WOMEN IN THE WORD: THE WIDOW AT ZAREPHATH

Rain had utterly ceased when Elijah announced God’s judgment upon Ahab, Jezebell, and the sin-filled, Baal-worshipping, northern kingdom of Israel. Just as He’d promised, God “shut the sky” (Deuteronomy 11:17). Now, the land was devastated by drought. The acrid stench of death hung in the parched air.

Protected from retribution by the evil king, God led Elijah to Cherith, where ravens brought him bread (1 Kings 17:3-4). When the brook dried up, God directed him to Zarephath, enemy territory ruled by Jezebell’s father, “Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians” (1 Kings 16:31).

Zarephath was the home of a nameless widow. When she is first mentioned in Scripture, she is hours away from starvation. So, why did God send His prophet to her?

“There were certainly many widows in Israel in Elijah’s days, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months while a great famine came over all the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them except a widow at Zarephath in Sidon”(Luke 4:25–26). Why? Why did God direct Elijah to Zarephath and to this widow?

Grace! The miracles at Zarephath were a demonstration of God’s great grace.

When the widow and her son were about to die of starvation, God demonstrated His grace as the flour bin and the oil jar were never emptied. Miraculously, there was always enough for another meal! When the widow’s son perished, his stone-cold body was restored to life… an astonishing demonstration of God’s amazing grace.

The woman was a Gentile living in a land of pagans. She didn’t earn her salvation by obedience to religious rituals or good deeds. She didn’t deserve it!

So it is with me and you. “God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. (We) are saved by grace!” (Ephesians 2:4–5).

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).