← Back to sermon library

Kings chapter 17. 1 Kings chapter 
17. We looked at this in our studies 
on Wednesday night. Did seem to me that the Elijah 
narratives deserve further exposure, so I wanted to bring this message 
tonight. And God willing, we'll look at 
chapter 18 next Lord's Day. But I want to read chapter 17. This is the early ministry of 
Elijah the prophet. We'll begin reading in chapter 
17 at verse one. And Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of 
Gilead said to Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom 
I stand, there shall not be dune or rain these years except at 
my word. Then the word of the Lord came 
to him saying, get away from here and turn eastward and hide 
by the brook Kareth, which flows into the Jordan. And it will 
be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded 
the ravens to feed you there. So he went and did according 
to the word of the Lord. For he went and stayed by the 
brook Kereth, which flows into the Jordan. The ravens brought 
him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, 
and he drank from the brook. And it happened after a while 
that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the 
land. Then the word of the Lord came to him saying, arise, go 
to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, 
I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. So he arose 
and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate 
of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he 
called to her and said, please bring me a little water and a 
cup that I may drink. And as she was going to get it, 
he called to her and said, please bring me a morsel of bread in 
your hand. So she said, as the Lord your 
God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a 
bin and a little oil in a jar. And see, I am gathering a couple 
of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my 
son that we may eat it and die. And Elijah said to her, do not 
fear, go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from 
it first, and bring it to me, and afterward make some for yourself 
and your son. For thus says the Lord God of 
Israel, the bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the 
jar of oil run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the 
earth. So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah. 
And she and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of 
flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according 
to the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Elijah. Now it happened 
after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house 
became sick, and his sickness was so serious that there was 
no breath left in him. So she said to Elijah, what have 
I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring 
my sin to remembrance and to kill my son? And he said to her, 
give me your son. So he took him out of her arms 
and carried him to the upper room where he was staying and 
laid him on his own bed. And he cried out to the Lord 
and said, O Lord, my God, have you also brought tragedy on the 
widow with whom I lodge by killing her son? And he stretched himself 
out on the child three times and cried out to the Lord and 
said, O Lord, my God, I pray, let this child's soul come back 
to him. Then the Lord heard the voice 
of Elijah, and the soul of the child came back to him, and he 
revived. And Elijah took the child and 
brought him down from the upper room into the house and gave 
him to his mother. And Elijah said, See, your son 
lives. Then the woman said to Elijah, 
Now by this I know that you are a man of God. and that the word 
of the Lord in your mouth is the truth. Well, let us pray. 
Father, we thank you for the written word and we pray now 
for the ministry of the Holy Spirit to guide us and grant 
us understanding into these things. We thank you for your graciousness, 
for your provision, for your kindness, for your mercy toward 
your people. Help us to learn first and foremost 
in 1st Kings 17 of our God. Help us to see your wonderful 
ways, as the hymn we sang says, that you do in fact move in mysterious 
ways your wonders to perform, feeding and sustaining a man 
through ravens and through a widow. God, truly you are indeed an 
amazing God, a God worthy of our praise and exaltation, God-worthy 
of adoration. And we would pray that Your Spirit 
would help us now. And we ask in the name of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Well, Elijah in many respects 
is a larger-than-life sort of a character that the Bible presents. 
And as I said, the Elijah narratives in 1 Kings do indeed show us 
many glorious things concerning our God. Paul House comments 
concerning Elijah. It says, without question, Elijah 
is one of the most distinctive and diversely talented individuals 
in the Bible. He is a prophet, preacher, political 
reformer, and miracle worker, all at the same time. At the 
heart of this multifaceted person, though, rests one overriding 
conviction. Elijah hates Baalism as much 
as Jezebel loves the cult, and he desires to magnify Yahweh 
over Baal and defeat the interloping religion once and for all. That is a great way to understand 
what Elijah's doing here on the pages of 1 Kings. In fact, here 
in chapter 17 at verse 1, all the way till Elijah's death, 
we see his constant opposition to idolatry and to oppression. and especially his war against 
Baalism in the contest at Carmel in chapter 18. But as we look 
at this particular section, I want us to notice three things, and 
I think they do testify concerning God and concerning this man Elijah. 
In the first place, we ought to see the prediction of drought 
in verse 1. Secondly, the provision of the 
prophet in verses 2 to 16. And then thirdly, the power of 
the God of Israel in verses 17 to 24. Now note verse 1. It says, "...Elijah the Tishbite 
of the inhabitants of Gilead said to Ahab, To love the way 
and appreciate the fact, there's no introduction. Elijah just 
appears on the scene. It's almost as if he parachutes 
out of heaven to stand right before Ahab and to declare the 
word of the Lord God to him. He says, as the Lord God of Israel 
lives before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these 
years except at my word. Now, there are several things 
we ought to appreciate with reference to this verse. In the first regard, 
it is the divine response to wicked kings. If you go back 
to chapter 16, we get a sketch of the northern kingdom at this 
time in Israel's history. Essentially, what we have is 
the wretched condition of Israel set forth in chapter 16. Basha, 
a king, ascended the throne after assassinating Nadab. His son 
Elah was assassinated by Zimri while he, Elah, was drinking 
himself drunk. Zimri reigned for seven days. It's really a description of 
the not best and brightest who indeed served as kings in Israel. And then Omri did evil in the 
eyes of the Lord and did worse than all who were before him. 
