1 Kings · Chapter 17

V. 1. Elijah-The most eminent of the prophets, who is here brought in, like Melchisedek, without any mention of his father, or mother, or beginning of his days; like a man dropt out of the clouds, and raised by God’s special providence as a witness for himself in this most degenerate time that by his zeal, and courage and miracles, he might give some check, to their various and abominable idolatries, and some reviving to that small number of the Lord’s prophets, and people, who yet remained in Israel. He seems to have been naturally of a rough spirit. And rough spirits are called to rough services. His name signifies, my God Jehovah is he: he that sends me, and will own me, and bear me out. Said to Ahab-Having doubtless admonished him of his sin and danger before; now upon his obstinacy in his wicked courses, he proceeds to declare, and execute the judgment of God upon him. As the Lord, &c.-I Swear by the God of Israel, who is the only true and living God; whereas the gods whom thou hast joined with him, or preferred before him, are dead and senseless idols. Before whom-Whose minister I am, not only in general, but especially in this threatening, which I now deliver in his name and authority. There shall not, &c.-This was a prediction, but was seconded with his prayer, that God would verify it, James 5:17, And this prayer was truly charitable; that by this sharp affliction, God’s honour, and the truth of his word (which was now so horribly and universally contemned) might be vindicated; and the Israelites (whom impunity had hardened in their idolatry) might be awakened to see their own wickedness, and the necessity of returning to the true religion. Those years-That is, These following years, which were three and an half, Luke 4:25 James 5:17. My word-Until I shall declare, that this judgment shall cease, and shall pray to God for the removal of it.

Verse 1. Elijah the Tishbite] The history of this great man is introduced very abruptly; his origin is enveloped in perfect obscurity. He is here said to be a Tishbite. Tishbeh, says Calmet, is a city beyond Jordan, in the tribe of Gad, and in the land of Gilead. Who was his father, or from what tribe he sprang, is not intimated; he seems to have been the prophet of Israel peculiarly, as we never find him prophesying in Judah. A number of apocryphal writers have trifled at large about his parentage, miraculous birth, of his continual celibacy, his academy of the prophets, &c., &c., all equally worthy of credit. One opinion, which at first view appears strange, bears more resemblance to truth than any of the above, viz., that he had no earthly parentage known to any man; that he was an angel of God, united for a time to a human body, in order to call men back to perfect purity, both in doctrine and manners, from which they had totally swerved. His Hebrew name, which we have corrupted into Elijah and Elias, is whyla Alihu, or, according to the vowel points, Eliyahu; and signifies he is my God. Does this give countenance to the supposition that this great personage was a manifestation in the flesh of the Supreme Being? He could not be the Messiah; for we find him with Moses on the mount of transfiguration with Christ. The conjecture that he was an angel seems countenanced by the manner of his departure from this world; yet, in James 5:17, he is said to be a man omoiopaqhv, of like passions, or rather with real human propensities: this, however, is irreconcilable with the conjecture.

There shall not be dew nor rain these years] In order to remove the abruptness of this address, R. S. Jarchi dreams thus:-“Elijah and Ahab went to comfort Hiel in his grief, concerning his sons. And Ahab said to Elijah, Is it possible that the curse of Joshua, the son of Nun, who was only the servant of Moses, should be fulfilled; and the curse of Moses, our teacher, not be fulfilled; who said, Deuteronomy 11:16, 17: If ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them, then the Lord’s wrath shall be kindled against you; and he will shut up the heaven that there be no rain? Now all the Israelites serve other gods, and yet the rain is not withheld. Then Elijah said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.” This same mode of connecting this and the preceding chapter, is followed by the Jerusalem and Babylonish Talmuds, Sedar Olam, Abarbanel, &c.

Verse 1. And Elijah the Tishbite, &c. — So bad was the character, both of the Israelites and their princes, as represented in the foregoing chapter, that one would have expected God should have cast off a people that had so cast him off; but as an evidence to the contrary, never was Israel so blessed with a good prophet as when it was so plagued with a bad king. Never was a king so bold to sin as Ahab, never was a prophet so bold to reprove and threaten as Elijah, whose story begins in this chapter, and is full of wonders. Scarce any part of the Old Testament history shines brighter than this, concerning the spirit and power of Elias; he only, of all the prophets, had the honour of Enoch, the first prophet, to be translated that he should not see death; and the honour of Moses, the great prophet, to attend our Saviour in his transfiguration. Other prophets prophesied and wrote, he prophesied and acted, but wrote nothing; and his actings cast more lustre on his name than their writings on theirs.

Now this most eminent of the prophets under the Old Testament dispensation, is here brought in like Melchisedec, the most eminent of the priests, without any mention of his father or mother, or the beginning of his days, like a man dropped down from the clouds. All that we learn concerning his origin or country is that he was a Tishbite, and of the inhabitants of Gilead. Probably he had dwelt at Thishbe or Thesbeh, a town or region on the other side Jordan, either of the tribe of Gad, or that half tribe of Manasseh which inhabited Gilead, but whether he was a native of either of those tribes is uncertain. He was doubtless raised up by God’s special providence, to be a witness for him in this most degenerate time and state of things, that by his zeal, and courage, and miracles, he might give some check to their various and abominable idolatries, and some encouragement and reviving to that small number of the Lord’s prophets and people who yet remained in Israel. And the obscurity of his parentage and birth was no prejudice to his eminent usefulness. “We need not inquire,” says Henry, “whence men are, but what they are: if it be a good thing, no matter though it come out of Nazareth.” Elijah seems to have been naturally of a rough spirit, and certainly he was called to rough services. But, as his name signifies, My God Jehovah is he; he that sends me, and will own me, and bear me out; so his faith and confidence in God supported and carried him through all his arduous labours, and the violent persecutions to which he was exposed.

He said unto Ahab — Having doubtless admonished him of his sin and danger before, he now, upon his obstinacy in his wicked courses, proceeds to declare and execute the judgment of God upon him; As the Lord God of Israel liveth, &c. — I swear by the God of Israel, who is the only true and living God; whereas the gods whom thou hast joined with him, or preferred before him, are dead and senseless idols; before whom I stand — Whose minister I am, not only in general, but especially in this threatening, which I now deliver in his name and authority; There shall not be dew nor rain — This was a prediction, but was seconded with his prayer that God would verily it, James 5:17. And this prayer was truly charitable; that by this sharp affliction, God’s honour, and the truth of his word, (which was now so horribly and universally contemned,) might be vindicated; and the Israelites (whom impunity had hardened in their idolatry) might be awakened to see their own wickedness, and the necessity of returning to the true religion. These years — That is, these following years, which were three and a half; Luke 4:25; James 5:17. My word — Until I shall declare that this judgment shall cease, and shall pray to God for the removal of it.

Verse 1. Elijah the Tishbite. His parentage is not named, but the Jews call him a levite or a priest. He swore to Ahab in the name, not of Baal, but of Jehovah. As the Lord had promised covenant-blessings with an oath, it was just, under these circumstances, to withhold rain and dew by the most solemn asseveration. Elijah had before this travelled as a prophet, and was well known; the Spirit of God having taken him from evil: 1 Kings 18:12.—There shall not be dew nor rain but according to my word. In confirmation of this prophecy, Josephus quotes Menander, a Greek writer, as saying, “In the Acts of Ithobalus there is a record that there was no rain from the month of October, to the month of October in the following year.” Antiq. Judeorum, lib. 8. c. 7.

ELIJAH THE TISHBITE, 1-24.

