviate her anguish.
II. We see here how an intrepid faith is sustained and strengthened by earnest and importunate prayer (1Ki. 17:19-21). This incident brings out for the first time in his history one of the most marked and powerful features of Elijahs character as a man of prayer He was personally deeply moved by the distress which this bereavement had brought into the widows home; and his prayer is an urgent appeal to God, as a just and merciful and righteous Being. He pleaded for the restoration of life to the dead boya bold and hitherto unheard of request from the lips of mortal man! We can imagine the Tishbite pacing up and down his little chamber in importunate, impassioned prayer; but yet with no doubt as to the result of his intercession. It was a mighty demand, indeed, for a mortal to make a request that had no previous parallel in praying lips. It was nothing short of this: that unassailable death be stormed in his own strongholds; that the iron crown be plucked from the head of the king of terrors. When Elijah does manifest faith, it is always of the noblest type. The higher exercises of faith are possible only to earnest, resolute, and incessant prayer.
III. We see here how an intrepid faith is honoured by a signal display of Divine power (1Ki. 17:22-23). This is the first recorded instance of a resurrection from the dead. Many suppose that this youth afterwards became the servant of Elijah (1Ki. 18:43; 1Ki. 19:3): and an old Jewish tradition identifies him with the prophet Jonah. It was a proud thought for Greece that on one and the same day she gained the battle of Plata on the land, and the battle of Mycal on the sea. And what would be the grateful joy of this widow woman that by one and the same agency, in the retirement of her home, and in a period of the severest national distress, in place of two victims there had been two victoriesa victory over famine, a victory also over death. Nothing is impossible to believing prayer. If Elijah by his fervent supplications could bring about supernatural results, why should we fail in securing blessings with. In the ordinary sphere of nature, by the agency of prayer?
IV. We see here how an intrepid faith is the means of strengthening and confirming the weak (1Ki. 17:24). This Sareptan widow believed in God before, but she is a stronger and more decided believer now. The miraculous replenishing of her store convinced her of the mercy and love of God, and the raising of her son from the dead gave her a still deeper insight into the Divine Majesty and power, and invested the mission of the prophet with a still more awful authority. The design of miracles is not for display, or to excite wonder, but for the confirmation of truth. The strongest faith sometimes gives way and needs heavenly support. Had this widows son continued dead, her belief had been buried in his grave: notwithstanding her meal and oil, her soul had languished. The condescension of God provides new helps for our infirmities, and meets us on our own ground, that he may work out our faith and salvation. The onus of unbelief is thrown wholly on man. God takes care there shall be no lack of evidence for the encouragement and building up of faith.
LESSONS:
1. Bereavement and sorrow intensify our sympathy with humanity.
2. The soul in its deepest suffering finds rest and consolation alone in God.
3. Faith in God achieves the grandest moral victories.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki. 17:17-24. Raising the Widows Song of Solomon 1. No home exempt from the trials and sufferings of this life. This widow would doubtless be looked upon with envy by her neighbours. They would think that in the midst of the distress suffered by them she was free and protected by an unseen hand from wretchedness and woe. But a deeper sorrow than they imagined was soon her portion. In looking upon some homes, we are apt to think they are strangers to the ordinary trials and sorrows of life. But there is no home that can exclude these. However well provided temporarily, however diligent and devoted in the path of Christian duty the inmates may be, still there comes to them, more or less, trial and suffering of one kind or anotheraffliction, disappointment, bereavement. To know this should prepare us to meet trials when they come.
2. The deepest sorrow may be the instrument of our highest good. Nothing could have been a greater affliction to this woman than the death of her son; but it gave God the opportunity of exercising His power in raising him from the dead. By means of this she was enlightened, and her faith in God confirmed. She was on the borderland of true faith before; now she enters into its fulness. Now, by this, I know, &c. Many have been similarly blessed by trial and sorrow; they have obtained clearer and loftier views of God and stronger faith in Him. J hey have been raised up into a higher region of life and affection (Heb. 12:11).
3. An illustration of the power of prayer. How differently would this woman regard prayer to Jehovah to what she had done before! She would see that it was the way of access to God and of prevailing with Him; and lead her to imitate that earnest and confident prayer of Elijah which brought her son back from the regions of the dead. We have many rich and valuable illustrations of the power of prayer in Holy Writ and in our own history, which should lead us to a more earnest and persevering use of it.The Study and Pulpit.
