Enemy Territory
1 Kings 17:7-16
7 And after a
while the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
8 Then the word
of the Lord came to him,
9 “Arise, go to
Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a
widow there to feed you.”
10 So he arose
and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a
widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a
little water in a vessel, that I may drink.”
11 And as she
was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread
in your hand.”
12 And she said,
“As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a
jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I
may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.”
13 And Elijah
said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make me a
little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself
and your son.
14 For thus says
the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug
of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the
earth.’ ”
15 And she went
and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days.
16 The jar of
flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, according to the
word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
When
we left Elijah at the end of last week, he was camped out beside a brook east
of Jericho, drinking from the stream and being fed by ravens. As the drought
progresses (which is a drought both of water and the Word of God) the brook
dries up and Elijah is told by God to go to Zarephath. Sounds simple enough,
right? But there is a problem. Zarephath is located in the heart of enemy territory.
If you follow the link below, you will see a map of Israel at the time of
Elijah. In the upper left corner you will find the cities of Tyre and Sidon with Zarephath stuck right in between them.. If
you will recall, the evil Queen Jezebel is from Tyre. This is an area where God’s
people were probably not welcome and worship of the Hebrew God would not have
been well tolerated.
In
His infinite wisdom, God sends Elijah to a widow in Zarephath to receive food
and water during a time when most were dying of starvation. While there is no fanfare or arm waving, God works a mighty miracle with a handful (literally) of
flour and a few ounces of oil. Three people are fed for several weeks, perhaps
even months, on those small rations. Even in a time when faith was scarce, both
Elijah and the widow showed a great trust in God. Elijah followed God’s command
and went where he certainly would not be welcomed and the widow shared the very
little that she had with this man of God and frankly, a total stranger. Both actions required faith and trust
in a God who had been largely silent during these days (although a drought should
speak very loudly to a culture.) Chances are, the widow was not a believer in
God, but she was commanded by Him nonetheless to help Elijah and she obeyed. Obedience
will be the main action that is displayed throughout the story of Elijah. Over
and over, he immediately complies with God’s direction and even this woman who
didn’t really know God listened to Him.
The
prophet Isaiah speaks to the idea of provision by and trustworthiness in a holy God in chapter 33.
15 He who walks
righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who
shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of
bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil, 16 he will dwell on the heights; his place of defense
will be the fortresses of rocks; his bread will be given him; his water will be
sure. Isaiah 33:15–16
God
promises to take care of His people! Elijah was counting on this and the widow
learned how to as well.
Jesus
also ventured into the area of Zarephath, which we learn in Mark 7:24–30. Here,
Jesus finds yet another woman whose faith is surprising and rewarded. Jesus
manages to anger the Jews around Him by granting her request of healing for
her daughter and declares that her faith is far greater than the faith of those
who should have known Him and recognized His authority. The enmity between
Israel and the people of Tyre remained even during the days of Jesus.
It’s
tough to trust God when things look so bleak. But that was really the only
choice that Elijah and this widow had. It was trust or starvation. Sounds like
an easy choice to me. For us, I believe that trust is a little more difficult
as very few of us are facing anything a dire as starvation. But, that just
makes the challenge of faith even greater. The blessing for us is that the Holy
Spirit enables such faith and it is already ours!
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