God's Care for the Widow

David was a faithful king, though sin was in his life.

David’s son, Solomon becomes king and though he has a promising start, winds up becoming more like Pharaoh than David by the end of his life.

Solomon’s son is so wicked that the kingdom fractures into two kingdoms, Israel in the north, and Judah (where David’s descendants continue to reign despite their wickedness)

By the time we arrive at this chapter we have already been introduced to the wicked king of the northern kingdom of Israel, Ahab. He has began to worship, and even built a temple for Baal in Samaria.

Who is Baal?

Baal was the Canaanite storm god and bringer of rain. His worshipers recognized him as sustaining the fertility of crops, animals, and people. He was worshiped by sacrifices, and sexual acts in his temple.

Worshipers of Baal believed that water, food, and life came from Baal.

1 Kings 17:1 NIV

1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.”

Right away YHWH has declared war on Baal. Who is more powerful? We’ll see by watching the weather. Who will provide water and food and life? We’ll see by looking at what happens.

1 Kings 17:2–4 NIV

2 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah: 3 “Leave here, turn eastward and hide in the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan. 4 You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there.”

1 Kings 17:5–6 NIV

5 So he did what the Lord had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there. 6 The ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the brook.

So who is the author of life in this story? YHWH! He supplies what Elijah needs! Not Baal!

Eventually the sin of Ahab and those who worship Baal catches up with the area that Elijah is staying. But God will provide for him once again, and will do so in a way that shows he truly is the author of life.

1 Kings 17:7–9 NIV

7 Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 9 “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.”

Where is Zarephath?

By looking at this map it is very clear that this is not just an accident that Elijah winds up in Zarephath. YHWY sends Elijah out of Israel and into Gentile territory, in the region of Sidon in Phoenicia. This is a mission that God has called Elijah to outside of Israel!

1 Kings 17:10–14 NIV

10 So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” 11 As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.” 12 “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.” 13 Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. 14 For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’ ”

Notice that God does not undo the consequences of sinful actions, but he can protect those in the middle of the storm if they will put their trust in him. It doesn’t mean you will be comfortable, or that we won’t suffer. But he promises this woman that she will be ok. She will have enough. So will this woman have faith? Will this widow in a Gentile nation have more faith than the king of Israel?

1 Kings 17:15–16 NIV

15 She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. 16 For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

It is not Baal that provides life, it is YHWH!

But does this woman believe? We’re not told. But this next sign from Elijah seals the deal.

1 Kings 17:17–24 NIV

17 Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. 18 She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” 19 “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. 20 Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” 21 Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!” 22 The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. 23 Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!” 24 Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

This woman now fully believes something that the king of Israel does not believe. Do you see what’s happening here? God’s own people and leaders do not believe, yet this gentile impoverished widow and orphan do.

This is a case of God’s provision for the lowly (as he calls his people to do over and over again,) and we see these “wrong people” having faith when the “right people” do not.

But now I want to take you to Luke’s Gospel and the ministry of Jesus.

Jesus is teaching in the synagogue in his own home town of Nazareth. It’s almost certain that this town and this synagogue are full of Mary & Joseph’s family. Jesus is preaching to the hometown crowd at the family reunion and they don’t like what he is saying (which we’ll talk about what that message means the third Sunday in January). Jesus uses the scrolls of Kings to make a point to them.

Luke 4:24–27 NIV

24 “Truly I tell you,” he continued, “no prophet is accepted in his hometown. 25 I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. 26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. 27 And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian.”

Jesus was indicating that the prophets never seemed to be able to have their words accepted by their target audience. They were sent to Israel and Judah, and to the kings of those places (mostly.) Think of the great prophets who proclaimed the Word of God and were almost always rejected. Yet those who shouldn’t (or at least the most unlikely) respond in droves!

If the “wrong kind of people” keep responding to the Gospel you’re doing something right. And we so often target “the right crowd,” don’t we? We wonder why the rich, affluent, quasi-Bible believing people just don’t seem that interested in the Gospel. And at the same time the church often ignores everyone else.

What Luke will show us throughout his Gospel, and through Acts is that the Kingdom of God and the Gospel of Jesus is for everyone! And the ones that accept and the ones that reject will probably surprise you!

God pays attention to the widow, the orphan, the foreigner, the poor, the Gentile, the outcast…and its time we as servants of Jesus do the same. And nothing…distance, time, comfort, tradition…nothing should keep us from our mission.

Our God is the author of life, and proved it in many ways, but the most telling is when he raised Jesus from the dead.

God has given you new life, and eternal life through his Son. What are you willing to do, where are you willing to go, and what are you willing to give up in order to share that new life with others?