‘But of a truth I say to you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there came a great famine over all the land, and to none of them was Elijah sent, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.'
In reply to them He first pointed out that in the period of the great famine in the time of Elijah when God was judging His people, Elijah had not been sent to widows among his own countrymen, but to a widow woman in Zarephath, in the land of Sidon. Following His proverb His point here was that Elijah too had not been welcomed in his own country. It thus illustrated why He too had been able to heal in Capernaum but not in Nazareth. In Capernaum they had flocked to Him. Here in Nazareth they had not stirred.
We must remember that Capernaum was on a busy trade route, and was by the Sea of Galilee, with boats coming in and out. Nazareth was a quiet little town situated in the hills. Thus Capernaum probably looked down on Nazareth, (‘that out of the way place') and Nazareth probably bristled at Capernaum (‘those sophisticated upstarts'). They thus looked on each other as in a sense ‘foreigners', (as is common with countryfolk) and this was probably what was in Jesus' mind. (The parochial attitude of country folk was proverbial). But to a people already infuriated His words suggested that they were not as good as the Sidonians. They were thus not at all pleased.
Luke would, however, be delighted to include this saying, for it was an early indication to his Gentile readers that Jesus did not see Gentiles as excluded from God's mercy.
‘Three years and six months.' It would appear that this was the period of time for the famine recognised in their traditions (compare James 5:17). The famine would continue after the drought was over until new crops began to grow. It became recognised as a standard period of trial.