Introduction
The books of 1 and 2 Kings tell us about the lives of various kings. There was David and then there was Solomon. Both of them ruled over the one kingdom of Israel. Then the one kingdom of Israel was divided into two, with the smaller kingdom of Judah in the south; and the large kingdom of Israel in the north. And our narrator has recorded for us the lives of Rehoboam and Abijah and Asa in the south; and of Jeroboam and Nadab and Baasha and Elah and Zimri and Omri and Ahab in the north. And we’ve seen that the overall trajectory of the two kingdoms has been downwards into more and more unbelief and sin, because each of the kings did evil in the eyes of the Lord. And the people under them did the same. Even Asa, who did what was right in the eyes of the Lord for most of his reign, seems to have gone astray in his latter years; and his heart seemed to harden against the Lord.
And so, the overall trajectory of both kingdoms has been downwards into more and more unbelief and sin. And last week I suggested that the rebuilding of the city of Jericho, which we read about at the end of chapter 16, signifies how the Promised Land was being taken back to the way things were before the Lord’s people entered it. It had become a pagan land once again, because King Ahab has set up a temple for Baal in Samaria. And so, the land was no longer filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s name, but it was now filled with the knowledge of Baal’s name. The people had turned from the Lord to worship an idol.
But now in chapter 17, the record of the kings of Israel and Judah is interrupted by the appearance of Elijah, the prophet. Elijah appears; and, if you glance forward in your Bible, you’ll see that he dominates not only chapter 17, but also chapters 18 and 19. He’s not mentioned in chapter 20, but he appears again in chapter 21 in the story of Naboth’s vineyard. And then, once we get into 2 Kings, Elijah is taken up to heaven and Elisha replaces him as the Lord’s prophet. So, Elijah and then Elisha interrupt the narrative about these kings. But that’s because the Lord has sent his prophets to interrupt the wickedness of the kings. The Lord was coming to his people through Elijah and Elisha to convict them of their sin and to call on them to repent and to return to him. And they were to return to him, because he is the one, true and living God, whereas Baal is nothing. Baal is nothing. And so, instead of worshipping Baal, they should worship the Lord, who alone is God.
And the Lord continues to send preachers into all the world to call on men and women and boys and girls to turn from their idols — and an idol is anything which is more important to us than God is. Anything which is more important to us than God is an idol for us. And the Lord continues to send preachers into all the world to call on men and women and boys and girls to turn from their idols and to turn to the one, true and living God through Jesus Christ his Son, who gave up his life on the cross to make peace for us with God. The Lord continues to send preachers into all the world to command people everywhere to give up their idols, the things they love more than God, and to serve the living and true God. And so, though the events of this chapter happened thousands of years ago, it’s still the case that we live in a world where people worship idols, when they should be worshipping Elijah’s God.
Verse 1
And Elijah seems to come from nowhere, doesn’t he? Chapter 16 ends with the narrator telling us about the rebuilding of Jericho. And then, suddenly, out of the blue, we’re told what Elijah said to King Ahab.
So, he’s given no introduction, apart from the barest information that he was a Tishbite from Tishbe in Gilead. Gilead was an area on the east side of the Jordan River. But no one today knows where Tishbe was. In fact, we’re not even sure if it’s the name of a town; it might be the name of a clan. In other words, we know very little about Elijah’s background and we don’t have an origin story for him, the way we do for other major characters in the Bible. He just appears, out of the blue.
And when he appears, he says to King Ahab: ‘As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next fews years except at my word.’
While we don’t know anything about his background, his words make clear that he serves the Lord. And everything he says about the Lord undermines what people believed about Baal. Firstly, he describes the Lord as the God of Israel. So, even though Ahab had set up a temple for Baal in Samaria, Elijah is clear that Israel belongs to the Lord. The Lord, and not Baal, is the one who rules over Israel. Secondly, he says that the Lord lives. So, the Lord, and not Baal, is the living God. Baal does not live, because Baal is nothing. He’s only an idol. And the fact that Baal is nothing will become apparent to all by the third thing Elijah says which is that there will be no more dew or rain except at Elijah’s word. Baal-worshippers believed that Baal made the rain. But Baal does not make the rain. The Lord does. He’s the one who determines when it will rain and when it won’t rain. And as the Lord’s servant, Elijah had come to announce to Ahab that the God who makes the dew and the rain will withhold it from them.
By announcing it before it happened, Ahab would know that the drought, which was coming on the land, did not happen by chance, and it did not happen because of Baal, but it happened because of the Lord. Ahab would know it was the Lord who caused it, because it was the Lord who announced it.
