Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath (I Kings 17:1-16)

In the Old Testament, God used prophets who declared His word to the children of Israel, warned leadership of their sins and actions against God, and performed miracles to show God’s power. The people were blessed with prosperity and peace when they followed God and obeyed His commandments. There were kings that ruled righteously and followed God and there were kings who were disobedient and followed after pagan gods and celebrated idolatry. In the book of I Kings, we read about King Ahab who was the worst of all the kings that had ruled before him. He erected wooden idols and worshiped the false god Baal. He also married a very wicked woman by the name of Jezebel.

God’s prophet at that time was Elijah from the area of Tishbi. Elijah proclaimed to King Ahab that there would be no rain or dew for years until he would speak the word for rain. God instructed Elijah to go into hiding by a brook that had flowing water. God provided bread and meat in the morning and evening by sending ravens to bring him food. After the water dried up due to the drought, God told Elijah to go to a coastal town called Zarephath which was outside of the land of Israel. God told Elijah that a widow would provide for him.

Elijah arrives at the city gates and sees a widow gathering sticks. Although she is a Gentile and not a Jew, Elijah obeys God and asks her for a cup of water and then asks for a piece of bread. The woman replies, “As surely as the LORD your God lives, I don’t have any bread—only 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 meal for myself and my son, so that we may eat it—and die.”  Elijah responds, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first, make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, 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.’ 

The widow had faith in the man of God and did as he requested. The flour and oil never ran out and all three of them were sustained during the rest of the drought which lasted a total of three and a half years

In the New Testament, Jesus refers to this story in the book of Luke and says, “ I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.”

This story is a great illustration of God’s grace and mercy even during a time of drought and famine. Although God had a covenant or agreement with the children of Israel to be their God and they, His people, their disobedience opened the door for a poor Gentile widow woman to receive His grace and mercy. When Jesus came to earth to His chosen people, the Jews, and they as a nation rejected Him, it opened the door for the gospel to go to the Gentiles. When you are going through a period of drought and famine, call upon the God who loves you and expect Him to come to your aid. The widow of Zarephath was not qualified for any benefits under the covenant, but God’s love and grace qualified her because of her faith. We, whether Jews or Gentiles, are not qualified or worthy,  but through faith in Jesus and His sacrifice we are when we believe in Him and His love for us. (John 3:16; Luke 4:25-26)

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