Search Tools


 
And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying,
Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.
So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.
And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.
And Elijah said unto her, Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.
For thus saith the LORD God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the LORD sendeth rain upon the earth.
And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days.
And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Elijah.

New Defender's Study Bible Notes

17:9 Zarephath. Zarephath, near Sidon, was one hundred miles away, and Sidon was the homeland of Jezebel (I Kings 16:31). The Lord Jesus used this event as an illustration of God’s concern for Gentiles and of the strange rejection of God by many of His own people of Israel.


17:16 wasted not. There were numerous miracles recorded in the days of Elijah and Elisha, perhaps in response to the deep apostasy in Israel at the time. This miracle of the never-diminishing supply of food was a miracle of creation, superseding the normally impregnable physical law of conservation of matter. It was also significant in its application to a Gentile woman rather than to an Israelite. This widow of Sidon believed in the true God, and her faith was greatly rewarded, while the people of Israel had defected to Baal. The Lord Jesus Himself cited her example (Luke 4:25, 26).


About the New Defender's Study Bible