17:1 Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As certainly as the Lord God of Israel lives (whom I serve), there will be no dew or rain in the years ahead unless I give the command.”
King Ahab was the King of Israel. He married Jezebel, who was a Phoenician princess. Her father was a Phoenician king and priest of Baal. Baal was the god of storm, rain, and fertility. All of the other Israelite kings practiced syncretism, which was a combination of the worship of Jehovah with paganism. Jezebel did not want any compromise with Jehovah. She wanted to make Baalism the sole religion in Israel. This is very similar to the modern evolutionists who only want children educated in their religion of secular humanism.
Elijah means "my God is Jehovah." Elijah was a prophet of God from Tishbe, which was east of the Jordan River in the vicinity of the Jabbok River. Elijah was sent to Israel to demonstrate that Baalism was a false religion. Elijah marched right into the Israelite royal court of King Ahab and Jezebel and predicted that there would be no more rain or dew in Israel until he commanded the rain to return. King Ahab and Queen Jezebel were most likely shocked that a mere man would challenge them in their own royal court.
Moses predicted that if Israel was disobedient to the Mosaic Covenant, then they would experience drought. Israel depended upon the spring and fall rains for her survival. If Baal really was the god of rain and fertility, then Jezebel and her priests should be able to ask Baal to bring rain and show that Baal is the true god and Elijah is a false prophet.
17:2 The Lord told him: 17:3 “Leave here and travel eastward. Hide out in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan.
Jehovah commanded Elijah to travel east of the Jordan River and hide out in the Kerith Valley. Jehovah was protecting Elijah from the wrath of King Ahab and Jezebel.
17:4 Drink from the stream; I have already told the ravens to bring you food there.”
There stream was most likely a seasonal brook that flowed during the rainy season but dried up during the summer.
17:5 So he did as the Lord told him; he went and lived in the Kerith Valley near the Jordan.
However God provided supernaturally for Elijah, just as God poured down manna from heaven during the Exodus.
17:6 The ravens would bring him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he would drink from the stream.
Ravens usually neglect their young, but they did not neglect Elijah.
17:7 After a while, the stream dried up because there had been no rain in the land.
This drought caused the stream to dry up. The water supply of Israel was being threatened.
17:8 The Lord told him, 17:9 “Get up, go to Zarephath in Sidonian territory, and live there. I have already told a widow who lives there to provide for you.”
Zarephath was a town which was located on the Mediterranean coast about seven miles south of Sidon. Sidon was the sister city of Tyre. Jezebel was a Sidonian princess. Sidonian territory was Baal territory. Elijah was to go live with a Gentile widow in Baal territory.
17:10 So he got up and went to Zarephath. When he went through the city gate, there was a widow gathering wood. He called out to her, “Please give me a cup of water, so I can take a drink.”
Water was rare during the Elijah drought.
17:11 As she went to get it, he called out to her, “Please bring me a piece of bread.”
With no rain, there was a shortage of grain and other crops.
17:12 She said, “As certainly as the Lord your God lives, I have no food, except for a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. Right now I am gathering a couple of sticks for a fire. Then I’m going home to make one final meal for my son and myself. After we have eaten that, we will die of starvation.”
Notice that the Gentile woman said the Lord “your” God. She is not yet a believer. Unless a believer is called to martyrdom, then God has promised to provide food, shelter, and clothing for His children. This Gentile woman thought that she was about to eat her last meal.
17:13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go and do as you planned. But first make a small cake for me and bring it to me; then make something for yourself and your son.
God is slow, but He is never later. God planned for Elijah to take care of this Gentile widow’s needs before the foundations of the world were even created.
17:14 For this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The jar of flour will not be empty and the jug of oil will not run out until the day the Lord makes it rain on the surface of the ground.’ ”
Elijah gave credit to Jehovah. He was witnessing to the Gentile woman that Jehovah was the one true God.
17:15 She went and did as Elijah told her; there was always enough food for Elijah and for her and her family. 17:16 The jar of flour was never empty and the jug of oil never ran out, just as the Lord had promised through Elijah.
God supernaturally provided for Elijah, the widow, and her son. God also cares for the Gentiles. There were some elect Gentiles spread out among the ancient nations.
17:17 After this the son of the woman who owned the house got sick. His illness was so severe he could no longer breathe.
The widow’s son became terminally ill.
17:18 She asked Elijah, “Why, prophet, have you come to me to confront me with my sin and kill my son?”
The widow blamed her sin on the death of her son. She saw Elijah as a true prophet of God who came to condemn her.
17:19 He said to her, “Hand me your son.” He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him down on his bed.
Elijah took the dead boy and laid him down on the bed.
17:20 Then he called out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, are you also bringing disaster on this widow I am staying with by killing her son?”
Elijah asked God why He was bringing disaster to the Gentile widow. Elijah understood that God was in control of who lives and who dies.
17:21 He stretched out over the boy three times and called out to the Lord, “O Lord, my God, please let this boy’s breath return to him.”
The boy died. Elijah asked Jehovah to bring the boy back to life.
17:22 The Lord answered Elijah’s prayer; the boy’s breath returned to him and he lived.
Canaanite myths claimed that Baal could revive the dead. However, Baal was powerless in this situation.
17:23 Elijah took the boy, brought him down from the upper room to the house, and handed him to his mother. Elijah then said, “See, your son is alive!”
This miracle proved that Jehovah was the one true God and Elijah was His prophet.
17:24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a prophet and that the Lord really does speak through you.”
The woman now knew that Elijah was a prophet and Jehovah was the one true God. This was the first resurrection in the Bible, showing that Jehovah can raise life from death. This is one example of many of a Gentile conversion. Jehovah made a covenant with the nation of Israel, but He still had Gentiles among His elect.
God used the brook, the raven, the widow, the barrel, and the dead son to show Elijah that he was nothing, but God was everything. Elijah was being trained in the wilderness so that he could enter a showdown against Baal himself.