4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink H8354 of the brook; H5158 and I have commanded H6680 the ravens H6158 to feed H3557 thee there.
Arise, H6965 get H3212 thee to Zarephath, H6886 which belongeth to Zidon, H6721 and dwell H3427 there: behold, I have commanded H6680 a widow H490 woman H802 there to sustain H3557 thee.
And as he lay H7901 and slept H3462 under a H259 juniper tree, H7574 behold, then an angel H4397 touched H5060 him, and said H559 unto him, Arise H6965 and eat. H398 And he looked, H5027 and, behold, there was a cake H5692 baken on the coals, H7529 and a cruse H6835 of water H4325 at his head. H4763 And he did eat H398 and drink, H8354 and laid him down H7901 again. H7725 And the angel H4397 of the LORD H3068 came again H7725 the second time, H8145 and touched H5060 him, and said, H559 Arise H6965 and eat; H398 because the journey H1870 is too great H7227 for thee. And he arose, H6965 and did eat H398 and drink, H8354 and went H3212 in the strength H3581 of that meat H396 forty H705 days H3117 and forty H705 nights H3915 unto Horeb H2722 the mount H2022 of God. H430
Take H3947 the rod, H4294 and gather H6950 thou the assembly H5712 together, thou, and Aaron H175 thy brother, H251 and speak H1696 ye unto the rock H5553 before their eyes; H5869 and it shall give forth H5414 his water, H4325 and thou shalt bring forth H3318 to them water H4325 out of the rock: H5553 so thou shalt give H8248 the congregation H5712 and their beasts H1165 drink. H8248
When he giveth quietness, H8252 who then can make trouble? H7561 and when he hideth H5641 his face, H6440 who then can behold H7789 him? whether it be done against a nation, H1471 or against a man H120 only: H3162
Or who shut up H5526 the sea H3220 with doors, H1817 when it brake forth, H1518 as if it had issued out H3318 of the womb? H7358 When I made H7760 the cloud H6051 the garment H3830 thereof, and thick darkness H6205 a swaddlingband H2854 for it, And brake up H7665 for it my decreed H2706 place, and set H7760 bars H1280 and doors, H1817 And said, H559 Hitherto H5704 H6311 shalt thou come, H935 but no further: H3254 and here shall thy proud H1347 waves H1530 be stayed? H7896 Hast thou commanded H6680 the morning H1242 since thy days; H3117 and caused the dayspring H7837 to know H3045 his place; H4725 That it might take hold H270 of the ends H3671 of the earth, H776 that the wicked H7563 might be shaken out H5287 of it?
Who provideth H3559 for the raven H6158 his food? H6718 when his young ones H3206 cry H7768 unto God, H410 they wander H8582 for lack H1097 of meat. H400
Then G5119 the devil G1228 leaveth G863 him, G846 and, G2532 behold, G2400 angels G32 came G4334 and G2532 ministered G1247 unto him. G846
And though they hide H2244 themselves in the top H7218 of Carmel, H3760 I will search H2664 and take them out H3947 thence; and though they be hid H5641 from my sight H5869 in the bottom H7172 of the sea, H3220 thence will I command H6680 the serpent, H5175 and he shall bite H5391 them: And though they go H3212 into captivity H7628 before H6440 their enemies, H341 thence will I command H6680 the sword, H2719 and it shall slay H2026 them: and I will set H7760 mine eyes H5869 upon them for evil, H7451 and not for good. H2896
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Kings 17
Commentary on 1 Kings 17 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 17
1Ki 17:1-7. Elijah, Prophesying against Ahab, Is Sent to Cherith.
1. Elijah the Tishbite—This prophet is introduced as abruptly as Melchisedek—his birth, parents, and call to the prophetic office being alike unrecorded. He is supposed to be called the Tishbite from Tisbeh, a place east of Jordan.
who was of the inhabitants of Gilead—or residents of Gilead, implying that he was not an Israelite, but an Ishmaelite, as Michaelis conjectures, for there were many of that race on the confines of Gilead. The employment of a Gentile as an extraordinary minister might be to rebuke and shame the apostate people of Israel.
said unto Ahab—The prophet appears to have been warning this apostate king how fatal both to himself and people would be the reckless course he was pursuing. The failure of Elijah's efforts to make an impression on the obstinate heart of Ahab is shown by the penal prediction uttered at parting.
before whom I stand—that is, whom I serve (De 18:5).
there shall not be dew nor rain these years—not absolutely; but the dew and the rain would not fall in the usual and necessary quantities. Such a suspension of moisture was sufficient to answer the corrective purposes of God, while an absolute drought would have converted the whole country into an uninhabitable waste.
but according to my word—not uttered in spite, vengeance, or caprice, but as the minister of God. The impending calamity was in answer to his earnest prayer, and a chastisement intended for the spiritual revival of Israel. Drought was the threatened punishment of national idolatry (De 11:16, 17; 28:23).
2, 3. the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, &c.—At first the king may have spurned the prediction as the utterance of a vain enthusiast; but when he found the drought did last and increase in severity, he sought Elijah, who, as it was necessary that he should be far removed from either the violence or the importunities of the king, was divinely directed to repair to a place of retreat, perhaps a cave on "the brook Cherith, that is, before [east of] Jordan." Tradition points it out in a small winter torrent, a little below the ford at Beth-shan.
6. the ravens brought him bread—The idea of such unclean and voracious birds being employed to feed the prophet has appeared to many so strange that they have labored to make out the Orebim, which in our version has been rendered "ravens," to be as the word is used (in Eze 27:27) "merchants"; or Arabians (2Ch 21:16; Ne 4:7); or, the citizens of Arabah, near Beth-shan (Jos 15:6; 18:18). But the common rendering is, in our opinion, preferable to these conjectures. And, if Elijah was miraculously fed by ravens, it is idle to inquire where they found the bread and the flesh, for God would direct them. After the lapse of a year, the brook dried up, and this was a new trial to Elijah's faith.
1Ki 17:8-16. He Is Sent to a Widow of Zarephath.
8-16. the word of the Lord came to him—Zarephath, Sarepta, now Surafend, whither he was directed to go, was far away on the western coast of Palestine, about nine miles south of Sidon, and within the dominions of Jezebel's impious father, where the famine also prevailed. Meeting, at his entrance into the town, the very woman who was appointed by divine providence to support him, his faith was severely tested by learning from her that her supplies were exhausted and that she was preparing her last meal for herself and son. The Spirit of God having prompted him to ask, and her to grant, some necessary succor, she received a prophet's reward (Mt 10:41, 42), and for the one meal afforded to him, God, by a miraculous increase of the little stock, afforded many to her.
1Ki 17:17-24. He Raises Her Son to Life.
17-24. the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick—A severe domestic calamity seems to have led her to think that, as God had shut up heaven upon a sinful land in consequence of the prophet, she was suffering on a similar account. Without answering her bitter upbraiding, the prophet takes the child, lays it on his bed, and after a very earnest prayer, had the happiness of seeing its restoration, and along with it, gladness to the widow's heart and home. The prophet was sent to this widow, not merely for his own security, but on account of her faith, to strengthen and promote which he was directed to go to her rather than to many widows in Israel, who would have eagerly received him on the same privileged terms of exception from the grinding famine. The relief of her bodily necessities became the preparatory means of supplying her spiritual wants, and bringing her and her son, through the teachings of the prophet, to a clear knowledge of God, and a firm faith in His word (Lu 4:25).