1Ki. 17:18. The voice of conscience.
1. Is heard in the midst of calamity.
2. Is an unfailing remembrancer of sin.
3. May mislead as to the reasons for which calamity is permitted to overtake us.
4. Should be listened to with a view of moral improvement.
1Ki. 17:19-21. Behold this great man in his chamber, alone with the corpse of that fair child. See how vehemently he strides up and down, gradually working himself up to the height of the great demand which gleams before his thought, a demand which had not crossed the mind of man since the beginning of the world, only because no man before had had the same degree of faiththe faith to deem it possible that the dead might be restored to life at mans urgent prayer. It is done. His purpose is taken. The child may live. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. It is as easy for Him to give back life as to take it; and He will do this if asked with adequate faith. Elijah knew that men too often expect to move the mountains by such faith as suffices not to shake the mole-hills; and that because, from the insufficiency of the means, the hoped-for results do not follow, the power of faith is disparaged. But he felt the true mountain-moving faith heaving strong within him, and he gave it unrestrained vent. He threw himself upon the corpse, as if, in the vehement energy of his will, to force his own life into it; and he cried with mighty and resistless urgency to God to send back to this cold frame the breath he had taken away. Faith conquered. It was adequate, and therefore irresistible.Kitto.
1Ki. 17:22. Even if the Lord do no miracle, there are still a thousand ways and means by which He sends comfort and strength, or help and salvation, in answer to the believing prayer of His faithful servants. Each granting of prayer is indeed a miracle, and never is one humble, believing prayer uttered in vainno, not even when it is refused.Menken.
The illimitable power of God.
1. Has absolute control over life and death.
2. Can accomplish whatever does not imply a contradiction: it is never uselessly employed.
3. Is exerted in answer to believing prayer.
4. Confirms the faith of the wavering.
1Ki. 17:23. He who testified that man did not live from hour to hour by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, testified also to a stranger from the commonwealth of Israel that God can give back that life which He has taken away. The poor woman of Zidon learnt the amazing lesson that the power which she had looked upon as emphatically the destroyer, is warring with death, and can win a victory over it, not for some great and holy person, but for her whose sins had been brought to remembrance by the presence of the prophet and the death of her childMaurice.
1Ki. 17:24. Real knowledge of the truth. I. There is a kind of knowledge of scriptural things which leaves a man perfectly satisfied with himself. This widow seems to have been acquainted with the God of Israel, in the way of providence, and seems to have known Elijah to be a prophet by his dress; and her obedience appears to have been of that kind which springs from the intellectual knowledge that a man has, that God is almighty; that, being perfect, He is therefore faithful; and that what He says must come to pass; but it does not seem to have been that which springs from a heart knowledge of Him as a just God and a Saviour, who pardoneth iniquity, and which knowledge begets an appropriation of God as my God to the heartfor, you observe, she says, As the Lord thy God liveth. She does not say, As the Lord my God liveth! This lesson of knowing God as our God she has yet to learn. And this she was to learn in the school of afflictiona furnace in which many of Gods children are chosen and made to know Him. There are many persons in the same state as the widow of Zarephath before the prophet came to her. Like her, they have heard of God; they have heard that there is a God; they do not deny the truth and power of God; they believe that the Word of God is true; they do not hesitate to render a sort of outside obedience to His commands. We find them continually speaking calmly of death, just as this woman did; but all the peace which apparently accompanies this calm statement about death is false. It arises from ignorance of sin. When this is brought vividly and clearly to remembrance, then their peace flies away, because there is no real acquaintance with Christ. They know the inconvenience of sin, they know the disgrace of it; but as to the real nature of sin, they are ignorant of it, because no man ever can abide under a knowledge of the nature of sin without fleeing to Jesus for the remedy that God has provided in Him.
