After these things, the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became sick; and his sickness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. She said to Elijah, “What have I to do with you, you man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to memory, and to kill my son!”
He said to her, “Give me your son.” He took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the room where he stayed, and laid him on his own bed. He cried to Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh my God, have you also brought evil on the widow with whom I am staying, by killing her son?”
He stretched himself on the child three times, and cried to Yahweh, and said, “Yahweh my God, please let this child’s soul come into him again.”
Yahweh listened to the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the room into the house, and delivered him to his mother; and Elijah said, “Behold, your son lives.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv17, 20 Or, that he died.
Or, that he died.
God would try whether she had learned by his merciful providence to make him her only stay and comfort.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv17–23 1Ki 17:17 And it came to pass after these…
1Ki 17:17 And it came to pass after these things, [that] the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
Ver. 17. After these things.] When the woman had by experience tasted how good the Lord was: and she was thereby the better fitted to suffer.
Read full note →
That the son of the woman.] Whom the Hebrews hold to be Jonah the prophet; επεχω.
Fell sick.] Miscentur tristia laetis. This dashed all her comfort.
That there was no breath left in him.] He was downright dead. And therefore they do much elevate {a} this miracle who deny that this youth was really dead, but that he was in a swoon only, abusing hereunto that text in Daniel, Et anima non relicts fuit in me. This was the opinion of Rabbi Moses Cordubensis.
{a} [Make light of; from levis.]
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv17–21 Or, no soul, or life, as this Hebrew word…
Or, no soul, or life, as this Hebrew word oft signifies, i.e. he died, as is manifest from the following verses. See also Heb 11:35.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v17 We have here a further recompence made to the…
We have here a further recompence made to the widow for her kindness to the prophet; as if it were a small thing to be kept alive, her son, when dead, is restored to life, and so restored to her. Observe,
I. The sickness and death of the child. For aught that appears he was her only son, the comfort of her widowed estate. He was fed miraculously, and yet that did not secure him from sickness and death. Your fathers did eat manna, and are dead, but there is bread of which a man may eat and not die, which was given for the life of the world, Joh 6:49, Joh 6:50. The affliction was to this widow as a thorn in the flesh, lest she should be lifted up above measure with the favours that were done her and the honours that were put upon her. 1. She was nurse to a great prophet, was employed to sustain him, and had strong reason to think the Lord would do her good; yet now she loses her child. Note, We must not think it strange if we meet with very sharp afflictions, even when we are in the way of duty, and of eminent service to God. 2. She was herself nursed by miracle, and kept a good house without charge or care, by a distinguishing blessing from heaven; and in the midst of all this satisfaction she was thus afflicted. Note, When we have the clearest manifestations of God's favour and good-will towards us, even then we must prepare for the rebukes of Providence. Our mountain never stands so strong but it may be moved, and therefore, in this world, we must always rejoice with trembling.
Read full note →
II. Her pathetic complaint to the prophet of this affliction. It should seem, the child died suddenly, else she would have applied to Elijah, while he was sick, for the cure of him; but being dead, dead in her bosom, she expostulates with the prophet upon it, rather to give vent to her sorrow than in any hope of relief, Kg1 17:18. 1. She expresses herself passionately: What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? How calmly had she spoken of her own and her child's death when she expected to die for want (Kg1 17:12) - that we may eat, and die! Yet now that her child dies, and not so miserably as by famine, she is extremely disturbed at it. We may speak lightly of an affliction at a distance, but when it toucheth us we are troubled, Job 4:5. Then she spoke deliberately, now in haste; the death of her child was now a surprise to her, and it is hard to keep our spirits composed when troubles come upon us suddenly and unexpectedly, and in the midst of our peace and prosperity. She calls him a man of God, and yet quarrels with him as if he had occasioned the death of her child, and is ready to which she had never seen him, forgetting past mercies and miracles: "What have I done against thee?" (so some understand it), "Wherein have I offended thee, or been wanting in my duty? Show me wherefore thou contendest with me." 2. Yet she expresses herself penitently: "Hast thou come to call my sin to thy remembrance, as the cause of the affliction, and so to call it to my remembrance, as the effect of the affliction?" Perhaps she knew of Elijah's intercession against Israel, and, being conscious to herself of sin, perhaps her former worshipping of Baal the god of the Sidonians, she apprehends he had made intercession against her. Note, (1.) When God removes our comforts from use he remembers our sins against us, perhaps the iniquities of our youth, though long since past, Job 13:26. Our sins are the death of our children. (2.) When God thus remembers our sins against us he designs thereby to make us remember them against ourselves and repent of them.
III. The prophet's address to God upon this occasion. He gave no answer to her expostulation, but brought it to God, and laid the case before him, not knowing what to say to it himself. He took the dead child from the mother's bosom to his own bed, Kg1 17:19. Probably he had taken a particular kindness to the child, and found the affliction his own more than by sympathy. He retired to his chamber, and, 1. He humbly reasons with God concerning the death of the child, Kg1 17:20. He sees death striking by commission from God: Thou hast brought this evil for is there any evil of this kind in the city, in the family, and the Lord has not done it? He pleads the greatness of the affliction to the poor mother: "It is evil upon the widow; thou art the widow's God, and dost not usually bring evil upon widows; it is affliction added to the afflicted." He pleads his own concern: "It is the widow with whom I sojourn; wilt thou, that art my God, bring evil upon one of the best of my benefactors? I shall be reflected upon, and others will be afraid of entertaining me, if I bring death into the house where I come." 2. He earnestly begs of God to restore the child to life again, Kg1 17:21. We do not read before this of any that were raised to life; yet Elijah, by a divine impulse, prays for the resurrection of this child, which yet will not warrant us to do the like. David expected not, by fasting and prayer, to bring his child back to life (Sa2 12:23), but Elijah had a power to work miracles, which David had not. He stretched himself upon the child, to affect himself with the case and to show how much he was affected with it and how desirous he was of the restoration of the child - he would if he could put life into him by his own breath and warmth; also to give a sign of what God would do by his power, and what he does by his grace, in raising dead souls to a spiritual life; the Holy Ghost comes upon them, overshadows them, and puts life into them. He is very particular in his prayer: I pray thee let this child's soul come into him again, which plainly supposes the existence of the soul in a state of separation from the body, and consequently its immortality, which Grotius thinks God designed by this miracle to give intimation and evidence of, for the encouragement of his suffering people.