Again, this is all in chapter 16. Omri is the one who founded 
the capital of Samaria. Omri is the one who moved essentially 
religion and politics to Samaria for the northern tribes of the 
northern kingdom. Now Omri's son was Ahab, and 
Ahab was incredibly wretched. In fact, look at chapter 16, 
very specifically at verse 29, just to give a flavor and a sense 
of the days in which Elijah the prophet lived. It says, in the 
38th year of Asa, king of Judah, Ahab, the son of Omri, became 
king over Israel. Remember, the kingdom was divided 
in 1 Kings chapter 12. You have the one people of Israel, 
the one nation of Israel, divided in chapter 12. So you have ten 
northern tribes, they go by the name Israel, and then you have 
two southern tribes, and they are called Judah. And so the 
narrator tells us, in the 38th year of Asa, king of Judah. So what's going on in the south 
is that Asa is the king. Ahab, the son of Omri, became 
king over Israel up in the north. And Ahab, the son of Omri, reigned 
over Israel and Samaria 22 years. Now, just as an aside, we often 
get discouraged about how bad the times in which we live are. 
And I'm not going to suggest otherwise. But brethren, if we 
get a bad prime minister, we get a bad president, the most 
that they can rule or reign is for eight years. Now, I realize 
that in the midst of that eight years, it seems like an eternity. It seems like forever. But we 
don't have a man at the helm there for 22 years. Manasseh 
is what, 55 years? I mean, there are some terrible 
kings in the northern kingdom, and these men lived a long time 
and reigned a long time, and their reigns were marked by wickedness 
and evil. So I want us to appreciate the 
fact that when we say something like, it's so bad out there, 
nobody's ever seen the sort of turmoil that we have seen. We 
need to guard our hearts and we need to watch ourselves because 
in this particular instance, as we'll see as we move on in 
this description of Ahab, he institutionalizes Baal worship 
right there amongst the covenant community of Israel. So, yes, 
we have difficulties in our day, but they certainly had difficulties 
in their day. Now notice in verse 30, now Ahab 
the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord, more than 
all who were before him. And it came to pass as though 
it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam 
the son of Nebat. He was the first king of the 
Israelites. Jeroboam becomes rather a standard 
for wicked kings. In the sins of Jeroboam, the 
son of Nebat, that he took as wife Jezebel, the daughter of 
Ephbaal, king of the Sidonians, and he went and served Baal and 
worshipped him. So, get that. Get that in your 
head. Understand what's happening. 
So when we get to 17.1 and Elijah the Tishbite appears before Ahab 
and threatens drought, this is the context. He marries Jezebel 
and he goes and he serves Baal and he worships him. But that 
wasn't enough for Ahab. Notice what happens in verse 
32. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which 
he had built in Samaria. So that newfound capital of the 
north has become a place where there's a temple to Baal, and 
there's an altar to Baal, and sacrifices are offered up to 
Baal. Not Yahweh, not the God of Israel. 
And Ahab made a wooden image. Ahab did more to provoke the 
Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were 
before him. So as we drop down now to 17.1, 
and Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead said to 
Ahab, as the Lord God of Israel lives before whom I stand, we 
ought to see practically that this is the divine response to 
the wretched condition created by these godless kings in Israel. In other words, we oftentimes 
see things and we believe that it's going to flourish and thrive 
and ultimately bury the kingdom of God. Not so is the case. God sends Elijah to confront, 
frontally, this wicked Ahab. One man makes this observation, 
for to see Elijah appear thus, i.e. so suddenly, reminds us 
that we need not despair when we see great movements of evil 
achieving spectacular success on this earth. Imagine if you 
were living in the days of chapter 16. Imagine if you knew your 
new king took a wretched woman by the name of Jezebel as his 
wife, a woman from Sidon, and he engaged in Baal worship there, 
and then he took Baal worship right into the heart of Israel, 
right into the northern kingdom. You might be tempted to conclude 
that the religion of Yahweh is all but gone. So this man says, 
it reminds us that we need not despair when we see great movements 
of evil achieving spectacular success on this earth. For we 
may be sure that God, in unexpected places, has already secretly 
prepared His counter-movement. God has always His ways of working 
underground to undermine the stability of evil. This passage 
teaches us to learn this. This passage teaches us to expect 
this. You hear it today. Oh, Islam 
is growing so rapidly. It's the fastest growing religion 
in North America. And the sort of unspoken implication 
seems to be that it's all going to wipe out Christianity. What does Daniel tell Nebuchadnezzar? That in the days of these kings, 
God will in fact set up a kingdom that will remain forever and 
ever. Brethren, we don't need to worry about the kingdom of 
God. We need to be faithful in the kingdom of God. We need to 
pray for the kingdom of God. We need to prosper the kingdom 
of God in terms of our prayer and our witness and our service 
in the church, but we ought not to fear that the Lord is going 
to lose in history. He goes on to say, God can raise 
men for His service from nowhere. Therefore, the situation is never 
hopeless where God is concerned. Whenever evil flourishes, it 
is always a superficial flourish. For at the height of the triumph 
of evil, God will be there, ready with His man and His movement 
and His plans to ensure that His own cause will never fail." 
That's 17-1. That's the arrival of Elijah 
the Tishbite. It is God's indictment upon Ahab 
and upon Baalism and upon the entirety of the nation of Israel. 
