Elijah And The First Child To Be Raised From The Dead Series

Introduction: Elijah had come to Zarephath, a city in Sidon—Jezebel’s home country!—at the LORD’s command after living near the brook Cherith in Israel. In Zarephath, he stayed in a boarding house, we might say, operated by the widow whom the LORD had shown him. It seemed things were going well, but something awful happened. Now what could Elijah do?

1 The problem: the child had died

Text: 1 Kings 17:17-18, KJV: 17 And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. 18 And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?

We’re not told how long Elijah stayed in Zarephath but he seemed to be there for a while. The phrase “after these things” in verse 17 might indicate a relatively long period of time. During this time, the “barrel of meal” and the “cruse of oil” never ran out until rain came, and that was some time later. By way of reference, the “barrel” wasn’t nearly so large as the wooden barrels holding rainwater (my grandparents had one of these) but a vessel for holding water, like a pitcher or jar (see https://biblehub.com/hebrew/3537.htm). The word “cruse” of oil comes from a Hebrew word that’s also translated “jug” or “jar” (https://biblehub.com/hebrew/6835.htm) so it probably wasn’t very large, either. At any rate, the LORD supplied!

But something bad was about to happen. We’re not told exactly when, or how, but the widow’s son “fell sick . . . and there was no breath left in him.” Most of us who are parents know that it’s sometimes easier for a child to fall sick than an adult who’s had antibodies, medicines, and the like to help one fight against these problems. Little of that seemed to be available in Zarephath, however, and this woman’s son, as some would say, took sick and died.

And to show how grief overcomes or wins over most everything else, the mother promptly blamed Elijah! Imagine the grief, the anger, the emotion, and even more behind her question, “What business do I have with you, preacher (paraphrased)?” Think about it: her husband had died and she had been widowed, she was a single mother, famine was affecting her homeland, and there’s no evidence she had ever become a believer in the God of Elijah. The grief and other emotions came to a head when her son died and, as some do, she lashed out at the first or most logical target—Elijah.

Then look at her second statement, “Did you do this to remind me of my sin (paraphrased)?” To me, this seems very unfair: true, Elijah did promise she would never run out of meal or oil until the rains came, but God was going to do this, not Elijah himself. Besides, we’re never told just what “sin” was still on her conscience. Pure speculation, but this could mean she was an Israelite who had converted to Baal worship (most of the North had done this already, it seems) and, like the mother of Huram, had married a man of Tyre or Sidon (compare 1 Kings 7:14). Since she was able to recognize Elijah as an Israelite, or at least a worshiper of YHWH, the God of Israel, this at the least allows it to be possible.

Another and more likely interpretation is that she was a native of Sidon, raised and brought up to worship the same “gods” as Jezebel and just about everyone else in Sidon. Elijah’s clothes, speech, and his appeal to “the LORD God of Israel (verse 14)” may have spoken to her directly. An additional thought is that the LORD had already commanded her to provide for Elijah while he sojourned in Zarephath (verse 8). The one thing to remember is that she was, somehow, willing to meet Elijah’s needs and then have the God of Elijah meet her needs!

Right now, though, she felt any number of emotions. Her son was dead; she blamed Elijah, and even hinted that he was responsible! Maybe, “hint”, is too kind a word—she flat-out blamed him for causing her son’s death!

We sometimes forget the fear and even terror pagans felt towards their “gods”. Compare this with the absolute grace—what other word is there?—even under the Law of Moses for Israel. One of the most awful sins in the Old Testament was David’s affair with Bathsheba. The punishment was death for both parties (Leviticus 20:10) but God spared the lives of both David and Bathsheba herself. Besides this, time and again Israel rebelled against God but God in His grace kept Israel alive and well. He always will.