1. Elijah the Tishbite — “This wonder-working prophet,” says Doran, (in Kitto’s Cyclopaedia,) “is introduced to our notice like another Melchizedek, (Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:3,) without any mention of his father or mother, or of the beginning of his days — as if he had dropped out of that cloudy chariot which, after his work was done on earth, conveyed him back to heaven.” Or, as Krummacher says, his sudden appearance is like lightning falling from the clouds, or a firebrand hurled by the hand of Jehovah. In the weird grandeur of his desert life, in the fiery spirit of his words, and the power of his public acts, he stands alone among the old prophets, and finds a compeer only as his spirit and power are reproduced in that greatest of the prophets, the herald of Messiah, who came crying in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:2. The miraculous element in the history of Elijah is noticeably large, and in this Rationalism can, of course, see nothing but the colored legends of a superstitious age. But there are obvious reasons why a prophet of Jehovah, appearing at that time, and having to oppose an almost triumphant idolatry that had usurped the kingdom of Israel, should be supported everywhere with extraordinary evidences of his divine mission. Whenever the powers of darkness appear incarnate in some such ruling personage as Jezebel, with her hosts of Baal and Asherah prophets, then our God provides an incarnation of his Divine Spirit and power, with suitable signs and wonders to confuse and confound the ministers of Satan. Such an incarnation was Elijah. Such, too, was Moses, in opposition to Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. Such, indeed, was Jesus the Christ, appearing in that “fulness of the time” (Galatians 4:4) when such an incarnation as his alone could be was most opportune, inasmuch as legions of devils had actually taken possession of multitudes, and no power but that of his Divine voice and name could cast them out. And so it will be in the last times, when the good and the evil come to their final struggle, and that lawless one shall be revealed, “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8. Extraordinary manifestations of wickedness demand extraordinary manifestations of the power of God. Of the inhabitants of Gilead — By a slight change in the Masoretic punctuation we may read, Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbi of Gilead; and this is the reading of the Septuagint, Chaldee, and Josephus. Some have thought this place identical with the Thisbe mentioned in Tobit 1:2; but that was a town in Naphtali, while this was in Gilead. The most natural supposition, therefore, is, that Elijah was called the Tishbite from being a native or resident of a place in Gilead called Tishbi or Tishbeh, of which no other trace or mention is now known. The wild, irregular, Bedouin-like character of much of Elijah’s life is in noticeable keeping with his Gileadite origin. The tribes on the east of the Jordan soon fell into the habits of the original Bedouin inhabitants, whose wandering tent life and almost inaccessible mountain fastnesses made them in ancient times what they are now — a people of wild, unsettled habits. As the Lord God of Israel liveth — A suggestive and significant formula, and somewhat peculiar to Elijah himself. His mission was to proclaim the living God in opposition to Ahab’s dead, senseless idols. Before whom I stand — Words expressive of a sacred ministry and office, and used of the Levites who bore the ark. Deuteronomy 10:8. Solemn and sublime is the position of him who stands to minister before Jehovah, the living God. Not be dew nor rain — This was a punishment which Jehovah had threatened in case of idolatry. Deuteronomy 11:16, 17. St. James says, that Elijah “prayed earnestly that it might not rain.” James 5:17. So Divine judgments may come in answer to prayer; and the spirit of such prayer is the Elijah-spirit, which also breathes in the vindictive Psalms. The manner of Elijah’s praying for rain to come again is told at 1 Kings 18:42. These years — No definite time is specified, but all is made dependent on the word of the Lord as uttered by the prophet. Ahab’s obstinacy continued the drought for three years and a half. See 1 Kings 18:1.

ELIJAH THE TISHBITE, 1-24.

1. Elijah the Tishbite — “This wonder-working prophet,” says Doran, (in Kitto’s Cyclopaedia,) “is introduced to our notice like another Melchizedek, (Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:3,) without any mention of his father or mother, or of the beginning of his days — as if he had dropped out of that cloudy chariot which, after his work was done on earth, conveyed him back to heaven.” Or, as Krummacher says, his sudden appearance is like lightning falling from the clouds, or a firebrand hurled by the hand of Jehovah. In the weird grandeur of his desert life, in the fiery spirit of his words, and the power of his public acts, he stands alone among the old prophets, and finds a compeer only as his spirit and power are reproduced in that greatest of the prophets, the herald of Messiah, who came crying in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:2. The miraculous element in the history of Elijah is noticeably large, and in this Rationalism can, of course, see nothing but the colored legends of a superstitious age. But there are obvious reasons why a prophet of Jehovah, appearing at that time, and having to oppose an almost triumphant idolatry that had usurped the kingdom of Israel, should be supported everywhere with extraordinary evidences of his divine mission. Whenever the powers of darkness appear incarnate in some such ruling personage as Jezebel, with her hosts of Baal and Asherah prophets, then our God provides an incarnation of his Divine Spirit and power, with suitable signs and wonders to confuse and confound the ministers of Satan. Such an incarnation was Elijah. Such, too, was Moses, in opposition to Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. Such, indeed, was Jesus the Christ, appearing in that “fulness of the time” (Galatians 4:4) when such an incarnation as his alone could be was most opportune, inasmuch as legions of devils had actually taken possession of multitudes, and no power but that of his Divine voice and name could cast them out. And so it will be in the last times, when the good and the evil come to their final struggle, and that lawless one shall be revealed, “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8. Extraordinary manifestations of wickedness demand extraordinary manifestations of the power of God. Of the inhabitants of Gilead — By a slight change in the Masoretic punctuation we may read, Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbi of Gilead; and this is the reading of the Septuagint, Chaldee, and Josephus. Some have thought this place identical with the Thisbe mentioned in Tobit 1:2; but that was a town in Naphtali, while this was in Gilead. The most natural supposition, therefore, is, that Elijah was called the Tishbite from being a native or resident of a place in Gilead called Tishbi or Tishbeh, of which no other trace or mention is now known. The wild, irregular, Bedouin-like character of much of Elijah’s life is in noticeable keeping with his Gileadite origin. The tribes on the east of the Jordan soon fell into the habits of the original Bedouin inhabitants, whose wandering tent life and almost inaccessible mountain fastnesses made them in ancient times what they are now — a people of wild, unsettled habits. As the Lord God of Israel liveth — A suggestive and significant formula, and somewhat peculiar to Elijah himself. His mission was to proclaim the living God in opposition to Ahab’s dead, senseless idols. Before whom I stand — Words expressive of a sacred ministry and office, and used of the Levites who bore the ark. Deuteronomy 10:8. Solemn and sublime is the position of him who stands to minister before Jehovah, the living God. Not be dew nor rain — This was a punishment which Jehovah had threatened in case of idolatry. Deuteronomy 11:16, 17. St. James says, that Elijah “prayed earnestly that it might not rain.” James 5:17. So Divine judgments may come in answer to prayer; and the spirit of such prayer is the Elijah-spirit, which also breathes in the vindictive Psalms. The manner of Elijah’s praying for rain to come again is told at 1 Kings 18:42. These years — No definite time is specified, but all is made dependent on the word of the Lord as uttered by the prophet. Ahab’s obstinacy continued the drought for three years and a half. See 1 Kings 18:1.

V. 3. Hide thyself-Thus God rescues him from the fury of Ahab and Jezebel, who, he knew, would seek to destroy him. That Ahab did not seize on him immediately upon these words must be ascribed to God’s over-ruling providence.

Verse 3. Hide thyself by the brook Cherith] This brook, and the valley through which it ran, are supposed to have been on the western side of Jordan, and not far from Samaria. Others suppose it to have been on the eastern side, because the prophet is commanded to go eastward, 1 Kings 17:3. It was necessary, after such a declaration to this wicked and idolatrous king, that he should immediately hide himself; as, on the first drought, Ahab would undoubtedly seek his life. But what a proof was this of the power of God, and the vanity of idols! As God’s prophet prayed, so there was rain or drought; and all the gods of Israel could not reverse it! Was not this sufficient to have converted all Israel?

Verses 3, 4. Hide thyself by the brook Cherith — A brook, no doubt, well known to Elijah: both it and the valley through which it runs, are near the river Jordan; but whether on the east or west side, is not so well agreed. By sending him to this remote and retired place, where he was to lie concealed, so that neither friends nor foes might know where he was, God rescued him from the fury of Ahab and Jezebel, who, he knew, would seek to destroy him. That Ahab did not seize him immediately upon hearing the forementioned prediction and warning, must be ascribed to God’s overruling providence. I have commanded the ravens to feed thee — Or, I shall command; that is, effectually move them by instincts, which shall be as forcible with them, as a law or command is to men. God is said to command both brute creatures and senseless things, when he causeth them to do what he intends to effect by them. The ravens being birds of prey, and very voracious, were more likely to rob the prophet than to bring him food; but God’s command suspended their natural instinct, and made them act contrary to it. They are said to be unnatural to, and to neglect their young ones; yet, when God pleaseth, they shall feed his prophet. God could have sent angels to minister to him; but he chose winged messengers of another kind, to show that he can serve his own purposes as effectually by the meanest as by the mightiest creatures; and to give Elijah such a proof of his power and care in providing for him, as should effectually teach him to trust in God in those many and great difficulties to which he was to be exposed: and the more unfit instruments the ravens seemed to be, the more was his almighty power magnified, who controlled their natural inclinations while he employed them; and the greater encouragement was given to his prophet to rely on that power, thus engaged for him in his greatest straits and dangers. This, however, may be said for the choice of ravens for this work; that, as they are solitary birds, and delight to live about brooks of water, so are they accustomed to seek out for provisions, and to carry them to the places of their abode; on which account they were nor improper creatures for God to employ upon his service. To suppose, as some have done, that the ravens, being unclean birds, (Leviticus 11:15,) would defile and render unclean the food they brought, is to mistake the meaning of the law in that case. The flesh of unclean animals was not to be eaten by the Israelites; but their touch, while living, communicated no ceremonial uncleanness either to food or any thing else: for asses and camels were also unclean, and yet the Jews constantly used them for carrying provisions, as well as for other purposes.

