1 Kings 17:5, commentary and pictures

So he went and did according to the word of the Lord records Elijah's complete obedience in going to live where God directed by the brook Cherith before Jordan. It belongs to the opening of his fearless ministry in the northern kingdom, when after standing before Ahab to declare no dew nor rain for apostasy, God directed his course away from Jezebel's power to a place of safety. While he stayed there during drought and famine God cared for and honored him by sending food morning and evening by an angel of heaven through ravens when ordinary supplies failed. Because the same God who directed him to Cherith also provided for his needs there, the faithful need not fear that obedience will leave them without sustenance nor let want turn them to disobedience. His experience assures God's trusting, self-sacrificing people that He does not abandon them in hardship, famine and persecution, but sustains them and makes their bread and water sure even when the wicked perish for lack.

Elijah's Call and Obedience

The verse belongs to Elijah's emergence from his mountain retreat in Gilead east of the Jordan, where he watched Israel sinking deeper and deeper into idolatry. His soul was distressed, his indignation aroused, and he was overwhelmed with sorrow, because unbelief was fast separating the chosen nation from the Source of their strength. The beneficent designs of God were well-nigh forgotten, though He had delivered His people from bondage and given them the lands of the heathen that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws. In anguish of soul Elijah besought God to arrest the once-favored people in their wicked course and to visit them with judgments if need be, that they might be led to see their departure from heaven in its true light and be brought to repentance before they went so far in evil-doing as to provoke the Lord to destroy them utterly.

He dwelt among the mountains of Gilead far from any city of renown and held no high station in life, yet as a man of faith and prayer his going to Cherith began a fearless ministry destined to check the rapid spread of apostasy in Israel in the days of Ahab. He entered upon his mission confident in God's purpose to prepare the way before him and to give him abundant success, with the word of faith and power upon his lips and his whole life devoted to the work of reform. He was the voice of one crying in the wilderness to rebuke sin and press back the tide of evil, and while he came to the people as a reprover of sin, his message offered the balm of Gilead to the sin-sick souls of all who desired to be healed. The verse belongs to the opening of his ministry in the northern kingdom, when after standing before Ahab to declare there would be no dew nor rain and denouncing God's judgments for his and Israel's apostasy, God directed his course away from Jezebel's power to a place of safety in the mountains by the brook Cherith that is before Jordan. It records his complete obedience to the word of the Lord: he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith and lived there where God directed, staying there during the drought.

God led him to Cherith for safety from Ahab and Jezebel's power. His flight and refuge there shows he was safer among heathen outsiders than among those who had rejected heaven's light and hardened their hearts against God, illustrating how a servant of God may find protection among outsiders when rejecters of light become dangerous. The going to Cherith was the first in a succession of movements ordered by God — to Cherith, then to the widow of Sarepta, then to return to Israel to stand against the idolatrous priests on Carmel, then to guide the king's chariot to the gate of Jezreel with strength God supplied — all commissions from God, in contrast to his later hasty flight into the wilderness which God did not send and for which he had no errand. The stay at Cherith was part of God's training of Elijah for translation, moving him from place to place so he would not settle into ease but would gain spiritual power and become a greater help to others. The withdrawal to dwell by Cherith apart from others, away from active public life, illustrates the need to leave busy work for quiet communion and renewal, since strength comes from God and not from self.

God's Provision at Cherith

During the drought and famine Elijah remained by Cherith where God had told him to live, and God cared for him and honored him there by sending food to him morning and evening by an angel of heaven. God also sustained him at Cherith by the miraculous means of ravens bringing him food. This feeding by ravens demonstrates God's ability to provide for His people when ordinary supplies are unavailable and when they must depend wholly upon Him. Because God who directed Elijah to Cherith also provided for his needs there, His faithful people will be provided for and need not let want or convenience lead them into disobedience. The surrounding account says God sustained him there through the ravens.

When the brook became dry, God sent Elijah to Zarephath, also called Sarepta, to the widow of Zarephath or Sarepta. There a daily miracle kept the widow's family and Elijah supplied and kept in food. The account that God sustained Elijah at Cherith through the ravens and in the wilderness is paralleled by Roger Williams's wilderness flight, when he too endured hardship and was fed in the wilderness.

Lessons for God's People

Elijah's dwelling by the brook Cherith in obedience to the word of the Lord is assurance that God sustains His people in time of need, even sending ravens to feed them when ordinary supplies are unavailable. His obeying God's direction and being fed by ravens shows that God can provide for His people when they must depend wholly upon Him, demonstrating divine care and provision in famine. God cared for Elijah during the famine at Cherith and did not abandon His self-sacrificing people in hardship, but even when they suffer privation and lack food He sustains them and supplies their needs. That care assures self-sacrificing, trusting, faithful people that God will provide for them and not overlook them in hardship, famine, persecution and distress, so that their bread and water will be sure even when the wicked around them perish for lack of food. In the time of trouble angels will shield the righteous and supply their wants so they will not be left to perish.

Because the God who directed Elijah to Cherith also provided for his needs there, using a raven to bring him food, His faithful people need not fear that obedience will leave them without sustenance. God's feeding of Elijah through a raven shows that He can provide food for His faithful people, so they need not let want or convenience lead them into disobedience. His example teaches patient trust in God's directions: wait for God to show the next step, then move where He directs rather than making plans independently for relief.

God's providing food for Elijah through ravens by the brook was a miraculous means of care, which stands in contrast to His usual provision for bereaved families, widows, fatherless children, orphans and the helpless poor through human kindness. He cares for the bereaved and needy by moving His followers to share and care for them rather than by sending food miraculously, working through the generosity of people whose selfishness has been overcome.

After Elijah's first appearance before Ahab denouncing God's judgments for his and Israel's apostasy, God directed his course away from Jezebel's power to a place of safety in the mountains by the brook Cherith. God honored him there by sending food to him morning and evening by an angel of heaven, and then as the brook became dry sent him to the widow of Sarepta where a daily miracle kept the widow's family and Elijah supplied with food. These provisions at Cherith and Sarepta were evidences of God's love and care that should have kept Elijah from ever distrusting God, yet he was a man of like passions as others and subject to temptation, so later his faith and courage failed into despondency and flight.