Elijah is directed by God to go to Zarephath 

Posted on

Elijah is directed by God to go to Zarephath    

sermon 1 Kings 8 : Jean-Gabriel Hammerschlag, 2023_11_25, AB Lausanne church

title : Elijah is directed by God to go to Zarephath 

Elijah is directed by God to go to Zarephath 

Reminder :

During the first stage of our journey we saw the prophet Elijah:

– announce God’s judgment on the kingdom of Israel through a severe drought of indefinite duration.

– This judgment came at a time when Ahab, king of Israel, who had turned away from the Lord to adopt the pagan cults of his wife Jezebel to the Baals and Astarte, wanted to lead all the people into his idolatry, with the aim to irritate and provoke God.

  • God put Elijah his prophet away from the king’s desire for vengeance and had him fed by ravens for weeks, even months, near an isolated temporary stream.

1Kings 17:7 But after a while the stream dried up, because no rain had fallen in the land.

  • God allows Elijah’s solitary experience to last until his last day before revealing to him the rest of His plan.
    • Elie observed day after day the gradual drying up of the torrent until it became completely dry, but
    • he did not, however, show any doubt as to God’s faithfulness towards him; the faithfulness of God will not have failed a single day.

1 Kings 17:8-16

8 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying:

9 Get up and go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I commanded a widow there to feed you.

10 He got up and went to Zarephath. As he came to the entrance of the city, behold, there was a widowed woman gathering wood. He called him, and said, Go and fetch me, I pray thee, some water in a vessel, that I may drink.

11 And she went to get some. He called him again, and said, Bring me, I pray thee, a piece of bread in thine hand.

12 And she said, As the LORD your God lives; I have nothing cooked, I only have a handful of flour in a pot and a little oil in a jug. And, behold, I will gather two pieces of wood, and I will go in and prepare it for myself and for my son; we will eat, after which we will die.

13 Elijah said to him, Do not be afraid, go home, do as you have said. Only, first prepare me a little cake with this, and you will bring it to me; you will then make some for yourself and for your son.

14 For thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: The flour in the pot shall not fail, nor the oil in the pitcher, until the day the LORD sends rain. on the face of the ground.

15 She went and did according to the word of Elijah. And for a long time she had enough to eat, she and her family, as well as Elijah.

16 The flour that was in the pot did not fail, nor the oil that was in the pitcher diminished, according to the word that the LORD spoke through Elijah.

1. The choice of obedience of Elijah and the widow of Zarephath

We remain, in today’s text, in events of a private nature which concern God and three people.

1Kings 17:

8 Then the word of the LORD came to him, saying:

9 Get up and go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and stay there. Behold, I commanded a widow there to feed you.

10 He got up and went to Zarephath.

God ordered Elijah to settle permanently (move)

  • outside Israel, outside his homeland which is so dear to him,
  • certainly also, away from the searches of King Ahab (small town of Zarephath),
  • but very close to the heart of the idolatrous cults of the Baals and Astarte (Sidon), who led the kingdom of Israel astray away from the God of their fathers (rulers and people), or in the midst of people practicing a cult that Elijah had in horror. This could have upset him. This feeling may have crossed his mind but did not influence his choice.

However, encouraged by his first experience near the torrent of Kerith where the ravens sent by God fed him twice a day without delay or interruption,

  • Elijah chose to obey God again without delay and without discussion.
    • he chose to continue to trust God.

Approaching Zarephath, Elijah will discover that God has prepared everything in detail:

  • he already meets and recognizes at the entrance to the city this widowed woman (whom he sees for the first time) to whom God has specially ordered to feed him from now on, upon his arrival and for an indefinite period,
  • she is prepared to welcome him and she gives him a drink,
  • she agrees at the first request to give up the little food she had left to give it to the prophet of the Lord on the faith of the promise of an incredible miracle,
  • Elijah asks her to cook exactly as she is used to doing it (she is going to do what she knows how to do, that is enough to be in service for God: otherwise He Himself will train us); the change from habit is that the small daily reserve of flour and oil will be renewed each time, after its use; (as in the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves accomplished by Jesus Christ, the little brought by a young boy made it possible to satisfy a crowd of thousands of men).

The widow chose to deny herself out of obedience to God and through faith in God’s promise through the word of Elijah, also choosing to obey with a nascent faith, without understanding everything, but already with a faith active. Was it not said by the prophet Samuel:

1Sam 15:22 Samuel said, Does the LORD delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obedience to the voice of the LORD? Behold, obedience is better than sacrifice, and the keeping of his word is better than the fat of rams.

Mt 6:31 Therefore do not worry, and say not, What shall we eat? what will we drink? what will we be dressed in?

32 For all these things the Gentiles seek. Your Heavenly Father knows you need it.

33 Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things will be added to you.

