Third Presbyterian Sunday Morning Bible Study - October 24, 2021

Below is the Bible Study written by Jim Rudiger for his Sunday School Class which meets at Third Presbyterian Church, Norfolk, Virginia. It's based on 1 Kings 17.

When I graduated from Virginia Tech in 1956, I went to work for Westinghouse. My first assignment was to go to Pittsburgh for a couple of weeks of orientation. We were housed in a dormitory at the University of Pittsburgh and given a food allowance. Anything we ate less than the food allowance, we kept. With that incentive, I went out the first night searching for the cheapest meal I could kind. Remember there weren’t fast food restaurants back then.

After walking around for about an hour, I settled on an Italian restaurant that offered a spaghetti dinner for $1.00. With an allowance of $4.00 I was making $3.00 a meal. I figured I had hit the jackpot. So, every night I went to the same Italian restaurant for a spaghetti dinner ad chuckled at how I was wise beyond my years..

Then, after a bout two weeks, I noticed something strange was happening - my gums were bleeding. I called the girl I was engaged to, Jackie, who was studying to be a nurse. I told her I must be dying or something because my gums were bleeding. She might want to reconsider a wedding since I wouldn’t be worth much as a groom if I was dead

Now with this horrible news, do you know what she asked me? Have you been eating any fresh fruit? I answered, “Not unless spaghetti is considered a fruit.” With that, she announced her diagnosis - I had scurvy! She was sending me a dozen oranges and I was eat one for each meal and when they run out more oranges. And to stop eating spaghetti. Now I don’t mind changing my diet, but I was hoping for something more appetizing. Something covered with chocolate like a Snickers candy bar.

One week later with no more bleeding gums, Westinghouse sent me to their Air Conditioning plant in Staunton, Virginia. Not wanting a repeat of the Pittsburgh debacle, I decided to get a room in a Room and Board house, back then they were very popular. Before I moved in, I made sure none of the other guests had bleeding gums. The board consisted of two meals a day - breakfast and supper. If I was lucky, I would get a fried egg once a week. If I was real lucky, it was served on a plate. It was an interesting Room and Board house because it was next door to the birth place of Woodrow Wilson.

Why all the talk about Room and Board houses you ask? I’m glad you asked. This week we meet a familiar prophet who commands a poor, starving widow to open a boarding house for him. Does she tell him to take a flying leap? Does she tell him that the family comes first? Does she tell him to starve some place else? Let’s find out. All aboard!

Last week we studied about Rehoboam, David’s grandson and Jeroboam who had been an aid to Solomon and acted as a spokesman for the northern tribes. Rehoboam and Jeroboam had a confrontation dealing with how Solomon and now Rehoboam raised taxes on the northern tribes and forced them to work on projects in the south. As a result of this confrontation, the kingdom of Israel split into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom, Israel, was ruled by Jeroboam and the southern kingdom, Judah, was ruled by Rehoboam.

Now we skip ahead about forty years. In those years Israel went through some turbulent times. Jeroboam has been succeeded by his son, Nadab. He reigned only two years and he and his whole family were murdered by Baasha who became king. He was an evil king who followed the Jeroboam’s agenda and he reigned 24 years. Elah his son succeeded him. Elah had a drinking problem and in the second year of his reign he was pretty well plastered when the captain of his chariots, Zimri, came in and killed him took over as king. One of his first acts was to kill all the members of Elah’s family. The army which was engaged in a battle with the Philistines got word of how Zimri had killed the king and proclaimed himself king so they marched back with their general, Omri, leading the way. The army surrounded the king’s palace and Zimri seeing that it was over, set fire to the palace and died in the flames. He had reigned only seven days. Omri who establishes Samaria as the new capitol of Israel, proclaimed himself as king of the northern kingdom. He too was an evil king who promoted idol worship. He reigned for eleven years and was succeeded by his son, Ahab. That brings up to our study for today

1 Kings 17: 1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.” 2 The word of the Lord came to him, saying, 3 "Go from here and turn eastward, and hide your self by the Wadi of Cherith, which is east of the Jordan. 4 You shall drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there.” 5 So he went and did according to the word of the Lord; he went and lived by the Wadi Cherith which is east of the Jordan. Jordan.

