CRITICAL AND EXPLANATORY NOTES.—
1 Kings 17:3. Hide thyself by the brook Cherith—He should “hide,” in order to escape alike the king’s violence and importunities; also to allow his words to vindicate themselves as true, and give men time to learn their need of him and his God. Cherith—Site unknown. Various conjectures have attempted to locate it, but all is uncertain. Its obscure site indicates its great security as a hiding place.
1 Kings 17:4. I have commanded the ravens—עֹרְבִים, which some, on account of these birds being legally “unclean,” and notably voracious, have interpreted Arabians. The word is so used in Exodus 27:2-7; 2 Chronicles 21:16; Nehemiah 4:17. Others regard the word as pointing to the inhabitants of Orbo, near by the supposed brook. Michaelis, objecting to the supernatural altogether, suggests that Elijah was merely told to feed himself from the raven’s nest, by plundering them of the game they seized!
HOMILETICS OF 1 Kings 17:2-7
THE TEACHINGS OF SOLITUDE
ELIJAH had become the most popular man in Israel. His strange, abrupt entrance upon the scene, and the terrible import of his message, tended to fasten all eyes upon him, and to raise him into a position of personal importance. But it was a popularity not to be envied. It was full of peril. It raised up a number of enemies. It was perhaps a temptation to the prophet himself. God called him away into retirement, and amid the rocky solitudes of Cherith, with its solitary brook, he was to learn lessons of humility, of patience, and of faith.
I. Solitude affords protection from threatened peril. “Hide thyself by the brook Cherith” (1 Kings 17:3). The enraged and deluded Ahab clamoured for the life of the loyal prophet, and the fawning parasites of Jezebel would fain have torn him in pieces. They ransacked every imaginable hiding-place in the kingdom, but in vain. They are well hid whom God doth hide. Moses fled to Midian from the fury of the Egyptians, and was safely lodged there for forty years. David found shelter from the malice of Saul among the fastnesses of Engedi; John the Evangelist, from persecution, in the Isle of Patmos; Luther, from his enemies, in the lonely castle of Wartburg, in the Forest of Thuringia; Tyndale, the first translator of the English Bible, was a fugitive in hiding at Marburg, Worms, Antwerp, and Cologne; John Knox, the Scottish Elijah, was several years a prisoner in the French galleys; and the great prophet of Gilead is sent to Cherith for safety and for culture. The faithful worker for God is scathless till his work is done.
II. Solitude is relieved by special manifestations of Divine care. “And the ravens brought him bread and flesh,” &c. (1 Kings 17:6). These words record an undoubted miracle, and there are fewer difficulties in believing the miracle than in trying to explain the transaction on natural grounds. The miracle is all the more impressive that ravens, the most voracious of birds, are the unfailing purveyors of the prophet. Since the raven is a carrion bird, and a devourer of all manner of dead flesh, some have wondered how Elijah could eat without scruple all that was brought to him; but they absurdly assume that ravens miraculously sent by Divine command would bring what was common or unclean. “When men disobey,” says Wordsworth, “God reproves them by the obedience of the inferior creatures. The old world disbelieved God’s warnings by Noah, and would not go into the ark, and so perished in the flood; but the inferior animals went in and were fed there. Balaam was rebuked for his disobedience by the ass on which he rode. The disobedient prophet (chap. 1 Kings 13:26) was slain by the lion which God sent from the forest, and which spared the ass and the carcase of the prophet. The disobedience of Ahab and Israel was rebuked by the obedience of the ravenous birds in bringing food to Elijah. Jonah fled from God, and God sent the whale to bring him back to prophesy against Nineveh. The lions spared Daniel when his colleagues would have slain him. Christ was with the wild beasts in peace (Mark 1:13) when He was about to be rejected by mankind.” Jehovah has all nature under His control, and it is an easy thing for Him to make it minister to the necessities of His tried and faithful servants. He who provides meat for the fowls of the air will make the fowls of the air provide meat for man, rather than his dependence on God shall be disappointed.
III. Solitude often severely tests the genuineness of our faith (1 Kings 17:7). A period of enforced inactivity is most difficult to endure, especially to an ardent nature. Why am I doomed to this gloomy solitude? what good purpose can it serve? Time, opportunities, strength to labour, are all passing away unimproved. Ought I not to break away from this tedious imprisonment, and rush at once into the conflict that on every hand demands the stalwart arm and the enter-prizing soul? Is there no testimony to bear, no work to be done, no warfare to wage? Such are the questions sometimes asked by the solitary recluse. The restraint tries our faith, while on the other hand faith generates strength to bear the strain. Nor is a time of retirement without its suffering. “It came to pass that the brook dried up.” The lessening flow of the life-giving stream and its final exsiccation was an additional trial of faith and source of suffering. It is in extremity that our faith becomes more daring, and yields the most solid comfort. “Good bye, dear Lucy,” said a drowning youth to his betrothed, after they had both held on to the last possible point of endurance to a piece of the floating wreckage of a foundered steamer; “we shall soon meet in heaven!”
