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(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
1 Kings 17:8–16, “And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand. And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth. And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.”
Elijah had a very important role to play in the Lord’s plan to restore Israel to the contract. Israel had moved a further step away from the Lord and they were no longer even pretending to belong to the Lord God of their fathers. The Lord had led Elijah to pray that it wouldn’t rain and then the Lord had prevented the rain. For a time of spiritual change, going from bad to worse, the Lord prepared a man of great spiritual strength. However, the Lord was seeking to bring Israel to their knees through the drought and then Elijah would be able to confront them with the truth. Of course, Elijah could preach the truth but Israel, and their king Ahab, would still have to choose to submit to the Lord again. The Lord gave us the ability to choose and He will never lose his integrity and take that gift away. After a while, there was no longer any food available for the raven to take and the stream dried up so the Lord had an alternate plan for Elijah. The Lord sent Elijah to a town called Zarephath, which was situated on the Mediterranean coast north of Israel’s borders. This way Elijah was safe until the Lord was ready for him to begin his ministry in earnest. Elijah met a widow who was preparing to die. She was making one last meal for herself and her son. Elijah asked the woman for for bread and water. She had only enough flour and oil to make one small loaf of bread but she used this to make Elijah some bread instead. Elijah lived with her for the rest of the drought and the Lord, miraculously kept the flour and the oil from running out.
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