Then Yahweh’s word came to him, saying, “Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan. You shall drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” So he went and did according to Yahweh’s word; for he went and lived by the brook Cherith that is before the Jordan. The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook. After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
Parallel Translations
-
Then Yahweh’s word came to him, saying,
“Go away from here, turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.
You shall drink from the brook. I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.”
So he went and did according to Yahweh’s word; for he went and lived by the brook Cherith that is before the Jordan.
The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the brook.
After a while, the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
-
And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.
So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.
And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
Show all 3 translations
-
And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying:
'Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.'
So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD; for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan.
And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
Cross-references (52)
- Psalms 78:23-24 (v6) Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven. He rained down manna on them to eat, and gave them food from the sky.
- 1 Kings 17:9 (v4) “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.”
- Psalms 147:9 (v4) He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.
- Matthew 6:31-33 (v6) “Therefore don’t be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ For the Gentiles seek…
- Job 38:41 (v4) Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?
Show all 52 cross-references
- Matthew 4:4 (v4) But he answered, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of God’s mouth.’ ”
- 1 Kings 19:5-8 (v4) He lay down and slept under a juniper tree; and behold, an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat!” He looked, and behold,…
- Psalms 78:15-16 (v6) He split rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as out of the depths. He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused…
- Isaiah 54:10 (v7) For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my loving kindness will not depart from you, and my covenant of peace will not…
- Jeremiah 37:21 (v6) Then Zedekiah the king commanded, and they committed Jeremiah into the court of the guard. They gave him daily a loaf of bread out of the…
- Psalms 33:8-9 (v4) Let all the earth fear Yahweh. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spoke, and it was done. He commanded, and…
- Isaiah 40:30-31 (v7) Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall; but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will…
- Matthew 14:19-21 (v6) He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass; and he took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, he blessed,…
- Matthew 19:26 (v6) Looking at them, Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
- Luke 22:35 (v6) He said to them, “When I sent you out without purse, wallet, and sandals, did you lack anything?” They said, “Nothing.”
- Judges 15:18-19 (v6) He was very thirsty, and called on Yahweh and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die…
- 1 Kings 22:25 (v3) Micaiah said, “Behold, you will see on that day, when you go into an inner room to hide yourself.”
- Psalms 31:20 (v3) In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife…
- Psalms 34:9-10 (v6) Oh fear Yahweh, you his saints, for there is no lack with those who fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who…
- Psalms 37:19 (v6) They shall not be disappointed in the time of evil. In the days of famine they shall be satisfied.
- Psalms 83:3 (v3) They conspire with cunning against your people. They plot against your cherished ones.
- Isaiah 33:16 (v6) he will dwell on high. His place of defense will be the fortress of rocks. His bread will be supplied. His waters will be sure.
- Jeremiah 11:1 (v2) The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,
- Jeremiah 18:1 (v2) The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,
- Jeremiah 36:19 (v3) Then the princes said to Baruch, “You and Jeremiah go hide. Don’t let anyone know where you are.”
- Jeremiah 36:26 (v3) The king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, and Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel, to arrest Baruch the scribe…
- Matthew 4:11 (v4) Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and served him.
- John 8:59 (v3) Therefore they took up stones to throw at him, but Jesus was hidden, and went out of the temple, having gone through the middle of them,…
- Hebrews 11:38 (v3) of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.
- Revelation 12:6 (v3) The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that there they may nourish her one thousand two hundred sixty…
- Revelation 12:14 (v3) Two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, so that she might be nourished…
- Numbers 11:23 (v6) Yahweh said to Moses, “Has Yahweh’s hand grown short? Now you will see whether my word will happen to you or not.”
- Judges 14:14 (v6) He said to them, “Out of the eater came out food. Out of the strong came out sweetness.” They couldn’t in three days declare the riddle.
- 1 Kings 12:22 (v2) But the word of God came to Shemaiah the man of God, saying,
- 1 Kings 19:9 (v5) He came to a cave there, and camped there; and behold, Yahweh’s word came to him, and he said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
- 1 Chronicles 17:3 (v2) That same night, the word of God came to Nathan, saying,
- Job 34:29 (v4) When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? When he hides his face, who then can see him? He is over a nation or a man alike,
- Job 38:8-13 (v4) “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb, when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness, marked…
- Psalms 37:3 (v6) Trust in Yahweh, and do good. Dwell in the land, and enjoy safe pasture.
- Proverbs 3:5 (v5) Trust in Yahweh with all your heart, and don’t lean on your own understanding.
- Jeremiah 7:1 (v2) The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,
- Hosea 1:1-2 (v2) Yahweh’s word that came to Hosea the son of Beeri, in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of…
- Habakkuk 3:17-18 (v6) For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are…
- Matthew 16:24 (v5) Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
- John 15:14 (v5) You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.
- Acts 17:14 (v3) Then the brothers immediately sent out Paul to go as far as to the sea, and Silas and Timothy still stayed there.
- Hebrews 6:18 (v6) that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to…
- Exodus 16:35 (v6) The children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate the manna until they came to the borders…
- Numbers 20:8 (v4) “Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it pour out its…
- Jeremiah 40:4 (v6) Now, behold, I release you today from the chains which are on your hand. If it seems good to you to come with me into Babylon, come, and I…
- Amos 9:3-4 (v4) Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the…
- Hebrews 13:5-6 (v6) Be free from the love of money, content with such things as you have, for he has said, “I will in no way leave you, neither will I in any…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (20 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv3–4 Or, brook.
Or, brook.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–7 1Ki 17:2 And the word of the LORD came…
1Ki 17:2 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
Ver. 2. And the word of the Lord came.] The Lord is said to have come to Balsam, Laban, and other profane wretches, but the word of the Lord to his prophets only, as was afore noted.
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 vv3, 4, 6, 7 Thus God rescues him from the fury of Ahab…
Thus God rescues him from the fury of Ahab and Jezebel, who he knew would seek to destroy him.
Quest. Why did not Ahab seize upon him immediately upon these words?
Read full note →
Answ. 1. This must be ascribed to God’s overruling providence, who hath the hearts of all men in his hands, and hath oft protected his prophets and servants in such cases.
2. He might say this not by word of mouth, but by letter and message sent to him; as that word is sometimes used, as Exo 18:6.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–7 And the word of the Lord came to him,....…
And the word of the Lord came to him,.... The word of prophecy, as the Targum; this shows that by word, in the former verse, he means the word of the Lord by him:
saying; as follows.
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 vv3, 4, 6, 7 Hide thyself - Thus God rescues him from the…
Hide thyself - Thus God rescues him from the fury of Ahab and Jezebel, who, he knew, would seek to destroy him. That Ahab did not seize on him immediately upon these words must be ascribed to God's over-ruling providence.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv3, 4, 6, 7 Verse 3. Hide thyself by the brook Cherith] This…
Verse 3. Hide thyself by the brook Cherith] This brook, and the valley through which it ran, are supposed to have been on the western side of Jordan, and not far from Samaria. Others suppose it to have been on the eastern side, because the prophet is commanded to go eastward, 1Kg 17:3. It was necessary, after such a declaration to this wicked and idolatrous king, that he should immediately hide himself; as, on the first drought, Ahab would undoubtedly seek his life. But what a proof was this of the power of God, and the vanity of idols! As God's prophet prayed, so there was rain or drought; and all the gods of Israel could not reverse it! Was not this sufficient to have converted all Israel?