Rom 10:20 And Isaiah is bold enough to say: I have been found by those who did not seek me, I have manifested myself to those who did not ask me.

2. Sharing God’s grace

This widow was cited as an example by the Lord. It foreshadows the scope of God’s grace through Jesus Christ to all humanity (Jews and non-Jews). And Elijah discovers that this widow, a stranger, that God has

chosen and associated with its own survival, is for the benefit of the same

solicitude, and with the same grace as him.

Luke 4:25 Truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the earth;

26 and yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, except to a widowed woman, to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon. Elijah the prophet (servant of God) and the widow of Zarephath (young in the faith) both show here:

  • immediate obedience to God’s orders,
  • a faith in the promises of God, 
  • a peaceful patience: the silence of the patient waiting of faith, 
  • courage, in the face of threats from King Ahab (new risk for the widow).

Elijah experienced at Zarephath, outside Israel, the perfect faithfulness of the Lord his God:

  • he is safe from the evil intentions of King Ahab and his soldiers, who will not be able to find him for almost 3 and a half years,
  • day after day he receives the cakes prepared by the widow for him, as well as for her and her son. The reserves for a single meal will miraculously renew themselves until the rain and harvest return.
  • By faith, he affirms the reality of God’s faithfulness to the widow and her son throughout the drought,
  • God here showed his prophet His perfect sovereignty over everything and everyone.
  • He spent 3 more years in the Lord’s school, which prepared him for a ministry of intense spiritual combat.

3. Want what God wants

1.Kings 17:17 -24 Elijah resurrects the son of the widow of Zarephath

1.Kings 17:17   
After these things, the son of the woman who was the mistress of the house became sick, and his illness was so severe that he no more breathing remained in him.

18 Then the woman said to Elijah, What have I to do with you, man of God? Have you come to me to remember my iniquity, and to put my son to death?

19 He said to him, Give me your son. And he took him from the woman’s womb, and took him up to the upper room where he dwelt, and laid him on her bed.

20 Then he called upon the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, wouldst thou afflict even this widow, to whom I was received as a guest, to the death of her son?

21 And he lay upon the child three times, and called upon the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let the soul of this child return within him.

22 The LORD heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child returned within him, and he was restored to life.

23 Elijah took the child, and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said: See, your son lives.

24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.

After these things: this expression is found around ten times in the historical books of the OT, it introduces important, happy or difficult facts.

1.Kings 17:17 After these things the son of the woman who was the mistress of the house became sick, and his illness was so severe that there was no breathing left in him.

Here, this important and difficult fact is the devastating illness and quickly

death of the widow’s son.

Here we find the relationship between man’s suffering and sin, and

our natural legalistic tendency which seeks to associate

systematically suffering (illness, infirmities, etc., death) as

judgment of sin. Here, the widow therefore attributed the death of her son to

judgment of his sinful past at the initiative of Elijah.

We find this tendency in the speeches of Job’s three friends who

accused him of sin and who were reprimanded by God, in the account

of the man born blind healed by Jesus (John 9:1-3).

John 9:1 As Jesus passed by, he saw a man blind from birth.

2 His disciples asked him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?

3 Jesus answered, It was not that he or his parents sinned; but it is that the works of God may be manifested in him.

Elie did not discuss with the widow the origin of her suffering but

laid down without delay this too heavy burden before the Eternal Father. He has

took the child and retired to his room, an upper room (which

reminds us of the Gospels), to pray to God the Father. This reminds us

Jesus’ teaching on prayer (Matt. 6:6-8). What Elijah did

that day, did not constitute an exceptional practice but very

probably a regular meeting with his God. The death of

the child is a test for the mother but also for the prophet.

Mt 6:6 But when you pray, go into your room, and shut your door, and pray to your Father who is there in the secret place; and your Father, who sees in secret, will reward you.

7 In praying, do not multiply vain words, like the pagans, who imagine that by dint of words they will be heard.

8 Do not be like them; for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Two elements of Elijah’s prayers to God are reported to us:

20 Then he called upon the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, wouldst thou afflict even this widow, to whom I was received as a guest, to the death of her son?

21 And he lay upon the child three times, and called upon the LORD, and said, O LORD my God, I pray thee, let the soul of this child return within him.

The first element of Elijah’s prayer (v.20) asks about research

of what God wants to do in him, Elijah, as well as in the child’s mother,

what is the goal that God wants to achieve in their lives, in their hearts,

through the test that He allows: phase of elimination of obstacles;

Once the first element has been cleared and clarified, there.

The second element (v.21) of Elijah’s prayer, in this case, here the

return to life of the child, could have been the direct object of Elijah’s request.

Through this progressive approach, Elijah was able, in prayer,

wanting what God wanted and thus being granted.

