1 Kings 17

(Genesis 6:5). (Jeremiah 22:17). (Psalms 115:8). The chapter closes with noticing the rebuilding of Jericho, which Hiel did in defiance of the divine curse, and at the expense of losing both his eldest and his youngest sons; but those who defy God, must take the consequences. This passage contains the remarkable fulfilment of a prophecy delivered by Joshua, between four and five centuries prior to the event. ((Joshua 6:26).) Chap. XVII. Ver. 1—24. Elijah sent with a message to Ahab; fed by ravens; multiplies a widow’s meal and oil, and restores her son to life.—Elijah is here introduced in a very abrupt manner, without any intimation either of his family or tribe: it is only said that he was a Tishbite; meaning, as is generally understood, a native of Tisbeh, a city of Gad

in the land of Gilead. It should seem, however, by the abruptness of the address, that he was as well known to king Ahab, and that he had warned him of the judgments about to be inflicted for his idolatries. The language here used is in the highest degree authoritative, and marks his prophetic character as second only to Moses: “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.” Here we may observe, 1. The period was not limited: the phrase seems equivalent to our expression, “for some years;” the actual period of drought being dependant on the king’s conduct, and might be shortened by his repentance. The judgment was also indefinite: “Neither dew nor rain, but according to my word;”

which St. James explains thus: “Elias (or Elijah) prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it rained not: he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.” ((James 5)) During this period, the prophet is ordered to conceal himself by the brook Cherith, near Jordan, where he is miraculously supplied with food. “Ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook.” Many idle questions have been asked on this subject, and sceptical writers have indulged their profane wit on it. (See note on ver. 4.) There seems to us, however, no ones in supposing a colony of rooks might be directed to his retreat, and as these feed not on carrion, but on corn and insects, it is very conceivable that they might not only form a granary for the prophet, but furnish him with locusts, which were not only clean food by the Mosaic law, (see note on (Leviticus 11:22).) but the very food on which his antitype John Baptist, subsisted in the wilderness. Certainly he who “feeds the young ravens when they cry,” could be at no loss for means to feed the prophet; and if the Lord did it by means of creatures voracious or unclean, it is not a singular instance; for he often feeds his people by instruments more unclean than ravens. After a while, however, (perhaps a year or more,) the prophet is ordered to shift his situation, and is directed to a poor Gentile widow in the coasts of Zidon, in the last extremity of want, but who appears to have known and feared the God of Israel. To her he is sent, to save her life, and the life of her son, while at the same time she supplies his wants out of his miraculous supply: for it is very observable that neither the prophets, nor our Lord himself, ever wrought a miracle for their own supply.

This Gentile widow was eminently “a child of Providence,” and Elijah was the Lord’s almoner, by whom her necessities were relieved, and her life was saved. Another severe trial now awaits her, in the death of her only son; but hereby another instance is afforded of the power of faith and prayer: the youth is restored to life, and the prophet’s character is fully established: “Now by this (said she) I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is

Notes on the verses

Chap. XVII. Ver. 4. I have commanded the ravens.—(Some have thought that the prophet Elijah, instead of being fed by ravens, was supplied by merchants, or Arabians, or the inhabitants of the city Arbo. But, 1. Orevim, is never used singly to denote merchants; nor would God have said, generally, that he had commanded the merchants, but have specified what merchants he had commanded. 2. The word is not read orevim but aravim when it signifies Arabs; nor is it likely that they should be found in that district. 3. The inhabitants of Arbo, or Orbo, if any city of that name then existed, must have been called, according to the genius of the Hebrew language, arboyim, or arbonim, not orevim. 4. The solemn declaration of good Obadiah, that Ahab took an oath of every people, that he was not concealed among them, shows that his situation required the utmost privacy, even to solitude, and that it was impossible for him to remain concealed among the inhabitants of the country.

5. When the brook was dried up, the prophet was obliged to quit his asylum, which he needed not to have done had these people been his suppliers, as they could have brought him water as well as food. 6. Hence we may justly conclude, that these orevim were true ravens, as it is rendered in nearly every version.)—Bagster. The Heb. oreb seems to include every species of corvus, receiving both its Hebrew and Latin name from its peculiar hoarse note; but here probably means the rook. These birds are gregarious, and go sometimes in very large flocks: their flights are morning and evening. Such a flock might be directed to form a rookery in the prophet’s neighbourhood. They do not live on carrion, but on corn and insects.

See Encyclop. Brit. in Ver. 9. Zarephath.—Called by Obadiah, ver. 20. Sepharad, and by St. Luke, Sarepta, (Luke 4:26). This was near to Zidon, or Sidon.

Ver. 12. A barrel.—The word translated “barrel,” properly signifies a jar, and is the same with that used for the vessels in which Gideon’s soldiers concealed their torches, and which they brake when they blew their trumpets.

Ver. 18. What have I to do with thee?—The woman had already been convinced that Elijah must be a prophet, and knowing that it was the office of a prophet to reprove for sins, she began to suspect that this judgment might be sent to punish her for the sins of her former life. The phrase often occurs in the New Testament.

See (John 2:4).

Ver. 19. Into a loft.—Bouthroyd renders it “an upper room;” doubtless it was the prophet’s own bed-chamber.