Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-24)

This sermon was preached on 31/1/2013

Elijah may have assumed that he would have stayed at the brook Cherith until the drought was over. After all, he had been there for a year and he knew that the Lord could continue to provide for his servant’s necessities in this way for the rest of his life. We can imagine Elijah gladly waiting every day for the ravens to arrive, perhaps with a different kind of meat each day. Yet there was danger as well as a delight in what he was experiencing. One danger was that of formality because the fact is that even the best of spiritual experiences can turn into assumptions. 

As the Lord’s servant, Elijah had to discover more of the Lord’s capabilities. At Cherith, Elijah experienced the Lord’s control over the lower creation in that the ravens did what they would not usually do and give their food away. But could the Lord control his higher creatures, and could he control them in an unlikely place? Elijah needed evidence of his God’s abilities in order to have both encouragement from God and expectation about God concerning the future work to which he had been called.

The call to go

If we lived in Israel at that time, which place would we regard as the most unlikely location in which a servant of the Lord would find succour? The increased danger that his people faced was being instigated by Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, and she belonged to the royal family of Sidon. So most people would deduce that Sidon, which was to the north of Israel, was the least likely place in which help would be found for Elijah. Where does the Lord send him? We should not be surprised to discover that the chosen place was Zarephath, which belonged to the territory governed by Jezebel’s family.

I don’t suppose that Elijah had expected to hear such an instruction from the Lord, and that for several reasons. First, it was very different from his previous instruction to go and live in an isolated spot at the brook. Now he was told to go and live in a community of people. Second, Elijah was told to step away from the little security he might have known in Israel. After all, there were other believers in the true God in Israel, but there was little likelihood that he would find some outside Israel, in a pagan country. Third, it is striking that the Lord did not send Elijah to a place where he would know he was secure, which he could have experienced if the Lord had told him to go to Judah, the southern kingdom which still retained a commitment to the true God.

Alongside the verbal instruction that Elijah received, the Lord also gave him one clear sign in providence – the brook dried up. If necessary, had Elijah delayed, the Lord could give another sign and stop the ravens from bringing food to the prophet. Elijah did not need the second sign. God’s Word and God’s providence were already sufficiently clear, so he did not need further signs that the Lord was telling him to move on. The lesson for us is that once God’s Word is alongside his previous providence we should follow his leading. It is important to note that Elijah did not create this providence. How could he? It was beyond his control and he had no way of removing it. Sometimes we can arrange events, but often the Lord does things that we cannot change even if we tried.

The Lord works similarly for us at times and we have to be ready for a change when he arranges it. The new role may be very different, may not seem as secure, and may not be the obvious one that people would choose for themselves. Elijah could have preferred to stay where he was, but if he did he would be guilty of disobedience, even if such a decision would have seemed wise to others. 

The arrival at Zarephath

So Elijah made his way to his divinely-chosen destination. Perhaps he imagined all kinds of difficulties about what would happen when he reached there. The obvious one concerned how he would recognise the widow whom God had selected. After all, there probably were many widows in the vicinity. Yet the prophet could trust his God to arrange the meeting.

Elijah then discovered a reality that is often experienced by those who follow God’s will for their lives. Having gone through the door of obedience and left the brook, he next comes to the door of divine fulfilment and meets the widow without even having to search hard for her. In fact, without her knowing it, the Lord sends her out to meet his servant.

Of course, it was appropriate for Elijah to test that she was the one that God had chosen to help. So he asked the woman to do something sacrificial. After all, the famine in Israel seems to have affected Sidon as well, which would not be surprising given the connection that Jezebel had brought about. I don’t know if Elijah was consciously following the example of Abraham’s servant but he does use the same principle when looking for a woman that God had chosen.

Who was the woman? She was a widow who had come to the end of her resources, with nothing to look forward to regarding the welfare of herself and her son. Yet she was the one that the Lord chose to use. Here we have a reminder of the amazing fact that he often uses those whom the world thinks little of in order to fulfil his purposes.

The woman was a Gentile. While 1 Kings does not say she was, we can deduce from the Saviour’s reference to her in Luke 4:25-26, a passage in which she is linked to God’s blessing on Naaman the Syrian at a time when he did not bless the people of Israel, that she also was a Gentile. So, in addition to being poor financially, she was also an outsider from the visible means of grace.