3. Hide thyself — “Elijah’s escapes from the hands of his enemies, and his departures into unknown places, are faint resemblances of the mysterious vanishings of our Lord after he had delivered some of those Divine messages which excited the anger of the people. Luke 4:29; John 8:59; 10:39. Compare the promise to the Church of God. Revelation 12:6-14.” — Wordsworth. The brook Cherith — This was some mountain stream running into the Jordan; but what was its locality, and whether on the east or west side of the Jordan, is unknown. Dr. Robinson makes it identical with Wady el Kelt, which rises amid the hills of the wilderness of Judea, and runs through the Jordan plain near Jericho. Others have suggested other streams on either side of the Jordan, but nothing sufficient has been brought forward to settle the question. Local traditions have uniformly placed it on the west of the river.

V. 4. Have commanded-Or, I shall command, that is, effectually move them, by instincts which shall be as forcible with them, as a law or command is to men. God is said to command both brute creatures, and senseless things; when he causeth them to do the things which he intends to effect by them. The ravens-Which he chuseth for this work; to shew his care and power in providing for the prophet by those creatures, which are noted for their greediness, that by this strange experiment he might be taught to trust God in those many and great difficulties to which he was to be exposed. God could have sent angels to minister to him. But he chose winged messengers of another kind to shew he can serve his own purposes as effectually, by the meanest creatures as by the mightiest. Ravens neglect their own young, and do not feed them: yet when God pleaseth, they shall feed his prophet.

Verse 4. I have commanded the ravens to feed thee] Thou shalt not lack the necessaries of life; thou shalt be supplied by an especial providence. See more on this subject at the end of the chapter. See Clarke “1 Kings 17:24”.

Verses 3, 4. Hide thyself by the brook Cherith — A brook, no doubt, well known to Elijah: both it and the valley through which it runs, are near the river Jordan; but whether on the east or west side, is not so well agreed. By sending him to this remote and retired place, where he was to lie concealed, so that neither friends nor foes might know where he was, God rescued him from the fury of Ahab and Jezebel, who, he knew, would seek to destroy him. That Ahab did not seize him immediately upon hearing the forementioned prediction and warning, must be ascribed to God’s overruling providence. I have commanded the ravens to feed thee — Or, I shall command; that is, effectually move them by instincts, which shall be as forcible with them, as a law or command is to men. God is said to command both brute creatures and senseless things, when he causeth them to do what he intends to effect by them. The ravens being birds of prey, and very voracious, were more likely to rob the prophet than to bring him food; but God’s command suspended their natural instinct, and made them act contrary to it. They are said to be unnatural to, and to neglect their young ones; yet, when God pleaseth, they shall feed his prophet. God could have sent angels to minister to him; but he chose winged messengers of another kind, to show that he can serve his own purposes as effectually by the meanest as by the mightiest creatures; and to give Elijah such a proof of his power and care in providing for him, as should effectually teach him to trust in God in those many and great difficulties to which he was to be exposed: and the more unfit instruments the ravens seemed to be, the more was his almighty power magnified, who controlled their natural inclinations while he employed them; and the greater encouragement was given to his prophet to rely on that power, thus engaged for him in his greatest straits and dangers. This, however, may be said for the choice of ravens for this work; that, as they are solitary birds, and delight to live about brooks of water, so are they accustomed to seek out for provisions, and to carry them to the places of their abode; on which account they were nor improper creatures for God to employ upon his service. To suppose, as some have done, that the ravens, being unclean birds, (Leviticus 11:15,) would defile and render unclean the food they brought, is to mistake the meaning of the law in that case. The flesh of unclean animals was not to be eaten by the Israelites; but their touch, while living, communicated no ceremonial uncleanness either to food or any thing else: for asses and camels were also unclean, and yet the Jews constantly used them for carrying provisions, as well as for other purposes.

Ver. 4. I have commanded the ravens. Birds in hot climates seek their prey in the evening, and in the morning. Ezekiel once uses the Hebrew word for merchants, but as they always rest in the evening, they could not feed the prophet twice a day in a secret glen of Galilee. Abulensis, a good Hebrew writer, goes so far as to say that the ravens brought the best cooked meat from Ahab’s kitchen.

4. I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there — This plain and positive statement defies all attempts to explain the facts stated in verse 6 on nationalistic or naturalistic principles.

ELIJAH THE TISHBITE, 1-24.

1. Elijah the Tishbite — “This wonder-working prophet,” says Doran, (in Kitto’s Cyclopaedia,) “is introduced to our notice like another Melchizedek, (Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:3,) without any mention of his father or mother, or of the beginning of his days — as if he had dropped out of that cloudy chariot which, after his work was done on earth, conveyed him back to heaven.” Or, as Krummacher says, his sudden appearance is like lightning falling from the clouds, or a firebrand hurled by the hand of Jehovah. In the weird grandeur of his desert life, in the fiery spirit of his words, and the power of his public acts, he stands alone among the old prophets, and finds a compeer only as his spirit and power are reproduced in that greatest of the prophets, the herald of Messiah, who came crying in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:2. The miraculous element in the history of Elijah is noticeably large, and in this Rationalism can, of course, see nothing but the colored legends of a superstitious age. But there are obvious reasons why a prophet of Jehovah, appearing at that time, and having to oppose an almost triumphant idolatry that had usurped the kingdom of Israel, should be supported everywhere with extraordinary evidences of his divine mission. Whenever the powers of darkness appear incarnate in some such ruling personage as Jezebel, with her hosts of Baal and Asherah prophets, then our God provides an incarnation of his Divine Spirit and power, with suitable signs and wonders to confuse and confound the ministers of Satan. Such an incarnation was Elijah. Such, too, was Moses, in opposition to Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. Such, indeed, was Jesus the Christ, appearing in that “fulness of the time” (Galatians 4:4) when such an incarnation as his alone could be was most opportune, inasmuch as legions of devils had actually taken possession of multitudes, and no power but that of his Divine voice and name could cast them out. And so it will be in the last times, when the good and the evil come to their final struggle, and that lawless one shall be revealed, “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8. Extraordinary manifestations of wickedness demand extraordinary manifestations of the power of God. Of the inhabitants of Gilead — By a slight change in the Masoretic punctuation we may read, Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbi of Gilead; and this is the reading of the Septuagint, Chaldee, and Josephus. Some have thought this place identical with the Thisbe mentioned in Tobit 1:2; but that was a town in Naphtali, while this was in Gilead. The most natural supposition, therefore, is, that Elijah was called the Tishbite from being a native or resident of a place in Gilead called Tishbi or Tishbeh, of which no other trace or mention is now known. The wild, irregular, Bedouin-like character of much of Elijah’s life is in noticeable keeping with his Gileadite origin. The tribes on the east of the Jordan soon fell into the habits of the original Bedouin inhabitants, whose wandering tent life and almost inaccessible mountain fastnesses made them in ancient times what they are now — a people of wild, unsettled habits. As the Lord God of Israel liveth — A suggestive and significant formula, and somewhat peculiar to Elijah himself. His mission was to proclaim the living God in opposition to Ahab’s dead, senseless idols. Before whom I stand — Words expressive of a sacred ministry and office, and used of the Levites who bore the ark. Deuteronomy 10:8. Solemn and sublime is the position of him who stands to minister before Jehovah, the living God. Not be dew nor rain — This was a punishment which Jehovah had threatened in case of idolatry. Deuteronomy 11:16, 17. St. James says, that Elijah “prayed earnestly that it might not rain.” James 5:17. So Divine judgments may come in answer to prayer; and the spirit of such prayer is the Elijah-spirit, which also breathes in the vindictive Psalms. The manner of Elijah’s praying for rain to come again is told at 1 Kings 18:42. These years — No definite time is specified, but all is made dependent on the word of the Lord as uttered by the prophet. Ahab’s obstinacy continued the drought for three years and a half. See 1 Kings 18:1.

V. 6. And flesh-Not raw, but boiled by the ministry of some angel or man, and left in some place ‘till the ravens came for it: in all which, there is nothing incredible, considering the power and providence of God.

Verse 6. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh] The Septuagint, in the Codex Vaticanus, and some ancient fathers, read the passage thus:-kai oi korakev eferon autw artouv to prwi, kai krea to deilhv, And the crows brought him bread in the morning, and flesh in the evening: but all the other versions agree with the Hebrew text. This is the first account we have of flesh-meat breakfasts and flesh-meat suppers; and as this was the food appointed by the Lord for the sustenance of the prophet, we may naturally conjecture that it was the food of the people at large.

Verse 6. The ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, &c. — “We need not inquire where they procured the bread and flesh, or how the food was prepared; he who commanded them to feed his servant had ten thousand ways of enabling them to fulfil his word: thus Elijah was sufficiently provided for, when numbers were starving; and the consolations of the Lord would render him contented with his solitude and sustenance.” — Scott.

