What does Elias promise when the widow says she has only enough meal and oil for herself and her son?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He tells her not to fear and to make a little hearth cake for him first, then food for herself and her son. He gives the Lord God of Israel’s promise that the meal will not run out and the oil will not diminish until the day the Lord gives rain.

Chapter breakdown

Elias the Thesbite, an inhabitant of Galaad, tells Achab that, as the Lord God of Israel lives, in whose sight he stands, there will be neither dew nor rain these years except according to the words of his mouth.

The Lord’s word tells Elias to go east and hide by the torrent Carith, opposite the Jordan. He is to drink from it, and the Lord has commanded ravens to feed him there. Elias does as the Lord says and lives by Carith. Ravens bring bread and meat in the morning and again in the evening, and he drinks from the torrent. After some time it dries up because no rain has fallen on the earth.

The Lord’s word then tells Elias to go and live in Sarephta of the Sidonians, where he has commanded a widow to feed him.

Challoner’s separate note explains Sarephta of the Sidonians as a city of the Sidonians.

Elias goes to Sarephta. At the city gate he sees the widow gathering sticks and calls for a little water in a vessel to drink. As she goes to fetch it, he calls after her, asking her also to bring a morsel of bread in her hand. She answers by the living Lord his God that she has no bread, only a handful of meal in a pot and a little oil in a small vessel. She is gathering two sticks to prepare it for herself and her son, so they may eat it and die.

Elias tells her not to fear and to go and do as she has said, but first to make him a little hearth cake from the same meal and bring it to him. Afterward she is to make food for herself and her son. He gives the Lord God of Israel’s word: the pot of meal will not run out and the oil vessel will not diminish until the day the Lord gives rain on the earth.

She goes and does according to Elias’s word. He, she and her household eat. From that day the meal does not run out and the oil does not diminish, according to the Lord’s word through Elias.

After this the son of the woman, the house’s mistress, falls sick. His sickness is very grievous and no breath remains in him. She asks Elias what she has to do with him, calling him a man of God, and whether he has come so her iniquities should be remembered and to kill her son.

Elias asks for her son, takes him from her bosom, carries him to the upper chamber where he lives and lays him on his own bed. He cries to the Lord his God, asking whether he has also afflicted the widow with whom he is, after a sort, maintained, so as to kill her son. He stretches and measures himself upon the child three times and cries to the Lord, asking that the child’s soul return into his body.

The Lord hears Elias’s voice. The child’s soul returns into him and he revives. Elias takes him down from the upper chamber to the house below, gives him to his mother and tells her her son lives. She says that by this she now knows he is a man of God and the Lord’s word in his mouth is true.

The story inside

Elias’s declaration to Achab is followed by two places where the Lord tells him to live and how he will be fed. At Carith the ravens bring food morning and evening, but the lack of rain dries the torrent. In Sarephta the widow describes her small supply when he asks for bread. His instruction puts his hearth cake first and is accompanied by a promise lasting until rain; she follows his word and the supply does not diminish. Her son’s later grievous illness brings her question about iniquities and death. Elias takes him upstairs, cries to the Lord and stretches upon him three times, asking for his soul’s return. The Lord hears, the child revives, and Elias returns him to his mother. She links this to her recognition of the man of God and the truth of his word.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The move from Carith has a stated cause and direction. The torrent dries because no rain has fallen; the Lord then tells Elias to go to Sarephta, where a widow has been commanded to feed him. The account gives no private motive for concealment or extra duration of the drought here.
2
The widow’s supply, the order of preparation and the promise all matter. She names a handful of meal, a little oil and two sticks, with food for herself and her son. Elias asks for a cake first, then food for them, and promises the supply will last until the day of rain. She acts according to his word and the stated promise is fulfilled.
3
The mother’s question and the account’s conclusion differ. She asks whether Elias came to recall her iniquities and kill her son; the narrator does not establish that accusation as the cause. Elias asks for the soul’s return, the Lord hears and the child revives. The mother then says this shows her that Elias is a man of God whose word is true.

Test your recall

What order of preparation and promise does Elias give after the widow describes her small supply, and what happens when she follows his word?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 37039–37047
3 Kings Chapter 17 Elias shutteth up the heaven from raining. He is fed by ravens, and afterwards by a widow of Sarephta. He raiseth the window’s son to life. 17:1. And Elias the Thesbite, of the inhabitants of Galaad, said to Achab: As the Lord liveth, the God of Israel, in whose sight I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to the words of my mouth.
Lines 37049–37064
17:2. And the word of the Lord came to him, saying: 17:3. Get thee hence, and go towards the east, and hide thyself by the torrent of Carith, which is over against the Jordan; 17:4. And there thou shalt drink of the torrent: and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. 17:5. So he went, and did according to the word of the Lord: and going, he dwelt by the torrent Carith, which is over against the Jordan. 17:6. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the torrent. 17:7. But after some time the torrent was dried up: for it had not rained upon the earth.
Lines 37066–37069
17:8. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying: 17:9. Arise, and go to Sarephta of the Sidonians, and dwell there: for I have commanded a widow woman there to feed thee.
Lines 37071–37071
Sarephta of the Sidonians.... That is, a city of the Sidonians.
Lines 37073–37084
17:10. He arose, and went to Sarephta. And when he was come to the gate of the city, he saw the widow woman gathering sticks, and he called her, and said to her: Give me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. 17:11. And when she was going to fetch it, he called after her, saying: Bring me also, I beseech thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand. 17:12. And she answered: As the Lord thy God liveth, I have no bread, but only a handful of meal in a pot, and a little oil in a cruise: behold I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it, for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.
Lines 37086–37092
17:13. And Elias said to her: Fear not; but go, and do as thou hast said but first make for me of the same meal a little hearth cake, and bring it to me, and after make for thyself and thy son. 17:14. For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel: The pot of meal shall not waste, nor the cruise of oil be diminished, until the day wherein the Lord will give rain upon the face of the earth.
Lines 37094–37099
17:15. She went, and did according to the word of Elias: and he ate, and she, and her house: and from that day 17:16. The pot of meal wasted not, and the cruise of oil was not diminished according to the word of the Lord, which he spoke in the hand of Elias.
Lines 37101–37107
17:17. And it came to pass after this, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and the sickness was very grievous, so that there was no breath left in him. 17:18. And she said to Elias: What have I to do with thee, thou man of God? art thou come to me, that my iniquities should be remembered, and that thou shouldst kill my son?
Lines 37109–37119
17:19. And Elias said to her: Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him into the upper chamber where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. 17:20. And he cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord, my God, hast thou afflicted also the widow, with whom I am after a sort maintained, so as to kill her son? 17:21. And he stretched, and measured himself upon the child three times, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord, my God, let the soul of this child, I beseech thee, return into his body.
Lines 37121–37131
17:22. And the Lord heard the voice of Elias: and the soul of the child returned into him, and he revived. 17:23. And Elias took the child, and brought him down from the upper chamber to the house below, and delivered him to his mother, and said to her: Behold thy son liveth. 17:24. And the woman said to Elias: Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true.