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 vv3, 6, 7 1Ki 17:3-4. Hide thyself by the brook Cherith —…
1Ki 17:3-4. Hide thyself by the brook Cherith — A brook, no doubt, well known to Elijah: both it and the valley through which it runs, are near the river Jordan; but whether on the east or west side, is not so well agreed. By sending him to this remote and retired place, where he was to lie concealed, so that neither friends nor foes might know where he was, God rescued him from the fury of Ahab and Jezebel, who, he knew, would seek to destroy him. That Ahab did not seize him immediately upon hearing the forementioned prediction and warning, must be ascribed to God’s overruling providence. I have commanded the ravens to feed thee — Or, I shall command; that is, effectually move them by instincts, which shall be as forcible with them, as a law or command is to men. God is said to command both brute creatures and senseless things, when he causeth them to do what he intends to effect by them. The ravens being birds of prey, and very voracious, were more likely to rob the prophet than to bring him food; but God’s command suspended their natural instinct, and made them act contrary to it. They are said to be unnatural to, and to neglect their young ones; yet, when God pleaseth, they shall feed his prophet. God could have sent angels to minister to him; but he chose winged messengers of another kind, to show that he can serve his own purposes as effectually by the meanest as by the mightiest creatures; and to give Elijah such a proof of his power and care in providing for him, as should effectually teach him to trust in God in those many and great difficulties to which he was to be exposed: and the more unfit instruments the ravens seemed to be, the more was his almighty power magnified, who controlled their natural inclinations while he employed them; and the greater encouragement was given to his prophet to rely on that power, thus engaged for him in his greatest straits and dangers. This, however, may be said for the choice of ravens for this work; that, as they are solitary birds, and delight to live about brooks of water, so are they accustomed to seek out for provisions, and to carry them to the places of their abode; on which account they were nor improper creatures for God to employ upon his service. To suppose, as some have done, that the ravens, being unclean birds, (Lev 11:15,) would defile and render unclean the food they brought, is to mistake the meaning of the law in that case. The flesh of unclean animals was not to be eaten by the Israelites; but their touch, while living, communicated no ceremonial uncleanness either to food or any thing else: for asses and camels were also unclean, and yet the Jews constantly used them for carrying provisions, as well as for other purposes.
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 vv3–4 Brook Cherith - Rather, “the torrent course,” one of…
Brook Cherith - Rather, “the torrent course,” one of the many which carry the winter rains from the highlands into that stream.
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 vv3, 4, 6, 7 Carith, between Samaria and the Jordan. It was a…
Carith, between Samaria and the Jordan. It was a torrent or valley. (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 vv2, 6 the word of the Lord came unto him, saying,…
the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, &c.--At first the king may have spurned the prediction as the utterance of a vain enthusiast; but when he found the drought did last and increase in severity, he sought Elijah, who, as it was necessary that he should be far removed from either the violence or the importunities of the king, was divinely directed to repair to a place of retreat, perhaps a cave on "the brook Cherith, that is, before [east of] Jordan." Tradition points it out in a small winter torrent, a little below the ford at Beth-shan.
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 vv3, 4, 6, 7 3. Hide thyself — “Elijah’s escapes from the hands…
3. Hide thyself — “Elijah’s escapes from the hands of his enemies, and his departures into unknown places, are faint resemblances of the mysterious vanishings of our Lord after he had delivered some of those Divine messages which excited the anger of the people. Luk_4:29; Joh_8:59; Joh_10:39. Compare the promise to the Church of God. Rev_12:6-14.” — Wordsworth.
The brook Cherith — This was some mountain stream running into the Jordan; but what was its locality, and whether on the east or west side of the Jordan, is unknown. Dr. Robinson makes it identical with Wady el Kelt, which rises amid the hills of the wilderness of Judea, and runs through the Jordan plain near Jericho. Others have suggested other streams on either side of the Jordan, but nothing sufficient has been brought forward to settle the question. Local traditions have uniformly placed it on the west of the river.
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 vv2–7 2. came unto him] The LXX. explains that it…
2. came unto him] The LXX. explains that it was ‘unto Elijah,’ which could hardly be doubted from what follows.
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 vv3–4 (3) The brook Cherith—properly “the torrent (or valley) Cherith,…
(3) The brook Cherith—properly “the torrent (or valley) Cherith, facing the Jordan;” evidently one of the ravines running into the Jordan valley; probably on the east from the prophet’s own land of Gilead.
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 vv2–7 And the word of the Lord came unto him,…
And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying cf. ver. 8; 1Ki_18:1 1Ki_21:17; 2Ki_1:3
Vers. 2-6.
Read full note →
Resources of Providence.
When the heavens are shut up by the word of the Lord, what will become of the prophet who declared that word? Will he not suffer from the drought in common with the sinners on whose account the dew and rain are restrained? Will he not be exposed to the rage of an idolatrous king and queen whose humbled gods cannot, in this crisis, vindicate themselves? Will not a demoralized populace resent their sufferings upon the man of God? God knows all, and is equal to all, emergencies.
I HE HAS RESOURCES FOR THE PROTECTION OF HIS SERVANTS.
1. He could defend Elijah in the midst of his enemies.
(1) The power that had shut up the heavens could surely do this. The elemental fire which now scorched the earth, He could cause to fall upon the heads of any who would threaten his servant. (See 2Ki_1:10-15)
(2) Without recourse to violence, he could dispose the hearts of men to respect His messenger, as afterwards He did. (See chap. 18.) But this was not now His way.
2. He has also places of refuge for His servants.
(1) If there be a valley secluded from human intrusion God knows it. In the courses traversed by the brook Cherith Elijah may safely hide. These recesses lay "eastward" from Samaria, where probably the prophet had encountered the king; and eastward from the Jordan, for this is the import of the phrase "before Jordan." Probably this seclusion was in his own wild district of Gilead.
(2) Ahab will not suspect that Elijah is here; for how could he possibly subsist in such a desolate region. Water he might find in the streams of the mountains; but where can he get bread from bald rocks in time of drought? (Mat_13:5, Mat_13:6)
3. Into such asylums He can guide His saints.
(1) "The word of the Lord" came to Elijah. Christ is that Word. (Joh_1:1-14) He was the MEMRA of the Targums that personal Word, who "appeared" to patriarchs and prophets. (See Gen_15:1:28:20) He will be ever with his people guiding them into safety.
(2) "The word of the Lord came unto him saying., " or expressing His wisdom in human vocables. To Elijah the direction was, "Get thee hence," etc. To all He comes in the promises and precepts of holy Scripture.
(3) Those who believe and obey God"s Word, as Elijah did, are in safe keeping. They need never fear the combinations of wickedness against them.
II HE HAS RESOURCES ALSO FOR THEIR SUPPORT.
1. Their water is sure. "Thou shalt drink of the brook.
(1) There was refreshment for the body. The stream of that brook continued to flow for a whole year. Such is supposed to be the import of ( days, when there is nothing to limit it (as in ver. 7, marg.; see also ver. 15, marg.; Gen_4:8)
(2) His soul meanwhile was refreshed, as, by faith, he realized the wells of salvation which flow from the Word of the Lord, (See Psa_46:4; Joh_4:14 Joh_7:37-39; Rev_22:17)
2. Their bread shall be given. "I have commanded ravens to feed thee there.
(1) What an unlikely thing! Ravens were unclean creatures. (Lev_11:15) They are insect-feeding, carrion-eating birds, themselves fed by special providence of God. (See Job_38:41; Psa_147:9)
(2) Yet God could do it; for the instincts of all creatures are in His hands. He restrained hungry lions from harming Daniel; instructed a fish how to behave to Jonah; and another to lift a piece of silver from the bottom of a lake and then fasten upon a hook. "Is anything too hard for the Lord?