IV. Solitude is an opportunity for mental and moral discipline. It was to Elijah a time of deep and pensive musing. He thought of God, on whose bounty he was so absolutely dependent. He thought of Israel, its delusions, its vices, its sufferings, its needs. He thought of himself and the work to which he was called. He strove to rectify defects, and sought to brace himself up for the conflict before him. He discovered the true source of his strength, and was enabled more completely to consecrate his whole being to the service of God. Most public men have their Cheriths of retirement and preparation. When the disciples of our Lord returned from their first mission, and reported all they had done and taught, He said unto them, “Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest awhile” (Mark 6:30-31). In this way temptations to pride and self-sufficiency are conquered, and lessons of humility and self-abasement are learnt. “The sufficiency of my merit,” said Augustine, “is to know that my merit is not sufficient.”
“The bird that soars on highest wing
Builds on the ground her lowly nest;
And she that doth most sweetly sing,
Sings in the shade when all things rest.
Nearest the throne itself must be
The footstool of humility.”—Herbert.
LESSONS:—
1. The withdrawal of a public instructor is a calamity to a nation.
2. Solitude is fraught with trial and sorrow.
3. Seasons of solitude should be diligently improved.
GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES
1 Kings 17:2-7. Characteristics of a child-like faith.
1. It accepts the Word of God without questioning (1 Kings 17:2).
2. It flinches not in the presence of the severest demands (1 Kings 17:3).
3. It is not staggered by apparent improbabilities (1 Kings 17:4).
4. It is prompt in obedience (1 Kings 17:5).
5. Enjoys the fulfilment of the Divine promise (1 Kings 17:6).
6. Fails not when most severely tried (1 Kings 17:7).
—Elijah at Cherith.
1. Men must be prepared to accept the consequences of their obedience to God. We do not always see such consequences, and when they come upon us they very often find us unprepared to meet them. Obedience to God often exposes men to hatred, scorn, ridicule, opposition, inconvenience, loss of trade, loss of liberty, and even life itself. But when we choose God’s service we choose these consequences, and when they come they should not deter us from our duty.
2. That God makes provision for the exigencies into which obedience to the Divine commands may bring His servants. He imposes no task, but He provides strength for its accomplishment. Whatever may be the consequences of their obedience, He will not leave His servants to meet them alone. He goes before His people, providing for their necessities—strength in weakness and temptation, light in darkness, comfort in sorrow, consolation in bereavement, hope in death.
3. This provision is frequently not made known to the obedient until their need is pressing. It is after we have entered upon our chosen path of duty, and the difficulties begin to appear, that God reveals the provision He has made to enable us to meet them. It is when the darkness gathers around us that the light of heaven appears. When the drought comes upon the land, God will not forsake His people; but His voice shall be heard directing them to Cherith, where their need shall be amply provided for.—The Study and Pulpit.
1 Kings 17:3. Obscurity.
1. Repugnant to some men.
2. Sometimes the appointment of God.
3. Necessary for self-discipline.
4. A means of safety.
—Even that God sends him to hide his head who could as easily have protected as nourished him. He that wilfully stands still to catch dangers tempteth God instead of trusting Him.
—“Get thee hence, and hide thyself.” A hard word for a heroic man like Elijah, who had threatened the king and the whole people, and must now flee and expose himself to scorn and contempt. Going away often requires more self-denial than remaining. Every man who has done anything great in the kingdom of God has passed a long time in retirement and solitude. But to every faithful Christian also the command has come, hide thyself, go into the stillness and solitude. The hidden man of the heart, with soft, still spirit, does not thrive in the perpetual tumult and babbling noise of the world. There is no man who has not felt the need of some time and place to collect his thoughts, and to be alone with his God; they who avoid such are not fit for the kingdom of God.—Lange.
1 Kings 17:5. He went in faith along the hard, dark path into the wilderness, as a genuine son of Abraham, the father of all the faithful, who knew that without faith it is impossible to please God, and that man can offer to God no higher and nobler homage than to believe in His promises. Who so chooses the dear God, and always hopes in Him, him will He sustain wonderfully in all need and affliction (Psalms 4:4; Psalms 147:5). Go whithersoever thou wilt, means shall not fail thee, thy deed is pure blessing, thy course pure light.—Menken.
1 Kings 17:6. Divine Providence.
1. Cares for the most solitary.
2. Has absolute control over all supplies.
3. Never disappoints the believer.
4. May sometimes make use of ravens—i.e., abandoned and godless men—to help the children of God.
1 Kings 17:7. Faith tried.
1. By the gradual failure of that on which life depends.
2. By the suffering caused by privation.
3. By the uncertainty of the future.
4. Is ever rewarded by timely relief.
—The prophet feels the smart of this drought which he had denounced. It is no unusual thing with God to suffer his own children to be in wrapped in the common calamities of offenders. He makes difference in the use and issue of their stripes, not in the infliction. The corn is cut down with the weeds, but to a better purpose.—Bp. Hall.