Elijah and the widow of Zarephath 1
When the people in the Northern Kingdom of Israel started worshipping false gods, God sent Elijah to King Ahab with a message. ‘There will be no rain or dew until I say so.’ For the next three years there was no rain, harvests failed, cattle died and food was scarce.
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath 2
King Ahab searched everywhere to find Elijah but could not find him. Elijah was hiding in the ravine at Kerith where he drank water from a brook and was brought food by ravens.
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath 3
When the brook dried up God told Elijah to travel north to Zarephath where he would be fed by a widow.
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath 5
He called to her and asked, ‘Would you bring me some water in a jar to drink?’ As she was going to get it, he called, ‘And please bring me a piece of bread.
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath 6
‘As surely as the Lord your God lives,’ she replied, “I don’t have any bread. I only have a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a last meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath 7
‘Don’t be afraid,’ Elijah replied. ‘Go home and make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me. Then bake something for yourself and your son. God says, ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land again.’ The woman obeyed.
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath 8
She used all the remaining flour and oil to make a meal for them all.
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath 9
Later, when she went back to the jar, the flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry. Just as God had promised, no matter how much flour and oil they used, it was always replaced.
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath 10
However some time later, tragedy struck. The son of the widow became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. ‘What do you have against me,’ she shouted at Elijah. ‘Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?’
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath 11
Give me your son,’ Elijah replied. He carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. Then he cried out in prayer, ‘O Lord my God, why have you killed the son of this widow with whom I am staying?’
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath 12
Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried out, ‘O Lord my God, please let this child’s spirit return to him.’
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath 13
The Lord answered Elijah’s prayer. The spirit of the child returned, and he started breathing again! Elijah took him downstairs and gave him to his mother. ‘See! He’s alive!’ he beamed.‘I know now that you are a prophet of God,’ she told him. ‘Whatever you say is from the Lord!
Elijah and the widow of Zarephath
God provides a widow with oil and flour to feed Elijah then, when her son dies, raises him back to life.
1 Kings 17:7-18:1
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