(3) But would He do it? Would He employ an unclean creature to feed His servant? He might have His own reasons even for this. Elijah sustained for three years and a half in the wilderness was a type of the Christian Church nourished by the word of God for three and a half prophetic years. (Rev_12:6, Rev_12:14) Babylon the great, from whose face the Church had to fly, was the mystical Jezebel, as the true Church was the mystical Elijah. But in this Church the destruction of clean and unclean creatures had no place. (See Act_10:15, 28 15:7-11) Might not this gospel have been foreshadowed in the manner in which Elijah was fed?
3. But is it certain that ravens were employed?
(1) He might have been fed by Arabians! For the word ( translated "ravens" also denotes Arabians. (See it so used in the singular, Isaiah Jer_3:2; Neh_2:19; and in the plural as here. (2Ch_21:16 2Ch_22:1) And Gilead bordered upon that tract of country more especially described in Scripture as Arabia.
(2) Or he might have been fed by merchants. For this word also designates merchants. (See Eze_27:9, Eze_27:27) If Israelitish merchants supplied the prophet"s needs, then probably would they be of the seven thousand who scorned to bow the knee to Baal, (1Ki_19:18) and so would not discover his hiding place to Ahab.
(3) Or he might have been sustained by certain inhabitants of Oreb, a rocky place beyond Jordan. (See Jud_1:7:22; Isa_10:26) This opinion is favoured by Jerome, who says, "The Orbim, inhabitants of a town on the confines of the Arabs, gave nourishment to Elijah." (See more in A. Clarke.)
(4) Whether by ravens, Arabians, merchants, or people of Oreb or Orbo, matters little; God can spread a table in the wilderness. He can give us the bread of the day in the day and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening." Necessary things are sure; luxuries we may dispense with. The greatest luxury to the wise and good is the feast upon the spiritual food which accompanies faithful obedience to God (Joh_4:32-34) J.A.M.
Vers. 2-4.
Strange Provision in a Sad Necessity.
The miracles associated with the ministry of Elijah and Elisha have led some to deny the historical credibility of the Books of Kings. It should be remembered that great miracles were rendered necessary by a great and general apostasy. It was essential to the survival of true faith that Jehovah should indicate His unseen sovereignty. In Israel such attestation was more required than in Judah, where the sanctuary and the priesthood, in the worst times, testified for God. This passage sets before us
I Silent suffering.
II Divine deliverance.
III Restful retreat. Each of which points we will consider.
I SILENT SUFFERING is implied by all that we know of the prophet"s circumstances. The famine he had foretold had come; and he shared the privations of the people. Others might have kindness shown them, but there was none for this man. Regarded as the cause of the calamity, he was an accursed outcast. Upon such a temperament the steady persistent pressure of hunger and hatred would tell severely. He would feel pity for others for the poor dumb beasts, for the innocent children and would be tempted to ask, "Was I right in praying for this, and bringing this woe on the people?" Meantime he was himself suffering the rigours of famine, and no chariot of fire came to bear him away from the desolated land. Like Samson, it seemed as if he had shaken the house, and was bringing destruction on himself as well as on the idolaters. Yet not a word of complaint. He was sustained by the conviction that he had done fright, and that God would see to the issues. Apply the teaching from this to occasions on which men are still called upon to do God"s will, to utter God"s truth, regardless of consequences. Sometimes we are able to "count the cost," and then we should do so. But often this is impossible. The love of Christ may constrain us to do, or to say, something which will place us in unexpected difficulties. Illustrate by Peter"s zeal, which prompted him to step out of the boat upon the sea. He was terrified at a result he had not taken into calculation; but he was perfectly safe, for he was going towards Christ. Exemplify by instances from ordinary lifee.g., an assistant in business refuses to tell a lie, or to act one, and loses his situation. A daughter confesses her love to Christ, and finds her home a place of torment, etc. The one thing that can support us in such circumstances is the humble, yet confident, conviction that we have done what God willed, And often from those straits He delivers us in the most unexpected way, before we ask Him, as He delivered Elijah.
II DIVER DELIVERANCE.
1. It was unexpected. No one would have imagined, and some cannot now credit the means adopted. The ravens have been a sore offence to critics. Discuss some of their theories that they were merchants, Arabians, etc. The difficulties are not removed by the interpretations suggested, nor do they seem warranted by the text. Had men brought food to the hidden prophet, Ahab would soon have discovered his whereabouts; nor would they be likely to bring food twice daily, when a store might have been conveyed with only one risk. The supernatural is always startling, but to those who reject materialism it is not incredible. If God notices a sparrow fall, and if diseases obey Him, as soldiers obey their general, (Mat_8:8-10) this feeding by the ravens might well be. God often uses strange instruments to effect His purposes. Give examples from Scripture and history. Even the plans and the deeds of the wicked are under His control. All things work His will.
2. It was revealed. "The word of the Lord came to him." It comes to us. Sometimes the inward impulse after prayer impels us to take God"s way; and sometimes all other paths are closed, and of the one left open Providence says, "This is the way, walk in it." Are we seeking to know God"s will about ourselves? Are we concerned that our way should be His choice, and not our own? "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
III RESTFUL RETREAT. Describe the wild ravine of the Kelt, which Robinson and Stanley identify, with some probability, as the Cherith. The precipitous rocks, in places 500 feet high, the caverns in the limestone, in one of which the prophet hid, etc. Such a man needed quiet. He had it afforded to him again in Horeb. No great activity for God can be worthily sustained without much waiting on Him. In this retreat Elijah had two sorts of provision.
1. Daily bread. It is only that which we are taught to expect, and pray for. The daily reception of blessing teaches us our constant dependence. The manna fell every morning, and could not be hoarded for the future. Daily strength, too, is given for daily duties.
2. Quiet communion. All nature would speak to Elijah of his God. The brook would whisper of the water of life; the birds would celebrate the care of God, etc. In the world around him, in secret converse with his own heart, and in earnest prayer to the God of Israel, before whom he stood, Elijah would get refreshment and strength for coming conflict and conquest. Refer to the invalid, to the aged, to the little children, as those to whom God gives a time of quiet, to prepare them for the future service.
1. Expect God"s deliverance whenever you are in the path of duty.
2. Be content that God should work in His own way.
3. Seek to have a spirit of contentment, and a heart that is "quiet from the fear of evil. A.R.
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 vv2, 6 The word of the Lord came unto him.
1Ki_17:2-7
The word of the Lord came unto him.
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The word of the Lord
We have in our theme a suggestion of the Divine guidance. The word of the Lord as a guide comes to the man of prayer. I suppose Elijah was greatly disappointed at the message which came to him. He had the heart of a soldier, and he grieved at the idolatry which he saw everywhere. But it was the best thing for Elijah and for the cause. We have a case like it in the New Testament where Philip, who was a very popular preacher and was enjoying great success, was suddenly instructed by word of the Lord to leave where he was and go away into the desert, It must have been a great disappointment to Philip, a severe cross for him to bear. But Philip obeyed, and it was on that journey that the treasurer of Queen Candace came driving by, and the word of the Lord again indicated to Philip his duty. Then Philip knew why the word of the Lord had guided him as it had. So Elijahs great soul was burning to tear down the idols of Baal and Ashtaroth; but the time was not yet ripe, and God was saving the prophets life and giving the bold message he had uttered time to work by guiding him away into the wilderness. God went with Elijah into the wilderness, and long afterwards he knew the wisdom of Heaven. The word of the Lord, if we are obedient to it, will work while we are hidden. No doubt Elijah, if he had used his own judgment, would have backed up the Lords message day after day with his own big body and his own ringing voice. But it was not the time for that. God used Elijah for His message, and he delivered it well. He acted promptly and faithfully, and with perfect courage, and then, against his own judgment, he followed the word of the Lord and went into hiding and into silence. (L. A. Banks, D. D.)
Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward.--
Beside the drying brook
I. Gods servants must learn to take one step at a time. Our Father only shows us one step at a time--and that, the next; and He bids us take it in faith. If we look up into His face, and say: But if I take this step, which is certain to involve me in difficulty, what shall I do next? the heavens will be dumb, save with the one repeated message, Take it, and trust Me. But directly Gods servant took the step to which he was led, and delivered the message, then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Get thee hence, hide thyself by the brook Cherith. So it was afterwards: Arise, get thee to Zarephath.
II. Gods servants must be taught the value of the hidden life. Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith The man who is to take a high place before his fellows, must take a low place before his God; and there is no better manner of brining a man down, than by dropping him suddenly out of a sphere to which he was beginning to think himself essential, teaching him that he is not at all necessary to Gods plan; and compelling him to consider in the sequestered vale of some Cherith how mixed are his motives, and how insignificant his strength. Every saintly soul that would wield great power with men must win it in some hidden Cherith. A Carmel triumph always presupposes a Cherith; and a Cherith always leads to a Carmel. We cannot give out unless we have previously taken in. Bishop Andrewes had his Cherith, in which he spent five hours every day in prayer and devotion. John Welsh had it--who thought the day ill-spent which did not witness eight or ten hours of closet communion. David Brainerd had it in the woods of North America, which were the favourite scene of his devotions. Christmas Evans had it in his long and lonely journeys amid the hills of Wales. Fletcher of Madeley had it--who would often leave his classroom for his private Chamber, and spend hours upon his knees with his students, pleading for the fulness of the Spirit till they could kneel no longer. Or--passing back to the blessed age from which we date the centuries--Patmos, the seclusion of the Roman prisons, the Arabian desert, the hills and vales of Palestine, are for ever memorable as the Cheriths of those who have made our modern world.
III. Gods servants must learn to trust God absolutely. We yield at first a timid obedience to a command which seems to involve manifest impossibilities; but when we find that God is even better than His word, our faith groweth exceedingly, and we advance to further feats of faith and service. This is how God trains His young eaglets to fly. At last nothing is impossible. This is the key to Elijahs experience. There is strong emphasis on the word there. I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. Elijah might have preferred many hiding-places to Cherith; but that was the only place to which the ravens would bring his supplies; and, as long as he was there, God was pledged to provide for him. Our supreme thought should be: Am I where God wants me to be? Only trust Him!
IV. Gods servants are often called to sit by drying brooks. Cherith began to sing less cheerily. Each day marked a visible diminution of its stream. Its voice grew fainter and fainter, till its bed became a course of stones, baking in the scorching heat. It dried up. What did Elijah think? Did he think that God had forgotten him? Did he begin to make plans for himself? This would have been human; but we will hope that he waited quietly for God, quieting himself as a weaned child, as he sang, My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him. Many of us have had to sit by drying brooks; perhaps some are sitting by them now--the drying brook of popularity, ebbing away as from John the Baptist. The drying brook of health, sinking under a creeping paralysis, or a slow consumption. Tim drying brook of money, slowly dwindling before the demands of sickness. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Gods care of Elijah
I. God suits his workmen to their work. To the hospital He sends a nurse; to the battlefield, a soldier; to penitence and sorrow, a son of consolation; to wickedness and brutality, a son of thunder. Such was this rude, stern, volcanic Tishbite as he comes to the rescue of his country; to champion a cause that seemed lost; to stand alone against a huge and dominant iniquity; to challenge Ahab and Jezebel in the palace of their licentious pleasure, in the citadel of their idolatrous power. He came like the flash of a scimitar, uttered his appalling message, voiced the wrath of the Almighty, and was gone.
II. The prophet vanished, but the drought remained. We know little of the horror of a rainless year. Our seasons come and go, and the bounteous heaven waters the bounteous earth, until we cease to associate plenty, beauty, and life itself with the unfailing rain. But to an Oriental dwelling on the deserts verge, where food is a precarious question of moisture, and bread a problem in irrigation, rain is life; the clouds drop fatness. A rainless sky is a heaven of brass, and an unwatered earth an earth of iron. At first there was no alarm. The farmers sowed their seed in hope, the caravans trailed toward the horizon. But the rains were late. Anxious eyes scanned the western sky, the streams became gravel beds, the wells were drained, the vineyards withered in the burning sun. The temples resounded with prayers to Baal, and great pillars of smoke rose to heaven from the altars of Ashtaroth. At last, from out the fiery furnace, Israel raised a cry of despair; and from the king in the palace to the beggar by the,wayside came one common, desperate inquiry, Where is Elijah the Tishbite?
III. When God undertakes to hide a man we may be sure he will be well concealed, Elijah was sent to a secluded ravine east of Samaria, through which the brook Cherith still rippled to the Jordan. There he lived, solitary but safe, an idle but not a useless prophet. When God sends a man into retirement and inactivity let him not think that he is set aside. In the Divine purpose and plan, as poor blind Milton discovered and sang--
They also serve who only stand and wait.
(M. B. Chapman.)
Elijah and the famine
I. A great national calamity. A nation without rain or dew for three years and a half! And, it is said in the next chapter, there was a sore famine in Samara. National panics are to be regarded as steps in the demonstration of some great problem of government which Almighty God is working out for the advancement and sanctification of the world.
II. The care of Divine Providence. The calamities which befall nations visit also the people of God who dwell in them. The tares and the wheat grow up together; and if the tares are withered for lack of moisture, the wheat suffers from the same cause. As a principle, God does not exempt His people from their share of national calamity and sorrow. But, although He permits His people to suffer in the midst of a general visitation, He never forgets or forsakes them. Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Elijah had his part in the national distress, but the Lord remembered His servant. The modern history of Gods providence furnishes many instances of suit and service rendered to His people by the animal creation, scarcely less wonderful than the supply of Elijah by ravens. I will relate one. Far up in one of the Highland glens, lived a poor but pious woman named Jenny Maclean. One day when her food was almost exhausted, and she was intending to take a journey to get a fresh supply, a heavy snowstorm came on. Never had been seen in that locality such a constant and heavy fall, with such deep snow-drifts. When the heavens at last became clear, the whole face of the country seemed changed. It was some time before the thought suddenly occurred to a shepherd, What has old Jenny been doing all this time? No sooner was her name mentioned than she at once became the theme of general conversation. But for many days, such was the state of the weather, that no mortal feet could wade through the snow-wreaths, or buffet the successive storms that swept down with blinding fury from the hills. Jenny was given up as lost. At last, three men resolved, on the first day that made the attempt possible, to proceed up the long and dreary glen, and search for Jenny. They reached a rock at an angle where the glen takes a turn to the left, and where the old womans cottage ought to have been seen. But nothing met the eye except a smooth, white sheet of glittering snow, surmounted by black rocks; and all below was silent as the sky above. No sign of life greeted the eye or ear. The men spoke not a word, but muttered some exclamations of sorrow. Suddenly one of them cried, She is alive! for I see smoke. They pushed bravely on. When they reached the hut, nothing was visible except the two chimneys; and even these were lower than the snow-wreath. There was no immediate entrance but by one of the chimneys. A shepherd first called to Jenny down the chimney, and asked if she was alive; but before receiving a reply, a large fox sprang out of the chimney, and darted off to the rocks. Alive! replied Jenny, but thank God you have come to see me! I cannot say come in by the door; but come down--come down. In a few minutes her three friends easily descended by the chimney, and were shaking Jenny warmly by the hand. O woman! said they, how have you lived all this time? Sit down, and I will tell you, said old Jenny, whose feelings now gave way in a fit of hysterical weeping. After composing herself, she continued, How did I live? you ask, Sandy? I may say just as I have always lived, by the power and goodness of God, who feeds the wild beasts. The wild beasts, indeed! replied Sandy, drying his eyes; did you know that a wild beast was in your house? Did you see the fox that jumped out of your chimney as we entered? My blessings on the dear beast! said Jenny, with fervour. May no huntsman ever kill it! and may it never want food in summer or winter! The shepherds looked at one another by the dim light of Jennys fire, evidently believing that she had become slightly insane. Stop, lads, she continued, till I tell you the story. I had in the house, when the storm began, the goat and two hens. Fortunately, I had fodder gathered for the goat, which kept it alive, although, poor thing, it has had but scanty meals. I had also peats for my fire, but very little meal. Yet I never lived better, and I have been able besides to preserve my two bonnie hens for summer. I every day dined on flesh meat too, a thing I have not done for years before; and thus have I lived like a lady. Where did you get meat from? they asked. From the old fox, she replied. The day of the storm he looked into the chimney, and came slowly down, and set himself on the rafter beside the hens, yet never once touched them. He every day provided for himself and me too. He brought in game in abundance for his own dinner--a hare almost every day--and what he left I got, and washed, and cooked, and ate, and so I have never wanted. Now that he is gone, you have come to relieve me. Gods ways are past finding out! said the men, bowing down their heads with reverence. Praise the Lord! said Jenny, Who giveth food to the hungry. This incident was related by an old clergyman who attended Jennys funeral. How much like the supply of Elijah by the brook Cherith! Why are we surprised almost to scepticism at such facts?
