Hi Friend,

Of all nations on earth that exist or ever have existed there is not one with a history as illustrious as that of Israel.  That’s because Israel was formed by God as His own country.  Most people know of the nation that exists in the Middle East today, but hardly any are aware of how Israel came about. The name David is familiar to students of the Bible, but even most Christians don’t know that a civil war took place that divided Israel into two nations shortly after Solomon’s death. Even during David’s life Israel came close to splitting but David, in an act of humility left Jerusalem to prevent that catastrophe.

But division came. Despite all of God’s blessings the people were discontent with life. During the approximate 200 years of Israel’s existence as a divided kingdom there were 19 kings that ruled. The astounding fact is that not one of those kings was good! How strange that Israel, the people of God, never had a good king. So much for the theory that God’s people can put their trust in government.

Even if none of the kings were good, some were worse than others—much worse. The worst of all was Ahab, a religious man, who was married to Jezebel, a religious woman. The problem with their religion was that it was corrupt. And their lack of ethics was tolerated by Israel.

The nation that had once been great under King David, made an about face. A family with values grew into a nation that doubted its cornerstone of founding. It became hard to recognize it as the same country established on the values God had once given them. Leaders with character were gone. They were replaced with politicians who dressed well but had no substance. The nation that had once worshiped God became a nation that rejected everything God taught.

It was onto this scene that Elijah appeared. Almost as if dropping from a cloud this Prophet of God materialized, a rare bird at the time. So rare in fact that Elijah believed he was the only one in Israel who still worshipped God—which meant the only worshiper of God on earth. Elijah chastised Israel for its lack of justice, eventually calling on God to send a famine that swept across the land that continued for three and a half years. Elijah suffered through the famine with others and God provided an unexpected refuge. God told Elijah to “Go at once to Zarephath of Sidon and stay there. I have commanded a widow in the place to supply you with food.”  (1 Kings 17:9 NIV)  Apparently this gentile widow worshiped God and may have known that Elijah was a Prophet.

An axiom of life is, “When wicked men are in power the citizens suffer.”  A woman with a child and no husband in such a land would have been in abject poverty. It’s interesting that God sent Elijah to her for help. When Elijah met her his first words were, “Bring some food to me.”  She replied, “As surely as the Lord your God lives, I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, so that we may eat it—and die.” (verses 10-12) It’s hard to imagine the frame of mind of a woman who is looking at her last morsel of food knowing that after it’s gone her son will starve.

There are so many questions in this account and every answer leads to another question. That a Prophet of God needed to depend on a starving widow with a child to provide food for him is one perplexity. That she complied is another. The common denominator is that both put their faith in God and they were blessed with food for the duration of the famine.

But that isn’t the end of the story. In the book of Luke Jesus reminds the pompous Pharisees of this account. He is speaking to men who refer to gentiles as “dogs” and will not even eat with them. So he cuts to their hearts by saying “there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years….yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon.”  (Luke 4:25-26)

Imagine the anger that boiled inside the Pharisees! Jesus was saying that a gentile widow was more respected by God than these scholarly men of the law.

Even more astounding; the widow would probably have agreed with the Pharisees. From the sound of her reply to Elijah she was not a person with high self-esteem.

After the miracle of grain and oil her son became ill and was about to die. In her despair she cried to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God:? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?” (1 Kings 17:18 NIV)

After being saved from starvation by a miracle and this followed by undeniable evidence of God’s forgiveness through a daily life sustaining marvel from God—how does she see herself?  She remembers her sin that has been long forgotten by God.

What’s the moral of the story? Maybe men should not think too highly of their own opinion, even of themselves. The opinion that is important is the opinion held by the One who made us.

Until next time,

Jim O’Brien