7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the LORD came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” (1 Kings 17: 7-9)
Elijah lived a pretty interesting life. Rugged and tough, he moved from desert to town with an ease that is enviable. His ministry seemed pretty seamless too–he was God’s prophet given to both king and peasant, man and woman. It made little difference where he found himself: the Lord was always within reach.
Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo
Elijah Fed by the Raven, c. 1510
The remarkable life and ministry of this tough old prophet makes good reading. I have always found the interminable lists of wicked and evil kings in the biblical history books tedious, but insert a mad prophet here and there into the narrative, and you have an adventure story that beats everything. The story of Elijah’s struggle with Ahab and his conniving wife, Jezebel is well-known. Elijah’s stand against the corruption and idolatry in Ahab’s Israel was often a minority one, but it didn’t faze him one bit. In any case, he probably knew that the majority weren’t always right.
During the time of his prophesied drought, the Lord instructed him to retreat into the wilderness, and camp by the brook Kerith. Ravens, God said, would bring him food, and the brook provided him with water. Needing nothing else by way of necessity, Elijah lived in this hermit-like way, satisfied with the Lord’s provision. Eventually, however, the brook dried up, as God knew it would. When the heavy rains of late autumn and early winter failed to materialise, God set into play the second stage of providing for his prophet. More instructions came to Elijah: move out to Zarephath in Sidon.
From the brook Kerith, east of the Jordan, all the way to Sidon, was a long walk indeed. Worse yet, Sidon was Gentile, and the home territory of Jezebel, who wanted Elijah’s head. But God said that was where Elijah would find bread and water, in the house of a widow.
These two stories, of Elijah and the ravens, and Elijah and the widow of Zarephath, are intriguing. In the first, God draws the prophet into the wilderness, far away from danger, where he lived a hermit-like existence, relying solely on God’s provision. Secondly, God sends him right into his enemy’s territory, fishing out a single widow whose heart was ready to give up her last meal so that the prophet could eat (1 Kings 17: 10-16).
It’s interesting that in both stories, God kept Elijah under the radar of Ahab and Jezebel. More so, he was also nourishing Elijah’s faith for his later ministry, by his faithful provision of something as basic as food and drink during a time of drought. Whether the desert or a Gentile town, Elijah remained secure in the shadow of his wings.
Elijah also recognised God’s timing: when the brook Kerith dried up, that was the signal to move on. The drought did not end: Elijah knew that, since he himself had prophesied a three-year drought. In terms of the bigger circumstances, nothing had changed. If anything, the drought had intensified. Worse yet, Elijah’s source of sustenance was now cut off. But he recognised the start of a new stage for himself. Hearing God, he got up and left a resource that had simply dried up.
God’s next stage was no walk in the park either. Travelling west and upwards towards Zarephath could not have been a safe journey for Elijah. Deliberately entering into enemy territory would not have been the wisest thing to do on a normal day. But that was what he did. When he entered Zarephath, he did not find a scene of comfort or abundance. The first widow he saw was on the brink of starvation. But he knew what God had said to him–the widow had been assigned to sustain him.
What happened thereafter was a challenge both to Elijah and the widow: should they take God at his word? In this story, both did. The prophet knew his God, and strangely enough, the Gentile Sidonian widow recognised the prophet of Israel, and the God he served. Elijah was indeed sustained by the widow, who in turn, was sustained by the God Elijah served. They had bread and oil and drink enough to last them throughout the time Elijah remained in the widow’s care.
But the wider circumstances had not changed … the drought went on. Within the context of great challenges and difficulties, Elijah lived out his faith and calling in God. He went from one un-ideal situation to another worse one. Yet, in both situations, he was held by his trust in God, and nourished by God’s hand. What impresses me about Elijah is his recognition of God’s hand and touch on every circumstance of his life. He understood God’s timing, and moved according to the seasons of his words.
Elijah was a tough old bird. The desert winds worked on him and the sun leathered him well. But it was God who chiselled his inner profile to be exactly that man who, being ordinary was nevertheless righteous (James 5: 17), and whose prayers and words sparked a divine response like nothing else would.
