“I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when … there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath.”
Luke 4:25-26
In the middle of a famine, the prophet Elijah went to a widow preparing to make her last meal before she and her son starved to death. Then Elijah spoke good news: “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” (1 Kings 17:14). And it was so!
In God’s beautiful plan, He sent Elijah to a widow who was not even an Israelite. God’s blessings flowed beyond His chosen people and still do. Generations later, Jesus pointed out that there were many widows in Israel, but God purposely sent Elijah to this non-Israelite one. God worked in and through a Gentile, just as He is often pleased to work through you and me.
Then Elijah brought the woman’s son back to life, stretching out on him three times, crying out to God for his life. The whispers of what was to come in God’s redemptive plan are not lost on us… a son raised to life, the stretching out as on a cross, the three times like three days. As the widow now believed the word of the Lord, many also believed when Jesus rose.
In God’s beautiful plan, He sent Elijah to a widow who was not even an Israelite. God’s blessings flowed beyond His chosen people and still do. Generations later, Jesus pointed out that there were many widows in Israel, but God purposely sent Elijah to this non-Israelite one. God worked in and through a Gentile, just as He is often pleased to work through you and me.
Then Elijah brought the woman’s son back to life, stretching out on him three times, crying out to God for his life. The whispers of what was to come in God’s redemptive plan are not lost on us… a son raised to life, the stretching out as on a cross, the three times like three days. As the widow now believed the word of the Lord, many also believed when Jesus rose.
Scripture Focus
1 Kings 17:1-24
Insight
FAVORITE OLD TESTAMENT MINOR CHARACTER by Corum Hughes, a past Anchor writer and the former digital content manager for Haven. He and his wife are raising their twin girls in the St. Louis, Missouri, area, ever grateful for the Lord’s providence.
Bible In A Year
- Numbers 8-9
- Psalm 65
- John 6