Consequences for Elijah and for the widow of Zarephath:

For Elijah,

it was through the experiences permitted by the Lord God that Elijah became:

– a model man of prayer according to James, brother of the Lord Jesus Christ, Elijah was able to want what God wants, this is only possible when we stand in His presence; this presence he ardently sought

James 5:17 Elijah was a man of the same nature as we are: he prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and no rain fell on the earth for three years and six months. ;

– a messenger not only of judgments, but also of God’s grace to Jews and non-Jews.

For the widow,

it was at the end of this experience that she fully entered into faith in the Lord the God of Elijah, and that she was freed from the weight of her former sins.

1.Kings 17:23 Elijah took the child, and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said: See, your son lives.

(This is the first resurrection cited in Scripture)

24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is truth.

Ps 130:3 If you remember iniquities, O LORD, Lord, who can stand?

4. But forgiveness is with you, that you may be feared.

3. Application-conclusion

The trials we go through are permitted by our Lord

to help us grow. The Lord does not allow suffering in

our lives for no compelling reason. He wants to transform us all

likeness of His Son Jesus Christ.

When the test arises the question we have to ask ourselves and

to ask God is: what do you want to teach me about yourself, about me, what do you want

transform into me? He will answer this question.

Accepting His will in our lives will then lighten our burden.

In one of his sermons (which I listened to through a

recording), HE Alexander (founder of the AB) said in relation to

the test: Don’t say I have a difficulty, rather say I have an opportunity.

This is why let us take the time in our upper room to pray to the

for each other, without comparing ourselves, because our journeys are

different, let’s not forget anyone, let’s not forget the elders and our

pastor.

As experienced Christians or young converts, we can

each choose to walk in a path of obedience and faith in

the promises of God.

As church leaders and church members…

Reserved :

Rom 5:3 Nay, we glory even in afflictions, knowing that affliction produces perseverance,

4. perseverance, victory in trial, and this victory, hope.

5. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God is poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Hebrews 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us remain steadfast in the faith we profess.

15. For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses; on the contrary, he was tempted like us in all things, without committing sin.

16. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace, to help in our need.