A new prophet comes on the scene, Elijah. Tishbe was in the northern kingdom just east of the Jordan River, about twenty miles south of the Sea of Galilee. God tells Elijah to go to King Ahab and tell him that because of the evil things he had done, there would be a drought. In fact, Elijah tells Ahab that only he, Elijah, can call for rain again to end the drought. Now this isn’t a walk in the park for Elisha. Ahab was one mean guy who was married to one of the most infamous women in the Bible. Who was his wife? Jezebel. He actively worshiped Baal and even had a temple built to Baal in the capitol, city, Samaria. He rebuilt Jericho and, so that the walls would never fall again, placed the bodies of children under the foundations. Scripture suggests that the children were murdered for this purpose. He thought the walls would gain strength from the bodies of the sacrificed children.

Ahab was not a guy to messed with. So, here was Elijah being told by God to go and tell Ahab that he didn’t have the power that he thought he had. Elijah has a choice. He can go and tell the king what God wants him to hear couching the message in a softer and more acceptable way; or he can just say, “Forget it Lord. If you have a problem with Ahab, then just strike him down.” But, you know, God doesn’t work that way. He insists on using plain people like you and I to get his message out.

Elijah comes before the king. The king is sitting on his throne, slaves fanning him with the plumes of ostrich feathers. There is a richness and splendor all around him. The stern advisors look down on Elijah as he approaches the king. Instead of cowering before Ahab, Elijah stands straight up and looks the king in the eye. What’s the first thing he tells Ahab? Because of his evil ways, God is going to withhold water from the land. This is going to be a complete drought, folks. There won’t even be any dew on the grass in the morning.

Ahab’s face turns crimson. He thinks, ‘Who is this hick who dares to speak this way to me, the king? But before he can say anything, Elijah goes on and tells Ahab that there won’t be any rain until and unless HE, Elijah, ordains it. Can’t you see the veins on Ahab’s temples pulse as he blows up with rage? He is fit to be tied. Evidently, he is speechless as Elijah turns and leaves. When the king regains his voice, he sputters, “Get him! And don’t come back with that Big Mouth alive!

Now Elijah may be from the sticks but he knows that he is in big trouble. And the Lord made him do it. God knows what’s going on and, better still, what will be going on. God comes to Elijah and tells him that it is time for a little vacation. There is a nice little remote camp ground at the Wadi Cherith that would be ideal for Elijah’s hide out. What in the world is a wadi? The next time somebody asks you, “What’s a wadi?”, you can tell him a wadi is a stream or creek bed. Obviously, This must have been a stream that hadn’t dried up yet.

There are several advantages of going to Cherith. This is close to where Elijah grew up. It was familiar territory for him. Also, this was far away from Ahab and not a area of the kingdom that Ahab knew a lot about. God got him into this fix and promised to take care of Elisha. There would be plenty of water to drink and God will command the ravens to bring him food.

Now Elijah has a choice to make. He can go back to his home town and hide in a cellar or go where God has directed. What are the pros and cons? To go back home, he knew where all the good hiding places were. He had found them as a child playing hide and seek. Besides, he had friends and family there who would hide him. But, there is still this drought and that means the folks in his home town wouldn’t have water to drink or crops to harvest - no food. Besides, where is the first place Ahab will look for Elijah? His home town. Staying at Cherith has the advantage of water to drink. But, what about this food that the ravens are going to bring. I mean, can we really expect Elijah to eat worms and beetles? There is an interesting thing about the Hebrew word used for raven. The same word can be pronounced two ways - one means the bird - a raven. The other one means people who live in the desert. So it may be that what is meant here is not that birds would feed Elijah, but some people who knew how to deal with little water or food. Either way, Elijah chooses to follow God’s GPS and head for Cherith.

1 Kings 17: 8 Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 9 Go now to Zarephath which belongs to Sidon, and live there; for I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” 10a So he set out and went to Zarephath.

After a while, even the creek would run dry, so God tells Elijah to go to the city of Zarephath and he would meet a woman there who would take care of him. Now this place is a long way from his home. In fact it isn’t even in Israel. He is going to strange town, in another country, populated by people who have never heard about our God. This would be a trip of about a hundred miles and it will all be walking - no plane, train or car.

Now, if this isn’t bad enough, he has to go up to a strange woman there and tell her to give him water and something to eat. Hey, God, you want to check the destination on your GPS again to make sure Elijah is in the right town. There must be some mistake here. Back then, if you staggered into a town hungry and thirsty, the normal thing you would do is to go up to a village man at the gate of the city and ask for food and drink - not a woman. It was the custom that a stranger entering the town would be given water to drink after his journey. It was just a common courtesy extended travelers coming to your town.