And note the divine presence with his servant. I love the 
way Elijah describes this in verse 1. He says, as the Lord 
God of Israel lives before whom I stand, Brethren, does that 
describe your Christianity, before whom I stand? Do you live life 
quorum Deo in the presence of God, conscious of His face or 
conscious of His presence in your life? Elijah the prophet 
is a man who can say on earth, he is indeed the Lord God before 
whom I stand. And then note the prophet's prayer 
concerning the intervention of God at the end of verse one, 
there shall not be dew nor rain these years except at my word. Now, let us not miss the significance 
of this particular statement by the prophet Elijah. In James 
5, 17, it tells us, Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, 
and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain. And it did 
not rain on the land for three years and six months. So we see 
that this prayer of Elijah was indeed according to the will 
of God because it was a curse of the covenant that God would 
indeed send drought upon Israel. In Leviticus 26 and in Deuteronomy 
28 and sprinkled elsewhere in those particular books, God tells 
Israel that if they are faithless, if they break the covenant, if 
they go whoring away from God after other gods, then God will 
send drought. And so Elijah prays this in accordance 
with the will of God, and God hears and answers his particular 
prayer. But as well, this whole idea 
of drought is a direct attack against Baalism. Now the god 
Baal, we know he doesn't exist, and we know that all these gods 
spoken of, Asherah, and Moloch, and Baal, they were figments 
of men's imaginations. But each of them was attached 
with a particular significance. You know what Baal's job was? 
Baal was the storm god. Baal's job was to bring rain 
upon the earth in order to water the crops and to promote fertility. He was a fertility god. His job 
was to provide rain. Now do you see the significance 
of the prophet's words at this particular point? Ahab has now 
instituted Baalism as the religion in Israel. Baal's job is to provide 
rain and so when God counters Ahab and Baal, he sends Elijah 
the prophet who says, there shall not be dew nor rain these years 
except at my word. That's an assault upon Baalism. That is a direct assault upon 
the religion that celebrates Baal as the God of fertility 
and the God who brings rain upon the people. The author is telling 
us that the God of heaven and earth is indeed the God of fertility, 
the God of rain, the God who controls these things, and this 
is what the nation of Israel would learn by the manifestation 
of Elijah the prophet, of the inhabitants of Gilead, he would 
come to seek to correct things that was going on. Now certainly, 
as Baal, was unable to provide rain, it would be common for 
his apologists to provide a rationale as to why. Now just think with 
me for a moment. You're a Baal worshiper in this 
particular era, and you go months, years, and there's no rain. You'd 
think, wouldn't you, that you would conclude there's no Baal? 
If his job is to send rain and there's no rain, we must conclude 
there's no Baal. Well, the apologists of Baal 
would explain that the god Maat, the god Maat was the god of death 
or the god of the underworld. And there would be times when 
Baal would submit to him and basically go into the underworld 
for a period of time. And then Anath, who was a goddess, 
would eventually rescue Baal out from the underworld and then 
he would perform his services in terms of rain and fertility 
upon the land. The gods of the Canaanites were 
very, very multiple. Very, very silly when we consider 
it from the standpoint of biblical religion. But nevertheless, that 
was the context in which the prophet ministered. And as Proven 
says, what is being taught is that it is Yahweh, not Baal, 
who brings fertility. It is Yahweh's presence and judgment 
that leads to infertility rather than his absence in death as 
it did with Baal. So let's look secondly now at 
the provision of the prophet. And just before we start the 
exposition, we ought to appreciate the God 
of heaven and earth because His ways are so wondrous. We just 
sang that, didn't we? God moves in a mysterious way, 
His wonders too perform. This God feeds, sustains, and 
blesses His prophet through ravens and a widow. You know what that 
should do, practically? It should make you want to read 
your Bible. The Bible's exciting. The Bible's thrilling. The Bible 
is just amazing in that it holds forth to us a God who could have 
indeed created a Costco and had Elijah live right there in the 
lobby and go fetch whatever it is he wanted, you know, those 
Kirkland products that, you know, you go in for one thing and you've 
got to buy that big of a thing. God could have done that. He's 
God, right? But He uses unclean birds and 
an unlikely woman to sustain His servant in a particular geographical 
region that is once again an assault upon Baalism. Let's look 
first at the provision through ravens in verses 2 to 7. Note 
that Elijah works according to the word of the Lord. Verse 2, 
then the word of the Lord came to him saying, and the specific 
instructions is that Elijah was to hide by the brook Kereth. 
Now he's supposed to hide because Ahab and Jezebel are in the business 
of liquidating the true prophets, the prophets of Yahweh. In fact, 
Obadiah in chapter 18 hides several prophets from the murderous regime 
of Jezebel. In chapter 18.10, Obadiah tells 
Elijah that Ahab has basically looked for him everywhere. And 
so the Lord God tells Elijah to hide by the brook Carith, 
and it will be there that these ravens will sustain him with 
provision. There's also another significance to this idea of 
Elijah hiding by the brook Carith. And the significance seems to 
be this. The word of the Lord comes to Elijah. Elijah is the 
prophet of God. Elijah is the voice of God. Elijah is the mouthpiece of God. So if Elijah is hiding by the 
brook Kareth, what does that mean for the nation of Israel? 
It means the absence of the word of the Lord. It means that God 
is bringing judgment to bear upon them. It means that sin 
has consequences. It means that when you build 
an altar to Baal, and when you build a temple to Baal, and when 
you bow to Baal, or when you're Ahab and you marry Jezebel, when 
you engage in that sort of corruption and that sort of wickedness, 
the Lord God Most High will withdraw His prophet. He will, in fact, 
withdraw the word from the people who at one time had it. Davis 
says, the disappearance of Elijah spells the absence of the Word 
of God from the life of Israel. Israel's judgment is the drought 
of the land and the silence of the Lord. You see that Elijah 
is hiding does not spell good news for the people in Israel. That Elijah is hiding spells 
God's judgment. So yes, there will be drought, 
which is a direct assault upon Baal and his supposed ability, 
but as well, the fact that God has withdrawn his word from the 
nation of Israel. We see that 1 Samuel 28, Saul's 
at the end of his rope. He's got to go into battle, but 
he wants a divine word. There is no word from God for 
Saul. So what does Saul do? He employs 
the witch at Endor to try to provide for him some sort of 
a guidance or some sort of a word so that he can operate in terms 
of battle. You see in the prophet Amos that 
the Lord God threatens upon Israel a famine, not a famine of bread, 
not a famine of water, but a famine of hearing the word of the Lord. 