IV. The resurrection of the child, and the great satisfaction it gave to the mother: the child revived, Kg1 17:22. See the power of prayer and the power of him that hears prayer, who kills and makes alive. Elijah brought him to his mother, who, we may suppose, could scarcely believe her own eyes, and therefore Elijah assures her it is her own: "It is thy son that liveth; see it is thy own, and not another," Kg1 17:23. The good woman hereupon cries out, Now I know that thou art a man of God; though she knew it before, by the increase of her meal, yet the death of her child she took so unkindly that she began to question it (a good man surely would not serve her so); but now she was abundantly satisfied that he had both the power and goodness of a man of God, and will never doubt of it again, but give up herself to the direction of his word and the worship of the God of Israel. Thus the death of the child (like that of Lazarus, Joh 11:4) was for the glory of God and the honour of his prophet.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv17–23 And she said unto Elijah, what have I to…
And she said unto Elijah, what have I to do with thee, O thou man of God!.... As if she should say, it would have been well for me if I had never seen thy face, or had any conversation with thee; this she said rashly, and in her passion and agony, being extremely affected with the death of her child, which made her forget and overlook all the benefits she had received through the prophet's being with her:
art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? to punish her for her former sins, she was conscious she had been guilty of; for she supposed, that as it was by his prayer that the drought and famine were come upon the land, so it was in the same way that her son's death came, namely, through the prayer of the prophet.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv17–22 No breath - That is, he died. We must…
No breath - That is, he died. We must not think it strange, if we meet with sharp afflictions, even when we are in the way of eminent service to God.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 21, 22 Verse 17. There was no breath left in him]…
Verse 17. There was no breath left in him] He ceased to breathe and died.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23 1Ki 17:17. There was no breath left in him…
1Ki 17:17. There was no breath left in him — No soul or life, as the Hebrew word here used properly signifies. For, says Buxtorf, “The Hebrews by נשׁמה, neshama, understand the rational and immortal soul, whence they are wont to swear by it: and he quotes Aben Ezra as an authority for rendering the word, anima, sed humana tantum; the soul, but only the human. The expression, however, here only means that he died, as is manifest from the following verses. This was a terrible and unexpected stroke to this widow, and, no doubt, was sent for the further trial of her faith and patience. She had received a great prophet into her house, was employed to sustain him, and had reason to think that surely the Lord would do her good; yet now she loses her son. We must not think it strange if we meet with very sharp afflictions, even when we are in the way of duty, and of eminent service to God: nay, and when we have the clearest manifestations of God’s favour and good-will toward us, even then we should prepare for the rebukes of his providence; our mountain never stands so strong but it may be moved, and therefore, in this world, we ought always to rejoice with trembling.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 19, 21 No breath - Or, “no spirit,” “no soul.” (Compare…
No breath - Or, “no spirit,” “no soul.” (Compare Gen 2:7). The word used is translated “spirit” in Pro 20:27; Ecc 3:21; Job 26:4; and elsewhere.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv17, 18, 20, 21 In him. He died. (Haydock) --- The Jews, followed…
In him. He died. (Haydock) --- The Jews, followed by some Christians, assert that this boy was the prophet Jonas. But Jonas was a Hebrew, from Geth-opher, 4 Kings xiv. 25., and Jonas i. 9. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v17 HE RAISES HER SON TO LIFE. (Kg1 17:17-24)
HE RAISES HER SON TO LIFE. (Kg1 17:17-24)
the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick--A severe domestic calamity seems to have led her to think that, as God had shut up heaven upon a sinful land in consequence of the prophet, she was suffering on a similar account. Without answering her bitter upbraiding, the prophet takes the child, lays it on his bed, and after a very earnest prayer, had the happiness of seeing its restoration, and along with it, gladness to the widow's heart and home. The prophet was sent to this widow, not merely for his own security, but on account of her faith, to strengthen and promote which he was directed to go to her rather than to many widows in Israel, who would have eagerly received him on the same privileged terms of exception from the grinding famine. The relief of her bodily necessities became the preparatory means of supplying her spiritual wants, and bringing her and her son, through the teachings of the prophet, to a clear knowledge of God, and a firm faith in His word (Luk 4:25).
Read full note →
Next: 1 Kings Chapter 18
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv17–23 17. No breath left in him — This statement,…
17. No breath left in him — This statement, together with the words of the prophet in 1Ki_17:20-21, clearly show that the child was dead.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv17–22 17–24. Death and restoration of the widow’s son (Not…
17–24. Death and restoration of the widow’s son (Not in Chronicles)
17. his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him] Josephus interprets this expression as if the youth were only seemingly dead; τὴν ψυχὴν ἀφεῖναι καὶ δόξαι νεκρόν. Yet both the mother and the prophet speak in the narrative of the ‘slaying’ of the son. The soul was departed, and it is the breathing into man of the breath of life, which makes him ‘a living soul.’ All the language of Scripture speaks in the same tone. ‘When the breath of man goeth forth, he shall turn again to his earth.’
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv18, 20, 21 (18) O thou man of God.—The terms of the…
(18) O thou man of God.—The terms of the address (contrasted with 1Ki_17:12), indicate a natural growth in the recognition of the true God by the woman, through familiar intercourse with the prophet, and experience of his wonder-working power. For it is the adoption of the regular Israelitish description of the prophet as her own. (See Jdg_13:6; 1Ki_12:22; 1Ki_13:1.)
To call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?—The words express the unreasonableness of natural sorrow. The underlying idea is that of the exclamation, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” The better knowledge of God, gained through the presence of the prophet, had, of course, brought out in her a deeper sense of sin, and now makes her feel that her sorrow is a just punishment. With pathetic confusion of idea, she cries out against his presence, as if it were the actual cause of judgment on the sin, which it has simply brought home to her conscience.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv17–23 And it came to pass after these things, that…
And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. Does this mean that he was dead? Keil thinks it perfectly clear that it does. Bahr is as firmly persuaded that it does not. He justly remarks
(1) that the same expression occurs in Dan_10:17 (cf. 1Ki_10:5) where it does not imply death.
Read full note →
(2) That as the text does not say, "and he died," we must conclude that it did not mean to say it.
(3) Verses 18, 20 do not necessitate the belief that he was dead (see below).
(4) Josephus, who was not afraid of the miraculous, has interpreted the words thus: wJv kai thn yuchn ajfeinai kaixai nekron. To this it may be added that hm; v; n simply means breath, and that where it is desired to convey the idea of rife, additional words are used (as in Gen_2:7, "the breath of life; Gen_7:22, "the breath of the spirit of life." C f. Job_27:3, Pro_20:27 (where the intelligence or reason appears to be meant) Ecc_3:21. It must be confessed also that the statement, "his sickness was so sore," etc., is quite apropos and intelligible, if we may understand that he lay in a state of coma, but would be an extremely roundabout way of affirming that he was dead.
