And it came to pass after these things.
The test of the home-life
Many a man might bear himself as a hero and saint in the solitudes of Cherith, or on the heights of Carmel, and yet wretchedly fail in the home-life of Zarephath. It is one thing to commune with God in the solitudes of nature, and to perform splendid acts of devotion and zeal for Him in the presence of thousands; but it is quite another to walk with Him day by day in the midst of a home, with its many calls for the constant forgetfulness of self. And yet it would be idle to deny that there is much to try and test us just where the flowers bloom, and the voices of hate and passion die away in distant murmurs. There is a constant need for the exercise of gentleness, patience, self-sacrifice, self-restraint. And beneath the test of home, with its incessant duties and demands, many men break down, whose character seems, like some Alpine peak, to shoot up far beyond the average of those with whom they associate in the busy world. Thy home-life was chosen for thee by the unerring skill of One who knows thee better than thou knowest thyself, and who could not mistake. It has been selected as the best school of grace for thee. And now, looking down upon thee, the Master says: “There is nothing in thy life that may not be lived in Me, for Me, through Me: and I am willing to enable thee to be sweet and noble and saint-like in it all.” Elijah was the same man in the widow’s house as on Carmel’s heights. He is like one of those mountains to which we have referred, piercing the heavens with unscaleable heights; but clothed about the lower parts with woodlands, and verdant fields, and smiling bowers, where bees gather honey, and children play. He shows that when a man is full of the Holy Ghost, it will be evidenced by the entire tenor of his daily walk and conversation.
I. Elijah teaches us contentment. God’s rule is--day by day. The manna fell on the desert sands day by day. Our bread is promised to us for the day. As our day, so will our strength be. And they who live like this are constantly reminded of their blessed dependence on their Father’s love. If God guarantees, as He does, our support, does it much matter whether we can see the sources from which He will obtain it? It might gratify our curiosity; but it would not make them more sure.
II. Elijah also teaches us gentleness under provocation. “Art thou come to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?” A remark, so uncalled-for and unjust, might well have stung the prophet to the quick, or prompted a bitter reply. And it would have doubtless done so, had his goodness been anything less than inspired by the Holy Ghost. But one of the fruits of His indwelling is Gentleness. We need more of this practical godliness. Many deceive themselves. If the Holy Spirit is really filling the heart, there will come over the rudest, the least refined, the most selfish, a marvellous change; there will be a gentleness in speech, in the very tones of the voice; a tender thoughtfulness in the smallest actions; a peace passing understanding on the face; and these shall be the evident seal of the Holy Ghost, the mint-mark of heaven. Are they evident in ourselves?
III. Elijah teaches also the power of a holy life. Somewhere in the background of this woman’s life there was a dark deed, which dwarfed all other memories of wrong-doing, and stood out before her mind as her sin--“my sin” (1 Kings 17:18). What it was we do not know; it may have been connected with the birth of that very son. There is a wonderful invention, recently perfected, by which sound can be fixed pictorially; and, from the picture, it may be produced again, long years after it was spoken. Imagine your hearing once again the voices long bushed in death! But memory is like this: it fixes all impressions and retains them; it never permits them to be destroyed, though it may not always be able to produce them instantly to a given call. Some memories are like well-classified libraries, in which you can readily discover even the smallest pamphlet; others are so confused that they are useless for practical purposes: yet even in these, nothing that ever came within their range has ever been lost; and whenever the right clue is presented, there is an immediate resurrection and recovery of sounds, and sights, and trains of thought long buried. How terrible will it be, when the lost soul is met on the threshold of the dark world to which it goes, by the solemn words, “Son, remember!”
IV. Elijah teaches, lastly, the secret of giving life. It is a characteristic of those who are filled with the Holy Ghost, that they carry with them everywhere the spirit of life, even resurrection-life. We shall not only convince men of sin; but we shall become channels through which the Divine Life may enter them. Thus was it with the prophet. But mark the conditions under which alone we shall be able to fulfil this glorious function.
1. Lonely wrestlings. “He took him out of her bosom,” etc. We are not specific enough in prayer; and we do not spend enough time in intercession, dwelling with holy ardour on each beloved name, and on each heart-rending case. What wonder that we achieve so little!
2. Humility. “He measured himself upon the child.” How wonderful that so great a man should spend so much time and thought on that slender frame, and be content to bring himself into direct contact with that which might be thought to defile! It is a touching spectacle.
3. Perseverance. “He measured himself three times, and cried unto the Lord.” He was not soon daunted. It is thus that God tests the genuineness of our desire. These deferred answers lead us to lengths of holy boldness and pertinacity of which we should not otherwise have dreamed, but from which we shall never go back. “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” (F. B. Meyer, M. A.)
The dead made alive
There are some good suggestions here for every one of us who would win souls to Christ. For the condition of every one who is living without faith and confidence in God is compared in the Scriptures to spiritual death, and the conversion of a soul is spoken of as bringing the dead to life. First, there is--
1. The personal interest, the actual effort; how many times we think about winning some one to Christ, but we let all our interest ooze out in thinking; we do not act.
2. We have suggested to us that we are to save them by prayer. Elijah knew he had no power to bring this boy to life, but he knew God had the power. He gave himself in prayer to God, and God heard his prayer.