6. Ravens brought him bread and flesh — Many attempts have been made to explain away the obvious import of this verse. J.D. Michaelis explains it on natural principles, supposing the brook Cherith was a place where ravens were wont to congregate, and that Elijah took from their nests, morning and evening, the young hares and other food which they brought to their young. Others have explained µybr[, orebim, to mean Arabians; others, the inhabitants of some place named Orbo, or Oreb; and some have thought the word might mean merchants, from br[, to traffic. But these explanations have the versions and all tradition against them. The text plainly records a miracle; all the more impressive from the fact that ravens, the most voracious of birds, furnish the prophet his supplies. Since the raven is a carrion bird, and a devourer of all manner of dead flesh, some have wondered how Elijah could eat without scruple all that was brought to him; but they absurdly assume that ravens miraculously sent by Divine command would bring what was common or unclean. Alike idle is it to require whether they obtained the bread and flesh through Obadiah (compare 1 Kings 18:4) or stole it from Ahab’s kitchen. “When men disobey,” says Wordsworth, “God reproves them by the obedience of the inferior creatures. The old world disbelieved God’s warnings by Noah, would not go into the ark, and so perished in the flood; but the inferior animals went in and were fed there. Balaam was rebuked for his disobedience by the ass on which he rode. The disobedient prophet (1 Kings 13:26) was slain by the lion which God sent from the forest, and which spared the ass and the carcass of the prophet. The disobedience of Ahab and Israel was rebuked by the obedience of the ravenous birds in bringing food to Elijah. Jonah fled from God, and God sent the whale to bring him back to prophesy against Nineveh. The lions spared Daniel when his colleagues would have slain him. Christ was with the wild beasts in peace, (Mark 1:13,) when he was about to be rejected by mankind.”

V. 7. A while-Heb. at the end of days; that is, of a year; for so the word days is often used. Dried-God so ordering it, for the punishment of those Israelites who lived near it, and had hitherto been refreshed by it: and for the exercise of Elijah’s faith, and to teach him to depend upon God alone.

Verse 7. The brook dried up] Because there had been no rain in the land for some time, God having sent this drought as a testimony against the idolatry of the people: see Deuteronomy 11:16, 17.

Verse 7. After a while — Hebrew, at the end of the days; that is, of a year, as that phrase is often used. The brook dried up — For want of rain, and God so ordering it for the punishment of those Israelites who lived near it, and had hitherto been refreshed by it; and for the exercise of Elijah’s faith, and to teach him still to depend on God alone, and not on any natural means for support and preservation.

7. After a while — Margin, At the end of days. He probably dwelt by the brook Cherith a year. See note on 1 Kings 18:1.

ELIJAH THE TISHBITE, 1-24.

1. Elijah the Tishbite — “This wonder-working prophet,” says Doran, (in Kitto’s Cyclopaedia,) “is introduced to our notice like another Melchizedek, (Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:3,) without any mention of his father or mother, or of the beginning of his days — as if he had dropped out of that cloudy chariot which, after his work was done on earth, conveyed him back to heaven.” Or, as Krummacher says, his sudden appearance is like lightning falling from the clouds, or a firebrand hurled by the hand of Jehovah. In the weird grandeur of his desert life, in the fiery spirit of his words, and the power of his public acts, he stands alone among the old prophets, and finds a compeer only as his spirit and power are reproduced in that greatest of the prophets, the herald of Messiah, who came crying in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:2. The miraculous element in the history of Elijah is noticeably large, and in this Rationalism can, of course, see nothing but the colored legends of a superstitious age. But there are obvious reasons why a prophet of Jehovah, appearing at that time, and having to oppose an almost triumphant idolatry that had usurped the kingdom of Israel, should be supported everywhere with extraordinary evidences of his divine mission. Whenever the powers of darkness appear incarnate in some such ruling personage as Jezebel, with her hosts of Baal and Asherah prophets, then our God provides an incarnation of his Divine Spirit and power, with suitable signs and wonders to confuse and confound the ministers of Satan. Such an incarnation was Elijah. Such, too, was Moses, in opposition to Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. Such, indeed, was Jesus the Christ, appearing in that “fulness of the time” (Galatians 4:4) when such an incarnation as his alone could be was most opportune, inasmuch as legions of devils had actually taken possession of multitudes, and no power but that of his Divine voice and name could cast them out. And so it will be in the last times, when the good and the evil come to their final struggle, and that lawless one shall be revealed, “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8. Extraordinary manifestations of wickedness demand extraordinary manifestations of the power of God. Of the inhabitants of Gilead — By a slight change in the Masoretic punctuation we may read, Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbi of Gilead; and this is the reading of the Septuagint, Chaldee, and Josephus. Some have thought this place identical with the Thisbe mentioned in Tobit 1:2; but that was a town in Naphtali, while this was in Gilead. The most natural supposition, therefore, is, that Elijah was called the Tishbite from being a native or resident of a place in Gilead called Tishbi or Tishbeh, of which no other trace or mention is now known. The wild, irregular, Bedouin-like character of much of Elijah’s life is in noticeable keeping with his Gileadite origin. The tribes on the east of the Jordan soon fell into the habits of the original Bedouin inhabitants, whose wandering tent life and almost inaccessible mountain fastnesses made them in ancient times what they are now — a people of wild, unsettled habits. As the Lord God of Israel liveth — A suggestive and significant formula, and somewhat peculiar to Elijah himself. His mission was to proclaim the living God in opposition to Ahab’s dead, senseless idols. Before whom I stand — Words expressive of a sacred ministry and office, and used of the Levites who bore the ark. Deuteronomy 10:8. Solemn and sublime is the position of him who stands to minister before Jehovah, the living God. Not be dew nor rain — This was a punishment which Jehovah had threatened in case of idolatry. Deuteronomy 11:16, 17. St. James says, that Elijah “prayed earnestly that it might not rain.” James 5:17. So Divine judgments may come in answer to prayer; and the spirit of such prayer is the Elijah-spirit, which also breathes in the vindictive Psalms. The manner of Elijah’s praying for rain to come again is told at 1 Kings 18:42. These years — No definite time is specified, but all is made dependent on the word of the Lord as uttered by the prophet. Ahab’s obstinacy continued the drought for three years and a half. See 1 Kings 18:1.

V. 9. Zarephath-A city between Tyre and Sidon, called Sarepta by St. Luke 4:26, and others. Zidon-To the jurisdiction of that city, which was inhabited by Gentiles. And God’s providing for his prophet, first, by an unclean bird, and then by a Gentile, whom the Jews esteemed unclean, was a presage of the calling of the Gentiles, and rejection of the Jews. So Elijah was the first prophet of the Gentiles. Commanded-Appointed or provided, for that she had as yet no revelation or command of God about it, appears from ver. 12.

Verse 9. Get thee to Zarephath] This was a town between Tyre and Sidon, but nearer to the latter, and is therefore called in the text Zarephath which belongeth to Sidon; or, as the Vulgate and other versions express it, Sarepta of the Sidonians. Sarepta is the name by which it goes in the New Testament; but its present name is Sarphan. Mr. Maundrell, who visited it, describes it as consisting of a few houses only on the tops of the mountains; but supposes that it anciently stood in the plain below, where there are still ruins of a considerable extent.

Verse 9. Arise, get thee to Zarephath — A city between Tyre and Sidon, called Sarepta by St. Luke 4:26, and others. Which belongeth to Zidon — To the jurisdiction of that city, which was inhabited by Gentiles. And God’s providing for his prophet, first, by an unclean bird, and then by a Gentile, whom the Jews esteemed unclean, was a presage of the calling of the Gentiles, and rejection of the Jews. So Elijah was the first prophet of the Gentiles. Commanded a widow woman — That is, appointed or provided; for that she had as yet received no revelation or command of God about it, appears from verse 12.

9. Zarephath — An ancient city about half way between Sidon and Tyre, called Sarepta in Luke 4:26, and at present Surafend. “It would seem,” says Dr. Robinson, “that the former city of Sarepta stood near the seashore; and that the present village bearing the same name upon the adjacent hills, has sprung up since the time of the crusades; the people having probably chosen to remove thither for the same reason, whatever it may have been, which has caused the abandonment of all the rest of the plain. In the rocks along the foot of the hills are many excavated tombs, once doubtless belonging to the ancient city.” The ancient site is marked by “broken foundations and irregular heaps of stones.” I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee — The widow, like the ravens, supplies Elijah by Divine command; a command, however, not audibly laid upon them. As the ravens obeyed, unconscious of the Divine power that controlled them, so largely with this woman.

Verses 10-12. Behold, the widow woman was gathering sticks — He knew, by some secret divine intimations, that this was the woman that was to sustain him. Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water — Water, in consequence of the long drought, was doubtless scarce there as well as in the land of Israel; yet, being a pious woman, and therefore ready to succour a stranger in distress, she readily goes to fetch it. He called and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand — This he probably said chiefly to try her, and to make way for what follows. She said, As the Lord thy God liveth — By this she discovers, that though she was a Gentile, yet she owned the God of Israel as the true God. I am gathering two sticks — A few sticks, that number being often used indefinitely for any small number. That we may eat it and die — For having no more provision, we must needs perish with hunger. Although the famine was chiefly in the land of Israel, yet the effects of it were felt in Tyre and Sidon, which were supported by the corn of that land. But what a poor supporter was this widow likely to be! who had no fuel, but what she gathered in the streets, and nothing to live upon herself, but a handful of meal and a little oil! To her Elijah is sent, that he might live upon Providence, as much as he had done when the ravens fed him.