Vers. 17, 18.
The Reproaches of Death.
In verse 15 we read that the widow and her household did eat of the multiplied meal days" ( a term which is by some Hebraists understood, when used without qualification, to denote a year. So the phrase with which the text opens, "And it came to pass after these things," imports that the miracle of raising the widow"s son occurred "after" Elijah had been one year in her house. The "things" to which this miracle succeeded were the earlier signs of the presence of God with the prophet, meanwhile the widow read the bereavement her own way.
I SHE SAW THE HAND OF GOD IN IT.
1. She attributed it to Elijah. "Art thou come unto me, to slay my son.
(1) Not, however, under any notion of unkind. ness to her in the heart of the prophet. For
(a) had she not, and her son with her, been saved from death by famine in connexion with his sojourn in her house?
(b) The heavenly conversation they must have had during the year would preclude such an idea.
(2) Yet here is the fact; and it is written for our learning. The incidents in Scripture, given under Divine inspiration, are therefore to be very particularly noted. They cannot be too carefully or too prayerfully studied.
2. She attributed it to him as a "man of God.
(1) This was not, in her estimation, an ordinary case of death. The circumstances surrounding it were all extraordinary,
(2) At least she saw that it was intended by God for some high purpose. She was right. We should not be wrong so to regard ordinary providences. All God"s purposes are high. All His providences are important. His providence is in everything. Life therefore is no stale thing
II SHE READ HIS REPROACHES IN IT. "Art thou come to call my sin to my remembrance?
1. We should newer forget that we are sinners.
(1) Whatever reminds us of God should remind us of sin. For all sin is, directly or indirectly, against Him; and this is the gravest side of the offence (Psa_51:4; Luk_15:21)
(2) Death especially should remind us of God, before whose tribunal it conducts us. So it should especially remind us of sin, for it is its wages appointed by God.
2. The remembrance, however, will affect us variously according to our moral state.
(1) Sin, in the first instance, is called to the remembrance of all that they may hate it and forsake it.
(2) To those who have endeavoured to do this, it is still called to remembrance, that they may trust in Christ for forgiveness and salvation.
(3) To the justified it is called to remembrance that they may praise God for His mercy. In this sense sin will be remembered even in heaven. (See Rev_5:9 Rev_7:9, Rev_7:17)
III SHE CONNECTED THESE REPROACHES WITH THE PRESENCE OF ELIJAH. "What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God?" etc.
1. Why did she do this?
(1) Prophets were sent usually to reprove, and denounce judgments. Hence the coming of Samuel to Bethlehem inspired the magistrates and people with alarm. (See 1Sa_16:4) This bereavement, therefore, might suggest to the widow her sin in general, or some particular sin, though not clearly defined to her as yet.
(2) Or it might have brought home to her some imperfection in the service of God which she had not previously sufficiently considered. Had she adequately appreciated the great privilege of having such a guest?
(3) Was there not in this a confession that she was unworthy of such an honour, and a desire implied that she should be made worthy, lest otherwise his continued presence must become an occasion of judgments? Was not the expression of Peter, with whom Jesus lodged, of similar import when the divinity of the Master was brought vividly before him by the miraculous draught of fishes, and he exclaimed, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord?". (Luk_5:8)
2. Did she not here recognize a great truth?
(1) What sanctifications and consecrations Levites, and more especially sons of Aaron, needed, who had to draw near to God; and how perilous to them, even then, were their approaches to that sacred presence! (Exo_28:43; Lev_8:35 Lev_15:31 Lev_16:2, 18 22:9; Num_4:15 Num_17:1-7)
(2) How clean should they be who bear now the vessels of the Lord! How careful unsanctified persons should be not to tamper with holy things! Witness the judgments upon Uzzah and Uzziah. (See 1Sa_6:19; 2Sa_6:7; 2Ch_26:19, 2Ch_26:20) The sanctification now required is moral, of which the ceremonial was the type.
(3) All shall have to appear in the very presence of the Judge. How shall we stand then? Let us now prepare for that solemnity. J.A.M.
Vers. 17-24.
Life from the Dead.
The miracles wrought by Elijah or associated with his name were for the most part of the nacre of severe judgments, and present the person of the lowly prophet in a stern and terrible light before us. But the two miracles that mark the opening of his career were miracles of mercy, and show that there was another side to his character, one that was tenderly sympathetic and humane. Having at first brought hope and a new lease of life to the starving mother and her child, he now lifts the dark shadow of death from off the desolated home and turns its sorrow into joy. This narrative has a peculiarly pathetic interest, and is suggestive of lessons that touch the deepest realities of human life. It naturally divides itself into two parts, in which we see
(1) the sadness of death and
(2) the joy of restoration.
I THE SADNESS OF DEATH. That the child was really dead we cannot doubt. "There was no breath left in him." The gleam of hope in the poor widow"s condition was suddenly beclouded, and a strange, yet not altogether unnatural, revulsion of feeling took possession of her breast. Thus does an unexpected calamity, especially perhaps when it takes the form of personal bereavement, often work for a while a sad change in the attitude of the soul
1. It darkens the whole horizon of life quenches the light of other joys. The abundance of meal and oil, and the honour of the prophet"s presence are as nothing while the child lies dead in the house. There are sorrows which seem utterly to blot out the sunshine of one"s existence, and to be aggravated rather than relieved by the joys that accompany them.
2. It creates resentment against the supposed, or perhaps the real, author of it. "What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God?" The prophet, who had proved himself so beneficent a friend, is regarded as an enemy.
3. It"s a severe test of one"s faith in God. This woman, it may be, was in an intermediate state of mind between blind devotion to the old idolatries and the full acceptance of the faith of Israel How rude a check did this event seem to give to her progress into clearer light! Thus is the faith of men often sorely tried by the adversities of life. This is part of their Divine purpose. The "fiery trial" seems "strange at first, but the meaning and reason of it are revealed afterwards." Happy they whose faith, in spite of the severe strain put upon it, holds fast to the living God too deeply rooted in the soul to be torn up by any sudden sweeping blast.