Brethren, we ought never to take lightly the fact that we have 
the scriptures. We ought never to take lightly 
that we have our Bibles, that we have good Christian books, 
that we have access to churches, that we have access to sermon 
audio, that we have in many respects a great glut of the word of God. There were times in history where 
the nation of Israel itself did not know that word because of 
their sins against God. The fact is, we have been blessed 
immeasurably, and we ought to appreciate the Lord God for His 
goodness and for His kindness. So He is told to hide by the 
brook Kerith, and He is promised provision via ravens. Now, ravens 
were unclean. Leviticus 11, 15, and Deuteronomy 
14, 14. He's not being told to eat the 
ravens, so it's not a violation of the law. He is being told 
to eat what the ravens deliver. Now, I doubt the ravens delivered 
pizza. I doubt they delivered In-N-Out 
burgers. I doubt they delivered something 
that looked incredibly sumptuous to Elijah, but they would, in 
fact, bring that which was able to sustain the prophet here, 
by the brook, carrot. Davis says, what kind of meat 
would ravens bring? Don't ask, simply cook it very 
well and eat up. I think that's an accurate description 
of the sort of fare that Elijah was privy to there by the brook, 
carrot. God doesn't always promise us 
steak and lobster. He does, in fact, say that He 
will sustain, that He will provide our daily bread. And this is 
precisely what Elijah is learning here by the brook Kareth. So the prophet obeys God. The 
prophet is sustained the way Israel was in the wilderness, 
meet and provision by God in a supernatural sort of way. And 
the prophet ultimately has to move on. Notice in verse seven, 
It happened after a while that the brook dried up because there 
had been no rain in the land. Remember chapter 17, verse 1, 
there will not be any dew nor rain these years except at my 
word. 17.1 is crucial to keep in mind throughout 17 and 18. 
It provides the very context for the contest at Carmel. This 
is the goal that Elijah has when he goes up to Carmel is to challenge 
these false prophets in terms of who indeed is the real God. Now notice secondly the provision 
for or through a widow. In verses 8 and 9, the word of 
the Lord again comes to Elijah. Came to him saying, Arise, go 
to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, 
I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. So he arose 
and went to Zarephath. We'll read on in a moment, but 
it's important for us to locate Zarephath on the map. If you 
were to look at the back of your Bible and you looked at the maps, 
you would see a region north and west called Phoenicia. And there in Phoenicia you have 
Sidon, you have Zarephath, and you have Tyre. This is the Tyre 
and Sidon we read of this morning in chapter 11 in Matthew's gospel. And the Lord Jesus upbraids the 
cities of Galilee and he says, if Tyre and Sidon would have 
seen the things that you saw, they would have repented in sackcloth 
and ashes. So this is the region of Phoenicia. This is the homeland of Baal. It's very important that we understand 
this geographical note. Arise, go to Zarephath, which 
belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow 
there to provide for you, so he arose and went to Zarephath. 
Look back at chapter 16 in verse 31. It describes Jezebel, the 
end of verse 31, as the daughter of Echbaal, king of the Sidonians. That again is in Phoenicia, just 
a bit further south from... Zarephath is just a bit further 
south from Sidon. So it is Baal's home turf. It is Baal land, Baal vill. It is the city of Baal or the 
region rather of Baal. And so Elijah is told to go to 
Baal land and there meet up with this particular woman. Now the 
woman was indeed a Gentile, and the city, as I said, is the hub 
for Baal's worship. The storm god failed, not only 
in Israel, but also in his own homeland. You would think that 
Baal, if he was able to do anything, would certainly do it in Phoenicia. 
But it's not the case. This woman and her son are destitute, 
and they are at the point of death. Matthew Henry says Jezebel 
was Elijah's greatest enemy, yet to show her the impotency 
of her malice, God will find a hiding place for him, even 
in her own country. You gotta appreciate what's happening 
here. Elijah is sent to where Jezebel 
hails from. Elijah is sent to the hub of 
Baal worship, and it's there that Elijah will be sustained 
by a widow at Zarephath, a non-Israelite. What's the author saying? That 
while Israel has essentially shut itself off from the word 
of the Lord, the word of the Lord is not stopped. The word of the Lord will find 
its mark in the heart of this widow at Zarephath. The word 
of the Lord will be fleshed out right before Baal's eyes in his 
own hometown. The word of the Lord will go 
forth conquering and to conquer and it will not be stopped. You 
see, the emphasis throughout the book of 1 Kings is that God 
cannot be stopped. The emphasis in Daniel chapter 
2, God cannot be stopped. The emphasis throughout the Psalter, 
God cannot be stopped. The emphasis throughout the New 
Testament, what does Christ say? All authority in heaven and earth 
has been given unto me. Go, therefore, and make disciples 
of all the nations." What is Christ telling us? He cannot 
be stopped. His kingdom cannot be thwarted. 
