November 11, 2024 • 15 mins
In this story, Elijah the prophet tells King Ahab that a divinely-sanctioned drought is on the way. Of course, this means the prophet needs to get out of town immediately. The Lord tells him to go to a brook, where he can procure water. Ravens would supply him with food! Eventually, the brook dries up. So, God instructs the prophet to head for Zarephath, a town in Sidon, which is not Israelite territory. God tells the prophet that a widow will take care of him. When Elijah finds the woman, she is in the process of preparing a final meal for her and her son. Elijah nevertheless asks not only for water, but a little food. The woman protests, but still provides Elijah with food. As a consequence, her flour and cooking oil do not run out for the duration of the drought. Before long, though, disaster happens. The woman’s son falls ill and dies. This makes the woman lash out at Elijah, who, she believes, has played a cruel trick on her. However, Elijah is able to revive the child, causing the woman to recognize Elijah as a true prophet of the Lord. The point of the story is that a woman from Sidon was more responsive to Elijah and his God than an Israelite king.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
The Bible is full of stories that we all know
and love, But how well do we know? That the
answer might surprise you. The Bible you thought you knew
is going to dive deep into the exquisite details of
the Biblical stories that make them fascinating and transforming. In
(00:24):
this week's podcast, we will treat the narrative in which
Elijah the Prophet is first introduced. That happens in First
Kings chapter seventeen. The introduction begins with Elijah speaking to Ahab,
the king of Israel. That's in verse one. Of course,
at that time there were two kingdoms in Israel, Judah
(00:47):
in the south and Israel in the north. Ahab was
king of this northern section. At the time, Elijah found
King Ahab in Gilead. When he spoke to the king,
it was not to deliver good news. In fact, the
news was not only bad, but dire. Elijah informed Ahab
(01:10):
that a drought was on the horizon. Indeed, the prophet
said that no reign, not even dow, would provide moisture
until he decided to reverse the situation. Why this serious judgment, Well,
Ahab had himself just been introduced in First Kings sixteen
(01:32):
verses twenty nine through thirty four. According to this passage,
Ahab was the worst king to date, even worse than Jeroboam.
Jeroboam was famous for leading the revolt against Riaboam, Solomon's son,
something that God sanctioned, and then erecting two golden calves
(01:53):
for the people to worship when he became king of
the newly founded Northern kingdom, which was called Israel. That
story is found in One Kings twelve. Not only did
Ahab continue this idolatrous tradition, but he added insult to
injury by marrying Jezebel, the daughter of a Canaanite king.
(02:18):
Canaanites were stereotypical enemies of Israel, at least in religious terms,
since they worshiped Baal and other deities. By contrast, Israel
was committed to the only God they believed existed, the
God that went by the name y hwh the famous tetragrammaton.
(02:40):
Ahab did not protest his wife's commitment to other gods. Instead,
he himself fostered their worship. It was because of this
idolatry that Elijah announced judgment in the form of appending drought.
Once Elijah told Ahab that was on the way. He
(03:01):
immediately became persona not Gratta. He needed to leave town
at once. The Lord decided to help Elijah escape the deed.
He told him to go near a brook named Krith,
east of the Jordan River. Elijah could drink from the brook,
(03:22):
whereas the Lord would see to it that ravens provide
the prophet with food that's in verses three two four.
The prophet followed God's instruction to the tea. Sure enough,
just as God had said, the ravens supplied food morning
and evening, while Elijah had plenty of water to drink
(03:45):
from the brook that's in verses five and six of
Chapter seventeen.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Before long, however, the.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Brook dried up due to the effects of the very
drought that Elijah had announced. That circumstance meant that Elijah
had to go someplace else. The Lord spoke to the
prophet again, this time with instructions to go to Zaraphath,
a town belonging to Sidon. This was not part of
(04:17):
Israelite territory. Presumably, the Lord figured that the prophet would
be safe since Ahab had no jurisdiction over Sidon or
its towns, but the Lord had made other provisions for
Elijah's care. First, it was a brook and ravens that
(04:37):
would sustain the fugitive prophet. This time, it was a
widow whom God would command to feed Elijah. That might
seem a tad less miraculous than having ravens making sure
Elijah would not starve, But in the ancient and Biblical worlds,
a widow was not simply a woman whose husband had died.