III. The exercise of human sympathy. It came to pass, after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. The continued drought and heat of the sun gradually lessened the stream; it dried to a narrow thread; then that narrow thread dwindled and disappeared, and Elijah was left by the brook, with no prospect before him but to perish, unless the Lord interposed to save him. The Lord did interpose; and mark how--The word of the Lord came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath.
IV. The reward of cheerful generosity. Elijah found the widow gathering sticks to dress her last handful of meal for herself and son, that they might eat it and die. Elijah said unto her, Fear not. The word of the Lord comes to us with a promise similar in principle. The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth shall be watered himself. That is Gods principle of recompense still. He that hath pity on the poor lendeth to the Lord, and that which he hath given will He pay him again. If that is true, if the Word of the Lord is to be relied on, then no man is the poorer for what he gives to the poor. Lending to the Lord, the Lord becomes his creditor: and surely He may be trusted with our deposits. As good Matthew Henry says, What is laid out in charity or pity, is lent out on the best interest, upon the best security. (J. H. Wood.)
Elijah at Cherith
I. Men must be prepared to accept the consequences of their obedience to God. We do not always see such consequences, and when they come upon us they very often find us unprepared to meet them. Obedience to God often exposes men to hatred, scorn, ridicule, opposition, inconvenience, loss of trade, loss of liberty, and even life itself. But when we chose Gods service we chose these consequences, and when they come they should not deter us from our duty. Daniel, when he knew that the law was passed, condemning to the lions den any who should pray except to the king for thirty days, went into his chamber and prayed as aforetime. Peter and John determined to obey God rather than man, notwithstanding the threat of stripes and imprisonment.
II. That God makes provision for the exigencies into which obedience to the Divine commands may bring His servants. He imposes no task but He provides strength for its accomplishment. Whatever may be the consequences of their obedience, He will not leave His servants to meet them alone.
III. This provision is frequently not made known to the obedient until their need is pressing. When the drought comes upon the land, God will not forsake His people; but His voice shall be heard directing them to Cherith, where their need shall be amply provided for. (The Study and the Pulpit.)
Elijah at Cherith
I. The uncertainty of earthly comforts. When Elijah went to Cherith under the direction of God, he would never dream of that brook becoming exhausted. What a picture of human life this is! How many there are of whose worldly comforts it may be said: After a while the brook dried up. One man is settled in life, with circumstances all that could be desired, and he contemplates the future with pleasure; but, unexpectedly something arises--bank failure, or commercial crisis--which tells him that the brook is dried up, and he has to leave his Cherith. Another looks with pride and hope upon a child--his pleasure and joy flow from that child--but, unnoticed, disease settles upon it and takes it away. After a while the brook dried up. And so with earthly comforts. They are uncertain, and do not warrant the eagerness with which they are sought or the value with which they are invested.
II. The certainty of Gods care. Though the water of the brook failed, Gods care was not exhausted. He had made provision for Elijah at Zarephath before He commanded him to leave Cherith. Decay and change may characterise all our earthly comforts, but they do not characterise God; He remains the same, and His care can never fail.
III. Godly generosity shall not lose its reward. Whosoever even giveth a cup of cold water to a disciple, in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward. (The Study and the Pulpit.)
It was the water that failed, not the ravens
. It was the natural, not the supernatural, provision that came to an end. That for which the prophet looked upward morning and evening continued steadily. That which had been flowing at his feet all day long began suddenly to diminish. When a trouble comes straight from heaven we are more likely to see Gods hand in it, and to submit patiently and trustfully. When, however, the trouble seems to come quite naturally, we are tempted to look at secondary causes, and to forget that God is behind them all (F. S. Webster, M. A.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v7 1Ki_17:7; 1Ki_18:19.
ELIJAH AT SAREPTA
1Ki_17:7; 1Ki_18:19.
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"The rain is Gods compassion."
-MOHAMMED
THE fierce drought continued, and "at the end of days" even the thin trickling of the stream in the clefts of Cherith was dried up. In the language of Job it felt the glare and vanished {Job_6:17} No miracle was wrought to supply the Prophet with water, but once more the providence of God intervened to save his life for the mighty work which still awaited him. He was sent to the region where, nearly a millennium later, the feet of his Lord followed him on a mission of mercy to those other sheep of His flock who were not of the Judaean fold.
The word of the Lord bade him make his way to the Sidonian city of Zarephath. Zarephath, the Sarepta of St. Luke, the modern Surafend, lay between Tyre and Sidon, and there the waters would not be wholly dried up, for the fountains of Lebanon were not yet exhausted. The drought had extended to Phoenicia, but Elijah was told that there a widow woman would sustain him. The Baal-worshipping queen who had hunted for his life would be least of all likely to search for him in a city of Baal-worshippers in the midst of her own people. He is sent among these Baal-worshippers to do them kindness, to receive kindness from them-perhaps to learn a wider tolerance, and to find that idolaters also are human beings, children, like the orthodox, of the same heavenly Father. He had been taught the lesson of "dependence upon God"; he was now to learn the lesson of "fellowship with man." Traveling probably by night both for coolness and for safety, Elijah went that long journey to the heathen district. He arrived there faint with hunger and thirst. Seeing a woman gathering sticks near the city gate he asked her for some water, and as she was going to fetch it he called to her and asked her also to bring him a morsel of bread. The answer revealed the condition of extreme want to which she was reduced. Recognizing that Elijah was an Israelite, and therefore a worshipper of Jehovah, she said, "As Jehovah thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but (only) a handful of meal in the barrel, and a little oil in the cruse." She was gathering a couple of sticks to make one last meal for herself and her son, and then to lie down and die. For drought did not only mean universal anguish, but much actual starvation. It meant, as Joel says, speaking of the desolation caused by locusts, that the cattle groan and perish, and the corn withers, and the seeds rot under their clods.
Strong in faith Elijah told her not to fear, but first to supply his own more urgent needs, and then to make a meal for herself and her son. Till Jehovah sent rain, the barrel of meal should not waste, nor the cruse of oil fail. She believed the promise, and for many days, perhaps for two whole years, the Prophet continued to be her guest.
