It was the work of Elijah, the Prophet, to be a witness for the true God and the power of His word at a time of general apostasy in Israel. Ahab was the king, and: "[He] did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him." (1 Kings 16:33)
When he was at the very height of his sinful course, Elijah came to him with this message: "As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." (1 Kings 17:1)
From another scripture we learn that this is an illustration of the power of prayer: "Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months." (James 5:17)
When the prophet said, "but according to my word," it was not a self-assertive boasting of his own power; but in answer to his prayer of faith, the Lord had entrusted him with His own word of power to speak, and thus did it become his word.
Distinguishing Sign of the True God
The giving, or the withholding of rain is one of the ways by which the true God is made known as distinguished from false gods. "Are there any among the vanities of the heathen that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? are not You He, O Lord our God?" (Jeremiah 14:22,RV) "Nevertheless He left not himself without witness, in that He did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness." (Acts 14:17)
Thus did God, in His tender mercy, preach the Gospel of His mercy and His righteousness, and call the attention of all the people to himself as the only true God, through the prophet Elijah, when the people were being led away into idolatry through the wickedness of Ahab.
It is through the ministry of the rain that the Lord usually provides food for the people, for: "The rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not thither, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater." (Isaiah 55:10)
But when the necessities of the case render it desirable, the Lord can just as easily provide food in some other way; and so when He told Elijah to hide himself "by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan," (1 Kings 17:3) He said: "I have commanded the ravens to feed you there." (1 Kings 17:4)
This method seems miraculous to us simply because it is a departure from God's usual methods, unless perchance we have failed to recognize the direct agency of God in providing us with daily food. He feeds us just as truly as He fed Elijah by the brook, but usually it is in cooperation with our efforts, for which He supplies the power, that the result is obtained.
Great Power Through Weak Instruments
The channels used through which to supply food to Elijah are suggestive of God's ability to use the most dependent instrumentalities with which to accomplish His purpose. The ravens cannot supply themselves with food: "Who provides for the raven his food?" (Job 38:41) "He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry." (Psalm 147:9) "They neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them." (Luke 12:31)
So also the widow woman was by her very circumstances more dependent than the one whose husband might be expected to provide for the needs of the household. But by using such instrumentalities as these to feed the prophet Elijah, God is proclaiming the fact that: "[He] has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the things which are mighty," (1 Corinthians 1:27) and shows His ability to accomplish His purpose. The prophet of God, through whose word the rain was stayed, and through whose word it came again, was himself thirsty and needy of water, and like any other man, he asked the favor of a drink. He said to the woman: "Fetch me, I pray you, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink." (1 Kings 17:10)
In like manner, many years afterward, "a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people," (Luke 24:19) himself the giver of the water of life, said to a woman, "Give me to drink." (John 4:7)
Thus do power and weakness touch each other, and thus is the power of God magnified through weakness.
Food From the Word
It was by the word of the Lord that there came to be meal in the barrel and oil in the cruse in the first place, for: "He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that He may bring forth food out of the earth; And wine that makes glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengthens man's heart." (Psalm 104:14-15)
It is by the power of the same word, making the earth to bring forth the annual increase, that meal is kept in the world's barrel throughout the year, and that famines are averted. But people forget this because they see the grain growing in the fields, and so comparatively few receive it as the direct gift of God. They eat by sight rather than by faith.
In the case of the widow woman it was purely by faith, her faith in the word of the Lord to her through the prophet Elijah, "the barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail." (1 Kings 17:14)
Thus while the Lord was preaching the Gospel of His power and righteousness to His own people by withholding His usual blessings, on account of their departure from Him, He was by the same prophet proclaiming the same Gospel of His power and righteousness among the heathen, and offering special blessings to be received through faith in His word.
The Saviour himself cited this experience of Elijah with the widow woman, when the unbelief of the people of His own city prompted the question: "Is not this Joseph's son? And He said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country." (Luke 4:22-23)
Happy are those who, like the widow of Zarephath, receive the word of the Lord, the message of His own power to save, without stumbling at the messenger, and so learn to live by the word. For, "man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." (Luke 4:4)--Present Truth, June 30, 1898--Notes on the International Sunday-School Lessons--1 Kings 17:1-16
E.J. Waggoner