I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there— Some interpreters, discontented with this miracle, have sought out a different mode of solving it, and have averted, that the word ערבים orbim rendered ravens might with propriety be rendered Arabs or merchants; who, they suppose, supplied Elijah with necessary food. But Bochart has satisfactorily proved, that the original word never signifies merchants, and that there were no Arabians inhabiting the coasts where Elijah lay concealed: and it can hardly be imagined, but that the place of his retreat would have soon been discovered to Ahab, had either merchants or other inhabitants of the country been at any time acquainted with it. Besides, the immediate order of God was, that he should retreat and hide himself where he might be absolutely concealed. And as the whole of the affair was miraculous, why should we not readily believe, that he who is able to do all things appointed these birds to bring bread and meat daily to the prophet? Though we should allow, that they are creatures voracious and unnatural to their young ones; yet, the more unfit instruments they seemed to be, the more they magnified the almighty power of him who controuled their natural appetites while he employed them; and if, as Saint Chrysostom fancies, there was a moral instruction in it, the more they might mollify the prophet's heart towards the deluded Israelites, by seeing those very creatures which were cruel to their young, kind to him. Though we should allow that they were creatures legally unclean, yet as it was for the meat, and not for the touch, that they were accounted so, we must grant, that this was a case extraordinary, wherein the ceremonial law was over-ruled by necessity, and by the law-giver's dispensation. There is this to be said, however, for the choice of ravens, that as they are solitary birds, and delight to live about brooks of water, so are they accustomed to seek out for provisions, and to carry them to the places of their abode; on which account they were no improper creatures for God to employ upon this service. For more on the subject, see Scheuchzer on the place, and Bochart's Hieroz. pars 2: lib. 2.
REFLECTIONS.—Elijah is now raised up to warn the idolatrous king, and in these days of apostacy with fervent zeal to testify against the wickedness of Israel. Note; God will have his witnesses in the worst of times, and will endue them with proportionable gifts and graces for the difficulties that they are called to struggle with. We have,
1. Elijah's solemn denunciation on Ahab. Probably, he had before in vain warned him of his wickedness, and, finding him incorrigible, declares the famine which, in zeal for God, he had prayed might come as a just judgment upon Israel, see James 5:17.; and, to affect the king with a sense of the hand from whence it came, he informs him, that the Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel, whom he had dishonoured, the living God, whom he had rejected for dumb idols, had commissioned him for this message; and that neither dew nor rain should fall, but according to his word.
2. As he might well expect that his boldness would offend such impudent sinners as Ahab and Jezebel, God bids him hide himself by the brook Cherith, and Elijah, without hesitation, obeys. There, during the approaching famine, God promises to take care for his provision, and by a wonderful means supplies him; for, while the brook afforded him water to drink, ravens brought him morning and evening bread and flesh to eat. There, unknown, unnoticed, he abode, till, the water of the brook failing, God opened a new supply. Note; (1.).They who dare to be bold for God, may safely trust to him for protection. (2.) It is a bad sign for a people, when God's prophets are driven into corners. (3.) Obscurity becomes duty, when God calls us to it. (4.) God will take care that, however precarious may be their apparent subsistence, his faithful ministers shall not want; though often, like Elijah, he is pleased to feed them but from hand to mouth, to exercise their faith and patience. (5.) When God would work, he will never want means. (6.) They who give good advice, and live in bad practices, like these ravens, bring others wholesome food, and feed on carrion themselves. (7.) Every source of earthly comfort may in time run dry; but they who live upon an all-sufficient God, will find living waters of consolations that never fail.