General Comments on 1 Kings 17-19 In these chapters we meet the prophet Elijah, pretty much the most famous prophet of the OT. And it is not without good reason. Elijah is one of only two OT prophets to raise the dead. He is the first prophet to go among Gentiles. He controls the weather and is miraculously sustained through drought. He humiliates prophets of Baal in a most extraordinary way, demonstrating a great deal of chutzpah in the process. He tries to overthrow the current political regime. He fasts for 40 days. He meets God on Mt. Horeb, the same place Moses did. Then, for his big finale, he goes off to heaven in a fiery chariot. Quite a record. But, despite all of this, we know nothing of his life previous to adulthood. I would guess that Elijah was under the Nazarite vow based upon his description in 2 Kings 1:8. The same Hebrew root se'ar is used in the Num. 6 description of Nazirites, but it is also used elsewhere in general to refer to hair anywhere on the body. What leads me to suspect it is indicative of a Nazarite vow on Elijah's part is that it is used in 2 Kings 1:8 as a noteworthy descriptor that sets him apart from anyone else. As soon as Ahaziah hears it was "an hairy man", he is certain it is Elijah. It therefore must mean that his hairiness is something out of the ordinary, and since he is a very high-profile prophet I would assume it is indicative of being under the Nazarite vow. However, he may have just been a really hairy guy. Since there is a considerable amount of interaction between Elijah, Ahaband Jezebel, here are the entries for Ahab and Jezebel from Easton's Bible Dictionary: Ahab - father's brother. The son of Omri, whom he succeeded as the seventh king of Israel. His history is recorded in 1 Kings 16-22. His wife was Jezebel (q.v.), who exercised a very evil influence over him. To the calf-worship introduced by Jeroboam he added the worship of Baal. He was severely admonished by Elijah (q.v.) for his wickedness. His anger was on this account kindled against the prophet, and he sought to kill him. He undertook three campaigns against Ben-hadad II., king of Damascus. In the first two, which were defensive, he gained a complete victory over Ben-hadad, who fell into his hands, and was afterwards released on the condition of his restoring all the cities of Israel he then held, and granting certain other concessions to Ahab. After three years of peace, for some cause Ahab renewed war (1 Kings 22:3) with Ben-hadad by assaulting the city of Ramoth-gilead, although the prophet Micaiah warned him that he would not succeed, and that the 400 false prophets who encouraged him were only leading him to his ruin. Micaiah was imprisoned for thus venturing to dissuade Ahab from his purpose. Ahab went into the battle disguised, that he might if possible escape the notice of his enemies; but an arrow from a bow "drawn at a venture" pierced him, and though stayed up in his chariot for a time he died towards evening, and Elijah's prophecy (1 Kings 21:19) was fulfilled. He reigned twenty-three years. Because of his idolatry, lust, and covetousness, Ahab is referred to as pre-eminently the type of a wicked king (2 Kings 8:18; 2 Chr. 22:3; Micah 6:16). Jezebel - chaste. The daughter of Ethbaal, the king of the Zidonians, and the wife of Ahab, the king of Israel (1 Kings 16:31). This was the "first time that a king of Israel had allied himself by marriage with a heathen princess; and the alliance was in this case of a peculiarly disastrous kind. Jezebel has stamped her name on history as the representative of all that is designing, crafty, malicious, revengeful, and cruel. She is the first great instigator of persecution against the saints of God. Guided by no principle, restrained by no fear of either God or man, passionate in her attachment to her heathen worship, she spared no pains to maintain idolatry around her in all its splendour. Four hundred and fifty prophets ministered under her care to Baal, besides four hundred prophets of the groves [R.V., 'prophets of the Asherah'], which ate at her table (1 Kings 18:19). The idolatry, too, was of the most debased and sensual kind." Her conduct was in many respects very disastrous to the kingdom both of Israel and Judah (21:1-29). At length she came to an untimely end. As Jehu rode into the gates of Jezreel, she looked out at the window of the palace, and said, "Had Zimri peace, who slew his master?" He looked up and called to her chamberlains, who instantly threw her from the window, so that she was dashed in pieces on the street, and his horses trod her under their feet. She was immediately consumed by the dogs of the street (2 Kings 9:7-37), according to the word of Elijah the Tishbite (1 Kings 21:19). Her name afterwards came to be used as the synonym for a wicked woman (Rev. 2: 20). It may be noted that she is said to have been the grand-aunt of Dido, the founder of Carthage. Also, I have to wonder if perhaps Elijah wasn't being a bit brash when he mocked the prophets of Baal and Ahab. And, did he overextended himself in his hopes of what the Lord commanded him to do? He received a rather terse command from the Lord, which he then turned into hopes of complete religious and political revolution. When it doesn't happen, he gets suicidally depressed. The