Ravens in the Bible

We switch to read 1 Kings for next few days. The passage today 1 Kings 17:1-7, is the beginning of the so called "Elijah cycle". It is a collection of folklore surrounding the prophet Elijah. Elijah and his successor Elisha were great prophets in the Northern Kingdom. Yet, they did not leave us any writings.
This passage told us that Elijah came from Tishbe in Gilead. He confronted Ahab, the son of Omri and foretold a drought. In extra-biblical sources, Omri was remembered as the greatest king of Israel. He brought great prosperity to Israel. However, under the hands of the Deuteronomists, he and his son Ahab were bad because both of them spread idol-worship in Israel.
Omri did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did more evil than all who were before him (1 Kings 16:25).
And Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the LORD more than all that were before him (1 Kings 16:30).
Therefore, this drought can be seen as a sign of punishment from God. Here is what Elijah said.
As the LORD the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word (1 Kings 17:1b).
The text is ambiguous. Was Elijah simply a messenger of God, pronouncing God's judgment? Or did Elijah pray to God to send this drought? The last few words suggest that Elijah took the initiative to call down this drought on Israel. Indeed, this was how James understood the situation (James 5:17). He was quoting Elijah as an example of the power of prayer by the righteous. If James could be any representative of New Testament authors, we can even say that this was how the Jews in the first century understood the story.
After depicting the background, the author of 1 Kings injected some legendary elements into the story. God sent Elijah to retire by the brook of Cherith, east of the Jordan River. God would send ravens to feed him with bread and meat and he would drink from the brook (1 Kings 17:3-4). Why did God choose, among all birds, ravens to feed Elijah? This may not be a meaningful theology question, but it surely is interesting to search for the place ravens have in the Bible.
Ravens appear in the prophets Isaiah and Zephaniah.
In his judgment oracle against Edom, Isaiah pronounced
But the hawk and the porcupine shall possess it, the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
He shall stretch the line of confusion over it, and the plummet of chaos over its nobles (Isaiah 34:11).
About one hundred years later in Judah, Zephaniah pronounced judgment against Niveveh. We have
Herds shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the field;
the vulture and the hedgehog shall lodge in her capitals;
the owl shall hoot in the window, the raven croak on the threshold;
for her cedar work will be laid bare (Zephaniah 2:14).
In both cases, ravens were symbols of desolation, scavenging on corpses.
In the Persian period, we find ravens in the Pentateuch and the Former Prophets (1 Kings).
In the famous story of the Great Deluge, Noah firstly sent forth a raven after the water receded.
and sent forth a raven; and it went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth (Genesis 8:7).
The author did not tell us the whereabouts of this raven, whether it returned to Noah or died in the cruise. Most probably, it was missing in the action because ravens are not known to be able to return to where they start. Then Noah sent forth a dove three times. The dove was able to return the first time. It brought back a branch of olive the second time (the famous symbolism of peace). The last time it did not return. It is believed that it has found a new nest.
The Leviticus and Deuteronomy list raven as one of the unclean birds not to be eaten. There are twenty one of them according to Leviticus: the eagle, the vulture, the osprey, the kite, the falcon, the raven, the ostrich, the nighthawk, the sea gull, the hawk, the owl, the cormorant, the ibis, the water hen, the pelican, the carrion vulture, the stork, the heron, the hoopoe and the bat (Leviticus 11:13-19). Ravens are unclean! Then in 1 Kings, God chose an unclean bird to feed Elijah. Why?
In the Wisdom Literature, ravens are named to show God's care for all creatures.
Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God,
and wander about for lack of food? (Job 38:41)
He gives to the beasts their food, and to the young ravens which cry (Psalms 147:9).
In Proverbs, ravens become God's instrument to punish the grateful children.
The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures (Proverbs 30:17).
Ravens have taken on a new dimension in their symbolism. More than simply scavenger birds that clean up the corpses, they exact God's judgment on the disrespectful children.
To wrap up the search, we find only one occurrence of ravens in Luke.
Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! (Luke 12:24).
In a similar passage of Matthew, only the general term birds is used.
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? (Matthew 6:26)

My Advocate, You are free to choose whatever to be Your instrument, even despised ones. How stupid we are to pass judgment on things and people created in Your image. May we humble ourselves and sing honour and glory to Your holy name forever and ever. Amen.