3. It was, in her apprehension, penal —
[This adds a ten-fold weight to any calamity which we are called to suffer : the wrath of God is the bitterest ingredient that can be infused into any cup. Hence was her grief so dif- ferent from that which she had manifested on the former occa- sion : she regarded her calamity as a judgment sent from God. She knew that the famine had been sent for the wickedness of Israel, in answer to Elijah's prayers; she thought therefore that this affliction had been sent to her by the same means, and on the same account, namely, for some transgressions she had committed previous to his visit, or for some which he had seen during his continuance with her. And here we may observe, that this is a view in which afflictions readily appear to a humble mind. A person truly humbled, is jealous of himself, and apt to fear that he has offended God : and whilst an affhction re- garded as a paternal chastisement, would be borne by him with grateful submission, the same, as a vindictive judgment, would utterly overwhelm him. To this consideration chiefly we ascribe the impatience that was manifested in the widow's ad- dress to the prophet on this occasion: she spoke, not the result of her dehberate judgment, but the hasty dictate of an op- pressed mind.]
Let us now turn our attention to,
II. Her deliverance —
The prophet, animated by the highest and best of principles, overlooked her unjust reflections ; and, filled with tenderest sympathy, took the child out of her bosom, and carried it to his chamber, and laid