1 Kings 17:10
So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering of sticks: and he called to her, and said, Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.
After the brook Cherith dried up, Elijah arose in obedience to a divine commission and went to Zarephath in Sidon, a heathen land outside Israel where he could find refuge from Jezebel's hatred, and at the gate of the city he found the widow gathering sticks and asked her for a little water to drink. This was in the time when heaven was shut up three years and six months and great drought and famine lay upon the land, leaving her household in dire poverty near its last food. Though many widows and needy sufferers were in Israel and Samaria, he was sent to none of them but only to this foreign Gentile widow, because Israel's unbelief, apostasy and hardening against truth cut it off from blessing so God could not trust his servant among them. She had never shared Israel's privileges, yet she believed in the true God and had walked faithfully in all the light shining on her pathway, and she was therefore favored to give him asylum and was accounted more righteous than backslidden Israel. His request for water and food tested her faith, and her generous hospitality in sharing her morsel in want opened the way for a daily miracle that preserved her life and her son's, showing that cheerful giving to the needy brings blessing and that God will sustain and not abandon his faithful, self-sacrificing people in hunger and want.
Arrival at Zarephath
Elijah arose in prompt obedience after remaining hidden many months in the mountains by the brook Cherith where he was miraculously provided with food. When the continued drought dried the brook he went from Cherith to Sarepta, for God directed him there. His journey there was by divine commission, in contrast with his later hasty flight into the wilderness.
Zarephath, or Sarepta, belongs to Zidon, a city of Sidon in a heathen land outside Israel. With no safety for him in the land of Israel, God sent him there to find refuge and asylum and to seek help and support. He was directed away from Jezebel's power to a place of safety, away from hatred, danger and hostility that drove him to flee for refuge among the heathen.
God had commanded the widow there to sustain him and gave her the privilege of caring for His servant. When he came to the gate of the city she was there gathering sticks, and he called to her and asked for a little water in a vessel to drink. This was at a time when famine afflicted the land and left her household in dire poverty close to its last food.
The verse belongs to the days when heaven was shut up three years and six months and great famine and drought were throughout the land. Through the widow God worked a daily miracle to keep Elijah and her family supplied with food, showing His care for them.
Why a Heathen Widow
In the days when heaven was shut up three years and six months and great famine and drought were throughout the land, there were many widows in Israel and many poor and afflicted in Israel and in Samaria who were in need, yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Sarepta, a city of Sidon, to a foreign, heathen, Gentile widow woman outside Israel. Her lesser advantages, never having shared the great light and privileges given to Samaria and to God's chosen people, placed her in a more favorable position to receive God's truth than those who had resisted the light given to them. Israel's unbelief, apostasy, self-exaltation, rebellion, rejection of God's warnings, abuse of privileges, and hardening of the heart against the truth cut it off from blessing and kept God from showing His power among them, so He could not trust His servant with Israel. That rejection of warnings is what cut Israel off from blessing, while abuse of privileges stood in contrast to faithfulness to light received.
She was not an Israelite and had never had the privileges and blessings enjoyed by God's chosen people, but she was a believer in the true God who had walked in all the light shining on her pathway. She had lived faithfully and in strict accordance with the light she possessed, doing right so far as she was able to distinguish right from wrong, living up to the light she had received. She had followed the light she had received and was open to the greater light God sent through Elijah, whom she welcomed. She was therefore given the privilege of caring for God's servant and favored to give him asylum and refuge in her home, with special favor and evidences of God's power. Her faithfulness showed that a woman in a heathen land could be more righteous than God's chosen people when they rebelled and rejected light from heaven, and she was therefore accounted more righteous than backslidden, rebellious Israel.
God regards heathen people who live by the best light they have, with hearts to feel and faith to believe, more favorably than people with great light and high profession of godliness whose daily lives contradict their profession, and such believing hearts are specially favored with evidences of His power. Elijah's experience among the heathen illustrates that he could be safer among them than among those who had rejected the light from heaven and hardened their hearts against the truth, so that God's servants may find protection outside those who have rejected light. God manifested Himself to people in heathen lands when His chosen people rejected the light through unbelief and rebellion, working through faithful prophets for people whose hearts were open to Him rather than for an unbelieving, hard-hearted people. Jesus' later reference to God's blessing of this Gentile widow at Zarephath illustrates that hard-hearted unbelief shuts people out from God's working, as it illustrated the true state of the people at Nazareth. That reference stirred the synagogue hearers' national pride and hostility toward Jesus.
Provision and Hospitality Lesson
Elijah's request for a little water at the gate came when the widow was gathering sticks in dire poverty, close to her household's last food, and sharing with a stranger in that want tested her faith that God would provide. Her kind and liberal response to the prophet bore witness to that faith, showing she acted faithfully on the light she had. Though herself in need, she shared her morsel with him in time of trial and want, and her hospitality became the setting for a miracle in which the scant food sustained her. By that sharing her life and her son's life were preserved.
God has promised great blessing to all who give sympathy and assistance to others more needy, and His power to bless and preserve is no less now than in the days of Elijah. Lack of provisions need not excuse refusing hospitality, for cheerful generosity for God's glory brings blessing. His care for Elijah in famine assures self-sacrificing believers that they need not cling to possessions instead of giving to support His work, because He will provide for them. He can sustain His faithful, self-sacrificing people when food is scarce, so that their bread and water will be sure even when the wicked around them perish for want of bread. The righteous may suffer persecution, privation and lack of food in times of hunger and want, yet He will protect them and supply their needs and will not abandon them or let them perish.
There at Zarephath He worked a daily miracle to keep Elijah and the widow's family supplied with food. That provision was an evidence of His love and care for Elijah that should have kept him afterward from distrusting God and giving way to despondency and fear.