(05:01):
She was typically in desperate economic circumstances. A widow would
have to expend enormous amounts of energy to take care
of herself, let alone another man who was from Israel.
What was God thinking? In any case, Elijah took off
(05:22):
for Xerophah to find this widow. Right away, the prophet
found the woman, and just as we expected, she was
in no condition to feed Elijah. In fact, she was
in the process of preparing her last meal for her
and for her son. However, Elijah paid no attention to
(05:44):
the woman's means. Rather, he found her at the town
at the town gate, gathering sticks. He asked her for
a drink that's in verse ten, as she was trying
to get water for Elijah. He also asked her to
bring him a little food. That's in verse eleven. Flabbergasted
(06:06):
at this request, the woman explained her situation. Interestingly, She
referred to Elijah's God by using the famous tetragrammaton y
hwh as a way of explaining her plight. She pointed
out that her cupboard was empty. In fact, she was
(06:27):
gathering sticks to prepare a final meal from the last
handful handful of meal and a little oil that she
still had. After this was gone, she would have no
food whatsoever. She was planning for her and her son
to eat this last supper and then simply die of starvation.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
That's in verse twelve.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It was a pitiful scene, to say the least. Elijah, however,
did not empathize all. Instead, he doubled down on his request.
He wanted the woman to make him a little breadcake
from which she had and bring the morsel to him. Afterwards,
she could prepare a little something for her and her child.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
That's in verse thirteen.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Then he assures the woman by telling her that henceforth
her supply of food would not be exhausted until the
drought comes to an end. Elijah's God would guarantee this outcome.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
This is verse fourteen.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Incredibly, the widow did exactly what Elijah had requested, Just
as Elijah had promised, She and her household ate for
quote unquote many days. As it turned out, no matter
how much she cooked, she still had enough meal to
feed her family as well, the cooking oil did not
(07:58):
run out during the duration of the drought. This unbelievable
situation prevailed as long as the drought lasted, all because
of Elijah's deity.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
That's in verses fifteen through sixteen.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
If the story ended at this point, it would be
a happy one. But the story went in another direction.
The woman's son became ill. Indeed, the illness was so
severe that no breath could be detected in the boy.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
That's in verse seventeen.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
In her desperation, she lashed out against Elijah. She thought
that the prophet had played a cruel trick on her,
having saved her and him from starvation. The child now
appeared to be dead. She noted that Elijah had appeared
to her primarily for her to confront her sins and
(08:57):
to boot caused the death of her son. That's in
verse eighteen. The woman was beside herself Elijah did not
respond to either accusation. Instead, he asked that she give
him her son. When she did this, Elijah took the
lad to an upper room and laid him down on
(09:18):
his own bed.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
That's in verse nineteen.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
In Elijah's prayer, he wanted to know whether God had
brought calamity on this woman by taking this boy's life away.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
That's in verse twenty.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Clearly, Elijah thought that if God had indeed done that
this would be an extremely unjust outcome. However, the prophet
did not wait for God's answer. Rather, he stretched himself
out three times on the child as a kind of
ritualistic gesture. When he did this, he prayed that God
(09:53):
restore the child's life.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
That's in verse twenty one.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
The Lord answered Elijah's prayer so that the child revived.
That's in verse twenty two. Afterwards, the prophet brought the
boy back to his mother. When he handed over the
son to his mother, Elijah said, see, your son lives.
That's in verse twenty three. The woman had the last
(10:21):
word in this episode. She said that because of what
had just transpired, she now knew that Elijah was a
man of God a synonym for prophet and that he
spoke truthfully in God's behalf. This was interesting for a
couple of reasons. Remember that this woman lived in Zahpath,
(10:42):
which was part of Sidon as.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
A Canaanite territory.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Almost certainly the gods this woman would have recognized and
worshiped were ba al Ale or other Canaanite deities. But
the woman revealed that she believed the Israelite God. Why
hwh again was the only player in this scene. This
is quite the twist. An Israelite king marries a Canaanite
(11:10):
princess and does what he can to foster worship of
Canaanite deities. At the same time, a poor Canaanite widow
recognizes the Israelite God and the prophet who speaks in
that deities behalf. A Canaanite woman is more Israelite in
(11:31):
this instance than Ahab, a king over Israel. This speaks
well of the woman and puts Ahab in the harshest
of lights. Still, that is the clear implication.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Of this little story.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
What about the miraculous elements of this incident? At a
psychological level, I find it curious that people would not
balk at the boys being brought back from the dead
as much as they would question Elijah's being supplied with
food by Ravens. In a similar circumstance, in the Temptation
(12:11):
narratives involving Jesus, he is also provided with food. However,
in Jesus's case, it was angels who were the caterers.