Does Elijah take advantage of the custom? Who is the first person Elijah speaks to? A widow lady picking up sticks. To speak to a village woman as a stranger in town carried a lot problems for Elijah. What problem would that be? The men in the town may think that was he hitting on the woman and beat him up or worst - kill him. Also, evidently, water and food is in short supply in the town. Regardless of what the custom dictates, they might not want to share their meager supplies with a stranger.

Of all the choices that Elijah has had to make, this one seems the most difficult. It just doesn’t make sense to go a hundred miles and then to depend on a woman for help. Can’t you hear Elijah saying, “Reality check here, God?” But, Elijah puts his doubts in his back pocket and follows where God leads him.

1 Kings 17: 10b When he came to the gate of the town, a widow was gathering sticks; he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, so that I may drink.” 11 As she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

Sure enough, when Elijah gets to the town, he sees a poor woman picking up sticks. This tells Elijah that she must be a widow. If she were not, she would be gathering sticks on her husbands land. Only widows would be looking for wood for fuel on public land. He looked at the way she was dressed. Her clothes were tattered. Even with the clothing covering so much of her body, he could see that her arms were thin - her hands nearly skeletal as they scooped up the small sticks.

Elijah calls to her. Does he say, “Good morning mam’. Nice day for picking up sticks.” No. What does he say? “I’m thirsty. How about a glass of water, mam’?” The woman looked up and must have wondered why this man would be speaking to her. She still hasn’t gathered enough sticks for a fire yet and now he is demanding water! Reluctantly she goes to the well to draw him a drink and of all things, he calls over to her again. What does he say this time? “By-the-way, while you're at it, how about something to eat. I’m famished over here.” How would you have reacted to this guy?

1 Kings 17: 12 But she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die. 13 Elijah said to her, “Do not be afraid; go and do as you have said; but first make me a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterwards make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of meal will not be emptied and the jug will not fail until the day that the Lord send rain on the earth.”

This was the last straw. The woman is picking up sticks for fire. This is important for her. This stranger comes up and interrupts her delaying what she needs to do. She’ll get him his water then get back to finding sticks for her fire. Before he even takes a sip of water, he is asking her for something to eat. What wrong with this guy? Can’t he see she is busy. He’s got some gall bothering her like this.

She walks over to Elijah holding a jar and a small jug. “Look! See! I only have a little bit of meal here in the jar and look in my jug - only a few drops of oil. I’m sorry if you are hungry but I only have enough food to make one little cake. I’m gathering the wood for a fire so that I can cook the cake and I’m going to share it with my son. This is all that I have and after that is gone, my son and I will starve to death. So you see, I can’t give you anything to eat.”

Elijah tells her that if she gives him the cake, she will find that she will still have enough meal and oil to make supper for she and her son. In fact, she will find that the meal and oil will not run out as long as the drought lasts. She thinks, “And frogs can fly if they had wings.”

1 Kings 17: 15 She went and did as Elijah said, so that she as well as and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of meal meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

The woman has to make a choice. How would you have decided? This is a strange man representing an unknown God asking her to risk her sharing a last meal with her son. Even though she may have made the decision to do what Elijah had asked with a lot of fear and trembling, she obeyed the God of Elijah. Can’t you see her pouring out the last bits of meal and mixing it with the few drops of oil? She starts to mix the ingredients and to her amazement, the patty seems to grow until it is a cake larger than Elijah can eat. There are crumbs left over for the dogs to lick from the floor. She turns to the jar to wash it and put it away. But wait, as she looks into the jar ,it is full of meal. Quickly she grabs the jug and it too is brimming with oil. As the days pass, no matter how many cakes she makes, the jug and jar are always full.

Who is the winner in this story? The widow? Elijah? Ahab? No. We are. We have learned that when God sends us out to do his work, he has already worked out the snares and problems. But, what about the woman? What happens to her? The widow who was hungry and worried about having to watch he son starve to death was given a blessing from God. For the rest of her life, she and her son will never be hungry again.

So, it’s 5:30 and time for supper at the old Room and Board in New Jerusalem. This Room and Board is run by the Lord our God. And here comes everybody. Over there is Elijah and sitting beside him is the widow lady and her son. “What are we having tonight?”, I ask. Elijah speaks up, “Well, the widow here still has cakes left over, so I guess we’ll eat some of them. It doesn’t look like we will run out any time soon. There’s plenty of chairs for everyone, so pull up a seat and enjoy the meal. By-the-way, I guarantee that these cakes won’t cause scurvy.”

Prayer: Lord, Give us the passion that Elijah had for the work you gave him to do for, as the widow proclaimed, “As the Lord our, God exists.” Amen.