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

I’m of the opinion, and it’s just an opinion, that he felt a lot of compassion for this lad. After all, his mother had given Elijah the last of their own food, but they were rewarded; and now, this boy had fallen sick and died. Again, we’re not told what that sickness was that caused this boy’s death but whatever that disease was, the boy was dead from it.

Even though we think of Elijah as a rough, tough customer—and likely, he was—I wonder if even he had a compassionate side. Maybe he and the boy had shared stories about going fishing or hunting. Maybe the boy had listened with open eyes as Elijah told about ravens bringing him food twice a day. At any rate, Elijah, I think, looked on this now-dead boy and began to weep for him. Of course, there’s no proof, but if anyone can look at the body of a dead child and not feel some kind of emotion, to me that means there’s something wrong!

Let’s remember there are two prayers of Elijah in this passage. At first Elijah “cried unto the LORD”, most likely meaning he prayed out loud and not just silently. Elijah seems overwhelmed by all that’s going on now, and he prays with, I think, all the anguish and hurt he can muster, “LORD (and this sounds almost like an accusation), did You bring this on the widow whom I’m staying with, by taking the life of her son (paraphrased)”? James would later say in his Epistle that Elias (Elijah) “17. . . was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. (James 5:17-18) and that sure seemed to be the case here. Whether in anguish of soul or from anger at the situation, Elijah showed his true humanity here by pouring out his heart to God.

Now the LORD would answer that prayer, but maybe not as Elijah had intended. First, and we don’t know why—the reason isn’t given in the text—Elijah “stretched himself upon the child three times. I’ve heard, and maybe some others as well, that this was the Bible’s first record of attempted CPR (artificial respiration)! That may or not be the case, but here, it didn’t work.

The boy did not come back to life, even after Elijah had laid his own body on the child’s f or three different times.

And no success.

This, then, leads us to Elijah’s second prayer. Note that there is nothing except a 15-word prayer (in the KJV) for the LORD to let “this child’s soul come into him again”. No pacing, no stretching, nothing but a brief prayer for the LORD to do what seemed impossible. Had there ever been a time when anyone, before this, had been raised from the dead?

It was just after this, apparently, that the LORD heard (of course He had heard!) Elijah’s second prayer and answered in a way that must have surprised Elijah completely.

The child came back to life! The text says, “. . . the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived”. Nothing had worked: prayers to Baal didn’t bring the child back from the dead; Elijah’s placing himself on the child’s body didn’t work; only the LORD God of Israel allowed this to happen. If nothing else, this proved beyond any doubt He was greater than any other “god” in existence!