3. We must add our personal influence to prayer. Elijah, as if to infuse some of his own vitality into the body of the dead child, stretched himself upon it three times. We never can tell when a personal touch may win a soul to the Lord. (L. A. Banks, D. D.)
Germs of thought
The resurrection of the widow’s son at Zarephath.
I. Man the organ of the miraculous. This is confessedly a miracle--an event altogether out of the ordinary course of nature. In this very chapter there are no less than three miracles wrought by Elijah. The heavens were sealed by him;-there was no rain or dew for three years; and there was a famine. The widow’s meal and oil remained undiminished, after supplying the wants of the widow, her son, and himself:--and now her son is brought to life. Why does the Almighty thus employ man as the medium of His miraculous agency?
1. It serves to impress us with the infinite regard which God has for good men.
2. It serves to foreshadow the wonderful power which good men, when perfected in eternity, may possess. May it not be that the grandest of their miracles here are but symbols and types of their splendid achievements there?
II. Poverty the home of the great. Elijah’s chamber was a small “loft” in that humble cottage. This should teach us--
1. Not to make secular position a test of moral character. This in every age man has been apt to do. Job’s friends did this.
2. Not to make secular wealth an end of life. Our life “consisteth not in the abundance of things.”
3. Not to shun men because they are poor.
4. Not to neglect the cultivation of spiritual excellence because of our poverty. Poverty is no excuse either for impiety or uselessness. Paul said, “Though poor, yet making many rich.”
III. Evil the occasion of good. This woman’s trial was great in the death of her son. It would teach her--
1. How absolutely life is in the hands of God. It taught her that He can take it away and give it back at pleasure. “The Lord gave,” etc.
2. How great the influence a truly good man has with heaven. (Homilist.)
“Out of the depths”
God’s chastisements are always for our profit. It is only “out of the depths “that we can rise to the highest knowledge of God. So it was not in vain that both the prophet and the widow passed through the furnace at Zarephath.
1. The first is this, Trust and Obey. The departure from Cherith, the journey through Samaria, the encounter with a widow so poor that she was forced to gather sticks by the highway, were all a severe test of Elijah’s faith. He had to look, not at outward appearances, but at the word of the Lord. So, too, with the widow. If she had asked for a full barrel and a new cruse to start with, it would have been only what our hearts are always craving. We say, “Give us this day our daily bread,” but we like to see an assured income between us and want.
2. But the woman was to learn a deeper lesson still. It may be summed up in Remember and Repent. Before long God’s hand was laid upon her son, and he fell sick and died. This awakened memories that had slumbered long. “Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?” We do not know whether it was her general sinfulness that was brought home to her or some particular offence--some forgotten sin, buried and covered over in the rubbish-heap of the past. We notice, however, that this sense of sin was not awakened until death threatened her home, and her own son paid the first instalment of the dread penalty of sin. And yet surely she had not been resisting God’s grace. The word of the Lord in Elijah’s mouth had not been rejected by her. It needed death, however, to bring about in this widow a true sense of sin. “Grace and Truth” are both needed for the development of spiritual life. Grace was manifest in the daily supply of food. Truth shone forth with awful and searching power in the death of her son. Grace revealed the goodness of God--Truth made to pass before her the evil of her own heart. And God’s people, as well as the careless and ungodly, need to remember and repent.
3. Our third motto is Ask and Receive. There are deep mysteries in life which yield to nothing but prayer. What a tangle there was in that home! How mysterious--how, from the human standpoint, inexplicable, the blow that had fallen! We are all prejudiced against God by nature, and unwilling to accept judgment without murmuring. But in this case God’s dealings must have seemed terribly severe. There is one explanation, however, of all these mysterious and inexplicable dealings of God’s providence. They are sent to teach us the value of prayer, to draw us out of ourselves, and to make us lay hold of that power of God, which reaches even beyond the grave. What a prayer was this of Elijah’s! Prayer is still all-powerful along the line of God’s will. We, too, may know the power of Christ’s resurrection; indeed, a measure of resurrection power should be manifest in our lives, if we are indeed risen with Christ.
4. Love and know, is illustrated by this story. It is beyond our power to conceive the deep effect upon this widow of her son’s resurrection. “Now by this I know that thou art a man of God,” was the widow’s comment. Clearly the bitterness had given place to love. She had learnt that God only wounds to heal. (F. S. Webster, M. A.)
Raising the widow’s son
The mother, overwhelmed with sorrow, severely rebukes Elijah, and charges him with the loss of her son. This conduct may be accounted for
(1) By a feeling of human nature which always seeks.to blame something, or some person, for any calamity which may befall us; and
(2) By a feeling of superstition which looks upon all afflictions as judgments from God. But how different is Elijah’s conduct towards the widow. He does not resent her rebuke, as he might have done; he does not cross her troubled spirit, but sympathises with her, and treats her with exquisite tenderness.
I. No home exempt from the trials and sufferings of this life. This widow would doubtless be looked upon with envy by her neighbours. They would think that in the midst of the distress suffered by them that she was free, and protected by an unseen hand from wretchedness and woe. But a deeper sorrow than they imagined was soon her portion. And in looking upon some homes we are apt to think that they are strangers to the ordinary trials and sorrows of life. There is no home that can exclude these.
II. The deepest sorrow may be made the instrument of our highest good.
III. An illustration of the power of prayer. (Thomas Cain.)