It cannot be sidetracked. It cannot be taken off the course 
of history. One other man says, to demonstrate 
on Phoenician soil where Baal is worshipped, that Yahweh has 
power over things in which Baal has failed. This is the significance 
of the geography involved. Now note the meeting with the 
woman there in verse 10. When he came to the gate of the 
city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called 
to her and said, please, bring me a little water and a cup that 
I may drink. And as she was going to get it, he called to her and 
said, please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand. Now note 
the desperate and pathetic and terrible condition of this widow 
in Zarephath, verse 12. As the Lord your God lives, I 
do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin and a little 
oil in a jar. And see, I am gathering a couple 
of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my 
son that we may eat it and may die. It's terrible, isn't it? I mean, doesn't your heart go 
out to this woman? This is the result of idolatry. This is the 
result of false godism. This is what happens when you 
worship Baal rather than the God of heaven and earth. There 
is drought in the land. Remember reading a book some 
years ago on the issue of economics, and we're inclined to think that 
those nations that prosper and those nations that have many 
good things just were somehow fitted with sewage systems and 
railways and skyscrapers and all that sort of thing, and that 
those nations that are in abject poverty are that way because 
they lacked the natural resources. The author points out that it's 
a matter of faith. I'm not suggesting that Canada 
and the United States of America are the bastions of godly faith, 
but there were men who came initially that had some fear of God. They 
had some commitment to the principles of Holy Scripture. The idea being 
that the land prospers not because of your ingenuity or wisdom. 
The land prospers not because of your savvy. The land prospers 
not because of your social engineering, but the land prospers insofar 
as you are faithful to the God of heaven and earth. and that 
those lands that are in abject poverty, it oftentimes can be 
traced back to the reality that they worship sticks and stones. 
They worship idols. They are engaged in rebellion 
against the living and the true God. Righteousness exalts a nation, 
but sin is a reproach to any people. This is the Proverbs. 
This is Solomon's wisdom. You see, brethren, what we find 
in this instance is that this pathetic woman is about to die 
because she lives in a region that subscribes to Baal as the 
storm god, the god of fertility. Now notice the provision of the 
prophet very closely in verses 13 to 18. Note the gravity of 
Elijah's demand. You'll see this at Carmel as 
well. Elijah is a larger than life sort of figure. Look what 
he says, do not fear, he prefaces it with do not fear, that's a 
blessing, but go and do as you have said, but make me a small 
cake from it first and bring it to me. Go and do as you have 
said. What has she said? She's gonna 
cook up the last little bit of flour she has and take the last 
little bit of water she has, give it to her son, give it to 
herself and die. Elijah says, okay, go ahead and 
proceed, but make sure you feed me first. This runs absolutely 
contrary to anything and everything that this woman would hold dear. 
Ladies, let me ask you, what is most important in your life? 
Your children. I hope men would say the same 
thing as well. We wouldn't ever say, oh yeah, 
let me go feed this prophet and watch my son pass away. Now, 
you've got to keep in mind, brethren, we know how the narrative ends. 
The widow at Zarephath doesn't know Elijah from any other Tishbite. She's never heard of a Tishbite. 
Doesn't know who the inhabitants of Gilead are. Has no clue whatsoever 
what's happening down in Israel. Has no clue whatsoever what's 
happening with Jezebel and with Ahab and with the institutionalization 
of Baal worship in the place where the God of Israel is to 
be feared and hallowed. So he says, go and do as you 
have said, but make me a small cake from it first and bring 
it to me and afterward make some for yourself and your son. It's 
a pretty Bold statement there, but he couches it in the kindness 
and the grace and mercy of God. He says, for thus says the Lord 
God of Israel. Remember, brethren, she is not 
a Yahweh worshiper. She is a Gentile. She is a heathen. She lives in Phoenicia. She's 
been taught to bow to Baal. And for Elijah to highlight this 
reality, he is teaching this woman something. And her response, 
as we see it fleshed out in the narrative, is the response of 
faith. We see her conversion. We are 
seeing her called out of darkness into marvelous light. We are 
seeing her brought into that sphere of redemptive religion. 
We are seeing her born again by the power of the Christian 
gospel. We are seeing the grace and mercy 
of God Most High. For thus says Yahweh of Israel, 
verse 14, the bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the 
jar of oil run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the 
earth. Now note, the woman does according 
to the word of Elijah. She went away and did according 
to the word of Elijah, and she and he and her household ate 
for many days. The bin of flour was not used 
up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of 
the Lord which he spoke by Elijah." Davis helpfully points out, faith 
is staking everything upon Yahweh's sheer word, wagering all upon 
the veracity of God. That's beautiful. I know it's 
605, and I know it's warm, and I know that this is an old, antiquated 
passage that may not seem particularly relevant for us today, but observe 
this woman. She goes against the natural 
affections of her heart. She goes against the natural 
affections of every woman's heart. She gives the last of her bread 
and water to the prophet. This is taking God at His word. This is responding the way that 
we should. This is hearing Matthew 11, 28 
and coming to the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith is staking everything 
upon Yahweh's sheer word, wagering all upon the veracity of God. Taking John 6 37 into our hearts 
and reckoning that Jesus says all that the Father gives me 
will come to me and the one who comes to me I will certainly 
not cast out. I am going to stake my all on 
the truthfulness of the Word of God. When Christ says, come 
to me, I'm going to come. And I'm going to know that He 
is not going to cast me out because the Bible is replete. The Bible 
is repetitious. The Bible goes on with that blessed 
refrain that those who come to Him will indeed find Him. Ask, seek, knock. What does the 
Lord say? When you ask, you're going to 
be frustrated. When you seek, you will not find. When you knock, 
the door is going to be closed unto you. That's not what Christ 
says. He gives gracious, glorious invitations for us to ask and 
seek and knock. Hebrews 11.6, without faith it 
is impossible to please Him. Why? Because he who comes to 
God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of 
them who diligently seek him. That's what this woman does. 
