“And 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 Gentile widow of Sidon had obeyed the command of God
and taken in the prophet Elijah. As a
result, her tin of flour and jar of oil remained full throughout the drought,
as God had promised. But this daily
miracle of provision from God did not shield her son from illness or
death. How grievous for this widow to
have lost her loved ones: her husband, who had provided for her, and now her
son, who would provide for her in the future.
She blames herself, and a little on Elijah, saying “Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my
son?” (1 Kings 17:18b)
Previously this widow was experiencing the love of God
through His provision. She was coming to
know this God of Elijah. A new Christian
will often times go through many months of the joy of salvation, and then
suddenly be brought to remembrance of a horrible sin they had completely
forgotten. God is good. He has a way of bringing these long forgotten
transgressions to mind so that we can agree with God that it was a horrible
sin, so that we can repent of it, and that Jesus will cast it away as far as
the east is from the west. Remember,
Jesus has not taken away the consequences of our sin, but, glory be to God, He
has taken the wrath and punishment for our sin.
Elijah did not even respond to the widow’s accusation. By his earnest prayer, he himself did not
understand the purpose of such affliction brought upon the woman who housed a
man of God. What would be said by others
that would discredit God and give pause to those who might be generous to a
prophet? He took her son, whom she was still
clutching in her arms. “Then he cried out to the LORD and said, ‘O
LORD my God, have You also brought tragedy on the widow with whom I lodge, by
killing her son?’” (1 Kings 17:20) Elijah
could not answer the widow. He had no
answer and had to ask God.
Elijah’s prayer changes to a plea, “And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out
to the LORD and said, ‘O LORD my God, I pray, let this child’s soul come back
to him.’” (1 Kings 17:21) There is
no precedent for Elijah to stretch himself out on the child. In Elijah’s passion, it seems he would give
the child life from his own body if he could.
And he prays for the soul to come back.
This prayer “plainly supposes the existence of the soul in a state of
separation from the body, and consequently its immortality, which Grotius
thinks God designed by this miracle to give intimation and evidence of, for the
encouragement of his suffering people.” (Matthew Henry) Our soul is eternal, this body is an earthly
tabernacle. It indeed gives us hope to
know that this body is not permanent, and it is not the end. However, if you have not surrendered to
Christ, then it should give you at least pause or more likely fear that your
soul will live on eternally, and in a place most horrible without God.
Elijah, with great excitement, and possibly relief, shows
the widow that her son lives. Her
response is to glorify God. She has been
living with a daily miracle in the provision of flour and oil. She was new in her faith and then it was sorely
tested. But now she proclaims that
Elijah is a man of God and now she claims that the word of the LORD he speaks
is indeed the truth. The purpose of the
death of the child then appears to be for the glory of God and the honor of His
prophet. This is what Jesus said about
Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead “When
Jesus heard that, He said, ‘This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory
of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.’” (John 11:4) We find that when God is glorified, our faith
is increased, such as this widow, and such as those who mourned with Mary,
Lazarus’ sister “then many of the Jews
who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him.”
(John 11:45) When you find that your
faith is tried, or that you question God’s actions, as this widow did with
Elijah, remember how lovingly Jesus dealt with the man whose son was demon
possessed. “Jesus said to him, ‘If you
can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.’ Immediately the father of the child cried out
and said with tears, ‘Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!’” (Mark
9:23-24) When you pray for or about
something, make sure it is in God’s will and make sure you believe in whom you
direct our prayers. If you are lacking
any faith, ask God to help your unbelief.
It is a joyous event when we see God glorified. And it will strengthen our faith, because “the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
(Nehemiah 8:10b)
May you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
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