10. He came to the gate — An old tradition points out the spot on the south of the ancient city where Elijah first saw the widow, and the crusaders built a small chapel over the reputed spot of the widow’s house. Gathering of sticks — A scene that often meets the traveller’s eye in Palestine.

Verses 10-12. Behold, the widow woman was gathering sticks — He knew, by some secret divine intimations, that this was the woman that was to sustain him. Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water — Water, in consequence of the long drought, was doubtless scarce there as well as in the land of Israel; yet, being a pious woman, and therefore ready to succour a stranger in distress, she readily goes to fetch it. He called and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand — This he probably said chiefly to try her, and to make way for what follows. She said, As the Lord thy God liveth — By this she discovers, that though she was a Gentile, yet she owned the God of Israel as the true God. I am gathering two sticks — A few sticks, that number being often used indefinitely for any small number. That we may eat it and die — For having no more provision, we must needs perish with hunger. Although the famine was chiefly in the land of Israel, yet the effects of it were felt in Tyre and Sidon, which were supported by the corn of that land. But what a poor supporter was this widow likely to be! who had no fuel, but what she gathered in the streets, and nothing to live upon herself, but a handful of meal and a little oil! To her Elijah is sent, that he might live upon Providence, as much as he had done when the ravens fed him.

ELIJAH THE TISHBITE, 1-24.

1. Elijah the Tishbite — “This wonder-working prophet,” says Doran, (in Kitto’s Cyclopaedia,) “is introduced to our notice like another Melchizedek, (Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:3,) without any mention of his father or mother, or of the beginning of his days — as if he had dropped out of that cloudy chariot which, after his work was done on earth, conveyed him back to heaven.” Or, as Krummacher says, his sudden appearance is like lightning falling from the clouds, or a firebrand hurled by the hand of Jehovah. In the weird grandeur of his desert life, in the fiery spirit of his words, and the power of his public acts, he stands alone among the old prophets, and finds a compeer only as his spirit and power are reproduced in that greatest of the prophets, the herald of Messiah, who came crying in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:2. The miraculous element in the history of Elijah is noticeably large, and in this Rationalism can, of course, see nothing but the colored legends of a superstitious age. But there are obvious reasons why a prophet of Jehovah, appearing at that time, and having to oppose an almost triumphant idolatry that had usurped the kingdom of Israel, should be supported everywhere with extraordinary evidences of his divine mission. Whenever the powers of darkness appear incarnate in some such ruling personage as Jezebel, with her hosts of Baal and Asherah prophets, then our God provides an incarnation of his Divine Spirit and power, with suitable signs and wonders to confuse and confound the ministers of Satan. Such an incarnation was Elijah. Such, too, was Moses, in opposition to Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. Such, indeed, was Jesus the Christ, appearing in that “fulness of the time” (Galatians 4:4) when such an incarnation as his alone could be was most opportune, inasmuch as legions of devils had actually taken possession of multitudes, and no power but that of his Divine voice and name could cast them out. And so it will be in the last times, when the good and the evil come to their final struggle, and that lawless one shall be revealed, “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8. Extraordinary manifestations of wickedness demand extraordinary manifestations of the power of God. Of the inhabitants of Gilead — By a slight change in the Masoretic punctuation we may read, Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbi of Gilead; and this is the reading of the Septuagint, Chaldee, and Josephus. Some have thought this place identical with the Thisbe mentioned in Tobit 1:2; but that was a town in Naphtali, while this was in Gilead. The most natural supposition, therefore, is, that Elijah was called the Tishbite from being a native or resident of a place in Gilead called Tishbi or Tishbeh, of which no other trace or mention is now known. The wild, irregular, Bedouin-like character of much of Elijah’s life is in noticeable keeping with his Gileadite origin. The tribes on the east of the Jordan soon fell into the habits of the original Bedouin inhabitants, whose wandering tent life and almost inaccessible mountain fastnesses made them in ancient times what they are now — a people of wild, unsettled habits. As the Lord God of Israel liveth — A suggestive and significant formula, and somewhat peculiar to Elijah himself. His mission was to proclaim the living God in opposition to Ahab’s dead, senseless idols. Before whom I stand — Words expressive of a sacred ministry and office, and used of the Levites who bore the ark. Deuteronomy 10:8. Solemn and sublime is the position of him who stands to minister before Jehovah, the living God. Not be dew nor rain — This was a punishment which Jehovah had threatened in case of idolatry. Deuteronomy 11:16, 17. St. James says, that Elijah “prayed earnestly that it might not rain.” James 5:17. So Divine judgments may come in answer to prayer; and the spirit of such prayer is the Elijah-spirit, which also breathes in the vindictive Psalms. The manner of Elijah’s praying for rain to come again is told at 1 Kings 18:42. These years — No definite time is specified, but all is made dependent on the word of the Lord as uttered by the prophet. Ahab’s obstinacy continued the drought for three years and a half. See 1 Kings 18:1.

V. 12. She said-Therefore though she was a Gentile, yet she owned the God of Israel as the true God. Two sticks-A few sticks, that number being often used indefinitely for any small number. And die-For having no more provision, we must needs perish with hunger. For though the famine was chiefly in the land of Israel, yet the effects of it were in Tyre and Sidon, which were fed by the corn of that land. But what a poor supporter was this likely to be? who had no fuel, but what she gathered in the streets, and nothing to live upon herself, but an handful of meal and a little oil! To her Elijah is sent, that he might live upon providence, as much as he had done when the ravens fed him.

Verse 12. A handful of meal in a barrel] The word dk cad is to be understood as implying an earthen jar; not a wooden vessel, or barrel of any kind. In the East they preserve their corn and meal in such vessels; without which precaution the insects would destroy them. Travellers in Asiatic countries abound with observations of this kind. The word cruse, tjpx tsappachath, says Jarchi, signifies what in our tongue is expressed by bouteille, a bottle. Jarchi was a French rabbin.

Verses 10-12. Behold, the widow woman was gathering sticks — He knew, by some secret divine intimations, that this was the woman that was to sustain him. Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water — Water, in consequence of the long drought, was doubtless scarce there as well as in the land of Israel; yet, being a pious woman, and therefore ready to succour a stranger in distress, she readily goes to fetch it. He called and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand — This he probably said chiefly to try her, and to make way for what follows. She said, As the Lord thy God liveth — By this she discovers, that though she was a Gentile, yet she owned the God of Israel as the true God. I am gathering two sticks — A few sticks, that number being often used indefinitely for any small number. That we may eat it and die — For having no more provision, we must needs perish with hunger. Although the famine was chiefly in the land of Israel, yet the effects of it were felt in Tyre and Sidon, which were supported by the corn of that land. But what a poor supporter was this widow likely to be! who had no fuel, but what she gathered in the streets, and nothing to live upon herself, but a handful of meal and a little oil! To her Elijah is sent, that he might live upon Providence, as much as he had done when the ravens fed him.

12. As the Lord thy God liveth — This was a formula somewhat peculiar to Elijah, (see verse 1,) and her use of it indicates in her a knowledge and reverence of the God of Israel. But that she was a heathen, and not belonging to the tribes of Israel, seems evident from the manner in which she is mentioned in this passage, and also from the manner in which Jesus speaks of her in Luke 4:26. It is significant that in the time of famine Elijah finds a home and food in the land of Ethbaal, the father of the wicked Jezebel, (1 Kings 16:31,) and in the house of a poor heathen widow, in whom he finds, as Jesus found in a woman of this same land, (Matthew 15:28,) a faith unequalled in Israel A barrel — dk, a pitcher, a bucket, or jar, for holding meal or carrying water. Genesis 24:14. Cruse — A flask for holding liquids. See cut at 1 Samuel 26:11. Two sticks — That is, a few sticks. So two sheep, (Isaiah 7:21;) and two days, (Hosea 6:2,) mean a few sheep and a few days. Eat it, and die — A picture of uttermost woe and want; but a means of developing in her a noble faith.

V. 13. But make, &c.-This he requires as a trial of her faith, and obedience, which he knew God would plentifully reward; and so this would be a great example to encourage others to the practice of the same graces.

Verse 13. But make me thereof a little cake first] This was certainly putting the widow’s faith to an extraordinary trial: to take and give to a stranger, of whom she knew nothing, the small pittance requisite to keep her child from perishing, was too much to be expected.

Verses 13, 14. Make me thereof a little cake first — This he requires as a trial of her faith, charity, and obedience, which he knew God would graciously and plentifully reward; and so this would be a great example to encourage others to the practice of the same graces. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel — In whom I perceive thou trustest. The barrel of meal — The meal of the barrel. So the cruise of oil is put for the oil of the cruise.