The prophet says, give me the bread first, and she does it. Brethren, this is an expression 
of great, great faith. You might think, wow, Phoenicia, 
Zarephath, widow, eh, what's the big deal? Her faith puts 
us to shame. Now notice, well, before we move 
on, the surprising ways of our God. Matthew Poole says, God's 
providing for His prophet, first by an unclean bird and then by 
a Gentile, whom the Jews esteemed unclean, was a notable presage 
of the calling of the Gentiles. The fact that this Zarephathian 
woman comes to God Most High is a down payment of the New 
Covenant, isn't it? The fact that the gospel will 
be preached to all nations, that men from every tribe and tongue 
and people and nation will be included in the redemptive plan 
of God. And then Davis, in his pithy way, makes this observation 
concerning the surprising ways of God. Is this not vintage Yahweh? Who else would ever design to 
use unclean ravens and the unlikely widow as sustainers of his servant? Who am I to object if Yahweh 
delights to use dirty birds and hopeless women? We should, however, 
adore the scintillating, and that simply means brilliant or 
excitingly clever or skillful, we ought to adore the scintillating 
creativity of a God who brings help to his people through channels 
they would never suspect. This is why you should read your 
Bible, because it's exciting. Have you ever heard that? Oh, the Bible is so boring. What 
Bible are you reading? Because this is incredible. I 
mean, come on, who would have ever thought that the man who 
is indeed God's response to institutionalized idolatry in Israel would be a 
man sustained by the brook Kareth by dirty birds and would be sustained 
in Phoenicia, the homeland of Baal by a woman of Zarephath. Who would have ever imagined 
that such would be the case? Behold your God. the Word of 
God declares. Now notice finally the power 
of God in verses 17 to 24. We see the death of the son, 
verses 17 and 18. Now it happened after these things 
that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick, 
and his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left 
in him. Now some suggest that he was in a coma. that he was 
in a coma and that when Elijah laid down on him three times, 
it was a form of sort of, you know, pre-modern CPR, that when 
he laid down on him three times, it got the heart beating again, 
perhaps he breathed in, no, no, no, the boy was dead. It says 
his soul returned to him. The boy was dead, and this is 
what we ought to see in this passage. His sickness was so 
serious that there was no breath left in him. So she said to Elijah, 
what have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to 
bring my sin to remembrance and to kill my son? Now, we ought 
to at least observe the ways of God. Continuing the theme, 
the surprising ways of God. She's a new believer, isn't she? 
She has just confessed the God of Israel. Now, I know it's not 
in the same sort of way that you and I have confessed the 
God of Israel. She wasn't baptized. There wasn't 
a luncheon afterward. The fact that she received the 
word of the prophet Elijah and she hands her last morsels to 
him based on the word of the Lord, which he spoke by Elijah, 
indicates that she had passed from death to life. She is a 
believer. Now notice what happens to this 
brand new believer. Her son dies. She wouldn't have 
been a fan of Benny Hinn and Joel Osteen. She would have said, 
that's not been my experience. As soon as I came to the God 
of Israel, my son died. You see, it's not all rosy on 
this side of heaven for the people of God. If you have it in your 
mind that bad things don't happen to believers, you've not read 
Scripture. You are not familiar with the 
truth. You have not come to grips with the statement of Job 1, 
21. The Lord gives, the Lord takes 
away, blessed be the name of the Lord. I mean, Job, this widow 
at Zarephath, a whole host of others, will indicate to you 
that the Christian life at times is punctuated with hardship, 
trials, and afflictions. Now, thankfully, the story turns 
out nicely for her, but brethren, it doesn't always. God would 
be no less God if this boy had died. God would be no less God 
if this boy had remained in the grave. So this widow understands 
something that the modern age oftentimes misses. The Christian 
life is at times punctuated with trial, sorrow, afflictions, and 
woes, and this woman has understood it. Now note, The intercession 
of Elijah in verses 19 and following. He said to her, give me your 
son. So he took him out of her arms and carried him to the upper 
room where he was staying and laid him on his own bed. Then 
he cried out to the Lord and said, oh Lord, my God, have you 
also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodged by killing 
her son? Isn't that amazing? He imitates what the widow said. 
Appreciate what the prophet does not do here. Verse 18, she says 
to Elijah, what have I to do with you, O man of God? Have 
you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to kill my 
son? He doesn't say, how dare you ever utter such a thing in 
the presence of the God of Israel whom I serve. No, Elijah doesn't 
do that. He doesn't reprove her. He doesn't 
shut her up. He hears her cry. And he takes 
that cry to the throne of grace, almost word for word. I mean, 
there's obviously some differences semantically, lexically, but 
he essentially takes her prayer to the Lord. Verse 20, O Lord 
my God, have you also brought tragedy on the widow with whom 
I lodge by killing her son? Elijah shows himself as perplexed 
as she. You see, brethren, this is the 
way we can minister to one another at times of grief and in times 
of pain. If a brother or sister is sorrowing 
and hurting, they may not necessarily need a three-point sermon by 
you on why they should never sorrow or hurt. Sometimes they 
may need you to take their complaint to the throne of grace. That's 
what the prophet does here. Now there are times if somebody 
is sorrowful or hurting and it's their own fault or they've done 
something foolish or they're living in rebellion against God, 
it's good for us to gently encourage them to consider their situation 
and all that sort of a thing. But for this particular widow, 
Elijah doesn't upbraid her. Notice Job's counselors. They 
were great in terms of the wisdom that he needed to hear, only 
he didn't need to hear it. He just needed them to cry with 
him. He needed to sympathize with them. He needed them to 
take his complaint to the throne of grace. We can be like Job's 
friends at times. Somebody's hurting. Somebody's 
full of sorrow, and we want to lecture them. It happens in marriage, 
doesn't it? I mean, come on, men, we want 
to lecture our wives when they're sorrowing or they're hurting. 