4. It awakens the sense of sin. "Art thou come to me to bring my sin to remembrance?" It is significant that the thought of her own sin should be her first thought. The calamity brought this to her remembrance because it seemed to her a sign of God"s remembrance of it. Learn that though particular afflictions are not always to be connected with any particular transgression as their cause, (Joh_9:2, Joh_9:8) yet all sorrow must be traced ultimately to its source in moral evil. It is a true instinct that leads us to think of our sins in times of adversity. Whenever affliction comes to us it should produce tenderness of conscience and call forth the prayer, "Show me wherefore thou contendest with me," in order that if there be any secret wrong in ourselves that demands this severe discipline we may have grace to fight against it and cast it out.
II THE JOY OF RESTORATION. The behaviour of Elijah is beautifully expressive of his deep human sympathy, and also of the intimacy of the relation between himself and God as a man of prayer and the instrument of the Divine energy. Having special regard to the nature and effect of this miracle of restoration, observe that
1. It is typical of the beneficent ministry of Christ. In Him the power of God came, as it never had before, into healing contact with the flame of our diseased and dying humanity. He took our nature upon Him that He might effectually cure its infirmities and sicknesses. "Virtue" continually went forth from Him. He was the great health-restorer and life giver; and as all the healing ministries of former ages had anticipated His coming, so all true philanthropy since has caught its highest inspiration from the constraint of His love and the force of His example.
2. It is prophetic of the future glorious resurrection. We see here one of the many witnesses that gleam out amid the obscurity of the olden times to the truth that God would surely one day "bring life and immortality to Light," while it points us on to the time when, "at the voice of the son of God, all that are in their graves shall come forth." "Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory" (Isa_25:8; 1Co_15:54)
3. It illustrates the joy of a soul that for the first time is made fully conscious of the gracious presence and power of God. "Now by this I know that thou art a man of God," etc. There is a tone of deep satisfaction in these words. It is the satisfaction that springs from the discovery of Divine truth and the vivid sense of God. There is no satisfaction of which the soul of man is capable that can be compared with this. The end of all forms of Divine manifestation prophetic visitations, miracles, providences, etc. is this. We reach the highest joy possible to us upon earth when we can say with St. John, "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is tame, and we are in him that is true, even in his son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life". W. (1Jn_4:20)
Vers. 17-24.
Affliction and its Fruits.
I THE DISCIPLINE OF TRIAL.
1. It is no proof of God"s anger. Sorrow darkens the homes of God"s beloved. This was a home of faith and ministering love. Affliction is no more proof of wrath than is the farmer"s ploughing of his field. To him, with his eye upon the future harvest, it is only the needful preparation of the soil. And the great Husbandman, with His eye upon the eternal glory, must open up a bed within the soul"s depths for the seed of life.
2. God"s blow may be very heavy. Her son, her only child, is taken. God"s plough sinks deep that His work may be rightly done. The very greatness of our anguish is a measure by which we may gauge the greatness of the Lord"s purpose and of the love which will not suffer us to miss the blessing.
II THE FRUITS IT YIELDS.
1. It reveals our need. She may have been conscious daily of the goodness of God and yet been blind to the fact that she needed more than she had yet received. God now awakens her
(1) to the sense of her unworthiness: "What have I to do with thee?
(2) to the remembrance of her transgressions: "Art thou come to call my sins to remembrance?" The darkness of trouble is the shadow of guilt. There is discipline because there is need of salvation. Sins may be pardoned, but God must open up a gulf between the soul and them. The time of trouble is meant to be a time of heart searching and of confession.
1. It stirs up to prayer. Elijah"s heart was poured out in bold expostulation and earnest entreaty (vers. 20, 21). In the sharpness of our need our cry gains strength; we press, in our urgency, into the Divine presence. These times open up a way to God by which we find ready access ever after.
2. It leads to the vision of God"s glory. "And the Lord heard," etc. (ver. 22). The prayer was followed by a revelation of God"s power such as till then man had never seen: the dead was raised. "Ask and ye shall receive." The soul that asks will see God"s salvation and be filled with the light of the Divine glory.
3. It deepens trust. "Now by this I know," etc. (ver. 24). When man"s need meets God"s help, the soul is bound to Him by the strongest ties. U.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v17 And it came to pass after these things.
1Ki_17:17-24
And it came to pass after these things.
Read full note →
The test of the home-life
Many a man might bear himself as a hero and saint in the solitudes of Cherith, or on the heights of Carmel, and yet wretchedly fail in the home-life of Zarephath. It is one thing to commune with God in the solitudes of nature, and to perform splendid acts of devotion and zeal for Him in the presence of thousands; but it is quite another to walk with Him day by day in the midst of a home, with its many calls for the constant forgetfulness of self. And yet it would be idle to deny that there is much to try and test us just where the flowers bloom, and the voices of hate and passion die away in distant murmurs. There is a constant need for the exercise of gentleness, patience, self-sacrifice, self-restraint. And beneath the test of home, with its incessant duties and demands, many men break down, whose character seems, like some Alpine peak, to shoot up far beyond the average of those with whom they associate in the busy world. Thy home-life was chosen for thee by the unerring skill of One who knows thee better than thou knowest thyself, and who could not mistake. It has been selected as the best school of grace for thee. And now, looking down upon thee, the Master says: There is nothing in thy life that may not be lived in Me, for Me, through Me: and I am willing to enable thee to be sweet and noble and saint-like in it all. Elijah was the same man in the widows house as on Carmels heights. He is like one of those mountains to which we have referred, piercing the heavens with unscaleable heights; but clothed about the lower parts with woodlands, and verdant fields, and smiling bowers, where bees gather honey, and children play. He shows that when a man is full of the Holy Ghost, it will be evidenced by the entire tenor of his daily walk and conversation.
I. Elijah teaches us contentment. Gods rule is--day by day. The manna fell on the desert sands day by day. Our bread is promised to us for the day. As our day, so will our strength be. And they who live like this are constantly reminded of their blessed dependence on their Fathers love. If God guarantees, as He does, our support, does it much matter whether we can see the sources from which He will obtain it? It might gratify our curiosity; but it would not make them more sure.
II. Elijah also teaches us gentleness under provocation. Art thou come to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? A remark, so uncalled-for and unjust, might well have stung the prophet to the quick, or prompted a bitter reply. And it would have doubtless done so, had his goodness been anything less than inspired by the Holy Ghost. But one of the fruits of His indwelling is Gentleness. We need more of this practical godliness. Many deceive themselves. If the Holy Spirit is really filling the heart, there will come over the rudest, the least refined, the most selfish, a marvellous change; there will be a gentleness in speech, in the very tones of the voice; a tender thoughtfulness in the smallest actions; a peace passing understanding on the face; and these shall be the evident seal of the Holy Ghost, the mint-mark of heaven. Are they evident in ourselves?
