1 Kings 17 – Elijah and the Widow – Part 1

KEY POINT – God has always provided in miraculous ways.

1 Kings 17:1‐7 ‐ Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2 And the word of the Lord came to him: 3 “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord. He went and lived by the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. 6 And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook. 7 And after a while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.

Leading up to this point in 1 Kings, King Solomon has died, and Israel has split into two kingdoms (Israel and Judah). There have been many kings and at the end of 1 Kings 16, we are introduced to King Ahab.

1 Kings 16:30 ‐ And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than all who were before him.

1 Kings 16:32‐33 ‐ He erected an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made an Asherah. Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him.

Ahab was the worst king of them all and did the most evil. As verse 32 says, under Ahab, the people were encouraged to worship Baal. Who was Baal? Baal was a supreme god among the pagans and a fertility god who was believed to enable the earth to produce crops and people to produce children. That will prove significant in our story today!

1 Kings 17 introduces a prophet named Elijah and like all prophets, he is sent to warn people on behalf of God but also provide hope amid pending judgment. Remember Ahab had been king for 14 years before Elijah came around. The people had been led astray and worshipped Baal for a quite some time at this point. They probably held Baal in high esteem. Elijah enters a scene full of evil and rejection of the one true God.

Our story starts with an announcement.

1 Kings 17:1 ‐ Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”

So, the Lord uses Elijah to warn of a drought. It is no coincidence that God chose a drought. Elijah is attacking Baalism at its theological center. Baal worshippers believed that Baal made rain, but he is showing God controls the rain. The rain falls on the just and the unjust at the hand of a sovereign God.

Another reason for the drought is that God had predicted this consequence for their disobedience earlier in the Old Testament.

Deuteronomy 11:16‐17 ‐ Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut up the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you.

God is following through on his Word. Like God has done with the ark, Joseph rescuing his brothers, Jonah in the mouth of a fish for three days, God will continue to send unlikely heroes and use unlikely plans! His ways are not our ways.

Elijah has two encounters in this chapter. Today, let’s look at Encounter #1.

1 Kings 17:3‐4 ‐ Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4 You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”

Elijah is sent to a brook named Cherith, east of the Jordan. God commands a raven to supply food for Elijah, but why ravens? Again, this is no coincidence. We see two verses in the Old Testament about the raven.

Job 38:41 – This is a section where God is describing to Job all the things he does, so the answer to this question he poses and all the ones before and after is God ‐ Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?

Psalm 147:9 ‐ He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens that cry.

Ravens do not even provide food for their young so God will provide miraculously for Elijah to build up his faith in view of this difficult time. Elijah is learning experientially that God is the ultimate source of food, fertility, and blessing.

And God is providing through an unlikely hero and an unlikely plan! We will look tomorrow at the second encounter!

Questions/thoughts to consider

In the story today, God struck the people with a severe drought over which their pagan god was supposed to be able to have control. In this current pandemic virus in our world today God has shown us clearly how He can bring our world to nearly a complete standstill and remove the very things we have come to cherish. (I am not saying that God causes this but certainly He allowed it)

What seemingly valuable things in your life have been stripped away that God may want to remove permanently?

Is there a raven in your life that you are counting on to provide when God is really meant to provide? Maybe God sent that raven to show you exactly its inability to provide.

Is God really providing but you are not giving Him the glory or honor for it?