The Pulpit Commentary — 1 Kings — Section 388

1. He had to leave hu; hiiling place. For months he had dwelt safely in the deep, sequestered, peaceful wady. That he must hide there, and hide so long, showed how great wns the danger to which he was exposed. But now he is com- manded to quit his asylum, to go forth into the world, to run the risk of recognition, of betrayal, of death ; and to do so, we cannot doubt, would cost him a struggle, and put his faith in God to tlie proof. 2. He had to seek a home in Zidon. How those words would strike upon his ears, "Which belongeth unto Zidon" I Zidon was the capital of Ethbaal. The father of Jezebel, his implacable enemy, held sway there. It was like going into the lion's den. His feeling would be something like that of David's men " Behold we be afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we come to K~ilah" (1 Sam. xxiii. 3). Of all hiding places, that would seem to him to be the most to be dreaded. How can he escape detection there .2 He might well have taken fright, as at a later period, and have fled fw·ther into the desert. Or he might have petitioned, like Lot (Gen. rix. 20), to be allowed to find some other refuge. But he did neither. "He arose and went to Zru:ephath." He was" strong in faith, giving glory to God" (Rom. iv. 20). S. He had to be sustained by a widow woman. The position and circumstances of the Eastern widow are to be remembered here. The seclusion in which Orient9.l women live makes its difficult for a widow to find a livelihood, even if there were work for her to do. And we have only to consider what the position of widows ::.mongst ourselves would be, if there were no such things as investments, no means of putting out money to usury (Deut. x:xiii 19). Hence the repeated injunctions to remember the widow (ibid. xiv. 29; xvi. 11, 14; xxiv. 17, 19-21; Job xxiv. 21; x.xi.x. 13; Psa. cxlvi. 9). Hence the special provision for widows in the early Church (A.cts vi 1; 1 Tim. v. 4-9). The widow was an object for charity, and needed snstenance. .And now Elijah learns that by a widow he is to be sheltered and snstained. A.nd this widow a foreigner, probably an idolater-an alien both in race and religion. Surely there was a. trial both of his faith and of his obedience here. 4. He finds the widow in the extremest poverty. lie encounters her" gathering of sticks.'' That in itself was not an encouraging sign. Next he hears from her lips that her cupboard is empty. She has not food for herself, much less for 11 stranger. "A. h=dful of meal," a'' little oil," this is all her store. She who was to sustain his life is herself ready to die. But he knows in whom he has believed. He "argued not against Heaven's will." He did not" bate a jot of heart or hope." "Make me a little cake first." He is assured that" they shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied" (Psa. xxxvii. 9). He knows that " God will not suffer his word to fail, nor alter the thing that is gone out of his lips '' (Psa. lxx:xix. 34). 5. He ia immured in her house for two yeara. Those two years were years of banishment from his country and his work. Three years and a half had he to wait, and most of the time in a strange land, ere his recal ; cut off, " not from life, yet from usefulness, which is the end and comfort of life." Which of us would not have been impatient, or, like the Baptist in his fortress-prison, tempted to think God had forgotten us'} .And he knew that all this time his people were suffering. We think it strange if a servant of God is laid aside for a few months from his ministry. But the greatest of the prophets was silenced, was buried alive, for the mystical period of forty and two months, for "time and times and half a time" (Rev. xi. 2, 8; xii 6, 14). "When we cannot work for God we must sit still qnieUy for him" (Henry). "They also serve wl10 only stand and wait." 6. His presence there is no protection a!fainst sickness. Of the three inmates of the cottage home, one sickens and droops to his grave. This sickness causes us no sur- prise, but it did Elijah (ver. 20) ; and that because he lived under the dispensation of temporal rewards. Sickness was then regarded as, and it often was, the scourge oftLe Almighty (Deut. Yii. 15; xxviii. 61; cf. 1 Cor. xi. 80). It was a trfol, conse- quently, of Elijah's faith. It looked as if the hand of the Lord was gone out against him. It seemed as if he was to be e.Iways the author of misfortune (" Hast thou OH, XVII, 1-24,] THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS. 897