III. Elijah teaches also the power of a holy life. Somewhere in the background of this womans life there was a dark deed, which dwarfed all other memories of wrong-doing, and stood out before her mind as her sin--my sin (1Ki_17:18). What it was we do not know; it may have been connected with the birth of that very son. There is a wonderful invention, recently perfected, by which sound can be fixed pictorially; and, from the picture, it may be produced again, long years after it was spoken. Imagine your hearing once again the voices long bushed in death! But memory is like this: it fixes all impressions and retains them; it never permits them to be destroyed, though it may not always be able to produce them instantly to a given call. Some memories are like well-classified libraries, in which you can readily discover even the smallest pamphlet; others are so confused that they are useless for practical purposes: yet even in these, nothing that ever came within their range has ever been lost; and whenever the right clue is presented, there is an immediate resurrection and recovery of sounds, and sights, and trains of thought long buried. How terrible will it be, when the lost soul is met on the threshold of the dark world to which it goes, by the solemn words, Son, remember!
IV. Elijah teaches, lastly, the secret of giving life. It is a characteristic of those who are filled with the Holy Ghost, that they carry with them everywhere the spirit of life, even resurrection-life. We shall not only convince men of sin; but we shall become channels through which the Divine Life may enter them. Thus was it with the prophet. But mark the conditions under which alone we shall be able to fulfil this glorious function.
1. Lonely wrestlings. He took him out of her bosom, etc. We are not specific enough in prayer; and we do not spend enough time in intercession, dwelling with holy ardour on each beloved name, and on each heart-rending case. What wonder that we achieve so little!
2. Humility. He measured himself upon the child. How wonderful that so great a man should spend so much time and thought on that slender frame, and be content to bring himself into direct contact with that which might be thought to defile! It is a touching spectacle.
3. Perseverance. He measured himself three times, and cried unto the Lord. He was not soon daunted. It is thus that God tests the genuineness of our desire. These deferred answers lead us to lengths of holy boldness and pertinacity of which we should not otherwise have dreamed, but from which we shall never go back. Men ought always to pray, and not to faint. (F. B. Meyer, M. A.)
The dead made alive
There are some good suggestions here for every one of us who would win souls to Christ. For the condition of every one who is living without faith and confidence in God is compared in the Scriptures to spiritual death, and the conversion of a soul is spoken of as bringing the dead to life. First, there is--
1. The personal interest, the actual effort; how many times we think about winning some one to Christ, but we let all our interest ooze out in thinking; we do not act.
2. We have suggested to us that we are to save them by prayer. Elijah knew he had no power to bring this boy to life, but he knew God had the power. He gave himself in prayer to God, and God heard his prayer.
3. We must add our personal influence to prayer. Elijah, as if to infuse some of his own vitality into the body of the dead child, stretched himself upon it three times. We never can tell when a personal touch may win a soul to the Lord. (L. A. Banks, D. D.)
Germs of thought
The resurrection of the widows son at Zarephath.
I. Man the organ of the miraculous. This is confessedly a miracle--an event altogether out of the ordinary course of nature. In this very chapter there are no less than three miracles wrought by Elijah. The heavens were sealed by him;-there was no rain or dew for three years; and there was a famine. The widows meal and oil remained undiminished, after supplying the wants of the widow, her son, and himself:--and now her son is brought to life. Why does the Almighty thus employ man as the medium of His miraculous agency?
1. It serves to impress us with the infinite regard which God has for good men.
2. It serves to foreshadow the wonderful power which good men, when perfected in eternity, may possess. May it not be that the grandest of their miracles here are but symbols and types of their splendid achievements there?
II. Poverty the home of the great. Elijahs chamber was a small loft in that humble cottage. This should teach us--
1. Not to make secular position a test of moral character. This in every age man has been apt to do. Jobs friends did this.
2. Not to make secular wealth an end of life. Our life consisteth not in the abundance of things.
3. Not to shun men because they are poor.
4. Not to neglect the cultivation of spiritual excellence because of our poverty. Poverty is no excuse either for impiety or uselessness. Paul said, Though poor, yet making many rich.
III. Evil the occasion of good. This womans trial was great in the death of her son. It would teach her--
1. How absolutely life is in the hands of God. It taught her that He can take it away and give it back at pleasure. The Lord gave, etc.
2. How great the influence a truly good man has with heaven. (Homilist.)
Out of the depths
Gods chastisements are always for our profit. It is only out of the depths that we can rise to the highest knowledge of God. So it was not in vain that both the prophet and the widow passed through the furnace at Zarephath.
1. The first is this, Trust and Obey. The departure from Cherith, the journey through Samaria, the encounter with a widow so poor that she was forced to gather sticks by the highway, were all a severe test of Elijahs faith. He had to look, not at outward appearances, but at the word of the Lord. So, too, with the widow. If she had asked for a full barrel and a new cruse to start with, it would have been only what our hearts are always craving. We say, Give us this day our daily bread, but we like to see an assured income between us and want.
2. But the woman was to learn a deeper lesson still. It may be summed up in Remember and Repent. Before long Gods hand was laid upon her son, and he fell sick and died. This awakened memories that had slumbered long. Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son? We do not know whether it was her general sinfulness that was brought home to her or some particular offence--some forgotten sin, buried and covered over in the rubbish-heap of the past. We notice, however, that this sense of sin was not awakened until death threatened her home, and her own son paid the first instalment of the dread penalty of sin. And yet surely she had not been resisting Gods grace. The word of the Lord in Elijahs mouth had not been rejected by her. It needed death, however, to bring about in this widow a true sense of sin. Grace and Truth are both needed for the development of spiritual life. Grace was manifest in the daily supply of food. Truth shone forth with awful and searching power in the death of her son. Grace revealed the goodness of God--Truth made to pass before her the evil of her own heart. And Gods people, as well as the careless and ungodly, need to remember and repent.
3. Our third motto is Ask and Receive. There are deep mysteries in life which yield to nothing but prayer. What a tangle there was in that home! How mysterious--how, from the human standpoint, inexplicable, the blow that had fallen! We are all prejudiced against God by nature, and unwilling to accept judgment without murmuring. But in this case Gods dealings must have seemed terribly severe. There is one explanation, however, of all these mysterious and inexplicable dealings of Gods providence. They are sent to teach us the value of prayer, to draw us out of ourselves, and to make us lay hold of that power of God, which reaches even beyond the grave. What a prayer was this of Elijahs! Prayer is still all-powerful along the line of Gods will. We, too, may know the power of Christs resurrection; indeed, a measure of resurrection power should be manifest in our lives, if we are indeed risen with Christ.
