In chapter 10, we reviewed how God instructed Israel to love the “stranger, the fatherless and the widow” as himself and to treat them generously, and in chapter 11, we saw how this integration work could work in practice. But unfortunately, a recurring criticism from the prophets was that Israel unfortunately did not treat these three vulnerable groups very well. In this chapter we will see how God therefore turns the tables and, on the contrary, allows a foreign widow with a fatherless boy to become a blessing for a fleeing Israelite.
During a time of Israelite apostasy, the prophet Elijah suddenly appears out of nowhere. Elijah prophesies that there will be a severe drought in Israel and is forced to flee for his life. God therefore sends Elijah to the brook Cherith to hide him there while working on Elijah’s character:
“2 And the word of the Lord came to him:3 “Depart from here and turn eastward and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. ”
(1Ki 17:2-3)
Although the exact location of the Cherith stream is not known, this story gives us a glimpse of what it can mean to flee for our lives and how God can use that situation to show care and help us grow deeper in our faith. Every morning and every evening, God provides Elijah with bread to eat and water to drink with the help of ravens.
The name “Cherith” means “to cut off” or “to chop”, which could mean that God had the opportunity to shape and refine Elijah by working on his negative and destructive character traits.
Elijah had quickly become a well-known prophet in the land, and by hiding Elijah by a brook, God teaches Elijah the importance of being alone with God. Perhaps Elijah would have preferred to continue preaching to the people and telling them about God’s plan for Israel, but at the brook Elijah learns that working for God must never be more important than living with God.
If we look at Elijah’s stay at Cherith as a symbolic place where every believer can be alone with God, then the bread symbolizes the Bible and the water the Spirit. Every morning and every evening it is useful and good for every person who wants to serve God to be still in solitude and be filled with God’s Word through the Bible and be filled with God’s Spirit through prayer.
Moreover, in a time of drought, Elijah had to sit by a stream of water. In this way, God taught Elijah to depend on God for his provision.
It must have been a difficult test for Elijah to maintain his trust in God’s providence as he watched the brook slowly but surely dry up. But Elijah persevered, trusting that God would eventually reveal something new when the time was right.
It is probably no coincidence that Jesus compares streams of water to the Holy Spirit. Anyone who wants to work for God needs to find their own hidden place where they can be alone with God and draw strength. God uses the time alone at the brook to teach Elijah even more about being a servant of God.
But even though God knew His plan for Elijah, He didn’t tell him everything at once, but let Elijah know one thing at a time. Only when Elijah obeyed God and went to Cherith did he learn the next step.
Even today, God leads us step by step, letting us know one thing at a time. This can be very frustrating, but it leads us to depend on God and we must learn to trust in his care.
What would have happened if we had known God’s whole plan in advance? Probably we would have backed out because we didn’t feel we could handle something that big.
It is also often only in retrospect that we can see how wonderfully God has led us all along. It is often only when we look back on our lives that we realize that many of the difficulties we went through were actually good for us and made us grow in our faith and learn to trust in God more. But if we had known them beforehand, we might not have dared to go when God called.
When a person is persecuted in their own country and forced to flee, it can be difficult to see God’s plan and care. But if you ask God to be with you in your flight, God can use the situation for something positive down the road. When Elijah, the man of God, flees Israel and comes to Zarephath in Sidon, we get another example of how God can use a flight for something positive:
“8 Then the word of the Lord came to him,9 “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.”
(1Ki 17:8-9)
At just the right time, when it was time for Elijah to move on, God told Elijah to go to a Gentile widow in Sidon, an area north of Israel in present-day Lebanon.
Life was very difficult for widows in Biblical times. With children to support and care for, but without a husband to work and earn money, life was very tough. Add to that the fact that there was a drought, and most people understand that this widow was not even able to feed her own son, let alone Elijah:
“12 And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.”
(1Ki 17:12)
But in this way, God shows Elijah that God can use whomever he wants to do whatever he wants. We humans, who often look outwardly, would probably have passed this widow by and never given her a chance. But God, who saw her heart, knew that she may have nothing to offer, but that she was willing to serve God if only he would make it possible.
In the same way, we humans should be careful not to look only at appearances when judging whether a person is capable of doing this or that. Since power and blessing come from God, it makes no difference whatsoever whether we are humanly weak or strong. What matters is the attitude of our hearts and whether we are ready to serve God or not.
God blesses the widow in that when the prophet Elijah stays with her, God miraculously provides her with flour and oil to bake bread:
“13 And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’ “15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. 16The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.”
(1Ki 17:13-16)
But, in the midst of all the miraculous blessings that the widow had received from God, she is struck by an unimaginable tragedy when her son dies of illness.
The death of the widow’s son was a double tragedy that affected not only the boy but also, by extension, the widow, since he was her guarantee of support in her old age.
The widow blames herself and her own sin for her son’s death and is angry with Elijah because she believes that he has somehow made God punish her for her sin.
It’s easy to blame yourself and your own sin when you are struck by horrors. But not everything negative that happens to us is automatically a punishment from God, even though it may feel that way sometimes.
If it suddenly starts raining, does that mean it was God who sent the rain, or was it the Devil who sent the rain, or is it raining because it’s autumn? Sometimes it’s hard to know.
But Elijah is dismayed by the death of the widow’s son and does the only thing he can do; cries out his despair to God! The dilemma that Elijah and the widow face is really the Theodicy problem: “How can a good God allow evil?” The answer to that question is not given, but a good instruction on how to deal with tragedy is; namely, to cry out in despair to God. Although God did not answer why the boy died, he did allow a miracle to happen by bringing him back to life:
“22 And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. ”
(1Ki 17:22)
From the prophet Elijah we learn that God is with us and provides what we need when we flee for our lives, when we leave our homeland, when there is drought and famine.
We also learn that when Israel breaks the covenant with God the most, when they oppress the stranger, the fatherless and the widow, it is instead a foreign widow with a fatherless boy who takes care of God’s prophet. Finally, we also learn that God can turn a poor widow from a stranger into a great blessing. God can use anyone he wants for his purposes, and we should not count anyone out just because they don’t seem to be able to contribute much on the surface. With the right attitude, all people can be used by God.
You have read a free chapter of my book Friend of Strangers. If you like this book, please consider purchasing the ebook through Amazon. Since English is not my native language, there may be some linguistic inaccuracies. Please contact me if you find any.
Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.