Now, while Elijah doesn’t say it here, it’s clear that the Lord will withhold the rain as one of his covenant curses on his people for their disobedience. Back in Deuteronomy 28, when the Lord set out the curses his people could expect if they disobeyed him in the Promised Land and the blessings they could expect if they obeyed him in the Promised Land, he mentions drought and famine among the curses which he would send on them for their disobedience. And in 1 Kings 8, at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem, Solomon prayed to God. And in his prayer he anticipated how the people would sin against the Lord; and how the Lord would shut up the heavens, so that there would be no rain. And in his prayer, Solomon said to the Lord that when the people sin and he shuts up the heavens and there is no rain, and they then turn from their sin and pray to you, then will you hear from heaven and forgive them. You see, the reason God sent curses on his people and the reason he afflicted them was to discipline them. Just as parents will discipline a wayward child, so the Lord will discipline his wayward people. And just as parents will forgive their wayward child when the child asks for forgiveness, so the Lord will forgive his people when they ask him for forgiveness. Do you remember what Isaiah said to the people? ‘Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.’ They shouldn’t be afraid to return to the Lord, because the Lord is always willing to forgive his people when they return to him.
And so, when God withheld the rain from his people, he was not being mean. He was not being unkind. He withheld the rain, so that they would return to him and find forgiveness. And they needed to return to him, because he’s the God of Israel and he’s the living God and he’s the source of all that is good. He is the fountain of all blessings. Whoever trusts in Baal will perish, because Baal cannot do anything. But whoever trusts in the Lord will live, because the Lord is good to his people.
And before we move on, we should remember that God still disciplines his people. He still disciplines his people. When we sin against him, and when we do not confess it or turn from it, but continue in it, then we can expect him to discipline us. But he does it for our good, so that we will give up our sins and return to him. And whoever turns to him will discover that he is gracious and merciful and slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and he’s willing and able to pardon us for the sake of Christ who paid for our sins with his life.
Verses 2 to 7
Let’s move on to the rest of the chapter which can be divided into three parts. God sent Elijah to the Kerith Ravine. Then God sent Elijah to the widow woman in Zarephath. And then, when he was in Zarephath, the widow’s son died. Each of these three parts follow the same pattern. Firstly, we have God’s command with a word of explanation. Secondly, Elijah obeys the Lord’s command. Thirdly, God provides. And fourthly, there’s a problem.
And so, in the first part, the word of the Lord came to Elijah, telling him to go eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. That’s what he’s to do. And the Lord explains that Elijah will be able to drink from the brook; and God will send ravens to feed him there. That’s God command and his word of explanation. And in verse 4 we read that Elijah obeyed the Lord’s command. He went to the ravine and stayed there, just as the Lord commanded. And the Lord provided for him, because the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening. And Elijah was able to drink from the brook.
We might shudder at the thought of eating what ravens have gathered, but it shows us the power of God, who not only sent the ravens every morning and evening, but he made them act against their nature. Birds, and especially ravens, do not naturally give up what they have scavenged. They might give food to their young, but they won’t give it to another. And yet the Lord enabled these birds to act against their nature and to give up their food to Elijah. And in this way, the Lord provided for Elijah and sustained him during the early days of the drought.
But then there’s a problem. Verse 7: some time later the brook dried up, because there had been no rain. That tells us that what Elijah announced to Ahab about the drought had come true. And while it took some time before rivers and streams dried up, it has now happened. And so, Elijah is confronted with a problem: what shall he do for water?
Verses 8 to 12
And that brings us to the next part of the passage. Once again, there’s a command from the Lord and a word of explanation. This time the Lord commanded Elijah to go to Zarephath of Sidon. If the name Zarephath is familiar to you, it may be because the Lord Jesus refers to it in Luke 4, where he said to the people in the synagogue in Nazareth that God did not send Elijah to any of the widows in Israel, but to the widow in Zarephath. Zarephath was to the north of Israel. It was Gentile country. In fact, it was the land of Baal. Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, who introduced Ahab to Baal worship, was from Sidon. And so, by sending Elijah to Zarephath, the Lord was sending his prophet into enemy territory.
But there, he would protect and provide for his prophet. So, go to Zarephath and stay there. And here’s the word of explanation: God has commanded a widow in that place to supply Elijah with food. This doesn’t necessarily mean that Lord spoke to the widow and told her to feed Elijah. Instead, it probably means that the Lord commanded the widow in the same way that he commanded the ravens. In other words, he would direct her mind and will so that she would be willing to feed him.
And we’re told in verse 10 that Elijah went to Zarephath. In other words, he obeyed the command of the Lord. And look! Just as God said, here’s a widow woman who can supply Elijah with food. Just as God provided Elijah with food at the ravine, so he will provide him with food in Zarephath.
But there’s a problem, isn’t there? There’s a problem. The widow woman clearly doesn’t have much to give. She’s only got enough for one last meal for herself and her son. After that, all she has will be gone and she and her son will die. She’d like to help Elijah, but she has nothing to give him.
Verses 13 to 18
But the Lord was able to overcome this problem. As before, we have a command and a word of explanation. But this time the command if from Elijah who tells the woman not to be afraid and to go home and make him a cake of bread. And there’s a word of explanation from Elijah, because he explains to her that the Lord has said that her jar of flour will not be used up and her jug of oil will not run dry until the Lord sends rain on the land once again.
And the woman did what Elijah said. And the Lord provided for them, because we’re told in verse 15 that there was food every day for Elijah and the woman and her family. The jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not dry up, in keeping with the word of the Lord.