4. Love and know, is illustrated by this story. It is beyond our power to conceive the deep effect upon this widow of her sons resurrection. Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, was the widows comment. Clearly the bitterness had given place to love. She had learnt that God only wounds to heal. (F. S. Webster, M. A.)
Raising the widows son
The mother, overwhelmed with sorrow, severely rebukes Elijah, and charges him with the loss of her son. This conduct may be accounted for
(1) By a feeling of human nature which always seeks.to blame something, or some person, for any calamity which may befall us; and
(2) By a feeling of superstition which looks upon all afflictions as judgments from God. But how different is Elijahs conduct towards the widow. He does not resent her rebuke, as he might have done; he does not cross her troubled spirit, but sympathises with her, and treats her with exquisite tenderness.
I. No home exempt from the trials and sufferings of this life. This widow would doubtless be looked upon with envy by her neighbours. They would think that in the midst of the distress suffered by them that she was free, and protected by an unseen hand from wretchedness and woe. But a deeper sorrow than they imagined was soon her portion. And in looking upon some homes we are apt to think that they are strangers to the ordinary trials and sorrows of life. There is no home that can exclude these.
II. The deepest sorrow may be made the instrument of our highest good.
III. An illustration of the power of prayer. (Thomas Cain.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v17 1Ki_17:17. Fell sick … no breath left in him—This…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
1Ki_17:17. Fell sick … no breath left in him—This phrase does not absolutely imply death (comp. Dan_10:17; also 1Ki_10:17). Josephus renders the incident thus—ὡς καὶ τὴν ψυχὴν ἀφεῖναι καὶ δόξαι νεκρόν. We may concede that the boy was in a state of fatal exhaustion, sinking away into death, and not absolutely dead. But whichever was the case, his recovery was as really supernatural and miraculous.
Read full note →
1Ki_17:18. What have I to do with thee?—The bitter upbraiding of incoherent grief. My sin to remembrance—No particular sin, but the current error that affliction was a punishment (comp. Joh_9:3). In the first passion and dismay of sorrow we strangely misread God’s design.
1Ki_17:19. Carried him into a loft—The upper chamber; alone there with God, to plead for Divine interpretation and removal of this unexpected calamity.
1Ki_17:21. Stretched himself upon the child three times—“Stretched himself,” &c., thereby employing rational means for warming, and thus revivifying the body; but not relying on natural methods for his restoration, but on God’s intervention, using means of themselves ineffectual for the miraculous result. “Three times” “because the calling upon the name of Jehovah in the old covenant was a threefold act (Psa_55:18; Dan_6:10); thrice in the high priestly benediction was the name of Jehovah laid upon Israel (Num_6:22); thrice did the seraphim before the throne of Jehovah cry out holy (Isa_6:3).”—Lange. And Jesus himself “left them and went away and prayed the third time, saying the same words.” (Mat_26:44).
1Ki_17:24. Now by this I know—“Because thou hast seen thou hast believed;” yet she had already shown faith when proof was not visible. This was a most gracious seal to her faith, which had thus been doubly end sorely tried.—W. H. J.
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_17:17-24
THE MARVELLOUS POWER OF AN INTREPID FAITH
I. We see here how an intrepid faith may be sorely tried.
1. By sudden and unexpected bereavement (1Ki_17:17). The youth who had escaped from the merciless fangs of famine, and who, for some time, was sustained by a miraculous supply of God, is smitten down with a mysterious disease, and, as it would appear, with appalling suddenness, expires. It is sad to lose our health, sad to lose our fortune, but it is sadder still to lose the loved ones of our hearth and home.
’Tis hard to lay our darling
Deep in the cold, damp earth;
His empty crib to see, his silent nursery,
Once gladsome with his mirth.
The thought of death gives a tinge of melancholy to every event of life, and reveals the frailty and transitoriness of all earthly things. The Roman Emperor who had commanded a world, exclaimed, when he came to die, “I was everything, and have found that everything is nothing.” And yet, if it were something, in one moment death robs us of it all. No wonder that while complaining of life we turn away from death. “We live hating life, yet full of fear to die.” And when death comes, slowly or suddenly, it tests the faith of the staunchest believer.
2. By the spectacle of a bewildering sorrow (1Ki_17:18). Only a mother knows a mother’s grief. How ready we are, says Bishop Hall, to mistake the grounds of our afflictions, and to cast them upon false causes. The passionate mother cannot find weather to impute the death of her son but to the presence of Elijah, to whom she ones distracted with perplexity, not without an unkind challenge of him from whom she had received both that life she had lost and that she had: “What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God?” As if her son could not have died if Elijah had not been her guest, whereas her son had died but for him. Why should she think that the prophet had saved him from the famine to kill him with sickness? He who had appeased God towards her is suspected to have incensed him. This wrongful misconstruction was enough to move any patience. Elijah was of a hot and fiery temperament, and a strain was put upon his self-control. But his faith in God, and the sympathy roused within him for the afflicted widow, not only taught him forbearance, but made him the more anxious to do what he could to alleviate her anguish.
II. We see here how an intrepid faith is sustained and strengthened by earnest and importunate prayer (1Ki_17:19-21). This incident brings out for the first time in his history one of the most marked and powerful features of Elijah’s character as a man of prayer He was personally deeply moved by the distress which this bereavement had brought into the widow’s home; and his prayer is an urgent appeal to God, as a just and merciful and righteous Being. He pleaded for the restoration of life to the dead boy—a bold and hitherto unheard of request from the lips of mortal man! “We can imagine the Tishbite pacing up and down his little chamber in importunate, impassioned prayer; but yet with no doubt as to the result of his intercession. It was a mighty demand, indeed, for a mortal to make a request that had no previous parallel in praying lips. It was nothing short of this: that unassailable death be stormed in his own strongholds; that the iron crown be plucked from the head of the king of terrors. When Elijah does manifest faith, it is always of the noblest type.” The higher exercises of faith are possible only to earnest, resolute, and incessant prayer.
