And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.
Elijah was sheltered in a heathen land in the home of the widow of Zarephath which belongs to Zidon, where God sent him to find refuge and asylum when there was no safety for him in Israel and after his hiding by the brook Cherith ended when the brook dried up from continued drought. The widow was not an Israelite and had never had the privileges and blessings of the chosen people, but she was a believer in the true God who had walked in all the light shining on her pathway. The verse belongs to Elijah's work in the northern kingdom in the days of Ahab, leading to his stern confrontation with King Ahab in which he declares that Ahab and his father's house, not Elijah, have troubled Israel. Before the verse, the widow's son fell sick with no breath left in him, and Elijah took him from his mother's bosom up into the loft where he stayed and laid him on his own bed, then stretched himself upon the child three times and cried unto the Lord.
The verse shows God's answer to Elijah's prayer for the dead son, in that the Lord heard Elijah's voice and restored the child's life so that his soul came into him again and he revived. After the revival Elijah brought the child down out of the chamber and delivered him alive to his mother, and by this she knew Elijah was a man of God and that the word of the Lord in his mouth was truth. The raising of the dead child was done through God's power, and it was a miracle John the Baptist was not given to perform.
God brought the widow's son back to life in return for her sharing her morsel with Elijah. The revival proves God has promised great blessing to all who in time of trial and want give sympathy and assistance to others more needy, with power to keep that promise no less now than in the days of Elijah.
Elijah was sheltered in a heathen land in the home of the widow of Zarephath which belongs to Zidon, where God sent him to find refuge and asylum when there was no safety for him in Israel and after his hiding by the brook Cherith ended when the brook dried up from continued drought. The widow was not an Israelite and had never had the privileges and blessings of the chosen people, but she was a believer in the true God who had walked in all the light shining on her pathway. The verse belongs to Elijah's work in the northern kingdom in the days of Ahab, leading to his stern confrontation with King Ahab in which he declares that Ahab and his father's house, not Elijah, have troubled Israel. Before the verse, the widow's son fell sick with no breath left in him, and Elijah took him from his mother's bosom up into the loft where he stayed and laid him on his own bed, then stretched himself upon the child three times and cried unto the Lord.
The verse shows God's answer to Elijah's prayer for the dead son, in that the Lord heard Elijah's voice and restored the child's life so that his soul came into him again and he revived. After the revival Elijah brought the child down out of the chamber and delivered him alive to his mother, and by this she knew Elijah was a man of God and that the word of the Lord in his mouth was truth. The raising of the dead child was done through God's power, and it was a miracle John the Baptist was not given to perform.
God brought the widow's son back to life in return for her sharing her morsel with Elijah. The revival proves God has promised great blessing to all who in time of trial and want give sympathy and assistance to others more needy, with power to keep that promise no less now than in the days of Elijah.