Bible Passages

1 Kings (3 Kings) 8 / ASV Bible



1. Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers' [houses] of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David, which is Zion.
2. And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast, in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month.
3. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark.
4. And they brought up the ark of Jehovah, and the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels that were in the Tent; even these did the priests and the Levites bring up.
5. And king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be counted nor numbered for multitude.
6. And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah unto its place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubim.
7. For the cherubim spread forth their wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubim covered the ark and the staves thereof above.
8. And the staves were so long that the ends of the staves were seen from the holy place before the oracle; but they were not seen without: and there they are unto this day.
9. There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb, when Jehovah made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt.
10. And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of Jehovah,
11. so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah.
12. Then spake Solomon, Jehovah hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
13. I have surely built thee a house of habitation, a place for thee to dwell in for ever.
14. And the king turned his face about, and blessed all the assembly of Israel: and all the assembly of Israel stood.
15. And he said, Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, who spake with his mouth unto David thy father, and hath with his hand fulfilled it, saying,
16. Since the day that I brought forth my people Israel out of Egypt, I chose no city out of all the tribes of Israel to build a house, that my name might be there; but I chose David to be over my people Israel.
17. Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel.
18. But Jehovah said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thy heart to build a house for my name, thou didst well that it was in thy heart:
19. nevertheless thou shalt not build the house; but thy son that shall come forth out of thy loins, he shall build the house for my name.
20. And Jehovah hath established his word that he spake; for I am risen up in the room of David my father, and sit on the throne of Israel, as Jehovah promised, and have built the house for the name of Jehovah, the God of Israel.
21. And there have I set a place for the ark, wherein is the covenant of Jehovah, which he made with our fathers, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.
22. And Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of all the assembly of Israel, and spread forth his hands toward heaven;
23. and he said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee, in heaven above, or on earth beneath; who keepest covenant and lovingkindness with thy servants, that walk before thee with all their heart;
24. who hast kept with thy servant David my father that which thou didst promise him: yea, thou spakest with thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with thy hand, as it is this day.
25. Now therefore, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel, if only thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me as thou hast walked before me.
26. Now therefore, O God of Israel, let thy word, I pray thee, be verified, which thou spakest unto thy servant David my father.
27. But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded!
28. Yet have thou respect unto the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplication, O Jehovah my God, to hearken unto the cry and to the prayer which thy servant prayeth before thee this day;
29. that thine eyes may be open toward this house night and day, even toward the place whereof thou hast said, My name shall be there; to hearken unto the prayer which thy servant shall pray toward this place.
30. And hearken thou to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place: yea, hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place; and when thou hearest, forgive.
31. If a man sin against his neighbor, and an oath be laid upon him to cause him to swear, and he come [and] swear before thine altar in this house;
32. then hear thou in heaven, and do, and judge thy servants, condemning the wicked, to bring his way upon his own head, and justifying the righteous, to give him according to his righteousness.
33. When thy people Israel are smitten down before the enemy, because they have sinned against thee; if they turn again to thee, and confess thy name, and pray and make supplication unto thee in this house:
34. then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy people Israel, and bring them again unto the land which thou gavest unto their fathers.
35. When heaven is shut up, and there is no rain, because they have sinned against thee; if they pray toward this place, and confess thy name, and turn from their sin, when thou dost afflict them:
36. then hear thou in heaven, and forgive the sin of thy servants, and of thy people Israel, when thou teachest them the good way wherein they should walk; and send rain upon thy land, which thou hast given to thy people for an inheritance.
37. If there be in the land famine, if there be pestilence, if there be blasting [or] mildew, locust [or] caterpillar; if their enemy besiege them in the land of their cities; whatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness there be;
38. what prayer and supplication soever be made by any man, [or] by all thy people Israel, who shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this house:
39. then hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and forgive, and do, and render unto every man according to all his ways, whose heart thou knowest; (for thou, even thou only, knowest the hearts of all the children of men;)
40. that they may fear thee all the days that they live in the land which thou gavest unto our fathers.
41. Moreover concerning the foreigner, that is not of thy people Israel, when he shall come out of a far country for thy name's sake
42. (for they shall hear of thy great name, and of thy mighty hand, and of thine outstretched arm); when he shall come and pray toward this house;
43. hear thou in heaven thy dwelling-place, and do according to all that the foreigner calleth to thee for; that all the peoples of the earth may know thy name, to fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by my name.
44. If thy people go out to battle against their enemy, by whatsoever way thou shalt send them, and they pray unto Jehovah toward the city which thou hast chosen, and toward the house which I have built for thy name;
45. then hear thou in heaven their prayer and their supplication, and maintain their cause.
46. If they sin against thee (for there is no man that sinneth not), and thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captive unto the land of the enemy, far off or near;
47. yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land whither they are carried captive, and turn again, and make supplication unto thee in the land of them that carried them captive, saying, We have sinned, and have done perversely, we have dealt wickedly;
48. if they return unto thee with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who carried them captive, and pray unto thee toward their land, which thou gavest unto their fathers, the city which thou hast chosen, and the house which I have built for thy name:
49. then hear thou their prayer and their supplication in heaven thy dwelling-place, and maintain their cause;
50. and forgive thy people who have sinned against thee, and all their transgressions wherein they have transgressed against thee; and give them compassion before those who carried them captive, that they may have compassion on them
51. (for they are thy people, and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest forth out of Egypt, from the midst of the furnace of iron);
52. that thine eyes may be open unto the supplication of thy servant, and unto the supplication of thy people Israel, to hearken unto them whensoever they cry unto thee.
53. For thou didst separate them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be thine inheritance, as thou spakest by Moses thy servant, when thou broughtest our fathers out of Egypt, O Lord Jehovah.
54. And it was so, that, when Solomon had made an end of praying all this prayer and supplication unto Jehovah, he arose from before the altar of Jehovah, from kneeling on his knees with his hands spread forth toward heaven.
55. And he stood, and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying,
56. Blessed be Jehovah, that hath given rest unto his people Israel, according to all that he promised: there hath not failed one word of all his good promise, which he promised by Moses his servant.
57. Jehovah our God be with us, as he was with our fathers: let him not leave us, nor forsake us;
58. that he may incline our hearts unto him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his ordinances, which he commanded our fathers.
59. And let these my words, wherewith I have made supplication before Jehovah, be nigh unto Jehovah our God day and night, that he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, as every day shall require;
60. that all the peoples of the earth may know that Jehovah, he is God; there is none else.
61. Let your heart therefore be perfect with Jehovah our God, to walk in his statutes, and to keep his commandments, as at this day.
62. And the king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before Jehovah.
63. And Solomon offered for the sacrifice of peace-offerings, which he offered unto Jehovah, two and twenty thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of Jehovah.
64. The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court that was before the house of Jehovah; for there he offered the burnt-offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings, because the brazen altar that was before Jehovah was too little to receive the burnt-offering, and the meal-offering, and the fat of the peace-offerings.
65. So Solomon held the feast at that time, and all Israel with him, a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath unto the brook of Egypt, before Jehovah our God, seven days and seven days, even fourteen days.
66. On the eighth day he sent the people away; and they blessed the king, and went unto their tents joyful and glad of heart for all the goodness that Jehovah had showed unto David his servant, and to Israel his people.