II. This kind of knowledge is shown not to be a real acquaintance with truth, by impatience under affliction. What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? By some this is understood to express her deep sense of the vast difference between herself and the prophet, and the feeling she entertained in consequence; as when Peter, astonished at the marvellous draught of fishes, exclaimed, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord. But it seems as if the words are expressive of a feeling of impatience of the sorrow which had come upon her, in consequence, as she thought, of the presence of the prophet: as if she had said, If this be the consequence of thy visit, would I had never seen thee. She forgets Gods goodness, and thinks only of her trial. Are there not many who go on for years partaking of Gods bounty, who are favoured above thousands around them, but who have no knowledge of the state of their own hearts, and who, when the Lord afflicts them, are irritated, and think themselves hardly dealt by; or when, by the preaching of the Word of God; He graciously opens their eyes to the condition of their hearts, are impatient at those doctrines, those statements, which God frequently makes use of to affirm His purpose of love? This widow saw in Elijah not the servant of the Lord, so much as one who brought her sins to remembrance, and slew her son; and this she could not bear. Trials which mellow and ripen the saint, irritate and enrage the graceless sinner; and heart-searching preaching leads men to speak evil of the way of truth. This woman could not have talked so calmly of dying if she had known what her sins were; but when she was stripped of self-confidence, of all those false hopes which were dear to her as her sonand when God calls upon men now-a-days to relinquish their all to Him, in His love He will take them off from every false confidence, till they are left like the childless widow, with their sins staring them in the face, and all their creature-comforts gone, stripped and made bare by Gods Holy Spirit, then they are alive to the Scripture truth that they are in themselves wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.
III. It is generally under a deep sense of sin, or through deep waters, that God leads to real acquaintance with the truth. And he said unto her, Give me thy son: and he took him out of her bosom. The dead son she can part with readily; she is brought so low, she is willing to do anything for a remedy. She sees matters cannot be worse, and therefore she is willing to listen to any remedy which may make them better. And that is just the point which a man is brought to who receives the Lord Jesus with thankfulness. He sees things cannot be worse; he sees a truth which the world is very slow to believe, that there is no such thing as exaggerating the evil of sin. And when the Lord says to the convicted sinner, Give me thine heart, that heart which is dead to every hope but that which the Gospel gives, it is immediately yielded up. As God gave back life to the widows son, so in regeneration does God give back that principle of eternal life which was forfeited in Adam; God breathes into mans nostrils the breath of life, and man becomes a living soul again, in contradistinction to what he is naturally, in Scripture language, dead in trespasses and sins. Thus was the widow taught what she did not know, perhaps, in heart before, and by means which were utterly at variance with her best affections; and thus also our proud hearts are humbled, and made to know that those doctrines and statements of the Word of God which they long scoffed at are truth.
LESSONS.
1. There is such a thing as being acquainted with the Word, and obeying it in a certain outward sense, and being calm in the prospect of death, and yet not knowing that Word experimentally to be truth.
2. Until we are brought to know the evil of sin, we shall be ignorant of the spiritual meaning of the Word of God, and in that degree resist the truth.
3. Until we yield ourselves wholly to God, we shall never know the truth savingly, or find peace really.The Pulpit.
We pass through much grief and humiliation before, with joyful assurance, we can say to Him who is greater than Elijah, Now know I that thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God. Only by means of individual experience does each man come to the blessed confession that the Word of the Lord is truth. He only is a servant of God in whose mouth the Word of the Lord is truth, not mere appearance and sham.Lange.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
17. No breath left in him This statement, together with the words of the prophet in 1Ki 17:20-21, clearly show that the child was dead.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Elijah Raises The Widow’s Son To Life ( 1Ki 17:17-24 ).
In this final miracle God reveals His power of life and death. Sadly many people would have been dying in the area at the time because of the famine, and, when many are dying, death becomes almost accepted as inevitable. The incident brings out that in the midst of those scenes of death YHWH demonstrated that He was present as the Lord of life on behalf of those who looked to His prophets. The lesson is clear. Had they but trusted in YHWH and the words of His prophets, not one of them need have died. While Baal was proving helpless, YHWH was dispensing life. To those with eyes to see the contrast was clear.
Analysis.
a
b And she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son!” (1Ki 17:18).
c And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the chamber, where he was living, and laid him on his own bed (1Ki 17:19).
d And he cried to YHWH, and said, “O YHWH my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I am staying, by slaying her son?” (1Ki 17:20).
c And he stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to YHWH, and said, “O YHWH my God, I pray you, let this child’s life come into him again” (1Ki 17:21).
b And YHWH listened to the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child came into him again, and he revived (1Ki 17:22).
a 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 I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of YHWH in your mouth is truth” (1Ki 17:23-24).