III. We see here how an intrepid faith is honoured by a signal display of Divine power (1Ki_17:22-23). This is the first recorded instance of a resurrection from the dead. Many suppose that this youth afterwards became the servant of Elijah (1Ki_18:43; 1Ki_19:3): and an old Jewish tradition identifies him with the prophet Jonah. “It was a proud thought for Greece that on one and the same day she gained the battle of Platæa on the land, and the battle of Mycalè on the sea. And what would be the grateful joy of this widow woman that by one and the same agency, in the retirement of her home, and in a period of the severest national distress, in place of two victims there had been two victories—a victory over famine, a victory also over death.” Nothing is impossible to believing prayer. If Elijah by his fervent supplications could bring about supernatural results, why should we fail in securing blessings with. In the ordinary sphere of nature, by the agency of prayer?
IV. We see here how an intrepid faith is the means of strengthening and confirming the weak (1Ki_17:24). This Sareptan widow believed in God before, but she is a stronger and more decided believer now. The miraculous replenishing of her store convinced her of the mercy and love of God, and the raising of her son from the dead gave her a still deeper insight into the Divine Majesty and power, and invested the mission of the prophet with a still more awful authority. The design of miracles is not for display, or to excite wonder, but for the confirmation of truth. The strongest faith sometimes gives way and needs heavenly support. Had this widow’s son continued dead, her belief had been buried in his grave: notwithstanding her meal and oil, her soul had languished. The condescension of God provides new helps for our infirmities, and meets us on our own ground, that he may work out our faith and salvation. The onus of unbelief is thrown wholly on man. God takes care there shall be no lack of evidence for the encouragement and building up of faith.
LESSONS:—
1. Bereavement and sorrow intensify our sympathy with humanity.
2. The soul in its deepest suffering finds rest and consolation alone in God.
3. Faith in God achieves the grandest moral victories.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki_17:17-24. Raising the Widow’s Song of Solomon 1. No home exempt from the trials and sufferings of this life. This widow would doubtless be looked upon with envy by her neighbours. They would think that in the midst of the distress suffered by them she was free and protected by an unseen hand from wretchedness and woe. But a deeper sorrow than they imagined was soon her portion. In looking upon some homes, we are apt to think they are strangers to the ordinary trials and sorrows of life. But there is no home that can exclude these. However well provided temporarily, however diligent and devoted in the path of Christian duty the inmates may be, still there comes to them, more or less, trial and suffering of one kind or another—affliction, disappointment, bereavement. To know this should prepare us to meet trials when they come.
2. The deepest sorrow may be the instrument of our highest good. Nothing could have been a greater affliction to this woman than the death of her son; but it gave God the opportunity of exercising His power in raising him from the dead. By means of this she was enlightened, and her faith in God confirmed. She was on the borderland of true faith before; now she enters into its fulness. “Now, by this, I know, &c.” Many have been similarly blessed by trial and sorrow; they have obtained clearer and loftier views of God and stronger faith in Him. ‘J hey have been raised up into a higher region of life and affection (Heb_12:11).
3. An illustration of the power of prayer. How differently would this woman regard prayer to Jehovah to what she had done before! She would see that it was the way of access to God and of prevailing with Him; and lead her to imitate that earnest and confident prayer of Elijah which brought her son back from the regions of the dead. We have many rich and valuable illustrations of the power of prayer in Holy Writ and in our own history, which should lead us to a more earnest and persevering use of it.—The Study and Pulpit.
1Ki_17:18. The voice of conscience.
1. Is heard in the midst of calamity.
2. Is an unfailing remembrancer of sin.
3. May mislead as to the reasons for which calamity is permitted to overtake us.
4. Should be listened to with a view of moral improvement.
1Ki_17:19-21. Behold this great man in his chamber, alone with the corpse of that fair child. See how vehemently he strides up and down, gradually working himself up to the height of the great demand which gleams before his thought, a demand which had not crossed the mind of man since the beginning of the world, only because no man before had had the same degree of faith—the faith to deem it possible that the dead might be restored to life at man’s urgent prayer. It is done. His purpose is taken. The child may live. Nothing is too hard for the Lord. It is as easy for Him to give back life as to take it; and He will do this if asked with adequate faith. Elijah knew that men too often expect to move the mountains by such faith as suffices not to shake the mole-hills; and that because, from the insufficiency of the means, the hoped-for results do not follow, the power of faith is disparaged. But he felt the true mountain-moving faith heaving strong within him, and he gave it unrestrained vent. He threw himself upon the corpse, as if, in the vehement energy of his will, to force his own life into it; and he cried with mighty and resistless urgency to God to send back to this cold frame the breath he had taken away. Faith conquered. It was adequate, and therefore irresistible.—Kitto.
1Ki_17:22. Even if the Lord do no miracle, there are still a thousand ways and means by which He sends comfort and strength, or help and salvation, in answer to the believing prayer of His faithful servants. Each granting of prayer is indeed a miracle, and never is one humble, believing prayer uttered in vain—no, not even when it is refused.—Menken.
—The illimitable power of God.
1. Has absolute control over life and death.
2. Can accomplish whatever does not imply a contradiction: it is never uselessly employed.
3. Is exerted in answer to believing prayer.
4. Confirms the faith of the wavering.
1Ki_17:23. He who testified that man did not live from hour to hour by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, testified also to a stranger from the commonwealth of Israel that God can give back that life which He has taken away. The poor woman of Zidon learnt the amazing lesson that the power which she had looked upon as emphatically the destroyer, is warring with death, and can win a victory over it, not for some great and holy person, but for her whose sins had been brought to remembrance by the presence of the prophet and the death of her child—Maurice.
1Ki_17:24. Real knowledge of the truth. I. There is a kind of knowledge of scriptural things which leaves a man perfectly satisfied with himself. This widow seems to have been acquainted with the God of Israel, in the way of providence, and seems to have known Elijah to be a prophet by his dress; and her obedience appears to have been of that kind which springs from the intellectual knowledge that a man has, that God is almighty; that, being perfect, He is therefore faithful; and that what He says must come to pass; but it does not seem to have been that which springs from a heart knowledge of Him as a just God and a Saviour, who “pardoneth iniquity,” and which knowledge begets an appropriation of God as “my God” to the heart—for, you observe, she says, “As the Lord thy God liveth.” She does not say, “As the Lord my God liveth!” This lesson of knowing God as our God she has yet to learn. And this she was to learn in the school of affliction—a furnace in which many of God’s children are chosen and made to know Him. There are many persons in the same state as the widow of Zarephath before the prophet came to her. Like her, they have heard of God; they have heard that there is a God; they do not deny the truth and power of God; they believe that the Word of God is true; they do not hesitate to render a sort of outside obedience to His commands. We find them continually speaking calmly of death, just as this woman did; but all the peace which apparently accompanies this calm statement about death is false. It arises from ignorance of sin. When this is brought vividly and clearly to remembrance, then their peace flies away, because there is no real acquaintance with Christ. They know the inconvenience of sin, they know the disgrace of it; but as to the real nature of sin, they are ignorant of it, because no man ever can abide under a knowledge of the nature of sin without fleeing to Jesus for the remedy that God has provided in Him.