But after a time her boy fell grievously sick, and at last died, or seemed to die. So dread a calamity-the smiting of the stay of her home, and the son of her widowhood-filled the woman with terror. She longed to get rid of the presence of this terrible "man of God." He must have come, she thought, to bring her sin to remembrance before God, and so to cause Him to slay her son. The Prophet was touched by the pathos of her appeal, and could not bear that she should look upon him as the cause of her bereavement. "Give me thy son," he said. Taking the dead boy from her arms, he carried him to the chamber which she had set apart for him, and laid him on his own bed. Then, after an earnest cry to God, he stretched himself three times over the body of the youth, as though to breathe into his lungs and restore his vital warmth, at the same time praying intensely that "his soul might come into him again." His prayer was heard; the boy revived. Carrying him down from the chamber, Elijah had the happiness of restoring him to his widowed mother with the words, "See, thy son liveth." So remarkable an event not only convinced the woman that Elijah was indeed what she had called him, "a man of God," but also that Jehovah was the true God. It was not unnatural that tradition should interest itself in the boy thus strangely snatched from the jaws of death. The Jews fancied that he grew up to be servant of Elijah, and afterwards to be the prophet Jonah. The tradition at least shows an insight into the fact that Elijah was the first missionary sent from among the Jews to the heathen, and that Jonah became the second.
We are not to suppose that during his stay at Zarephath Elijah remained immured in his chamber. Safe and unsuspected, he might, at least by night, make his way to other places, and it is reasonable to believe that he then began to haunt the glades and heights of beautiful and deserted Carmel, which was at no great distance, and where he could mourn over the ruined altar of Jehovah and take refuge in any of its "more than two thousand tortuous caves." But what was the object of his being sent to Zarephath? That it was not for his own sake alone, that it had in it a purpose of conversion, is distinctly implied by our Lord when He says that in those days there were many widows in Israel, yet Elijah was not sent to them, but to this Sidonian idolatress. The prophets and saints of God do not always understand the meaning of Providence or the lessons of their Divine training. Francis of Assisi at first entirely misunderstood the real drift and meaning of the Divine intimations that he was to rebuild the ruined Church of God, which he afterwards so gloriously fulfilled. The thoughts of God, are not as man's thoughts, nor His ways as man's ways, nor does He make all His servants as it were "fusile apostles," as He made St. Paul. The education of Elijah was far from complete even long afterwards. To the very last, if we are to accept the records of him as historically literal, amid the revelations vouchsafed to him he had not grasped the truth that the Elijah-spirit, however needful it may seem to be, differs very widely from the Spirit of the Lord of Life. Yet may it not have been that Elijah was sent to learn from the kind ministrations of a Sidonian widow, to whose care his life was due, some inkling of those truths which Christ revealed so many centuries afterwards, when He visited the coasts of Tyre and Sidon, and extended His mercy to the great faith of the Syro-Phoenician woman? May not Elijah have been meant to learn what had to be taught by experience to the two great Apostles of the Circumcision and the Uncircumcision, that not every Baal-worshipper was necessarily corrupt or wholly insincere? St. Peter was thus taught that God is no respecter of persons, and that whether their religious belief be false or true, in every nation he that feareth Him and doeth righteousness is accepted of Him. St. Paul learnt at Damascus and taught at Athens that God made of one every nation of men to dwell on the face of the earth, that they should seek God if haply they might feel after Him and find Him, though He be not far; from every one of us.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v2 1Ki_17:3. Hide thyself by the brook Cherith—He should “hide,”…
CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
1Ki_17:3. Hide thyself by the brook Cherith—He should “hide,” in order to escape alike the king’s violence and importunities; also to allow his words to vindicate themselves as true, and give men time to learn their need of him and his God. Cherith—Site unknown. Various conjectures have attempted to locate it, but all is uncertain. Its obscure site indicates its great security as a hiding place.
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1Ki_17:4. I have commanded the ravens—עֹרְבִים, which some, on account of these birds being legally “unclean,” and notably voracious, have interpreted Arabians. The word is so used in Exo_27:2-7; 2Ch_21:16; Neh_4:17. Others regard the word as pointing to the inhabitants of Orbo, near by the supposed brook. Michaelis, objecting to the supernatural altogether, suggests that Elijah was merely told to feed himself from the raven’s nest, by plundering them of the game they seized!
HOMILETICS OF 1Ki_17:2-7
THE TEACHINGS OF SOLITUDE
ELIJAH had become the most popular man in Israel. His strange, abrupt entrance upon the scene, and the terrible import of his message, tended to fasten all eyes upon him, and to raise him into a position of personal importance. But it was a popularity not to be envied. It was full of peril. It raised up a number of enemies. It was perhaps a temptation to the prophet himself. God called him away into retirement, and amid the rocky solitudes of Cherith, with its solitary brook, he was to learn lessons of humility, of patience, and of faith.
I. Solitude affords protection from threatened peril. “Hide thyself by the brook Cherith” (1Ki_17:3). The enraged and deluded Ahab clamoured for the life of the loyal prophet, and the fawning parasites of Jezebel would fain have torn him in pieces. They ransacked every imaginable hiding-place in the kingdom, but in vain. They are well hid whom God doth hide. Moses fled to Midian from the fury of the Egyptians, and was safely lodged there for forty years. David found shelter from the malice of Saul among the fastnesses of Engedi; John the Evangelist, from persecution, in the Isle of Patmos; Luther, from his enemies, in the lonely castle of Wartburg, in the Forest of Thuringia; Tyndale, the first translator of the English Bible, was a fugitive in hiding at Marburg, Worms, Antwerp, and Cologne; John Knox, the Scottish Elijah, was several years a prisoner in the French galleys; and the great prophet of Gilead is sent to Cherith for safety and for culture. The faithful worker for God is scathless till his work is done.
II. Solitude is relieved by special manifestations of Divine care. “And the ravens brought him bread and flesh,” &c. (1Ki_17:6). These words record an undoubted miracle, and there are fewer difficulties in believing the miracle than in trying to explain the transaction on natural grounds. The miracle is all the more impressive that ravens, the most voracious of birds, are the unfailing purveyors of the prophet. Since the raven is a carrion bird, and a devourer of all manner of dead flesh, some have wondered how Elijah could eat without scruple all that was brought to him; but they absurdly assume that ravens miraculously sent by Divine command would bring what was common or unclean. “When men disobey,” says Wordsworth, “God reproves them by the obedience of the inferior creatures. The old world disbelieved God’s warnings by Noah, and would not go into the ark, and so perished in the flood; but the inferior animals went in and were fed there. Balaam was rebuked for his disobedience by the ass on which he rode. The disobedient prophet (chap. 1Ki_13:26) was slain by the lion which God sent from the forest, and which spared the ass and the carcase of the prophet. The disobedience of Ahab and Israel was rebuked by the obedience of the ravenous birds in bringing food to Elijah. Jonah fled from God, and God sent the whale to bring him back to prophesy against Nineveh. The lions spared Daniel when his colleagues would have slain him. Christ was with the wild beasts in peace (Mar_1:13) when He was about to be rejected by mankind.” Jehovah has all nature under His control, and it is an easy thing for Him to make it minister to the necessities of His tried and faithful servants. He who provides meat for the fowls of the air will make the fowls of the air provide meat for man, rather than his dependence on God shall be disappointed.