That's in chapter four, verse eleven of the Gospel of
Matthew that, of course, is equally miraculous, but somehow easier
to believe than ravens. Also curious as Elijah's wondering whether
(12:36):
God had struck the boy with a fatal illness, of course,
no answer is forthcoming from this text. At the same time,
there are many people, including Christians, who believe that somehow
God is behind everything that happens in this world. Personally,
I find that point of view absurd. It not only
(13:00):
makes God responsible for evil, but makes God monstrous, and
it defies our efforts to combat disease and promote health.
If God is causing cancer, who are we to try
to reverse its effects? Obviously, that is a rhetorical question.
(13:21):
God does not cause cancer or any other disease for
that matter. Plus, God has created us with minds who
have devised countless ways to deal with disease. I want
more medical research, not less. I want more ability to
combat human frailty, not less. At the end of the day,
(13:46):
a story such as we encounter in One King seventeen
is not a historical account. It is a story designed
to make a theological point in that context. The miraculous
element in any story has to be considered as a
function of the story itself.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
In this incident, the.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Story emphasizes the fact that Elijah had only judgment to
announce against Israel, God's elect people, while at the same
time he was recognized as a profit outside of Israel
and was able to conduct a healing ministry in that
foreign context. Let me to encourage you to go to
(14:27):
my website Faspina dot com. Let me know what your
email is. If you'd like me to answer a question
in a Q and A session, email me at f
Spina one zero six at gmail dot com. I want
(14:50):
to thank you so very much for listening to the
Bible you thought you knew.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I have a question for you.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Do you have a question or topic that you'd like
me to cover on the podcasts. If so, all you
need to do is head over to Apple podcasts and
do two simple things. One, leave a rating and review,
telling me what you think of the podcasts. Two, in
that review, ask anything you want related to the Bible.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
That's all you have to do.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Then listen in to hear your question answered on a
future episode. Join us next time on the Bible you
thought you knew when we discuss Jesus' personal Bible. God
bless
The Bible is full of stories that we all know
and love, But how well do we know? That the
answer might surprise you. The Bible you thought you knew
is going to dive deep into the exquisite details of
the Biblical stories that make them fascinating and transforming. In
(00:24):
this week's podcast, we will treat the narrative in which
Elijah the Prophet is first introduced. That happens in First
Kings chapter seventeen. The introduction begins with Elijah speaking to Ahab,
the king of Israel. That's in verse one. Of course,
at that time there were two kingdoms in Israel, Judah
(00:47):
in the south and Israel in the north. Ahab was
king of this northern section. At the time, Elijah found
King Ahab in Gilead. When he spoke to the king,
it was not to deliver good news. In fact, the
news was not only bad, but dire. Elijah informed Ahab
(01:10):
that a drought was on the horizon. Indeed, the prophet
said that no reign, not even dow, would provide moisture
until he decided to reverse the situation. Why this serious judgment, Well,
Ahab had himself just been introduced in First Kings sixteen
(01:32):
verses twenty nine through thirty four. According to this passage,
Ahab was the worst king to date, even worse than Jeroboam.
Jeroboam was famous for leading the revolt against Riaboam, Solomon's son,
something that God sanctioned, and then erecting two golden calves
(01:53):
for the people to worship when he became king of
the newly founded Northern kingdom, which was called Israel. That
story is found in One Kings twelve. Not only did
Ahab continue this idolatrous tradition, but he added insult to
injury by marrying Jezebel, the daughter of a Canaanite king.
(02:18):
Canaanites were stereotypical enemies of Israel, at least in religious terms,
since they worshiped Baal and other deities. By contrast, Israel
was committed to the only God they believed existed, the
God that went by the name y hwh the famous tetragrammaton.