Note that in ‘a’ the son was dead and had breathed his last, and in the parallel the son lived and breathed again, confirming that Elijah was a man of God. In ‘b’ the woman accused Elijah ‘as a man of God’ and as having slain her son, and in the parallel YHWH listened to his voice (because he was a man of God) and the child revived. In ‘c’ Elijah carried the son up into the room where he was living, and in the parallel, he lay on the son’s body in his room and called on YHWH to give him back his life that he might live again. Centrally in ‘d’ he sought understanding from God as to why this had happened.
1Ki 17:17
‘ And it came about 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.’
Some time after Elijah had moved into the house, the widow’s son became ill and died. Note the threefold emphasis on the seriousness of what had happened, he ‘fell sick — his sickness was sore – no breath was left in him.’ The intention is clearly to indicate illness that had resulted in death (only modern man seeks to analyse the situation so as to demonstrate that the breath leaving a body does not mean that it has died).
1Ki 17:18
‘ And she said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, O you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son!” ’
The widow knew that her son was dead and felt that this had happened because of the presence of Elijah. (How quickly we forget our blessings. She had already forgotten that it was because of Elijah’s presence that they were still alive). As she clung to her son’s body she was convinced that it was because she was so sinful that, as a result of the presence of this holy prophet of YHWH who had highlighted her sinfulness, YHWH had taken note of it and had brought this death on her son as a punishment. (Compare Peter’s ‘depart from me for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’ He too was afraid of being in the presence of someone who had been revealed as being so holy).
1Ki 17:19
‘ And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the chamber, where he was living, and laid him on his own bed.’
Elijah’s response was to ask her to release her son’s body, and he then carried him up to the ‘room’ in which he himself was living and laid him on his own bed. In view of the widow’s poverty this ‘room’ was probably a make-shift shelter on the flat roof of the house, reached by steps up the outside of the house. Such shelters were often used to house guests as they also enabled the family to have some privacy. In this case it also removed any suggestion of impropriety as a result of Elijah’s presence in the widow’s house.
1Ki 17:20
‘ And he cried to YHWH, and said, “O YHWH my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I am staying, by slaying her son?” ’
Then he called on YHWH and asked him if there was any good reason why He had brought this natural ‘evil’ (disaster) on the widow through ‘slaying her son’. While ‘moth’ can sometimes be used metaphorically there is absolutely no reason for seeing that as applying here. The thought was that her son was dead as a result of the activity of YHWH.
1Ki 17:21
‘ And he stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to YHWH, and said, “O YHWH my God, I pray you, let this child’s life come into him again.” ’
Presumably he was satisfied with the reply that he received from YHWH, for he then stretched himself three times on the young man and cried to ‘YHWH his God’ to let the young man live again. His aim may well have been with the hope of ‘life’ flowing from him to the young man because he himself was filled with the Spirit of YHWH. He would not know the mechanics of God’s working (compare how Jesus knew that power had gone out of Him when He healed the woman with the issue of blood – Mar 5:30). But he was looking to YHWH, not to magic, and submitted himself to YHWH’s will. Note that in his view the young man’s ‘life’ had left him, and needed to return again.
1Ki 17:22
‘ And YHWH listened to the voice of Elijah, and the life of the child came into him again, and he revived.’
And YHWH did as he asked. Note the three-fold steps. He listened to Elijah’s voice, and the young man’s life returned to him, and he came back to life. YHWH had raised him from the dead in a complete act of restoration as a result of Elijah’s prayer.
1Ki 17:23
‘ 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.” ’
Elijah then took the young man down the outside stairs, and entered the house and presented him to his mother, declaring, ‘See, your son lives.’ This was in huge contrast to what was happening to many people in the midst of the extreme famine. While the famine was taking lives, and Baal and Moth were simply standing by and allowing it to happen, with Baal powerless to do anything about it, YHWH was giving life.
