1 Kings 17 - Introduction
_ELIJAH, BEING HID, IS FED BY RAVENS: HE GOES TO A WIDOW WOMAN OF ZAREPHAH, WHOSE OIL AND MEAL FAIL NOT, TILL GOD SENDS RAIN: HE RAISES HER DEAD SON TO LIFE._ _Before Christ 909._... [ Continue Reading ]
_ELIJAH, BEING HID, IS FED BY RAVENS: HE GOES TO A WIDOW WOMAN OF ZAREPHAH, WHOSE OIL AND MEAL FAIL NOT, TILL GOD SENDS RAIN: HE RAISES HER DEAD SON TO LIFE._ _Before Christ 909._... [ Continue Reading ]
ELIJAH THE TISHBITE— _Elijah the Tishbite, of Thezbeh in Gilead._ Houbigant. _Elijah,_ who in the New Testament is commonly called _Elias,_ was of Thezbeh, a town on the other side of Jordan, in the tribe of Gad, and in the land of Gilead. The Scriptures making no mention either of the quality of hi... [ Continue Reading ]
BROOK CHERITH— This brook, and the valley through which it runs, are both very near the river Jordan; but whether on the east or west side is not so well agreed. Saint Jerome places it beyond Jordan, and so on the east side of it; but others generally agree in placing it on the west side of it; beca... [ Continue Reading ]
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 Elij... [ Continue Reading ]
ARISE, GET THEE TO ZAREPHATH— _Zarephath, or Sarepta,_ lay between Tyre and Sidon, but nearest to the latter. Mr. Maundrell observes, that it is the same which is now called _Sarphan,_ about three hours travel from Sidon, in the way to Tyre. It consists at present only of a few houses on the tops of... [ Continue Reading ]
AN HANDFUL OF MEAL IN A BARREL— Sandys tells us, that in the east they kept their corn in long _vessels of clay,_ it being subject to be eaten by worms without that precaution: this he observed at Gaza. Agreeable whereto, Norden informs us, that a barbarian of Upper Egypt opened one of his _great ja... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE STRETCHED HIMSELF UPON THE CHILD THREE TIMES— We are persuaded, that neither words nor gestures have any virtue; and yet we read, that the prophets of the Old Testament used extraordinary gesticulations, which would be smiled at now-a-days, and considered as superstitious ceremonies. Elijah,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WOMAN SAID—NOW BY THIS I KNOW THAT THOU ART A MAN OF GOD— The woman certainly had sufficient reason to believe that Elijah was a prophet, or person sent from God, when she saw the miraculous increase of the meal and oil; but upon his not curing her son when he lay sick, but rather suffering him... [ Continue Reading ]