(02:40):
Ahab did not protest his wife's commitment to other gods. Instead,
he himself fostered their worship. It was because of this
idolatry that Elijah announced judgment in the form of appending drought.
Once Elijah told Ahab that was on the way. He
(03:01):
immediately became persona not Gratta. He needed to leave town
at once. The Lord decided to help Elijah escape the deed.
He told him to go near a brook named Krith,
east of the Jordan River. Elijah could drink from the brook,
(03:22):
whereas the Lord would see to it that ravens provide
the prophet with food that's in verses three two four.
The prophet followed God's instruction to the tea. Sure enough,
just as God had said, the ravens supplied food morning
and evening, while Elijah had plenty of water to drink
(03:45):
from the brook that's in verses five and six of
Chapter seventeen.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
Before long, however, the.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
Brook dried up due to the effects of the very
drought that Elijah had announced. That circumstance meant that Elijah
had to go someplace else. The Lord spoke to the
prophet again, this time with instructions to go to Zaraphath,
a town belonging to Sidon. This was not part of
(04:17):
Israelite territory. Presumably, the Lord figured that the prophet would
be safe since Ahab had no jurisdiction over Sidon or
its towns, but the Lord had made other provisions for
Elijah's care. First, it was a brook and ravens that
(04:37):
would sustain the fugitive prophet. This time, it was a
widow whom God would command to feed Elijah. That might
seem a tad less miraculous than having ravens making sure
Elijah would not starve, But in the ancient and Biblical worlds,
a widow was not simply a woman whose husband had died.
(05:01):
She was typically in desperate economic circumstances. A widow would
have to expend enormous amounts of energy to take care
of herself, let alone another man who was from Israel.
What was God thinking? In any case, Elijah took off
(05:22):
for Xerophah to find this widow. Right away, the prophet
found the woman, and just as we expected, she was
in no condition to feed Elijah. In fact, she was
in the process of preparing her last meal for her
and for her son. However, Elijah paid no attention to
(05:44):
the woman's means. Rather, he found her at the town
at the town gate, gathering sticks. He asked her for
a drink that's in verse ten, as she was trying
to get water for Elijah. He also asked her to
bring him a little food. That's in verse eleven. Flabbergasted
(06:06):
at this request, the woman explained her situation. Interestingly, She
referred to Elijah's God by using the famous tetragrammaton y
hwh as a way of explaining her plight. She pointed
out that her cupboard was empty. In fact, she was
(06:27):
gathering sticks to prepare a final meal from the last
handful handful of meal and a little oil that she
still had. After this was gone, she would have no
food whatsoever. She was planning for her and her son
to eat this last supper and then simply die of starvation.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
That's in verse twelve.
Speaker 1 (06:52):
It was a pitiful scene, to say the least. Elijah, however,
did not empathize all. Instead, he doubled down on his request.
He wanted the woman to make him a little breadcake
from which she had and bring the morsel to him. Afterwards,
she could prepare a little something for her and her child.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
That's in verse thirteen.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
Then he assures the woman by telling her that henceforth
her supply of food would not be exhausted until the
drought comes to an end. Elijah's God would guarantee this outcome.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
This is verse fourteen.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Incredibly, the widow did exactly what Elijah had requested, Just
as Elijah had promised, She and her household ate for
quote unquote many days. As it turned out, no matter
how much she cooked, she still had enough meal to
feed her family as well, the cooking oil did not
(07:58):
run out during the duration of the drought. This unbelievable
situation prevailed as long as the drought lasted, all because
of Elijah's deity.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
That's in verses fifteen through sixteen.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
If the story ended at this point, it would be
a happy one. But the story went in another direction.
The woman's son became ill. Indeed, the illness was so
severe that no breath could be detected in the boy.