1Ki 17:24
‘ And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of YHWH in your mouth is truth.” ’
The woman was astounded. She knew that her son had been dead. And now here he was alive. In an awed tone she declared, “Now I know in actual experience that you really are a ‘man of God’ (a genuine prophet of YHWH), and that the word of YHWH in your mouth is truth.” She had, of course, already known that he was a prophet. But she also knew that even the most persuasive prophets could turn out to be false (although not usually if they fed people miraculously). What he had done before was convincing. This, however, demonstrated beyond all doubt that Elijah was a true prophet of YHWH. Now it was indisputable. (This message was not only for Elijah. The author wanted it to come home to his readers and hearers).
YHWH Determines To Bring The Famine To An End ( 1Ki 18:1-2 a).
1Ki 18:1-2
Many days having passed, indeed it had reached ‘the third year’, the word of YHWH again came to Elijah. And this time it was with instructions that he make himself known to Ahab because YHWH was about to send rain on the earth once again. And Elijah obediently went to do what YHWH had bidden him, to show himself to Ahab (the man who according to Obadiah was desperately looking for him in order to kill him). This too required an act of faith.
The third year of famine indicated that two years of famine had previously passed, and the third was now in process. Indeed anything less would not have been a sign to Israel. They would have experienced occasional years before when the rains had been slight or had not come. That was no sign. It was the prolonged period of famine that made people recognise that this was unusual.
But before YHWH would once again send the rain something else had yet to happen, a final challenge laid down to Baal that he make it rain, and that he prove that he was the god of storm and lightning by setting fire to a sacrifice being offered on his altar. Once he had done that, then they could believe on him.
The King’s Search For Water In Israel Results In Elijah’s Meeting With King Ahab And The Gathering Of All Israel to Mount Carmel ( 1Ki 18:2-20 ).
The shortage of water had grown so desperate in Israel that King Ahab himself had initiated a large-scale search for water, in which he himself had been in charge of one of the search parties, while his Prime Minister Obadiah was on charge of the other. It was to Obadiah that Elijah appeared, and he called on him to bring Ahab to see him. Not the three times repeated, ‘Go tell your lord, Behold Elijah!’ If Ahab wanted to meet him, so be it. He was ready to meet him.
But it appeared that King Ahab had been searching everywhere for Elijah with no good intention in mind, and Obadiah, who was a true worshipper of YHWH, feared that if he told King Ahab about Elijah, and then Elijah could not be found, he himself would be put to death. Elijah, however, assured him that Ahab would find him, and when he did finally meet up with Ahab he called on him to gather all the prophets of Baal and all the people, to an assembly at the sanctuary on Mount Carmel.
Analysis.
a
b And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all the fountains of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, so that we do not lose all the beasts” (1Ki 18:5).
c So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself (1Ki 18:6).
d And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him, and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” (1Ki 18:7).
e And he answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, Behold, Elijah” (1Ki 18:8).
f And he said, “In what have I sinned, that you would deliver your servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me? As YHWH your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom, where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they said, ‘He is not here,’ he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they had not found you” (1Ki 18:9-10).
g “And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, Behold, Elijah.’ And it will come about, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of YHWH will carry you where I know not, and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will execute me” (1Ki 18:11-12 a).
f “But I your servant fear YHWH from my youth. Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of YHWH, how I hid a hundred men of YHWH’s prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? And now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, Behold, Elijah,’ and he will kill me” (1Ki 18:12-14).
e And Elijah said, “As YHWH of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” So Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah (1Ki 18:15-16).
d And it came about, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” (1Ki 18:17).
c And he answered, “I have not troubled Israel, but you, and your father’s house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of YHWH, and you have followed the Baalim” (1Ki 18:18).
b “Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel to mount Carmel, and the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table” (1Ki 18:19).
a So Ahab sent to all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together to mount Carmel (1Ki 18:20).