III. Solitude often severely tests the genuineness of our faith (1Ki_17:7). A period of enforced inactivity is most difficult to endure, especially to an ardent nature. Why am I doomed to this gloomy solitude? what good purpose can it serve? Time, opportunities, strength to labour, are all passing away unimproved. Ought I not to break away from this tedious imprisonment, and rush at once into the conflict that on every hand demands the stalwart arm and the enter-prizing soul? Is there no testimony to bear, no work to be done, no warfare to wage? Such are the questions sometimes asked by the solitary recluse. The restraint tries our faith, while on the other hand faith generates strength to bear the strain. Nor is a time of retirement without its suffering. “It came to pass that the brook dried up.” The lessening flow of the life-giving stream and its final exsiccation was an additional trial of faith and source of suffering. It is in extremity that our faith becomes more daring, and yields the most solid comfort. “Good bye, dear Lucy,” said a drowning youth to his betrothed, after they had both held on to the last possible point of endurance to a piece of the floating wreckage of a foundered steamer; “we shall soon meet in heaven!”
IV. Solitude is an opportunity for mental and moral discipline. It was to Elijah a time of deep and pensive musing. He thought of God, on whose bounty he was so absolutely dependent. He thought of Israel, its delusions, its vices, its sufferings, its needs. He thought of himself and the work to which he was called. He strove to rectify defects, and sought to brace himself up for the conflict before him. He discovered the true source of his strength, and was enabled more completely to consecrate his whole being to the service of God. Most public men have their Cheriths of retirement and preparation. When the disciples of our Lord returned from their first mission, and reported all they had done and taught, He said unto them, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile” (Mar_6:30-31). In this way temptations to pride and self-sufficiency are conquered, and lessons of humility and self-abasement are learnt. “The sufficiency of my merit,” said Augustine, “is to know that my merit is not sufficient.”
“The bird that soars on highest wing
Builds on the ground her lowly nest;
And she that doth most sweetly sing,
Sings in the shade when all things rest.
Nearest the throne itself must be
The footstool of humility.”—Herbert.
LESSONS:—
1. The withdrawal of a public instructor is a calamity to a nation.
2. Solitude is fraught with trial and sorrow.
3. Seasons of solitude should be diligently improved.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1Ki_17:2-7. Characteristics of a child-like faith.
1. It accepts the Word of God without questioning (1Ki_17:2).
2. It flinches not in the presence of the severest demands (1Ki_17:3).
3. It is not staggered by apparent improbabilities (1Ki_17:4).
4. It is prompt in obedience (1Ki_17:5).
5. Enjoys the fulfilment of the Divine promise (1Ki_17:6).
6. Fails not when most severely tried (1Ki_17:7).
—Elijah at Cherith.
1. Men must be prepared to accept the consequences of their obedience to God. We do not always see such consequences, and when they come upon us they very often find us unprepared to meet them. Obedience to God often exposes men to hatred, scorn, ridicule, opposition, inconvenience, loss of trade, loss of liberty, and even life itself. But when we choose God’s service we choose these consequences, and when they come they should not deter us from our duty.
2. That God makes provision for the exigencies into which obedience to the Divine commands may bring His servants. He imposes no task, but He provides strength for its accomplishment. Whatever may be the consequences of their obedience, He will not leave His servants to meet them alone. He goes before His people, providing for their necessities—strength in weakness and temptation, light in darkness, comfort in sorrow, consolation in bereavement, hope in death.
3. This provision is frequently not made known to the obedient until their need is pressing. It is after we have entered upon our chosen path of duty, and the difficulties begin to appear, that God reveals the provision He has made to enable us to meet them. It is when the darkness gathers around us that the light of heaven appears. When the drought comes upon the land, God will not forsake His people; but His voice shall be heard directing them to Cherith, where their need shall be amply provided for.—The Study and Pulpit.
1Ki_17:3. Obscurity.
1. Repugnant to some men.
2. Sometimes the appointment of God.
3. Necessary for self-discipline.
4. A means of safety.
—Even that God sends him to hide his head who could as easily have protected as nourished him. He that wilfully stands still to catch dangers tempteth God instead of trusting Him.
—“Get thee hence, and hide thyself.” A hard word for a heroic man like Elijah, who had threatened the king and the whole people, and must now flee and expose himself to scorn and contempt. Going away often requires more self-denial than remaining. Every man who has done anything great in the kingdom of God has passed a long time in retirement and solitude. But to every faithful Christian also the command has come, hide thyself, go into the stillness and solitude. The hidden man of the heart, with soft, still spirit, does not thrive in the perpetual tumult and babbling noise of the world. There is no man who has not felt the need of some time and place to collect his thoughts, and to be alone with his God; they who avoid such are not fit for the kingdom of God.—Lange.
1Ki_17:5. He went in faith along the hard, dark path into the wilderness, as a genuine son of Abraham, the father of all the faithful, who knew that without faith it is impossible to please God, and that man can offer to God no higher and nobler homage than to believe in His promises. Who so chooses the dear God, and always hopes in Him, him will He sustain wonderfully in all need and affliction (Psa_4:4; Psa_147:5). Go whithersoever thou wilt, means shall not fail thee, thy deed is pure blessing, thy course pure light.—Menken.
1Ki_17:6. Divine Providence.
1. Cares for the most solitary.
2. Has absolute control over all supplies.
3. Never disappoints the believer.
4. May sometimes make use of ravens—i.e., abandoned and godless men—to help the children of God.
1Ki_17:7. Faith tried.
1. By the gradual failure of that on which life depends.
2. By the suffering caused by privation.
3. By the uncertainty of the future.
4. Is ever rewarded by timely relief.
—The prophet feels the smart of this drought which he had denounced. It is no unusual thing with God to suffer his own children to be in wrapped in the common calamities of offenders. He makes difference in the use and issue of their stripes, not in the infliction. The corn is cut down with the weeds, but to a better purpose.—Bp. Hall.
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.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v2 1 Kings
1 Kings
A PROPHET’S STRANGE PROVIDERS
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1Ki 17:1 - 1Ki 17:16.
The worst times need the best men. The reign of Ahab brought a great outburst of Baal worship, imported by his Phoenician wife, which threatened to sweep away every trace of the worship of Jehovah. The feeble king was absolutely ruled by the strongwilled Jezebel, and everything seemed rushing down to ruin. One man arrests the downward movement, and with no weapon but his word, and no support but his own dauntless courage, which was the child of his faith, works a revolution in Israel. ‘Among them that are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than’ Elijah the Tishbite. Bugged, stern, solitary, he has no commission to reveal new truth. He is not a ‘prophet,’ like later ones whose words were revelation.
Little is preserved of his sayings. His task was to reform and restore, not to advance; and his endowments of ‘spirit and power’ corresponded to his work. The striking peculiarities of this heroic figure will appear as we go on with his history. For the present, we have to consider the three points of this narrative.
I. The Prophet and the King.-The startling suddenness of Elijah’s leap into the arena, where he appears without preface or explanation, helps the impression of extraordinary force which his whole career makes. He crashes into the midst of Ahab’s court like a thunderbolt. What did Jezebel think of this wild man from the other side of Jordan, with his long hair and his loose mantle, who thus fronted Ahab and her? Nothing is told us of his descent; it is even questionable whether the reading which calls him ‘the Tishbite’ is correct. We only know that he was of Gilead, and therefore used to a ruder, freer, simpler life than that in kings’ palaces.
The natural conclusion from the narrative is that the prophet and the king had never met before; and, if so, the stern brevity of the threat is even more remarkable. In any case, the absence of explanation of reasons for the drought, or of credentials of Elijah, or of offers of mercy on condition of repentance, give a peculiarly grim aspect to the message, and make it a dangerous one to carry to such a hearer as Ahab, stirred up by Jezebel. When God commands us to speak, no thought of peril must make us dumb. If the ‘word of the Lord’ is to sound from our lips with power, it must first have absolute sway over ourselves. One man with God at his back, who fears nothing, can work marvels.