13. Make me… a little cake first — Here was a sore trial of her faith. What! share her last morsel with a stranger?

V. 14. The barrel, &c.-The meal of the barrel So the cruse of oil for the oil of the cruse.

Verses 13, 14. Make me thereof a little cake first — This he requires as a trial of her faith, charity, and obedience, which he knew God would graciously and plentifully reward; and so this would be a great example to encourage others to the practice of the same graces. Thus saith the Lord God of Israel — In whom I perceive thou trustest. The barrel of meal — The meal of the barrel. So the cruise of oil is put for the oil of the cruise.

14. Until… the Lord sendeth rain — It is evident the dearth extended into Phenicia, and Menander (in Josephus) says, that in the reign of Ethbaal there was a want of rain for a whole year.

V. 15. Many days-A long time, even above two years, before the following event about her son happened. And surely the increase of her faith to such a degree, as to enable her thus to deny herself and trust the promise, was as great a miracle in the kingdom of grace, as the increase of her oil in the kingdom of providence. Happy are they who can thus against hope believe and obey in hope.

Verse 15. She did according to the saying of Elijah — Giving glory to the God of Israel, by believing his prophet. O woman, great was thy faith! One has not found the like, no not in Israel. All things considered, it exceeded that of the widow, who, when she had but two mites, cast them into the treasury. She took the prophet’s word that she should not lose by it, but it should be repaid with interest. “Those that can venture upon the promise of God,” says Henry, “will make no difficulty of exposing and emptying themselves in his service, and giving him his dues out of a little, and giving him his part first. They that deal with God, must deal on trust; seek first the kingdom of God, and then other things shall be added. Surely,” adds he, “the increase of this widow’s faith to such a degree as to enable her thus to deny herself, and to depend upon the divine promise, was as great a miracle in the kingdom of grace, as the increase of her oil was in the kingdom of providence. Happy they that can thus, against hope, believe and obey in hope.” She and her house did eat many days — A long time, even above two years before the following event about her son happened, and the rest of the time of the famine. See how the reward answered the service! She generously made one cake for the prophet, and was repaid with many for herself and son! What is laid out in charity, is set out to the best interest, upon the best security. One poor meal’s meat this poor widow gave the prophet, and in recompense of it she and her son did eat many days, and probably some of her kindred too, here included in the term her house, an expression which would hardly have been used of her one son.

15. She went and did according to the saying of Elijah — “It was one of those sudden recognitions of unknown kindred souls — one of those cross purposes of Providence — which come in with a peculiar charm to checker the commonplace course of ecclesiastical history. The Phenician mother knew not what great destinies lay in the hand of that gaunt figure at the city gate, worn with travel, and famine, and drought. But she listened to his cry, and saved in him the deliverer of herself and her son. It may be that this incident is the basis of the sacred blessing of the Prophet of prophets on those who, even by a cup of cold water, receiving a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet’s reward.” — Stanley. And her house — There were others, then, in that household besides herself and son.

V. 16. Wasted not-See how the reward answered the service. She made one cake for the prophet and was repaid with many for herself and her son. What is laid out in charity is set out to the best interest, an upon the best securities.

Verse 16. The barrel of meal wasted not] She continued to take out of her jar and out of her bottle the quantity of meal and oil requisite for the consumption of her household; and without carefully estimating what was left, she went with confidence each time for a supply, and was never disappointed. This miracle was very like that wrought by Jesus at the marriage at Cana in Galilee: as the servants drew the water out of the pots, they found it turned into wine; and thus they continued to draw wine from the water-pots till the guests had been sufficiently supplied.

Verse 16. The barrel of meal wasted not, &c. — But as much as they took out for their daily use, was immediately supplied by the almighty power of God. “Never did corn or olive so increase in growing,” says Bishop Hall, “as these did in using.” They multiplied, observe, not in the hoarding, but in the spending. For there is that scattereth, and yet increaseth. When God blesseth a little, it will go a great way, even beyond expectation; as on the contrary, though there be abundance, if he blow upon it, it comes to little, Haggai 1:9, and 2:19.

16. The barrel of meal wasted not — Here was an exhibition of that same Divine power that in the person of Jesus of Nazareth multiplied the loaves and fishes.

V. 17. No breath-That is, he died. We must not think it strange, if we meet with sharp afflictions, even when we are in the way of eminent service to God.

Verse 17. There was no breath left in him] He ceased to breathe and died.

Verse 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 hmvn, 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 God’s 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.

17. No breath left in him — This statement, together with the words of the prophet in verses 20 and 21, clearly show that the child was dead.

V. 18. She said-Wherein have I injured thee? Or, why didst thou come to sojourn in my house, if this be the fruit of it? They are the words of a troubled mind. Art thou come-Didst thou come for this end, that thou mightest severely observe my sins, and by thy prayers bring down God’s just judgment upon me, as thou hast brought down this famine upon the nation? To call, &c.-To God’s remembrance: for God is said in scripture, to remember sins, when he punisheth them; and to forget them, when he spares the sinner.

Verse 18. To call my sin to remembrance] She seems to be now conscious of some secret sin, which she had either forgotten, or too carelessly passed over; and to punish this she supposes the life of her son was taken away. It is mostly in times of adversity that we duly consider our moral state; outward afflictions often bring deep searchings of heart.

Verse 18. She said, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? — Wherein have I injured or offended thee, or been wanting in my duty? Or, why didst thou come to sojourn in my house, if this be the fruit of it? They are the words of a troubled mind. How unconcernedly had she spoken of her own and her son’s death, when she expected to die for want, (verse 12,) That we may eat it and die; yet now her son dies, and not so miserably as by famine, and she is extremely disturbed at it. We may speak slightly of an affliction at a distance, but when it toucheth us, we are troubled, Job 4:5. Art thou come to call my sin to remembrance? — That thou mightest severely observe my sins, and by thy prayers bring down God’s just judgment upon me for them, as thou hast, for the like cause, brought down this famine upon the nation? She may mean, either, 1st, Her own remembrance; that she should by this dreadful judgment be brought to the knowledge and remembrance of her sins which had procured it: or, rather, 2d, God’s remembrance; for God is often said in Scripture to remember sins when he punishes them, and to forget them when he spares the sinner, 2 Samuel 16:10. Has God taken occasion from thy abiding in my house, and my not making the improvement I ought to have made by thee, to punish this and my former sins by suddenly cutting off my son? And have I, instead of the comfort and blessing I expected, met with a severe chastisement and curse?

18. What have I to do with thee — Language of confusion, agony, and alarm. A consciousness of her past sins rises up and makes her look on this bereavement as a penal judgment, and on Elijah as the instrument of her woe! Like the disciples who regarded all human sorrow as a punishment for sin, (John 9:2,) she did not yet understand that it often serves to show forth the glorious power of God.

V. 19. Into a loft-A private place, where he might more freely pour out his soul to God, and use such gestures as he thought most proper.

Verses 19, 20. Give me thy son — Into my arms. He took him out of her bosom — By which it appears he was but a little child. And carried him up into a loft — A private place, where he might more freely and fully pour out his soul to God, and use such gestures and methods as his heart inclined him to use, without any offence or observation. And laid him upon his own bed — So that it was the room where he lodged, though near the top of the house. And he cried unto the Lord — And, in his prayer, humbly reasons with God concerning the death of the child, using most powerful arguments. Thou art the Lord, that canst revive the child; and my God, and therefore wilt not deny me. She is a widow, add not affliction to the afflicted; deprive her not of the support and staff of her age: she hath given me kind entertainment: let her not fare the worse for her kindness to a prophet, whereby wicked men will take occasion to reproach both her and religion.

19. A loft — hyl[h, the aliyah; the upper chamber. “This is the most desirable part of an establishment, is best fitted up, and is still given to guests who are to be treated with honour. It is more retired than the lower apartments of the house, and, of course, appropriate for the restingplace of prophets. The poorer sort of houses have no aliyeh. We may infer from this word that the mode of building in Elijah’s time, and the custom of giving the aliyeh to the guest, were the same as now; also, that this widow was not originally among the very poorest classes, but that her extreme destitution was owing to the dreadful famine which then prevailed.” — Thomson.

V. 20. He cried-A prayer full of powerful arguments. Thou art the Lord, that canst revive the child: and my God; and therefore wilt not, deny me. She is a widow, add not affliction to the afflicted; deprive her not of the support and staff of her age: she hath given me kind entertainment: let her not fare the worse for her kindness to a prophet, whereby wicked men will take occasion to reproach both her, and religion.

