1 Kings 17 explained: Drought, Ravens and a Widow's Jar

Elijah announces a drought (v. 1)

Elijah appears with no family background and tells King Ahab that no dew or rain will come until he says so. Ahab had promoted the worship of Baal, a god people believed controlled rain and storms, so the drought is a direct challenge to Baal's claimed power.

Fed by ravens in hiding (vv. 2-7)

The LORD sends Elijah to hide by a stream east of the Jordan River, where ravens bring him bread and meat morning and evening, which is striking because ravens were scavengers counted unclean under Israel's food laws. A few scholars think the Hebrew word could mean a group of people, but most read it as birds.

A foreign widow's last meal (vv. 8-16)

When the stream dries up, Elijah is sent to Zarephath near Sidon, the homeland of Ahab's wife Jezebel and Baal's home ground, where a widow about to cook her last meal feeds him first. Her flour and oil then last through the drought, and Christians note that Jesus later pointed to her as a sign of God's care reaching outsiders (Luke 4).

The widow's son lives (vv. 17-24)

When her son stops breathing, the widow assumes she is being punished for some past wrong, and Elijah himself asks the LORD why. He stretches out over the boy and prays, the boy revives, and the woman says she now knows the LORD's word through Elijah is true.

Key verse: 1 Kings 17:24

Something to think about

When tragedy strikes, why do you think people so often wonder, as the widow did, whether they are being punished for something?