The Widow at Zarephath - Part II

I Kings 17:7, 22-24
And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him.
And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.

From yesterday’s blog, we see that the widow at Zarephath was blessed by Elijah’s presence with her family during the time of famine. Today we will see what befell her during Elijah’s presence after the famine. The son of this woman fell sick and his sickness was so sore that there was no breath left in him. In other words, her son died due to sickness. He didn’t die due to famine but by sickness. The family was able to get through the famine because the Lord supplied them with enough food to survive. But now, the son died due to some other cause and this is sickness. God brought this sickness for the boy to show the woman His power over death. This is the same power by which the Son of God, Jesus Christ was resurrected from death to life. This demonstrates that when we die the death due to sins, the new resurrected life would be all for God’s glory because Jesus Christ is in us. II Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”

The woman was filled with grief and lost hope after her son’s death. She started retrospecting her own life and wondered if Elijah was there to bring her sins to remembrance and slay her son. “And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?” In fact, Elijah too was surprised at her son’s death. The Lord God operates in mysterious ways to show how loving and caring He is. He who took care of this woman and her son during the famine, would He let her son die after the famine? Nay, He was going to bring out the wonderful words out of this woman’s mouth; words of praise and words that acknowledge Him as the true God. She was a woman from Zidon and Zidonians had no knowledge of the true God. So God is about to perform a miracle over death because something so mighty can truly convict her and bring her to the knowledge of the true God.

Elijah took the woman’s son from her bosom and carried him to where he abode and laid him on his own bed. Elijah could not see the woman’s grief and now was going to plead His God for her son’s life. Elijah’s words to the Lord were: “O LORD my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?” He is questioning God if He brought this evil upon the widow with whom he sojourned. God directed Elijah to go and stay with this woman during the famine and she showed him kindness by allowing him to stay in her house all through the famine. Now the death of her son made her wonder if Elijah was with her to slay her son by remembering all her sins.

In the next verse we see that Elijah stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the LORD. When Elijah stretched himself on the child three times he breathed over the child the breath of the Lord in Him. Genesis 2:7 says, “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” When God created the first man Adam, He made him out of dust and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. The same breath of God is in you and me. The son who died lacked this breath of God and Elijah breathed over this son the breath of life given to him by God as he stretched over him. Then Elijah cried, “O LORD my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again.” Elijah now lifted up His voice to the only God who has power over death putting all His confidence and trust in Him.

The Lord heard Elijah’s cry and “The soul of the child came into him again, and he revived.” I Kings 17:23 says, “And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.” The woman who was wailing and weeping turned to see her son living. Psalmist says in Psalm 30:11, “Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;” This praise was the woman’s now. The Lord has turned her mourning to dancing and He put off her sackcloths and girded her with gladness. The Lord proved to this woman how magnanimous He is. He took care of this woman and her son during the famine and He now has revived her son from death to life. She can be safe by trusting this God who can walk her through any trial including death. She was able to say to Elijah, “Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.” She now can simply trust the words of this man of God for they are TRUE. This is the kind of witness that God expects of us human vessels. He puts us through fire and shapes us and transforms us so our hearts can be lifted up in a wonderful song of praise to Him. Amen!

Tomorrow: Remember Lot’s Wife!