A great famine swept over all the land. This famine was prophesied by Elijah. This drought was the result of the judgment of the nation’s rampant idolatry, led by the royal couple Ahab and Jezebel.
1 Kings 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, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word.”
God commanded the ravens to feed Elijah by the Brook Cherith during this time of famine. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and evening; and he drank from the brook. However, over the period of time, the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. Sure enough, after all, a drought was in progress. But God was still providing for Elijah for now God sends Elijah to the care of a widow.
1 Kings 17:8 - Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you.
Zarephath was a town located in Sidon, outside of Israel. Sidon, the mother city of Tyre was a place known for its trade and many dwelt despite its battles. Throughout its history, it had been an occupied city, first the Assyrians – then the Babylonians, Greeks, Romans, and so on. During the time of Elijah, Ahab was ruling Israel. Ahab married Jezebel through an alliance, she, being a princess from Sidon – daughter of the King of Tyre.
With this background, you would agree with me that Zarephath was an ironic place to be sent because it was not the city within Israel but was a town in Sidon, outside of Israel, that too near the home city of Jezebel and was considered the heart of the territory of Baal, the god of the Canaanites (It was often believed by the pagan worshippers that the gods were territorial). If this was true, then Elijah was taking a huge risk by moving near the home city of Jezebel. No wonder, Elijah would have had several other questions running in his mind. How can a widow provide for him, let alone a Gentile woman as this was outside the territory of God’s people. As a widow, life was difficult at best in that society where women largely depended on men for their shelter, food and protection. But Elijah went, in obedience to God.
This one was an unnamed widow in that place. She, herself, was worst affected by famine and in great need. She was already grieving the loss of her husband, but she was now responsible for her own care, and for providing for a child. There was no denying of the dire state that she was in. She was in her depth of poverty. She just had a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar that was just enough for a meal for herself and her son, after which she knew that they had nothing left to survive. This was a hopeless woman who saw no way out of her situation. This was a woman who was ready to embrace death for herself and for her son because there was no other alternative.
Most of us experience circumstances that appear to be hopeless. It could be a sickness that keeps worsening, a broken marriage, financial crisis, death of our loved ones and so on. Let us not forget that we have a hope in Christ!
Little did this widow know that the Lord had great plans for her. However, all her blessings began with an outrageous request – a request which I think most of us would have refused.
She was gathering sticks at the city gates to make fire for her last meal when Elijah met her and asked for water (1 Kings 17:10). She was indeed a hospitable woman. She stepped out of her own suffering to provide Elijah with a drink. Now, Elijah took this request further. He asked her for a morsel of bread. Giving the stranger a drink was fine but giving him bread was a problem. She probably recognized Elijah as a prophet or at least a God-fearing Israelite for she started her response in verse 12 with “As the Lord your God lives…” She responded explaining her situation.
I Kings 17:12 - “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 die.”
This is when there is a turnaround in the story. Elijah made another request – probably an outrageous and an absurd one! He asked her to first make a small cake from the little flour for him first with a promise that doing so would bless her supplies so much so that she would not have any lack throughout the famine.
Elijah replied, “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.’” (1 Kings 17: 13,14). Indirectly, he was saying, “Give away our last meal.”
Here we notice the faith of Elijah.
-He had faith to take God at His word. Elijah was rest assured the promise of God to supply his needs through the hands of the widow.
-He had faith to make an absurd request of bread to a woman at the end of rope which he boldly prefaced with the words “fear not.”
-He further had faith to declare the faithfulness of God to her. He confidently told that God would honor her obedient sacrifice by providing for her, her son, and Elijah in a miraculous way. (1 Kings 17:14)
Now the woman was left with two choices: She could either do what makes sense and keep the oil for herself and her son or entrust the last thing that she had to the obedience to the word of God through the prophet. And, this obedience required much faith. A faith in something seemingly impossible in the natural sense.
Although this poor widow of Zarephath lived among the Baal worshippers and would probably have had limited knowledge of Jehovah, she exercised faith in Him and trusted the words of His prophet. (Acts 10:35 - But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him). What a momentous test of faith that was and what a sensible decision she made!
God was true to His word. Just as Elijah promised, the Lord multiplied her meager supplies so that they sustained Elijah, the widow, and her son until it rained. Indeed, the large jar of flour did not run out, and the small jar of oil did not run dry till the famine ended (1 Kings 18:1).
It was an amazing miracle! Notice that she did not receive a dozen bags of flour and litres of olive oil. She just had a promise to hold on. It meant that from that day on, until the end of the drought, every meal she made was her last. Every day, looking into the almost empty bowl and the nearly empty jar, made her trust God for His faithfulness one more day. And every day she took the little that was left, made some food for Elijah, and then prepared a meal for her son and herself with what was left. They never missed a single meal. While others around them starved to death due to famine, they had food enough to eat until the rains came. God took care of them during that hopeless situation.
Many a times, this is how God intervenes in our lives. It often requires that we need to exercise faith to take each step ahead.
Had the woman acted differently, the morsel of bread that she would have made from that little flour and oil may well have been her last meal. Instead, she acted in faith, trusted in Lord God, and fed Elijah first.
Remember your flour and oil will accomplish very little, but God can do wonders when you leave them in His care. This widow planned to use them to cook a last meal for her family and die. But when she used them to feed God’s prophet and exercised her faith in the Lord, He didn’t just supply one meal, He supplied thousands of meals. Imagine 3 people eating 3 meals per day for three years. That would be over 9000 meals in three years time! What a multiplication miracle! A little flour and doil aren’t much, but in the hand of God, they are plenty! Just a sling and a few stones in the hands of David, when committed to God killed the giant Goliath. All that Moses had was a rod, but when given in the hands of God, it parted a sea. When the little boy gave his 5 loaves and 2 fish to Jesus, multitudes were fed. All the Lord is looking for from you today is the faith to place your two sticks, little flour and oil in His hands. When we do that, everything would change.
So great was this widow’s faith that even our Lord Jesus acknowledged this woman. Jesus saw in that Gentile woman, faith that He did not see in the king and people of Israel.
Luke 4: 25-26 - 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.
God blesses those who exercise faith. At various steps in the journey of life, the Lord brings situations where he tests our faith. If we exercise our faith, the blessing follows; if we do not, we will lose it.”