Note that in ‘a’ Obadiah had gathered the prophets of YHWH into a cave in order to save them, and in the parallel Ahab was to gather the propets of Baal on Mount Carmel in order that Elijah might test them. In ‘b’ the animals and people are dying of thirst while in the parallel the false prophets are feasting at Jezebel’s table. In ‘c’ King Ahab and Obadiah, his chancellor, search the stricken land for water, and in the parallel the rason for the drought is described in that King Ahab has forsaken the commands of YHWH and has followed the images of Baal. In ‘d’ Obadiah asks, ‘Is it you my lord, Elijah?’, and in the parallel Kinh Ahab asks, ‘Is it you, you troubler of Israe?’. In ‘e’ Obadiah is to tell King Ahab ‘Behold Elijah (is here)’, and in the parallel Obadiah told Ahab. In ‘f’ Obadiah describes what a dangerous position that would put him in and Ahab’s desperate search for Elijah, and in the parallel he asks whether he really wants him to be executed, which is what would happen of he told him about Elijah, and then Elijah was not there. Centrally in ‘g’ Obadiah reveals the mystique that has gathered around Elijah in all the people’s minds.
1Ki 18:2-4 ‘And the famine was sore in Samaria. And Ahab called Obadiah, who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared YHWH greatly, for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of YHWH, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water).’
Meanwhile the famine was very severe in and around Samaria, with the result that many of the king’s domestic animals were in danger of dying of thirst. So Ahab called for his Prime Minister Obadiah in order to institute a search for water. It is at this point that we learn that Obadiah was in fact a true worshipper of YHWH, and had actually save a hundred prophets of YHWH from Queen Jezebel who had been carrying out a purge against them, by hiding them in a cave and providing them with food and water. We have here a reminder that Israel’s apostasy was not total. There were yet many who preached the truth to the people, even though in danger of their lives.
This was probably the action of a vindictive queen rather than an official attempt to suppress Yahwism, and the prophets may well have been denouncing Jezebel, arousing her anger. Ahab himself is always depicted as swaying between Yahwism and Baal, and he would probably still be acting as king priest at the feasts professedly held to YHWH at the two main sanctuaries of Bethel and Dan. As we have already been told he followed in the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, but had added to his sins by allowing his wife to encourage the full-scale worship of Baal.
1Ki 18:5
‘ And Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land, to all the fountains of water, and to all the brooks. Perhaps we may find grass and save the horses and mules alive, so that we do not lose all the beasts” ’
So King Ahab called on Obadiah to assist him in his search for water. They were to search out the springs and the wadis to find any that still contained water. His rather vain hope was to find grass and water so as to save at least some of the king’s domestic animals. His special fear was probably the thought of losing his large number of chariot horses (he would put two thousand chariots in the field against Shalmaneser III of Assyria).
The personal presence of Ahab and Obadiah would be necessary so that if water and grass were found it could be appropriated in the king’s name and under his seal, however much anguish it might cause to the local inhabitants.
1Ki 18:6
‘ So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.’
Accordingly each took a section of the land and Ahab and his search party went one way, and Obadiah with another search party, went another. And the aim would be to find any grass or source of water that could be used to keep alive the king’s domestic animals. It was a desperate measure in a desperate situation and indicated how bad things had become. ‘By himself’ indicates that Ahab was not with him, not that he did not have assistants in his search. Both would have large search parties.
1Ki 18:7
‘ And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him, and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” ’
Here we have another of the dramatic appearances of Elijah out of ‘nowhere’ (compare 1Ki 17:1). As Obadiah went on his way Elijah appeared before him, and Obadiah immediately recognised him and fell on his face, and cried, ‘Is it you, my lord Elijah?’ This deference from the second person in the land is a reminder of the high esteem in which Elijah was held by many in the land as a true prophet of God, and especially so to a man like Obadiah who was himself a true servant of YHWH.
Obadiah would have been present when Elijah had first appeared to Ahab (1Ki 17:1), and he was not a person easily forgotten.
1Ki 18:8
‘ And he answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, Behold, Elijah.” ’
Elijah replied that it was indeed he. Then he cried, ‘Go tell your lord, Behold Elijah.’ It was an indication that Elijah wanted to meet Ahab. This cry, ‘Go, tell your lord, Behold, Elijah’, appears three times in the narrative indicating Elijah’s firm intention. It also draws attention to his divine authority in that he could summon a king in such a way.