And so, everything was fine for a while. But then there’s another problem. Verses 17 and 18: some time later the son of the woman became ill. And his condition grew worse and worse until he finally stopped breathing. That is to say: he died. And the widow turned on Elijah. She asked him what he had against her. She thinks God has sent Elijah to remind her of her sin and to kill her son. In other words, she thinks God must be punishing her for some sin she has committed; and Elijah has therefore brought trouble into her home.
And, of course, since she was a widow, she would have been relying on her son to take care of her in her old age. They didn’t have pensions or social security in those days. And widows were dependent on their children. And so, if this woman’s son was dead, she would have no one to look after her in the years to come.
Verses 19 to 24
Elijah is faced with another problem. The first problem he encountered was when the brook dried up. But the Lord overcame that problem, by sending Elijah to this woman. The second problem was that the woman had nothing to give him. But the Lord overcame that problem. And now there’s this new problem. What will the Lord do?
In the following verses we read how Elijah took the boy from her arms and carried him to the upper room where he had been staying. Since she was holding the boy in her arms, and since Elijah was able to carry him, then it’s likely that the boy may have been only an infant or toddler. And Elijah laid him on his bed and then he began to cry to the Lord: ‘O Lord my God, have you brought tragedy also upon this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?’ He’s really asking why the Lord has done it. After all, God sent him to this woman. And the woman was willing to welcome him. And is this how the Lord will repay her kindness?
And then he stretched himself out on the boy three times. We don’t know why he did this or what, if anything, it signified. But he also cried to the Lord again and he appealed to the Lord to let the boy’s life return.
And the Lord heard his cry and the boy’s life returned to him, so that he lived. And Elijah picked the boy up and carried him downstairs and gave him to his mother with the words, ‘Look, your son is alive!’
And the chapter finishes with the woman saying to Elijah that she now knows he is a man of God. That is, she now knows that he is a prophet. That doesn’t mean she doubted it before. But she now knew it more clearly than ever before; and she knew more clearly that ever before that the word of the Lord from Elijah’s mouth is the truth. It’s reliable. You can count on it.
Application
The widow lived in Sidon, which was the land of Baal. And Baal-worshippers believed that Baal made the rain. They also believed that when it did not rain, it was because Baal had been overcome by the god of death.
But Baal is not the god of the rain. The Lord is the God of the rain. He’s the one who made the rain, just as he’s the one who made all things in the beginning; and he’s the one with the power to send the rain; and he’s the one with the power to withhold it. And he’s also the one with power over death. Baal, they believed, could be overcome by the god of death. But the Lord, the God of Israel, is the God of life and death. He’s able to take our life away, but he’s also able to give life back to the dead. And this became clear to the widow, when the Lord’s prophet brought her boy back from the dead.
And the great hope that God gives to all who believe in his Son is the great hope of the resurrection and eternal life in the presence of God. When Adam disobeyed God in the beginning, sin came into the world and death came with it, because the wages of sin is death. Death is what we all deserve, because all of us are sinners who sin against the Lord continually. And therefore, instead of living forever in the presence of God, we now deserve to suffer death; and to be sent away from the presence of God forever.
That’s what we all deserve, because all of us are sinners by birth and we sin against the Lord and we disobey him every day. Death away from the presence of God is what we all deserve; and it’s what we would all suffer, if it were not for the greatness of God’s love, who loved us and who sent his Only-Begotten Son into the world to rescue us from our sin and death, by giving up his life on the cross as the ransom to pay for our sins. He paid the penalty for our sin on our behalf when he died in our place. He took the blame for us. He bore the punishment we deserve. And after he died, he was raised from the dead.
And God promises that whoever trusts in Christ as the only Saviour of the world receives forgiveness, so that God will never ever hold our sins against us. And so, if Jesus Christ is your Saviour, if you trust in him and in him alone, then God will never ever punish you for your sins, because Christ has paid for them in full.
And God promises that whoever trusts in Christ as the only Saviour of the world receives the hope of everlasting life. Just as Christ died and was raised, so all who believe in him will live even though they die. And so, if Jesus Christ is your Saviour, if you trust in him and in him alone, then God will raise you from your grave to live with him forever and forever in the new and better world to come.
By raising this boy from the dead, God was giving a foretaste of what he will do for all his people when Christ comes again. When Christ comes again, all who trusted in him will be raised to live forever. That’s the great hope which God gives to all who trust in his Son.
All over the world, men and women and boys and girls are trusting in idols. They may not be trusting in Baal, but they have put others things before God. They love something else more than they love him; and they think that so long as they have this thing which they love, then they will be happy. It might be a person: their spouse or their boyfriend or girlfriend or their children. It might be their job. It might be money. It might be success. Whatever it is, it has become more important to them than God. And therefore it has become for them an idol. But no matter how they love it, or trust it, no matter how devoted they are to it, that thing which they love and are devoted to cannot make them happy, because we were not made to worship idols, but we were made to worship the true God. And that thing which they love cannot save them from death; and it cannot give them everlasting life in the new heavens and earth. Only the living God can save you from death; and only he can give you life. And he gives it to all who trust in his Son.
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