God’s servant is men’s master. The vision of God’s Presence paled the splendour, and blunted the perils, of the court of Samaria. Ahab was but a poor puppet in the sight of eyes that ‘saw the Lord sitting on His throne, high and lifted up.’ So the very first words of Elijah lay bare the secret spring of his fiery energy and courage. ‘Before whom I stand,’-that is the thought to put nerve, daring, and disregard of earth into a man.
James’s comment on this incident assumes that the declaration to Ahab followed earnest prayer that it might not rain, and that the ‘word’ which should end the drought was also prayer. The truest lover of his country or of any men may sometimes have to wish for losses and sorrows. Elijah did not open and shut the heavens, but his prayer had power to move the Hand that ‘openeth and no man shutteth.’
II. The Prophet and the Ravens.-One would like to know how Elijah made his escape from Ahab; but the whole story is marked by sudden appearances and disappearances. He flashes into sight and flames for a moment, and then is swallowed up in the dark again. The exact position of the brook Cherith is doubtful. It would seem most natural to look for it across Jordan, as safer and more familiar ground to Elijah than any of the tributaries on the western side. At all events, somewhere among the savage rocks in some wady with a trickle of water down it, and rank vegetation that would help to hide him, he lurked for an indefinite period, alone with God.
Why did he flee? Not only for safety, but that the period of the drought might be prolonged till it had done its work, and that the prophet might learn more lessons for his calling. Good Obadiah would have made a place for the chief of the prophets in his caves; but the man who is to do work like Elijah’s must live in solitude. Cherith was part of the training for Carmel. The flight thither was as much an act of obedient faith as was the appearance before the king. However the necessity of flight was impressed on the prophet, it was impressed on him as manifestly not his own plan, but God’s command; and though the journey was a weary one, and the appointed place of refuge inhospitable, the command was unhesitatingly obeyed. He was not left to wonder how he was to be fed when he got there, but God gave him, what He seldom gives-a previous assurance of miraculous provision, which obviously met some unspoken thought. We do not usually know how we are to be fed in the solitude till we get there; but if our doubting hearts object, ‘But, Lord, there is nothing at Cherith but a brook and some ravens,’ He sometimes gives us assurance that these will be enough. Whether or no, the duty is the same,-to follow God’s voice, whether it take us face to face with Ahab and Jezebel or into the wild gorge.
Note that the same words are employed about the ravens and the widow: ‘I have commanded the. . . to feed thee.’ God has ways of reaching the mysterious animal instinct and the mysterious human will, and each, in its own way, obeys. It is needless to try to pare down the miracle by saying that, of course, ravens would haunt the water-courses in drought, and that the food which they brought might be for their young, and so on. The daily regularity of the supply takes it out of the natural category, to say nothing of the remarkable breed which the ravens must have been of, if they brought their young ones’ food within reach and let the prophet take it.
People take offence at the abundance of miracles in the lives of Elijah and Elisha, and assert that some of them, this among the rest, are for unworthily trivial occasions. But the grave crisis in Israel is to be taken into account, which involved the necessity for unusual manifestations of divine power, and very evident credentials for the prophets; and the preparation of Elijah for his tremendous struggle was, even to our eyes, surely an adequate end for miracle. How could he doubt that God had sent him and would care for him, with such memories as those of his winged purveyors? How could he doubt future words which should come to him, when he recalled how marvellously this one had been fulfilled? The silence of the ravine, the long days and nights of solitude, the punctual arrival of his food, would all tend to weld his faith into yet more close-knit strength. If we may so say, it was worth God’s while to work miracles, to make Elijah. The highest end of creation is the production of God-fearing men. All things serve the soul that serves God.
III. The Prophet and the Widow.-The little stream that came down the wady dried up ‘after a while’; and Elijah, no doubt, would wonder what was to be done next, as he saw it daily sending a thinner thread to Jordan. But he was not told till the channel was dry, and the pebbles in its bed bleaching in the sun. God makes us sometimes wait on beside a diminishing rivulet, and keeps us ignorant of the next step, till it is dry. Patience is an element in strength. It was a far cry from Cherith to Zarephath, right across the kingdom of Ahab; and to run for refuge to a dependency of Zidon, Jezebel’s country, looked like putting his head in the lion’s mouth. But the same ‘command’ which the ravens had obeyed had smoothed his way.
So he girded up his loins, and left, no doubt reluctantly, the brook for a city. How his heart would bow in adoring thankfulness, when the first person he saw outside the little ‘city’ was ‘the widow’! He knew her; did she know him? The natural interpretation of 1Ki 17:9 is that, at the time when God spoke to Elijah, he had already ‘commanded’ the woman. But the despondent tone of her answer seems against that idea; and perhaps we are to suppose that, just as the ravens were commanded and knew not by whom, so this woman received the command, when she saw the travel-stained and gaunt stranger, through her womanly impulses of compassion, not knowing who moved them nor what she did when she sheltered the man whose life was, at that moment, the most important in the world. The motions of pity and charity are of God, and He commands us to help when He sets before us those who need help.
The whole incident was a lesson to the prophet. He might well have thought that God had sent him to a strange helper in this poor widow with her empty cupboard; and it must have taken some faith on his part to reassure her with his cheery ‘Fear not!’ The prediction of the undiminishing stores demanded as much faith from its speaker as from its hearer.
It was a lesson in faith for the woman too. Her use of the phrase ‘the Lord thy God’ may imply some inclination to the worship of Jehovah, and so there may have been a little glimmer of faith in her; but she was full of sorrow and despair, and yet willing to help the stranger with the ‘little water in a vessel,’ though the ‘morsel of bread in thine hand’ was beyond her power. Elijah’s apparently selfish demand that his wants should be looked after first was a test of her faith. Sometimes self-denying duty is made clearly imperative on us, before we hear the promise which, believed, will make it easy. They who have ears to hear the command, and hearts to obey, even if it seem to strip them of all, will soon hear the assurance that secures abundance. The barrel would have been empty by nightfall, if the meal in it had been used for the woman and her son. The continuance of supply depended on her obedience, which, in its turn, depended on faith in the prophet as a messenger of God. ‘There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth.’ The use of earthly goods for God’s service may not be rewarded with the increase of them; but, if the barrel is not kept full of meal, the heart will be kept full of peace, which is better. No sacrifice for God is ever thrown away. He remains in no man’s debt.
The incident has a further bearing, as an instance of a divine benediction resting on heathendom. The synagogue at Nazareth pointed that lesson for us. Elijah and the widow both learned that the God of Israel is the God of all the earth, and that His prophets have a mission to every race. The woman rebuked, by her pity and self-denying benevolence, the prejudices of Israel; the prophet foreshadowed, by his familiar abode with one won from idolatry to the worship of God, the universal aspect of the Jewish religion, and its destiny to overleap the narrow bounds of the nation. Charity and pity have no geographical limits. Much less can the love of God and the light of His revelation be bounded by any narrower circle than the circumference of the world.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2, 5 The word of Yahweh came
The word of Yahweh came
This idiom means God spoke. See how you translated this in 1 Kings 6:11. AT: "Yahweh spoke his message" (See: Idiom)
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Kerith
This is the name of a very small stream. (See: How to Translate Names)
It will happen that
This phrase is used to introduce how Yahweh will take care of Elijah during the drought. AT: "There"
ravens
large, black birds (See: Translate Unknowns)
translationWords
word of God
Jordan River
command
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 v2 17:2-7 Kerith Brook provided a haven for Elijah during…
17:2-7 Kerith Brook provided a haven for Elijah during the divinely instituted drought (see 18:10). The supply of food and water assured Elijah of God’s protection. • When Elijah’s source of water dried up, a change of location was necessary.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.