1Ki 18:9
‘ And he said, “In what have I sinned, that you would deliver your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me?” ’
But Obadiah was concerned. He did not want to go to Ahab with the news that Elijah was there, only for Ahab to discover when he came that Elijah had vanished. Such a situation would not bode well for the bearer of the news. And he asked Elijah why he was treating him like this. What sin had he committed that Elijah should put him in such a dangerous position? His fear reflected the despotism that had developed in Israel’s kingship so that even the highest servant in the land was not immune. But it also illustrated how intensely Ahab felt about Elijah.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Elijah Raises the Widow’s Son From the Dead 1Ki 17:17-24 records the story of Elijah raising the widow’s son from the dead. We have a similar story in 2Ki 4:8-37 where Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite woman from the dead.
The death of a son meant that there would be no provision for a mother when she becomes widowed. Therefore, in one aspect of her request the widow of Zarephath was asking for provisions from him since she had provided for Elisha.
1Ki 17:18 And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?
1Ki 17:18 Psa 51:5
1Ki 17:21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.
1Ki 17:21
2Ki 4:34, “And he went up, and lay upon the child, and put his mouth upon his mouth, and his eyes upon his eyes, and his hands upon his hands: and he stretched himself upon the child; and the flesh of the child waxed warm. Then he returned, and walked in the house to and fro; and went up, and stretched himself upon him: and the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes.”
1Ki 17:24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.
1Ki 17:24
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Dead Boy Restored to Life
v. 17. And it came to pass after these things, v. 18. And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? v. 19. And he, v. 20. And he cried unto the Lord and said, O Lord, my God, hast Thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn by slaying her son? v. 21. And he stretched himself upon the child three times, v. 22. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived, v. 23. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, v. 24. And the woman said to Elijah,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
1Ki 17:17 And it came to pass 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.
Ver. 17. After these things. ] When the woman had by experience tasted how good the Lord was: and she was thereby the better fitted to suffer.
That the son of the woman.
Fell sick.
That there was no breath left in him.
a [Make light of; from levis. ]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
breath. Hebrew. neshamah. App-16.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
New Life for the Dead
1Ki 17:17-24
It must have been a severe trial to Elijahs faith, first to note the gradual diminishing of the brook; then the abject poverty of the woman to whom he was directed; and finally the illness and death of her child. But through it all, he held fast to the living God. It was still, O Lord my God, 1Ki 17:20. Affliction is no proof that we are off the path of duty. The way of obedience is sometimes paved with flints, as every servant of God has discovered. But the difficulties only give room for the exercise of greater faith, and reveal more of the delivering power of the Almighty Friend.
The true physician bends over the little child of the poor, eager to save a human life; but his power is limited. To faith and prayer, however, other forces are available, which accomplish what no skill or medicine can. When we have confessed and put away sin which the hour of anguish has brought to light, room is made for the exercise of that divine power which is always within the reach of hands that are lifted without fear or doubting.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
am 3096, bc 908
the son of the woman: Gen 22:1, Gen 22:2, 2Ki 4:18-20, Zec 12:10, Joh 11:3, Joh 11:4, Joh 11:14, Jam 1:2-4, Jam 1:12, 1Pe 1:7, 1Pe 4:12
that there was: Job 12:10, Job 34:14, Psa 104:29, Dan 5:23, Jam 2:26, *marg.
Reciprocal: 2Ki 4:20 – and then died 2Ki 4:32 – the child Ecc 7:14 – but
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
1Ki 17:17. There was no breath left in him No soul or life, as the Hebrew word here used properly signifies. For, says Buxtorf, The Hebrews by , neshama, understand the rational and immortal soul, whence they are wont to swear by it: and he quotes Aben Ezra as an authority for rendering the word, anima, sed humana tantum; the soul, but only the human. The expression, however, here only means that he died, as is manifest from the following verses. This was a terrible and unexpected stroke to this widow, and, no doubt, was sent for the further trial of her faith and patience. She had received a great prophet into her house, was employed to sustain him, and had reason to think that surely the Lord would do her good; yet now she loses her son. We must not think it strange if we meet with very sharp afflictions, even when we are in the way of duty, and of eminent service to God: nay, and when we have the clearest manifestations of Gods favour and good-will toward us, even then we should prepare for the rebukes of his providence; our mountain never stands so strong but it may be moved, and therefore, in this world, we ought always to rejoice with trembling.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
17:17 And it came to pass 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 {i} breath left in him.
(i) God would test whether she had learned by his merciful providence to make him her only stay and comfort.