Elijah and the Widow of
Zarephath
1 Kings 17
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After Solomon reigned, there was a wicked king called Ahab, and in those days God raised up a prophet whose name was Elijah. And God sent Elijah to tell Ahab that there would be no rain in the land for three years, and after that, God sent Elijah away to hide by a brook called Cherith. And while he was there, God commanded the ravens to feed Elijah, and every day in the morning, and in the evening, the ravens brought him bread and meat. And Elijah had water to drink from the brook. Isn't that wonderful? God is in control even of the animals.
And after awhile, the brook dried up because there was no rain, and so the LORD spoke to Elijah again and said "Get up, and go to Zarephath and live there. I have commanded a widow woman there to give you all that you need."
So Elijah was obedient to the LORD. He got up and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, there was a widow woman there gathering sticks, and Elijah called her and said "Please fetch me a little water in a glass, so that I may drink." And as she was going to fetch it, he called her and said "Please bring me a little piece of bread." And she said "As the LORD your God lives, I only have a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a jar, and look, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and cook it for my son and I, so we may eat and then die."
And Elijah said to her "Do not be afraid, go and do what you have said, but first make me a little cake, and bring it to me, and after that make it for you and your son, for the LORD God of Israel told me the barrel of meal shall not go empty, neither shall the jar of oil until the day the LORD sends rain upon the earth. So the widow woman went and did what Elijah told her, and she and her son, and Elijah ate many days. And the barrel of meal did not empty, neither did the jar of oil, just as the LORD had said.
But it came to pass that the son of the woman became ill, and he died. And his mother said to Elijah, "What do I have to do with you, O you man of God? Did you come to bring my sins to memory and to kill my son?" And Elijah said to her "Give me your son." And he took the boy away from his mother and carried him to the place where he slept, and laid the boy upon his own bed.
And he cried to the LORD and said "O LORD my God, have you also brought evil upon the widow with whom I stay by killing her son?" And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD, and said "O LORD my God, I pray you, let this child's soul come into him again. And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child and brought him down out of his room into the house and delivered him to his mother, and Elijah said "See! Your son lives!"
And the woman said to Elijah "Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."
Memory Verse: 1 Kings 17:24 "And the woman said to Elijah, now by this I know thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth."
Questions:
1. What did the ravens bring to Elijah?
2. Why did the ravens feed Elijah?
3. What happened to the barrel of meal and the jar of oil?
4. Why do you think God let the widow's son die?
5. What did the widow believe about God after her son came back to life?
Answers:
1. bread and meat, morning and evening.
2. Because God commanded them to, because He is in control of the animals.
3. They continued to provide food even though they were almost empty
4. So that she would know that Elijah was a man of God.
5. She believed that the word of the LORD was truth.
Vicki C. Gross/Jan'03