Yet she recognised that Elijah was a servant of God, probably from his attire, and she also uses the special divine name, Yahweh, by which he had revealed himself to Israel. The ironic thing is that people in Israel were abandoning their knowledge of the true God and here is a woman in Sidon who seems to understand at least that he is a special God. And we have to recognise that she accepted the requests of Elijah as instructions to be obeyed. Why did she do so? The answer is that the Holy Spirit was working secretly in her heart. It is possible that God’s plan here was twofold: she, a poor widow, would supply the prophet’s temporal needs and he, a rejected prophet, would inform her of her spiritual needs. That certainly seems to be the implication of the words of Jesus that Elijah was sent to her.

At the same time, we must ask ourselves about what effect this poor woman would have on Elijah. Perhaps he had anticipated having his needs met by a wealthy widow with ample earthly resources. Whether he did or not, he now know that he was going to be preserved by a widow who had nothing. Yet he realised that God’s providence is always a moment for exercising faith and expecting great things from him. If he was to fail to trust in God here, how would he fare when he found himself in far more difficult situations?

Since the Lord had told him previously that the widow would supply all his needs, he was able to make a pronouncement regarding what God would do for her. Similarly we can speak confidently about any matter that God has promised. That is how faith is exercised and how comfort is given to others.

Trouble in the home (vv. 17-24)

Everything seems to be going well in the widow’s home. In addition to having her temporal needs provided, the Lord also ensured that she would receive divine instruction from his prophet. It is hard to imagine that Elijah would stay with her and not inform her about the God of Israel and his requirements.

Then one day all her hopes were dashed – her only son died. She was devastated, and yet in her words we can see that she has some spiritual understanding. For a start, she connected the hard providence with Elijah’s role as a servant of God. By now, she recognises that he is definitely a man of God and assumes that somehow he is connected to the death of her son. Her words suggest that she now imagined that her previous repentance had not been sufficient and now her sins were being held against her, and the death of her son was a punishment for those sins. Of course, she was wrong in her analysis. Nevertheless her words reveal that she now takes her sin very seriously.

Elijah obviously realises that only God can help in this situation. We might expect him to say that the Lord had taken the boy to heaven or something similar. But he does not. Instead he takes the dead body to his room and there speaks to God about it. What can we say about his prayer?

First, there is an element of disappointment in his prayer. How could his God have allowed this? Elijah does not doubt the sovereignty of God because he admits that the Lord has caused it. Such an action seemed so out of character as far as God was concerned.

Second, there is an element of directness in his prayer. The prophet does not merely say that God allowed the circumstances; he also says that God caused it, even stating that the Lord had slain the boy. Perhaps we might think he was irreverent, but it is better to think that he is exercising spiritual boldness. After all, the Lord knew what Elijah was thinking, so what would be the point of using words that did not express what he was thinking?

Third, there is an element of daring in his prayer because he asks the Lord to do something that has never happened before, and that is for someone to be raised from the dead. Elijah knows that God can raise the dead, therefore he implores God to do so. Why did the prophet so plead? Perhaps he was concerned about the reputation of God in this community. After all, if the boy remained dead, what difference would people see between the true God and the non-existent gods of the pagans?

Fourth, there is an element of determination in his prayer. Clearly, to pray for a resurrection was unusual, but to persist in doing so is a sign of spiritual bravery. Elijah here shows greater determination than Jacob did when he refused to let God go until he blessed him. I suspect that this occasion did more for Elijah’s prayer life than the other events about which he prayed.

The outcome was that God gave life back to the boy. His restoration confirmed the faith of his mother. She is mentioned in the Book of Hebrews, in the great chapter of faith, in 11:35, ‘Women received back their dead by resurrection.’ I wonder what she was doing while Elijah was praying upstairs. Did she anticipate a miracle? 

Elijah’s time in Zarephath has many lessons for us. So we can close by mentioning a few. First, we can see the specificities of divine providence (the drying up of the brook, the widow at the gate). Second, we can see the importance of obedience (Elijah goes to a pagan city at God’s command, the widow obeys the prophet’s word). Third, God can often bring us to extremities before he acts on our behalf (the dried brook, the widow’s supply, the boy’s life). Fourth, like the widow, we can give our little to God. Fifth, giving to God out of our little will often mean he will give to us out of his wealth.