He stretched himself upon the child three times - This action of Elijah is different from that of Elisha (marginal reference), and does not imply the use of any natural means for the restoration of suspended animation. It is nearly parallel to the “touch,” through which our Lord performed similar miracles Matthew 9:25; Luke 7:14. read more
1 Kings 17:19-20. Give me thy son Into my arms. He took him out of her bosom By which it appears he was but a little child. And carried him up into a loft A private place, where he might more freely and fully pour out his soul to God, and use such gestures and methods as his heart inclined him to use, without any offence or observation. And laid him upon his own bed So that it was the room where he lodged, though near the top of the house. And he cried unto the Lord And, in his... read more
1 Kings 17:21. He stretched himself upon the child three times Not as if he thought this could contribute any warmth or life to the child; but partly to express, and withal to increase, his grief for the child’s death, and his desire of its reviving; that thereby his prayers might be more fervent, and consequently more prevalent with God: and partly to give a sign of what God would do by his power, and what he doth by his grace in the raising of souls dead in sin to a spiritual life: the ... read more
16:29-22:53 MINISTRY OF ELIJAHJezebel’s Baalism in Israel (16:29-17:24)In a new political alliance, Ahab, the new king of Israel, married Jezebel, daughter of the king-priest of Phoenicia. Ahab not only accepted his wife’s Baalism, but also gave it official status in Israel by building a Baal temple in the capital (29-33). The Baalism imported by Jezebel was of a kind far more evil and far more dangerous to Israel’s religion than the common Canaanite Baalism practised at the high places.... read more
stretched = measured. soul = life. Compare 1 Kings 17:23 , "liveth". Hebrew. nephesh. App-13 . read more
1 Kings 17:21. 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, in raising up the only son of the widow of Sarepta, stretched himself upon the child three times; and Elisha, the disciple of this great prophet, did the same thing when he raised up... read more
God’s revelation of His power 17:8-24God had a very unusual ministry for Elijah to perform in which he would stand alone against hundreds of opponents (1 Kings 18:16-40). This section reveals how the Lord prepared him for it.The site of Zarephath was between Tyre and Sidon in Phoenicia, the stronghold of the cult that Ahab had imported into Israel (cf. 1 Kings 16:31). Widows were poor in the ancient Near East and would have been the first to run out of food in a drought. [Note: See Richard D.... read more
Elijah and the Widow of ZarephathThe prophet Elijah, who occupies so large a space in the succeeding history, is, like his successor Elisha, conspicuous among the prophetic figures of the OT. as a worker of miracles; and to him belongs the further distinction of having been removed from earth without dying. His prophecies differed from those of most later prophets in having in view only certain critical occasions of contemporary history, and in having no reference to the remote future or the... read more
(20) Hast thou also brought evil.—Elijah’s complaint is characteristic of the half-presumptuous impatience seen more fully in 1 Kings 19:0. He apparently implies that his own lot, as a hunted fugitive not protected by God’s Almighty power, is so hard, that it must be his presence which has brought trouble even on the home that sheltered him. read more
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The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Kings 17:21
Prayer for the Dead. The portrait of the widow of Zarephath is remarkably natural. Her calmness in speaking of the trouble that was only threatened ( 1 Kings 17:12 ), is contrasted with her agony when trouble actually comes ( 1 Kings 17:18 ). She believed in Jehovah though in a heathen kingdom; yet there was a blending of superstition with her faith. She supposed that God might have overlooked her sin, had it not been that He was present with His prophet in her home; and she confounded... read more