Before I reflect on the Elijah story today, I would like to clarify one point in my previous blogs. When I search the Old Testament and discuss the result, I follow the chronological order rather than the canonical order of the Bible. I want to follow the evolution of a concept. Therefore, I begin with the earliest written records which are the Prophets. Then I go to the Deuteronomist School which penned the Torah and the Early Prophets during the Persian Empire. Of course, the written records were finalized in the Persian Empire but the ideas behind might be very ancient, even earlier than the Prophets. But the final form bears traces of Persian influences. The Holy Writings surely consists of very early ideas as well but again, they were finalized in the Greek Empire. For example, the 150 psalms collected must have spanned a very long time. Now, let me return to the first book of Kings.
When you devise a plan to snare your enemy, you will not be so stupid as to trap yourself as well. When you bring down a curse from heaven to punish the sinners, will you not make sure that you yourself will not suffer from it? More generally, will you not make sure that your punishment is discriminating enough so that only sinners are punished and the righteous spared? Sometimes, God did just that. For example, when He killed all the first-borns in Egypt, He would pass over houses smeared with the blood of the Paschal Lamb. But when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, He had to send the family of Lot away first. Further back, when He decided to wipe the world of her sins, He helped the family of Noah to build an Ark to survive the Deluge. In short, God is able to deliver a few elected ones in the midst of annihilation.
The drought Elijah brought down affected a vast region. He himself was affected when brook Cherith dried up. Then God sent him away to Zarephath in Sidon, a Gentile region.
Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you (1 Kings 17:9). OK, God was going to deliver Elijah from the drought. Here, an intersting encounter unfolds.
When Elijah saw a widow (how did he know she was a widow and that she was the widow to feed him?), he asked her for water.
"Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink." (1 Kings 17:10b).
This scene brings to mind the encounter between Jesus and a Samaritan woman in John 4. Jesus asked the woman for water. This was just an excuse. Jesus did not need to drink. Rather, he wanted to evangelize. He wanted to bring her salvation. The woman did not comply with Jesus' request for water. Rather, she retorted that Jews had no dealings with Samaritans (John 4:9). But in this Elijah story, the widow obeyed. Why? Here was a stranger asking for water. If you were the widow, why would you obey? In that age, were women supposed to entertain the requests of any men? Was it out of hospitality to aliens? I have no satisfactory answers. Now seeing that the widow even comply, Elijah asked for more than simply water. He really had a thick cheek unless the request for water was only an excuse to start a relation. Elijah actually wanted to bring her survival through this drought.
And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, "Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand." (1 Kings 17:11)
Only then did the widow start to complain.
And she said, "As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a cruse; 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." (1 Kings 17:12)
It seemed that the widow knew there was the Lord God and that Elijah was a man of the Lord God. She even swore in His name. How did she know? Had God revealed to her beforehand that she would meet such and such a man? I really don't know.
And Elijah said to her, "Fear not; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make for yourself and your son.
For thus says the LORD the God of Israel, 'The jar of meal shall not be spent, and the cruse of oil shall not fail, until the day that the LORD sends rain upon the earth.'" (1 Kings 17:13-14)
The author did not tell us what was going on inside the head/heart of the widow. She simply followed Elijah's instruction. It turned out that she was not a poor widow. She had a household to take care of. She was the mistress of the house (1 Kings 17:17). And the household survived the drought.
This Elijah story seems to be a kind of survival folklore. A woman was charitable/hospitable to a holy man disguised as an alien/a beggar. As a result, she and her family were able to survive some impending disasters. This is just my hypothesis.
My Advocate, You have chosen a few to survive disasters for Your own. I sincerely thank You for Your kindness to me. May all who hear Your story obtain salvation. Amen.
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