Verses 19, 20. Give me thy son — Into my arms. He took him out of her bosom — By which it appears he was but a little child. And carried him up into a loft — A private place, where he might more freely and fully pour out his soul to God, and use such gestures and methods as his heart inclined him to use, without any offence or observation. And laid him upon his own bed — So that it was the room where he lodged, though near the top of the house. And he cried unto the Lord — And, in his prayer, humbly reasons with God concerning the death of the child, using most powerful arguments. Thou art the Lord, that canst revive the child; and my God, and therefore wilt not deny me. She is a widow, add not affliction to the afflicted; deprive her not of the support and staff of her age: she hath given me kind entertainment: let her not fare the worse for her kindness to a prophet, whereby wicked men will take occasion to reproach both her and religion.

20. Hast thou also brought evil — Not the language of reproach or complaint, but the emotional expression of profoundest sympathy with the widow’s affliction, and of the earnestness of Elijah’s faith and prayer.

V. 21. Come into him-By which it is evident, that the soul was gone out of his body, this was a great request; but Elijah was encouraged to make it; by his zeal for God’s honour, and by the experience which he had of his prevailing power with God in prayer.

Verse 21. Stretched himself upon the child three times] It is supposed that he did this in order to communicate some natural warmth to the body of the child, in order to dispose it to receive the departed spirit. Elisha, his disciple, did the same in order to restore the dead child of the Shunammite, 2 Kings 4:34. And St. Paul appears to have stretched himself on Eutychus in order to restore him to life, Acts 20:10. Let this child’s soul come into him again] Surely this means no more than the breath. Though the word vpn nephesh may sometimes signify the life, yet does not this imply that the spirit must take possession of the body in order to produce and maintain the flame of animal life? The expressions here are singular: Let his soul, vpn nephesh, come into him, wbrq l[ al kirbo, into the midst of him.

Verse 21. He stretched himself upon the child three times — Not as if he thought this could contribute any warmth or life to the child; but partly to express, and withal to increase, his grief for the child’s death, and his desire of its reviving; that thereby his prayers might be more fervent, and consequently more prevalent with God: and partly to give a sign of what God would do by his power, and what he doth by his grace in the raising of souls dead in sin to a spiritual life: the Holy Ghost comes upon them, and the power of the Highest overshadows them, and puts life into them. Let this child’s soul come into him again — By this way of speaking, Elijah expressed his certainty that the child’s soul had left his body, and that he was properly dead. And he asks, not that he might be recovered from a fainting fit, swoon, or trance; but reanimated by the departed soul, and raised from the dead. This certainly was a great and most extraordinary request, and such as there is every reason to think had never been asked of God before by any human creature. Certainly he had no precedent to plead for requesting such a thing, much less did he know of an instance of any mortal’s resurrection having taken place in answer to any one’s prayers or otherwise. Nevertheless, he was encouraged and induced to make this request, partly by his zeal for God’s honour, which he judged was concerned in it, and would be eclipsed, if the child of this widow remained in death; partly by the experience which he had of his prevailing power with God in prayer; and partly by a divine influence, moving him to desire the child’s restoration to life.

Ver. 21. Elijah stretched himself upon the child, using natural means to convey reänimating warmth to the child, as well as divine fervour in prayer, that the immortal spirit might return. When we ask divine aid we must employ all the requisite means.

21. He stretched himself upon the child three times — This procedure should be compared with Elisha’s in raising the son of the Shunammite woman, (2 Kings 4:34, note,) and Paul’s in restoring Eutychus, (Acts 20:10.) Elijah had no power, like Christ, to raise the dead by a single word of command; (Luke 7:14; 8:54; John 11:43;) but confident that God would, through his agency, bring the child’s soul back again, he resorts to every rational means, and prays with greatest fervency for the desired result. Three was a sacred number; and the prophet’s thrice stretching himself upon the child was in keeping with the threefold form of daily prayer among the pious Israelites, (Psalm 55:17, Daniel 6:10,) and the threefold benediction of the high priest. Numbers 6:23.

V. 22. Into him again-This plainly supposes the existence of the soul in a state of separation, and consequently its immortality: probably God might design by this miracle to give an evidence hereof, for the encouragement of his suffering people.

Verse 22. And the soul] vpn nephesh, of the child came into him again, wbrq l[ al kirbo, into the midst of him; and he revived, jyw vaiyechi, and he became alive. Did he not become alive from the circumstance of the immaterial principle coming again into him?

Although jwr ruach is sometimes put for the breath, yet vpn generally means the immortal spirit, and where it seems to refer to animal life alone, it is only such a life as is the immediate and necessary effect of the presence of the immortal spirit.

The words and mode of expression here appear to me a strong proof, not only of the existence of an immortal and immaterial spirit in man, but also that that spirit can and does exist in a separate state from the body. It is here represented as being in the midst of the child, like a spring in the centre of a machine, which gives motion to every part, and without which the whole would stand still.

Verse 22. The soul of the child came into him again — The reader will easily observe, that this phraseology of the sacred historian, like that of the prophet in the former verse, (and they both spoke by inspiration of God,) plainly signifies the distinction between the rational soul and earthly body to be as real as that between the house and its inhabitant, and supposes the existence of the former in a state of separation from the body, and consequently its immortality: and, probably, as Grotius thinks, God might design by this miracle to give an evidence hereof for the encouragement of his suffering people. And he revived — As by an extraordinary and supernatural stroke of affliction, God had taken away the child’s life for the trial of the faith, both of the prophet and the woman; so, to strengthen the faith of both, as well as for the vindication of the true religion, and the manifestation of his own glory in opposition to idols, in that most dark and degenerate age, he restored the child to life, and thereby answered the prayer which he himself had inspired.

22. The soul of the child came into him again — That which leaves the body when it dies is sometimes called the soul (Genesis 35:18) and sometimes the spirit, (Ecclesiastes 12:7,) and hence we may argue that, according to biblical psychology, soul and spirit are never separated from each other, though as regards their essential nature they may be distinguished. The question of the separate conscious existence and immortality of the disembodied soul is not involved in this text, but the distinction between soul and body is plainly recognised. More minute is the distinction between soul and spirit, the latter being the deathless, God-like principle in man, that distinguishes him from the whole irrational creation; the soul, the lower principle, the seat of the animal life and feeling, intermediate between spirit and body, and by the agency of which the spirit is able to control the movements of the body. “Plainly,” says Delitzsch, “according to Scripture, soul and spirit outlast the corruption of the body. Nevertheless, it is true of the soul, in a certain sense, that it dies. It dies so far as it was wont to centralize in itself the natural powers of the body, and to pervade the organs of the body with its own spirit-like life. It does not die, so far as it is of the spirit, (Matthew 10:28;) but it dies, so far as it has become of the body. Its life that has emanated from the spirit endures; but its life that is immanent in the body perishes with the body itself.” — Biblical Psychology, p. 469.

Verses 23, 24. Elijah said, See, thy son liveth — And see the power of prayer, and the power of him that hears and answers prayer, that kills and makes alive. The woman said, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God — Though she believed it before, and termed him a man of God, (verse 18,) which she might well do, having been a daily witness of the miraculous increase of the meal and oil; yet, when she saw he did not cure her sick child, but suffered him to grow worse, and die, she began to doubt of it: but upon seeing her son revive, her faith revived with him, and was mightily confirmed. For, through the joy of having him restored to her again, this latter miracle appeared to her much greater than the former. The word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth — The God whom thou professest to believe in, is the only true God; and the doctrine and religion which thou teachest, is the only true religion; and therefore henceforth I wholly renounce the worship of idols.

23. Thy son liveth — This is the first recorded instance of a resurrection from the dead. Many suppose that this youth became that servant of Elijah mentioned 1 Kings 18:43; 19:3. An old tradition affirms his identity with the prophet Jonah, who afterwards proclaimed the word of the Lord to Nineveh.

Verse 24. The word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth.] Three grand effects were produced by this temporary affliction: 1. The woman was led to examine her heart, and try her ways; 2. The power of God became highly manifest in the resurrection of the child; 3. She was convinced that the word of the Lord was truth, and that not one syllable of it could fall to the ground. Through a little suffering all this good was obtained. THE subject in the fourth verse of this chapter deserves a more particular consideration.

I have commanded the ravens to feed thee.-It is contended that if we consider µybr[ orebim to signify ravens, we shall find any interpretation on this ground to be clogged with difficulties. I need mention but a few. The raven is an unclean bird, And these ye shall have in abomination among the fowls-every raven after his kind; Leviticus 11:13-15; that is, every species of this genus shall be considered by you unclean and abominable. Is it therefore likely that God would employ this most unclean bird to feed his prophet? Besides, where could the ravens get any flesh that was not unclean? Carrion is their food; and would God send any thing of this kind to his prophet? Again: If the flesh was clean which God sent, where could ravens get it? Here must be at least three miracles: one to bring from some table the flesh to the ravens; another, to induce the ravenous bird to give it up; and the third, to conquer its timidity towards man, so that it could come to the prophet without fear. Now, although God might employ a fowl that would naturally strive to prey on the flesh, and oblige it, contrary to its nature, to give it up; yet it is by no means likely that he would employ a bird that his own law had pronounced abominable. Again, he could not have employed this means without working a variety of miracles at the same time, in order to accomplish one simple end; and this is never God’s method: his plan is ever to accomplish the greatest purposes by the simplest means.