II. This kind of knowledge is shown not to be a real acquaintance with truth, by impatience under affliction. “What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?” By some this is understood to express her deep sense of the vast difference between herself and the prophet, and the feeling she entertained in consequence; as when Peter, astonished at the marvellous draught of fishes, exclaimed, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” But it seems as if the words are expressive of a feeling of impatience of the sorrow which had come upon her, in consequence, as she thought, of the presence of the prophet: as if she had said, “If this be the consequence of thy visit, would I had never seen thee.” She forgets God’s goodness, and thinks only of her trial. Are there not many who go on for years partaking of God’s bounty, who are favoured above thousands around them, but who have no knowledge of the state of their own hearts, and who, when the Lord afflicts them, are irritated, and think themselves hardly dealt by; or when, by the preaching of the Word of God; He graciously opens their eyes to the condition of their hearts, are impatient at those doctrines, those statements, which God frequently makes use of to affirm His purpose of love? This widow saw in Elijah not the servant of the Lord, so much as one who brought her sins to remembrance, and slew her son; and this she could not bear. Trials which mellow and ripen the saint, irritate and enrage the graceless sinner; and heart-searching preaching leads men to speak evil of the way of truth. This woman could not have talked so calmly of dying if she had known what her sins were; but when she was stripped of self-confidence, of all those false hopes which were dear to her as her son—and when God calls upon men now-a-days to relinquish their all to Him, in His love He will take them off from every false confidence, till they are left like the childless widow, with their sins staring them in the face, and all their creature-comforts gone, stripped and made bare by God’s Holy Spirit, then they are alive to the Scripture truth that they are in themselves “wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.”
III. It is generally under a deep sense of sin, or through deep waters, that God leads to real acquaintance with the truth. “And he said unto her, Give me thy son: and he took him out of her bosom.” The dead son she can part with readily; she is brought so low, she is willing to do anything for a remedy. She sees matters cannot be worse, and therefore she is willing to listen to any remedy which may make them better. And that is just the point which a man is brought to who receives the Lord Jesus with thankfulness. He sees things cannot be worse; he sees a truth which the world is very slow to believe, that there is no such thing as exaggerating the evil of sin. And when the Lord says to the convicted sinner, “Give me thine heart,” that heart which is dead to every hope but that which the Gospel gives, it is immediately yielded up. As God gave back life to the widow’s son, so in regeneration does God give back that principle of eternal life which was forfeited in Adam; God breathes into man’s nostrils the breath of life, and man becomes a living soul again, in contradistinction to what he is naturally, in Scripture language, “dead in trespasses and sins.” Thus was the widow taught what she did not know, perhaps, in heart before, and by means which were utterly at variance with her best affections; and thus also our proud hearts are humbled, and made to know that those doctrines and statements of the Word of God which they long scoffed at are truth.
LESSONS.—
1. There is such a thing as being acquainted with the Word, and obeying it in a certain outward sense, and being calm in the prospect of death, and yet not knowing that Word experimentally to be truth.
2. Until we are brought to know the evil of sin, we shall be ignorant of the spiritual meaning of the Word of God, and in that degree resist the truth.
3. Until we yield ourselves wholly to God, we shall never know the truth savingly, or find peace really.—The Pulpit.
—We pass through much grief and humiliation before, with joyful assurance, we can say to Him who is greater than Elijah, Now know I that thou art Christ, the Son of the Living God. Only by means of individual experience does each man come to the blessed confession that the Word of the Lord is truth. He only is a servant of God in whose mouth the Word of the Lord is truth, not mere appearance and sham.—Lange.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v17 The Dead Boy Restored to Life
The Dead Boy Restored to Life
v. 17. And it came to pass after these things, after the widow and her family had been so miraculously preserved, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, the illness took such a severe turn,that there was no breath left in him, the boy died.
Read full note →
v. 18. And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? Her distress was so great that she was inclined to blame Elijah for the unfortunate turn of events. Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, her sensitiveness causing her to believe that her own sinfulness stood out all the more strongly by contrast with the holiness of the prophet, and to slay my son? The woman supposed that in the same degree in which she was learning to acknowledge her sin God was taking account of it in order to punish her.
v. 19. And he, instead of arguing with her, said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, as she held him clasped tightly in her arms,and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, in the upper room of the house, and laid him upon his own bed, evidently deeply perplexed by this act of Jehovah and yet ready to wrestle for the boy’s life in prayer in the loneliness of his chamber.
v. 20. And he cried unto the Lord and said, O Lord, my God, hast Thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn by slaying her son? It was a cry of deep distress over the fact that the tribulations of the famine were now increased by this new calamity, but also a prayer of faith that God surely would not permit death to hold the boy in these circumstances.
v. 21. And he stretched himself upon the child three times, measuring his full length over him, and cried unto the Lord and said, O Lord, my God, I pray Thee, let this child’s soul come into him again, taking full possession of his entire body once more.
v. 22. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived, he came back to life.
v. 23. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, into the main part of the house, and delivered him unto his mother. And Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.
v. 24. And the woman said to Elijah, who by this miracle had proved himself a type of the great Master and Lord of death, Now, by this I know that thou art a man of God, her conviction was now most assured, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth, to be accepted with implicit faith. The example of the widow of Zarephath shows that the Lord has His elect in the very midst of a reprobate people
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv17, 19, 22 the woman's son, the woman who owned the house
the woman's son, the woman who owned the house
"the son of the woman who owned the house"
Read full note →
there was no more breath left in him
This is a polite way of saying the boy died. AT: "he stopped breathing" or "he died" (See: Euphemism)
man of God
The phrase "man of God" is another title for a prophet.
of my sin
This means sins in general not a specific sin. AT: "of my sins" (See: Generic Noun Phrases)
translationWords
son
breath
sin
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv17–22 17:17-24 This narrative begins with the woman’s doubts about…
17:17-24 This narrative begins with the woman’s doubts about Elijah (17:17-18) and ends with her acknowledging the authority of God’s word as spoken by Elijah (17:24). Ironically, this Gentile widow affirmed God’s miraculous power when God’s own people, Israel, had forgotten his mighty works.
17:17 he died: All attempts to explain away the subsequent miracle fly in the face of the plain statement.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.