42 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO 1 KINGS 17 This chapter begins with a prophecy of Elijah, that there should be want of rain for some years to come, and he is directed to go first to the brook Cherith, where he should be fed by ravens, 1 Kings 17:1, and afterwards he is sent to a widow at Zarephath, where he, she, and her son, were supported for a considerable...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Elijah the Tishbite, [who] was of the inhabitants of Gilead,.... Which belonged partly to the Reubenites and Gadites, and partly to the half-tribe of Manasseh on the other side Jordan, where this prophet dwelt; but why he is called the Tishbite is not easy to say; what Kimchi observes seems right, that he was at first of a city called Toshab,...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
So sad was the character both of the princes and people of Israel, as described in the foregoing chapter, that one might have expected God would cast off a people that had so cast him off; but, as an evidence to the contrary, never was Israel so blessed with a good prophet as when it was so plagued with a bad king. Never was king so bold to sin as...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. How abruptly this man breaks in upon the scene! He leaps like a lion from the thicket. There is no previous announcement of his coming; but here...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the word of the Lord came to him,.... The word of prophecy, as the Targum; this shows that by word, in the former verse, he means the word of the Lord by him: saying; as follows.
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. Of course, the prophet would have had to share in the general want unless God had provided for him, and therefore the Lord took care that his servant should be hidden away where a brooklet would...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward,.... From the place where he was, being in danger from Ahab and Jezebel, provoked by his reproofs, threatenings, and prophecies: and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan; in some wood or cave near it, or among the reeds and rushes that grew on the banks of it; and Bochart (o) takes it to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook,.... The water of that was to be his drink: and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there; whereby he should be provided with food to eat; by whom are meant not angels in the form of ravens, as some; nor, as others, Arabians, for there were none of that people near him; nor, as others,...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. Perhaps someone says, “Ravens were more likely to rob the prophet than to feed him;” and so they were. Some have objected that these ravens were unclean; what if they were? Things are not made unclean because they are carried by unclean...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So he went, and did according to the word of the Lord,.... Took his journey eastward, and hid himself in the place directed to: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan, [See comments on 1 Kings 17:3].
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. It is the glory of Elijah that he does whatever God bids him, asking no questions. He simply, like a child, goes to the brook just as, like a hero, he had previously stood before the king.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening,.... For his breakfast and supper, the two principal meals then in use; and as there were several employed, they could bring a sufficiency in a short time for each meal; and these provisions were ready prepared, the bread made and baked, and the flesh...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land. Brooks will dry up, even if godly men are being sustained by them. Is there anyone here whose brook is drying up? Has it...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass after a while,.... Or "at the end of days" (x), perhaps a year, which sometimes is the sense of this phrase, see Exodus 13:10, that the brook dried up; through the excessive heat, and for want of supplies from the springs and fountains with which it was fed, and for the following reason: because there had been no rain in the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the word of the Lord came unto him,.... As before, after he had been a year at the brook, and that was dried up: saying; as follows.
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee. It was a time of famine, yet God sent him to a widow woman! She is sure to need sustaining herself; yes, and she shall get it, too, through sustaining the prophet, he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there,.... This might be a trial of the prophet's faith, to be sent to dwell in a place belonging to the Zidonians, among whom Jezebel had an interest, being the daughter of their king, 1 Kings 16:31, the place is so called, to distinguish it from another Zarephath, Obadiah 1:20,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So he arose, and went to Zarephath,.... Which, according to Bunting (f), was one hundred miles from the brook Cherith: and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there gathering sticks: perhaps out of an hedge just without the city this shows her to be a poor woman, who had no other way of coming at fuel but this, and no...
Spurgeon - Verse Expositions - Charles H. Spurgeon
So he arose and went to Zarephath. There is the same unreasoning faith: “So he arose;” just as, in the 5th verse, it is written: “So he went;” that is, with all alacrity, he did his Lord’s bidding without any question. 1Ki_17:10. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was there- There she was, the woman who was to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And as she was going to fetch it,.... For she made no difficulty of granting his request, but immediately set out to fetch him some water from the city, or some spring close by, or her own house; being very ready to do an hospitable act to a stranger, and especially to a good man, and a prophet, as she might perceive by his habit he was, as it...