The original word orebim has been considered by some as meaning merchants, persons occasionally trading through that country, whom God directed, by inspiration, to supply the prophet with food. To get a constant supply from such hands in an extraordinary way was miracle enough; it showed the superintendence of God, and that the hearts of all men are in his hands.

But in answer to this it is said, that the “original word never signifies merchants; and that the learned Bochart has proved this.” I have carefully read over cap. 13, part. ii., lib. 2, of the Hierozoicon of this author, where he discusses this subject; and think that he has never succeeded less than in his attempt to prove that ravens are meant in this passage. He allows that the Tyrian merchants are described by this periphrasis, Ëמערב ybr[, the occupiers of thy merchandise, Ezekiel 27:27; and asserts that µybr[ orebim, per se, mercatores nusquam significat, “by itself, never signifies merchants.” Now, with perfect deference to so great an authority, I assert that ybr[ oreby, the contracted form of µybr[ orebim, does signify merchants, both in Ezekiel 27:9 and Ezekiel 27:27, and that מערב maarab signifies a place for merchandise, the market-place or bazaar, in Ezekiel 27:9, 13, 17, 19; as also the goods sold in such places, Ezekiel 27:33; and therefore that µybr[ for aught proved to the contrary, signify merchants in the text.

As to Bochart’s objection, that, the prophet being ordered to go to the brook Cherith, that he might lie hid, and the place of his retreat not be known, if any traders or merchants supplied his wants, they would most likely discover where he was, &c., I think there is no weight in it; for the men might be as well bound by the secret inspiration of God not to discover the place of his retreat, as they were to supply his wants; besides, they might have been of the number of those seven thousand men who had not bowed their knees to the image of Baal, and consequently would not inform Ahab and Jezebel of their prophet’s hiding place.

Some have supposed that the original means Arabians; but Bochart contends that there were no Arabians in that district: this is certainly more than he or any other man can prove. Colonies of Arabs, and hordes and families of the same people, have been widely scattered over different places for the purpose of temporal sojournment and trade; for they were a wandering people, and often to be found in different districts remote enough from the place of their birth. But, letting this pass merely for what it is worth, and feeling as I do the weight of the objections that may be brought against the supposition of ravens being the agents employed to feed the prophet, I would observe that there was a town or city of the name of Orbo, that was not far from the place where Elijah was commanded to hide himself. In Bereshith Rabba, a rabbinical comment on Genesis, we have these words wbr[ ושמה ביתשאנ בתחום ayh ry[ ir hi bithchom Beithshean, veshemo Orbo; “There is a town in the vicinity of Beth-shan, (Scythopolis,) and its name is Orbo.” We may add to this from St. Jerome, Orbim, accolæ villæ in finibus Arabum, Eliæ dederunt alimenta; “The Orbim, inhabitants of a town in the confines of the Arabs, gave nourishment to Elijah.” Now, I consider Jerome’s testimony to be of great worth, because he spent several years in the holy land, that he might acquire the most correct notion possible of the language and geography of the country, as well as of the customs and habits of the people, in order to his translating the sacred writings, and explaining them. Had there not been such a place in his time, he could not have written as above: and although in this place the common printed editions of the Vulgate have corvi, “crows or ravens;” yet in 2 Chronicles 21:16, St. Jerome translates the same word µybr[, “the Arabians;” and the same in Nehemiah 4:7; it is therefore most likely that the inhabitants of Oreb or Orbo, as mentioned above, furnished the aliment by which the prophet was sustained; and that they did this being specially moved thereto by the Spirit of the Lord. Add to all these testimonies that of the Arabic version, which considers the words as meaning a people, [Arabic] Orabim, and not ravens or fowls of any kind. In such a case this version is high authority.

It is contended that those who think the miracle is lost if the ravens be not admitted, are bound to show, 1. With what propriety the raven, an unclean animal, could be employed? 2. Why the dove, or some such clean creature, was not preferred? 3. How the ravens could get properly dressed flesh to bring to the prophet? 4. From whose table it was taken; and by what means? 5. Whether it be consistent with the wisdom of God, and his general conduct, to work a tissue of miracles where one was sufficient? 6. And whether it be not best, in all cases of this kind, to adopt that mode of interpretation which is most simple; the wisdom, goodness, and providence of God being as equally apparent as in those cases where a multitude of miracles are resorted to in order to solve difficulties?

I KINGS

Verses 23, 24. Elijah said, See, thy son liveth — And see the power of prayer, and the power of him that hears and answers prayer, that kills and makes alive. The woman said, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God — Though she believed it before, and termed him a man of God, (verse 18,) which she might well do, having been a daily witness of the miraculous increase of the meal and oil; yet, when she saw he did not cure her sick child, but suffered him to grow worse, and die, she began to doubt of it: but upon seeing her son revive, her faith revived with him, and was mightily confirmed. For, through the joy of having him restored to her again, this latter miracle appeared to her much greater than the former. The word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth — The God whom thou professest to believe in, is the only true God; and the doctrine and religion which thou teachest, is the only true religion; and therefore henceforth I wholly renounce the worship of idols.

ELIJAH THE TISHBITE, 1-24.

1. Elijah the Tishbite — “This wonder-working prophet,” says Doran, (in Kitto’s Cyclopaedia,) “is introduced to our notice like another Melchizedek, (Genesis 14:18; Hebrews 7:3,) without any mention of his father or mother, or of the beginning of his days — as if he had dropped out of that cloudy chariot which, after his work was done on earth, conveyed him back to heaven.” Or, as Krummacher says, his sudden appearance is like lightning falling from the clouds, or a firebrand hurled by the hand of Jehovah. In the weird grandeur of his desert life, in the fiery spirit of his words, and the power of his public acts, he stands alone among the old prophets, and finds a compeer only as his spirit and power are reproduced in that greatest of the prophets, the herald of Messiah, who came crying in the wilderness of Judea, “Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Matthew 3:2. The miraculous element in the history of Elijah is noticeably large, and in this Rationalism can, of course, see nothing but the colored legends of a superstitious age. But there are obvious reasons why a prophet of Jehovah, appearing at that time, and having to oppose an almost triumphant idolatry that had usurped the kingdom of Israel, should be supported everywhere with extraordinary evidences of his divine mission. Whenever the powers of darkness appear incarnate in some such ruling personage as Jezebel, with her hosts of Baal and Asherah prophets, then our God provides an incarnation of his Divine Spirit and power, with suitable signs and wonders to confuse and confound the ministers of Satan. Such an incarnation was Elijah. Such, too, was Moses, in opposition to Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt. Such, indeed, was Jesus the Christ, appearing in that “fulness of the time” (Galatians 4:4) when such an incarnation as his alone could be was most opportune, inasmuch as legions of devils had actually taken possession of multitudes, and no power but that of his Divine voice and name could cast them out. And so it will be in the last times, when the good and the evil come to their final struggle, and that lawless one shall be revealed, “whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.” 2 Thessalonians 2:8. Extraordinary manifestations of wickedness demand extraordinary manifestations of the power of God. Of the inhabitants of Gilead — By a slight change in the Masoretic punctuation we may read, Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbi of Gilead; and this is the reading of the Septuagint, Chaldee, and Josephus. Some have thought this place identical with the Thisbe mentioned in Tobit 1:2; but that was a town in Naphtali, while this was in Gilead. The most natural supposition, therefore, is, that Elijah was called the Tishbite from being a native or resident of a place in Gilead called Tishbi or Tishbeh, of which no other trace or mention is now known. The wild, irregular, Bedouin-like character of much of Elijah’s life is in noticeable keeping with his Gileadite origin. The tribes on the east of the Jordan soon fell into the habits of the original Bedouin inhabitants, whose wandering tent life and almost inaccessible mountain fastnesses made them in ancient times what they are now — a people of wild, unsettled habits. As the Lord God of Israel liveth — A suggestive and significant formula, and somewhat peculiar to Elijah himself. His mission was to proclaim the living God in opposition to Ahab’s dead, senseless idols. Before whom I stand — Words expressive of a sacred ministry and office, and used of the Levites who bore the ark. Deuteronomy 10:8. Solemn and sublime is the position of him who stands to minister before Jehovah, the living God. Not be dew nor rain — This was a punishment which Jehovah had threatened in case of idolatry. Deuteronomy 11:16, 17. St. James says, that Elijah “prayed earnestly that it might not rain.” James 5:17. So Divine judgments may come in answer to prayer; and the spirit of such prayer is the Elijah-spirit, which also breathes in the vindictive Psalms. The manner of Elijah’s praying for rain to come again is told at 1 Kings 18:42. These years — No definite time is specified, but all is made dependent on the word of the Lord as uttered by the prophet. Ahab’s obstinacy continued the drought for three years and a half. See 1 Kings 18:1.