We don't want to enter in. We don't want to embrace their 
situation. It can happen conversely as well. Men aren't the, or women aren't 
the only ones who sorrow and hurt. Men can go through sorrow 
and hurt and pain. Last thing they may need is their 
wife to lecture them at that particular time on how they need 
to buck up and be a better you. Maybe they just need us to cry 
with them. to internalize their pain, to 
externalize it at the throne of grace. That's what Elijah 
does with this widow. Verse 20, he cried out to Yahweh 
and said, O Lord, my God, have you also brought tragedy on the 
widow with whom I lodged by killing her son? He stretched himself 
out on the child three times. I don't think this was an act 
of CPR. It was what's called an acted parable. You'll often 
see the prophets engaged in not only word, but in deed to symbolize 
the fact that they are calling upon God to do a very specific 
thing. He falls on the son, or he lays 
himself on the child three times, and he cries out to the Lord 
and says, O Lord my God, I pray, let this child's soul come back 
to him. Then the Lord heard the voice 
of Elijah, and the soul of the child came back to him, and he 
revived. Now again, we ought to appreciate 
the amazingness of God in raising this dead boy from the dead, 
but also appreciate it in the context of Dale. Baal could not 
only not bring rain, but he certainly couldn't raise people from the 
dead. In fact, Baal, the god, was in the underworld subject 
to the god Maat. So you see, Yahweh is not like 
Baal. Yahweh has the power over life 
and death. Yahweh has the ability to hear 
the prophet Elijah and to raise this boy from the dead. And his 
soul returned unto him. Gil makes the observation, which 
shows that the child was really dead and a proof that the soul 
dies not with the body, but exists in a separate state without it. So God hears the prayer of Elijah. The soul returns to the boy and 
he revives. And then notice the confirmation 
here of the prophetic word. Verse 23, Elijah took the child 
and brought him down from the upper room into the house and 
gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, see, your son 
lives. Then the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that 
you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your 
mouth is the truth. It seems to me, brethren, this 
is the particular and the proper interpretation of the miraculous. In other words, she's happy to 
see her son, I do not doubt. I mean, she expressed great grief 
at the fact that he had died. Now that she sees him breathing 
and wanting bread and water, no doubt her heart has gone out 
to him with great affection and with great joy. But what's the 
significance of the miraculous for this particular woman? Now 
I know that the word you speak is in fact the word of Yahweh. You see, miracles are not given 
in the Bible simply to amaze. Miracles are not given in the 
Bible simply to return dead boys to their grieving mothers. Miracles 
are given in the Bible to confirm the revelatory word, to confirm 
the fact that Elijah is in fact God's mouthpiece, to confirm 
the fact that the God of Israel is no dumb God, he's no dead 
God, he is not subject to Mott, but rather he is in the heavens, 
and he not only does whatever he pleases, but he speaks through 
his servant, the Tishbite, from the inhabitants of Gilead. This is underscored by the woman. In fact, I think this woman could 
teach the Charismatics and the Pentecostals a thing or two about 
the miraculous. Now by this I know that you are 
a man of God and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is 
the truth. So there's our exposition. We 
ought to just close with three observations. First, the utter 
futility of Baalism. The judgment upon Baal begins 
here. It's going to come to fruition 
or it's going to come to a head in chapter 18. I mean, that great 
scene when Elijah challenges those prophets of Baal to that 
contest at Carmel. But it begins here in chapter 
17 at verse one with the presence of a drought. That demonstrates 
the futility of Baal. Brethren, if your God can't do 
what he's supposed to be able to do, you ought to abandon him. No, I said your brethren. You get the point. If you find 
yourself worshiping something that can't do what it's supposed 
to do, You can't say that as a believer in Jesus Christ. Our 
God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. 
He is the God of heaven and earth. He is the God of fertility. He 
is the God who rains. He is the God who lightenings. 
He is the God who thunders. He is the God who causes snow. 
He is the God who gave us this beautiful day today. He is the 
God of absolute, unrivaled, unparalleled sovereign majesty, and he always 
acts consistent with his being, with his character. The presence 
of the drought indicates the storm god couldn't deliver rain. 
The inability to sustain life. The woman in Phoenicia was going 
to die. Who sustained her? Who kept her 
going? Certainly the provision in view 
is to Elijah. We are seeing Elijah gloriously 
upheld by ravens and by this widow. But according to verse 
12, the widow is about to die. Guess what God is doing in Baal's 
homeland? He's upholding one of Baal's 
subjects. And then as well, the inability to bring back life. 
God raised the boy from the dead. Secondly, we ought to appreciate 
the perfections of the God of Israel. We see His justice. The justice of God is demonstrated 
through His answer to prayer of Elijah. In terms of the drought, 
the no dew, the no rain, this is God's judgment upon. the nation of Israel for their 
Baalism. We see the faithfulness of God 
in his provision of the prophet through ravens and the widow. 
He calls this man to serve and he sustains him in order to serve. 