thing is though, what he planned wasn't what the Lord planned. Which he ultimately learns at the end of chapter 19. For a prophet with such chutzpah, Elijah takes his medicine well and goes on in faithful service for the Lord. And in the subsequent chapters Elijah teaches Elisha to not make the same mistakes he made. What is the message for us today then? When you place your hopes in things that are not of the Lord and you expect them to come about, and they don't come about, you end up depressed. Who's fault is it though? It is your own fault, because you are imposing your own desires on God. If we have unrealistic expectations and we demand God provide the means to fulfil them, it simply is not going to work and we will just end up unhappy. Comments on 1 Kings 17 v1 "Elijah", the Hebrew translates literally to "the Lord is God". "the Tishbite", Elijah was probably a bedouin. "before whom I stand", the role of a prophet is to vicariously stand as a witness of and testifier for the Lord. Here Elijah explicitly spells this out. The Hebrew "nabi", commonly translated to the English "prophet" most literally translates to "spokesman". "There shall not be dew or rain", drought is a common covenant curse designed to get the people to repent, cf. Lev. 26:19-20. v3 Elijah is warned off as we later find out there is a determined effort to have him executed, cf. 18:10-12. v6 Elijah is living literally hand to mouth on divine Providence. He is experiencing firsthand the humility and faith of daily, if not hourly, dependance upon God for physical life. v7 When the natural providence of the stream fails, the divine Providence in the preceding and subsequent verses does not. v9 "get thee to...Zidon", Zidon, or Sidon, was where Jezebel was from (16:31). Jezebel is out to kill all of the prophets of the Lord, and Elijah was obviously on the top of the list as he had cursed the earth with drought. The irony is the Lord instructs him to go and hide in Jezebel's home country, someplace she obviously didn't think to look. v10-13 Elijah promises the woman that if she is selfless in this one small act the Lord will see to it that the food supply will not fail as long as the drought continues. While the woman is a Gentile, it is clear she is humble, self-sacrificing, and worships the Lord. Thus we see why Elijah was sent to her. v14 "the Lord God of Israel", note Elijah inserts "of Israel" where the woman omits it in v. 12. Elijah is emphasizing the covenant relationship Israel enjoys as well as to whom his primary ministry is aimed at. Simply a gentle reproof. v16 Elijah's words are inspired, and therefore the Lord's. Thus, the miracle is accomplished. A simple formula for prophethood. v17-24 In order to understand more clearly what is happening here, we need to consult a better translation. The KJV renders verse 18 as follows: And she said unto Elijah, 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? The JPS renders the same verse: She said to Elijah, "What harm have I done you, O man of God, that you should come here to recall my sin and cause the death of my son?" The KJV makes it seem like she is accusing Elijah of being the cause of her sons death. This isn't the case. The widow here is appealing to Elijah in an way that seems rather odd to us. In v. 12 the widow is already resigned to death by starvation for both herself and her son, so it is plain Elijah has acted as a deliverer to her. Here, she is confessing her and her son's sinfulness to him in such a manner as to make him a pillar of judgement against them, as he is a man of God. She is saying that he represents God's Justice and God's Justice has exposed her sin and slain her son. She is indirectly appealing to Elijah to once again be a deliverer, as she points out to him that she has done no harm to him, but has been his benefactor. It is his office as a prophet, a man of God, that has exposed her sins. He did not personally condemn her, his position as a representative of the Lord did. Elijah recognizes she is appealing to him to act as intercessor again and spare them from death (her allusion to her own sinfulness makes an otherwise implicit reference to spiritual death explicit). Elijah then takes the child and appeals to the Lord to restore his life using the same type of appeal on the Lord that she used on him (v. 20). Three times the appeal is made and then heard, with the child's life being restored (v. 21-22). With the son's life being restored the widow sees that his death was not in fact a result of the Lord's Justice being meted out upon her, his death was a matter of natural circumstances and not a matter of divine punishment (v. 23). The result is the widow's faith in both Elijah, herself and the Lord is confirmed (v. 24). v17 In the extremities of the famine, the widow's son falls ill and dies. During such times of famine, malnutrition and disease surely must have been rampant. v19 The child was in all likelihood still relatively young if both the mother and Elijah are carrying his body. This being the case, the mother may have seen the death of the son as a direct result of her sinfulness as opposed to the sinfulness of the child, as was the case with David and Bathsheba, cf. 2 Sam. 12:14-15. Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.