Speaker 2 (08:31):
That's in verse seventeen.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
In her desperation, she lashed out against Elijah. She thought
that the prophet had played a cruel trick on her,
having saved her and him from starvation. The child now
appeared to be dead. She noted that Elijah had appeared
to her primarily for her to confront her sins and
(08:57):
to boot caused the death of her son. That's in
verse eighteen. The woman was beside herself Elijah did not
respond to either accusation. Instead, he asked that she give
him her son. When she did this, Elijah took the
lad to an upper room and laid him down on
(09:18):
his own bed.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
That's in verse nineteen.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
In Elijah's prayer, he wanted to know whether God had
brought calamity on this woman by taking this boy's life away.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
That's in verse twenty.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Clearly, Elijah thought that if God had indeed done that
this would be an extremely unjust outcome. However, the prophet
did not wait for God's answer. Rather, he stretched himself
out three times on the child as a kind of
ritualistic gesture. When he did this, he prayed that God
(09:53):
restore the child's life.
Speaker 2 (09:55):
That's in verse twenty one.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
The Lord answered Elijah's prayer so that the child revived.
That's in verse twenty two. Afterwards, the prophet brought the
boy back to his mother. When he handed over the
son to his mother, Elijah said, see, your son lives.
That's in verse twenty three. The woman had the last
(10:21):
word in this episode. She said that because of what
had just transpired, she now knew that Elijah was a
man of God a synonym for prophet and that he
spoke truthfully in God's behalf. This was interesting for a
couple of reasons. Remember that this woman lived in Zahpath,
(10:42):
which was part of Sidon as.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
A Canaanite territory.
Speaker 1 (10:46):
Almost certainly the gods this woman would have recognized and
worshiped were ba al Ale or other Canaanite deities. But
the woman revealed that she believed the Israelite God. Why
hwh again was the only player in this scene. This
is quite the twist. An Israelite king marries a Canaanite
(11:10):
princess and does what he can to foster worship of
Canaanite deities. At the same time, a poor Canaanite widow
recognizes the Israelite God and the prophet who speaks in
that deities behalf. A Canaanite woman is more Israelite in
(11:31):
this instance than Ahab, a king over Israel. This speaks
well of the woman and puts Ahab in the harshest
of lights. Still, that is the clear implication.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Of this little story.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
What about the miraculous elements of this incident? At a
psychological level, I find it curious that people would not
balk at the boys being brought back from the dead
as much as they would question Elijah's being supplied with
food by Ravens. In a similar circumstance, in the Temptation
(12:11):
narratives involving Jesus, he is also provided with food. However,
in Jesus's case, it was angels who were the caterers.
That's in chapter four, verse eleven of the Gospel of
Matthew that, of course, is equally miraculous, but somehow easier
to believe than ravens. Also curious as Elijah's wondering whether
(12:36):
God had struck the boy with a fatal illness, of course,
no answer is forthcoming from this text. At the same time,
there are many people, including Christians, who believe that somehow
God is behind everything that happens in this world. Personally,
I find that point of view absurd. It not only
(13:00):
makes God responsible for evil, but makes God monstrous, and
it defies our efforts to combat disease and promote health.
If God is causing cancer, who are we to try
to reverse its effects? Obviously, that is a rhetorical question.
(13:21):
God does not cause cancer or any other disease for
that matter. Plus, God has created us with minds who
have devised countless ways to deal with disease. I want
more medical research, not less. I want more ability to
combat human frailty, not less. At the end of the day,
(13:46):
a story such as we encounter in One King seventeen
is not a historical account. It is a story designed
to make a theological point in that context. The miraculous
element in any story has to be considered as a
function of the story itself.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
In this incident, the.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Story emphasizes the fact that Elijah had only judgment to
announce against Israel, God's elect people, while at the same
time he was recognized as a profit outside of Israel
and was able to conduct a healing ministry in that
foreign context. Let me to encourage you to go to
(14:27):
my website Faspina dot com. Let me know what your
email is. If you'd like me to answer a question
in a Q and A session, email me at f
Spina one zero six at gmail dot com. I want
(14:50):
to thank you so very much for listening to the
Bible you thought you knew.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I have a question for you.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Do you have a question or topic that you'd like
me to cover on the podcasts. If so, all you
need to do is head over to Apple podcasts and
do two simple things. One, leave a rating and review,
telling me what you think of the podcasts. Two, in
that review, ask anything you want related to the Bible.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
That's all you have to do.
Speaker 1 (15:22):
Then listen in to hear your question answered on a
future episode. Join us next time on the Bible you
thought you knew when we discuss Jesus' personal Bible. God
bless
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