God demonstrates His faithfulness. As well, we see the graciousness 
of God in His conversion of a Gentile, a woman of Phoenicia, a woman 
tucked up there in Zarephath, homeland of Baal. The fact that 
God went after her through the prophet Elijah and brought her 
into the sphere of redemptive religion highlights His grace. And as well, we ought to appreciate 
the power of God in the resurrection of the dead son. And then finally, 
the typical significance of the chapter. In other words, how 
does it point us forward? The conversion first of this 
Phoenician woman. I hope it reminds you of Matthew's 
gospel. I realize we're in Matthew 15 a long time ago, but there 
was a Phoenician woman that comes to the Lord Jesus, and what does 
he do? He saves her. That wasn't new. That's consistent 
with who God is. God saves this Phoenician woman 
at the time of Elijah, the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead, 
and he saves a Phoenician woman in Matthew 15. It is intriguing 
in that Matthew 15 context. It's verses 21 to 28. The previous 
section was on the unbelief of the Pharisees. Similar to the 
structure here, we have chapter 16 ending with basically the 
unbelief of Israel as they've turned from God to Baal. And 
what happens to the Phoenician woman? She comes to God from 
Baal. As well, we have the doctrine 
of sovereign election and divine judgment. Now I realize that 
may seem a bit of a stretch. I've tried to sort of sketch 
it a little bit, the withdrawal of the Word of God from Israel. 
The fact that Elijah goes to this widow at Zarephath indicates 
that this is indeed God's judgment upon Israel. And if you doubt 
this application or the typical significance, please turn quickly 
to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4, this is precisely 
how Jesus interprets the 1st Kings 17 incident. In Luke chapter 
4, Remember the scene, it's beginning 
in verse 16, we don't have time to sketch the whole, but Jesus 
comes to Nazareth where he'd been brought up, as his custom 
was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and he stood 
up to read. He takes the scroll of the prophet 
Isaiah, he reads Isaiah 61, 1 and 2, he takes it, hands it back 
to the attendant, sits down and says, today the scripture is 
fulfilled in your hearing. Imagine being there for that. 
The scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. The Christ, of 
whom the prophet wrote, is here in your midst. Now note the response. Verse 22, So all bore witness 
to him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of 
his mouth. And they said, Is this not Joseph's son? He said 
to them, you will surely say this proverb to me, physician, 
heal yourself. Whatever we have heard done in 
Capernaum, do also here in your country. Then he said, assuredly, 
I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell 
you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, 
when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there 
was a great famine throughout all the land. But to none of 
them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath in the region of Sidon, 
to a woman who was a widow. What is Jesus saying to Israel 
at His time? The fact that you are not coming 
to me, the Lord Jesus Christ, the fact that you are not stepping 
out of darkness into marvelous light to embrace the Messiah 
promised in Isaiah 61 is akin to that time in 1 Kings 17. There were a whole host of widows 
in Israel at the time of Elijah. But what does God do? God sends 
Elijah out of Israel up to Zarephath. What is that indicative of? It 
is indicative of the fact that God is judging Israel. God's justice is upon Israel. The Word of the Lord departs 
from the confines of Israel, goes up to Phoenicia, and there 
the widow of Zarephath comes to know her God. They understood, 
these people understood what Jesus was saying. Because as 
we read on, note verse 27, many lepers were in Israel at the 
time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed except 
Naaman the Syrian. See, same sort of thing. There 
were plenty there to be healed in Israel, but notice that God 
didn't do that through Elisha. He healed the one. So all those 
in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with 
wrath. You hear what the preaching of sovereign grace does to people? 
Go back to verse 22, let's just see it. So all bore witness to 
him and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of 
his mouth. And they said, is this not Joseph's son? that they 
marvel. But what does Jesus do? He lowers 
the boom. He brings the word of judgment. He speaks of reprobation. He speaks of God's sovereignty 
in justice and God's sovereignty in judgment. And this provokes 
a different response. They're no longer marveling at 
the gracious words which proceed out of his mouth. Verse 28, when 
they heard these things, were filled with wrath, and rose up 
and thrust him out of the city. And they led him to the brow 
of the hill on which their city was built, that they might throw 
him down over the cliff. You see, that's what you get 
when you're the Lord Jesus Christ and you apply Isaiah the prophet 
in the midst of the heroes in Nazareth. It is akin to what 
Elijah the Tishbite of the inhabitants of Gilead faced at the time of 
Ahab. We see the resurrection from 
the dead, not just the particular boy, but the resurrection from 
the dead. This boy, along with Jairus' 
daughter, the widow at Nain's son, and Lazarus, they all typify 
the power and the glory of God to be able to raise the dead. The effective, fervent prayer 
of a righteous man avails much. Never miss that typological connection 
between Elijah in 1 Kings 17.1 and what James tells us in James 
5.16-18. But primarily, what we see, I 
think, in terms of the typical significance is the utter veracity 
of God's Word. And rest assured that if the 
God who promised this widow at Zarephath that her jar would 
never run dry, that her cupboards would never run bare, and has 
offered to give her life, that God who brought that to pass 
is the same God of our Lord Jesus Christ who said, come to me, 
all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The 
widow believed and she was saved. May you indeed believe and be 
saved. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank you for your word and we thank you for this account 
in 1 Kings 17, the life and the ministry of Elijah the prophet, 
certainly a wonderful type himself, of our Lord Jesus and of John 
the Baptist. and a man that was used mightily 
by God. We ask that you would help us 
to appreciate the things we've learned tonight, help us to see 
your provision to us in ways unexpected, and may we indeed 
be submissive to the divine will, and may we be submissive to the 
divine word. Go with us now and watch over 
us in this coming week, and we pray through Jesus Christ our 
Lord, amen. We'll close with a brief.