Little Know Bible Characters: The Son Of The Widow Of Zarepheth

Hello, my name really isn’t all that important. I’m one of the little known characters in the Bible. I appear and disappear in a matter of a few verses. I had an incredible encounter with one of the giant men of Bible history. His name was Elijah. He was a prophet from Israel. I’m sure you’ve heard of him before.

My father died when I was very young. He worked on the ships that made my people famous. He voyaged out into the Great Sea, which you now call the Mediterranean Sea. The ship sunk, and he and the crew were all lost. Our land was very wealthy because we were engaged in trading with various nations around the Great Sea. Mom tells me that our life was good before dad died. I really don’t remember much about him. After dad died, we moved to a small village called Zarepheth.

We were poor. Without dad bringing in a good salary, we lived day-to-day. Often we depended on people or family to help us have enough money to buy food. I wasn’t old enough to work yet. Mom tried to hide the fact that we were so poor, but I knew it. I tried not to let on so she wouldn’t worry more. My mom was the best. We didn’t have much, but she took real good care of me. Our house was very small. We were fortunate enough to have room upstairs.

We were what you would call pagans. We didn’t believe in the Yahweh of the people of Israel. We had our own gods. Our town had its own god, and we were quite content with him. Some of the people in our land worshipped a god called Molech. Some people would sacrifice their children to him. I was secretly glad we didn’t live in that city. Our god wasn’t so fierce. We kept a small statue in our little house. We worshipped this god regularly.

One of the kings of our land had been a friend with the king of Israel at one time. I think his name was Solomon. He was supposed to have been a great king. His God, Yahweh, had given him great wisdom and wealth.

After Solomon died, the country of Israel sort of fell apart. They divided the country into two parts. There were several kings after Solomon. There was this one man named Ahab. I guess he was a real stinker. The God of Israel didn’t like what old Ahab was doing. It got so bad that their God made it stop raining. It hadn’t rained in months. You see, the terrible drought affected us, because we lived close by. Their God was a very powerful God. The old-timers in our town said it was the worst drought they could remember.

All this made the events of that time in our house all the more strange and amazing. Our food supply was drying up and fast. Water was getting scarce. Grain was scarce. We had to cut back our meager meals. We hadn’t had an abundance of food before the drought, but now it was even worse. It made me sad. I wasn’t able to run around with the other boys from the town. We used to run through the streets and play tag. We would do was boys do. Just play all day. Now, I wasn’t able to do that. Mom said I needed to stay at home. The harder I played the hungrier I got. The hungrier I got the more I wanted to eat. Mom thought if I wasn’t so active, I wouldn’t eat as much.

Then one day, mom looked especially down. She left the house really depressed. I hadn’t seen her like that before. She always tried to be strong for me. My natural boyish curiosity got the better of me. I peaked through the cabinets, but there was less food than normal. I was kind of worried. What were going to eat? We only had a small amount of grain and oil. It was maybe enough for a couple small biscuits. My stomach was rumbling with hunger pains. A boy like me needed food.

Mom was gone a long time. It seemed much longer than usual. When she finally did return, she got right to work in the kitchen. I watched her silently prepare and bake a little cake. I was excited because I hadn’t eaten all day. Much to my surprise, and disappointment, I watch as she picked up the cake, wrapped it in some cloth and left again. “Mom,” I exclaimed, “Where are you going?”

She said, “I’ll be right back, son.”

I was in utter disbelief. There was even less grain flour and oil now. My stomach roared its disapproval of the events.