Part II: The Widow of Zarephath
An example of trust and kindness to such widows at are poor.
THE prophet Elijah, after having been miraculously fed during a long famine, by ravens at the brook Cherith, found it necessary to quit his retreat in consequence of the failure of the stream which had nitherto supplied him with water. There is a mysterious sovereignty running through all the ways of God, extending also to his miraculous operations. He works no more wonders, and gives no more signs, than the exigency of the case needs. He that sent flesh by a bird of preys could have caused the brook still to resist the exhausting power of the drought, or have brought water out of the stones which lay in its dr bed: but he did not see fit to do so. When the brook fails, however, God has a Zarephath for his servant; and a widow, instead of ravens, shall now feed him; for all creatures are equally God’s servants, and he is never at a loss for instruments either of power to destroy his enemies, or of love to succour and help his friends: what he does not find he can make, and here, therefore, is a firm ground of our confidence in him: “They that know his name will put their trust in him.” “Arise,” said God to the prophet, “get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman to sustain thee there.” Every thing in the injunction must have been confounding to reason. “What! go to Zarephath! a city out of the boundaries of the land of promise! the native country of Jezebel, my bitterest foe! Go to such a distance in a time of famine! What am I to do, and how am I to be fed on my long and toilsome journey? And when I shall have arrived there, am I to be dependant oa a woman, and she a widow?” Did Elijah reason, and question, and cavil thus? Nothing of the sort, for what is difficult to reason, is easy to faith. God had commanded, and his commands imply promises. It was enough, “Go, for God sends thee;” and he went nothing doubting, nothing asking, nothing fearing.
Arrived at the vicinity of the place about eventide, and looking round, of course, for the female hand that was at once to guide him to a home, and feed him too, Elijah saw a poor woman gathering a few sticks, which the long drought had scattered in abundance. Her occupation, as well as her appearance, proclaimed her poverty. He saw no one else; “Can that be my benefactress?” we can fancy him asking himself. Remembering, however, the ravens who had been his purveyors for a whole year, he knew that help could come by the hand of even that feeble instrument. An impression, such as those who had been accustomed to receive revelations from God well understood, assured him that his deliverer was before him. “Fetch me,” said he, “a little water in a vessel that I may drink.” Such a request was asking for more than gold. Yet awed by the prophet’s appearance, and influenced by the prophet’s God, she set out immediately in quest of the precious liquid, but was stopped to hear another request: “Bring me a morsel of bread in thy hand.” This second request drew from the poor woman one of the most affecting statements that even poverty’s self ever made: “As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse, and behold I am gathering two sticks that I may go in and dress for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.” Alas! poor mother, thy condition is sad indeed, thou art, in thine own apprehension, about to make thy last meal, with thy fatherless child, and then with him. to yield yourselves to death. It was time for the prophet to visit this widow, to whom he was evidently sent, more on her account than his own. How little could she have imagined when she utered that sorrowful confession of destitution, that help was at hand, and a rich supply at her very door. How opportunely does God provide succours for our distresses. It is his glory to begin to help, when hope seems to end, and to send assistance in his own way, when ours all fail, that our relief may be so much the more welcome and precious, by how much the less it is expected, and thus be to his own praise, as much as it is for our comfort. Elijah full of prophetic impulse, as well as urged by hunger, said to her, “Fear not; go, and do as thou hast said; but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and afterwards make for thee and for thy son: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth. What answer to this would he have received from many, yea, from all who were not as full of faith as this poor widow! She might have said, “Charity begins at home. My child has claims upon me, and I have a claim upon and for myself, which it is impossible to forego or forget for any other; and I am surprised at a request which would take the last morsel from us both to feed a Granger.” And do I not hesitate to say, that her compliance with the injunction, can be justified only on the ground of her faith in the promise. That she did believe the promise is evident, and equally so, that this faith was the gift of God to her soul. This was faith, and of no ordinary strength; it made her willing “to spend upon one she had never seen before a part of the little she had, in hope of more; to part with the means of present support, which she saw, in confidence of future supplies, which she could not see; and thus oppose her senses and her reason to exercise her belief in God’s word.”* She went and did according to the saying of Elijah. And now, we ask, was she deceived by the failure, or rewarded by the fulfilment, of the promise? When did one word that God had spoken fall to the ground? Thus stands the record: “She and her son did eat many days. And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.”
“Behold then,” says the author of Elijah the Tishbite, “this man of God cheerfully sitting down in her solitary cottage. Surely ’ the voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous;’ for ’ the right hand of the Lord,’ on their behalf, ‘doeth valiantly.’ — Psalm cxviii. 15. They rejoice together, not only on account of temporal blessings, but much more on account of those which are spiritual. Israel had lost Elijah, and a poor widow in a heathen land has found him. Thus often does it fare with a people, who, though they have been privileged with the most faithful preaching of the gospel, will not turn unto the Lord, with all their
* See the beautiful Contemplations of Bishop Hall.
heart, and walk uprightly before him. They are cursed with a famine of the Word of God; the children’s bread is taken from them, and imparted to others whom they account no better than dogs, who however ’ will receive it,’ and are languishing for it. Indeed our Lord himself thus applies this part of sacred history to the case of the people of Nazareth, who refused to receive his ministry: 1 1 tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow.’ — Luke iv. 25, 26. Here then the prophet dwells quite happy under the widow’s roof. All distress has disappeared. The meal is not diminished in the barrel, nor fails the oil in the cruse, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. Neither does their spiritual sustenance fail. Well might this poor widow rejoice in the privilege of sitting daily at the feet of this man of God, for instruction in. divine things! Can we doubt for a moment that the prophet most gladly opened his mouth in divine wisdom, to impart it to the soul of this simple believing sister? Can we doubt that they prayed together, that they read together out of Moses and the prophets, that they conversed together of the day of Christ, which Abraham saw with gladness? And would they not, think you, occasionally raise a spiritual song to the honour of their Lord and Saviour? How swiftly and how pleasantly must the hours have passed with them; and well might the angels of God have rejoiced, as no doubt they did, over this little church in the wilderness! Behold here then, my brethren, the bright egress and happy termination of a path, which commenced in such thick darkness! Only let all the children of God implicitly follow his guidance, and he will assuredly conduct them to a glorious end”
The trials of this poor widow, however, consisted not of her poverty alone. The child miraculously snatched from the jaws of famine was still mortal, as the event proved, for he sickened and died. In her behaviour under this new trial, we see that her faith, as a believer, was sadly mixed with her infirmity as a woman; and that it did not shine with the same lustre in this new trial, as it did in the former one. What poor changeable creatures we are, and how insufficient is past grace for present duties and afflictions. Perhaps, we are sometimes as apt to presume upon past experience, as we are, at other seasons, to forget it. “What have I to do with thee thou man of God? Art thou come to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my sou?” This was the language of ignorance and passion, which we should hardly have expected from one who had seen the miracle of the barrel of meal, and cruse of oil; and shows how sorrow is apt to becloud the judgment and to exasperate the feelings, and at the same time, how affliction is apt to revive the recollections of past and even pardoned sin. Elijah, with a touching gentleness, which instructs us how to hear with the petulant complaints of deep grief, bore with her expostulation, and restored the child to life, and to the arms of his joyful and grateful mother. Her faith and confidence, a little shaken by the trial, returned with her son’s life, and she lived, with him, to praise and glorify God.
And now let those to whom this beautful narrative is especially applicable, take it to themselves, and apply it to their own sad and sorrowful hearts? And who are they? The widows that are left in circumstances of deep poverty, who have only a handful of meal, as it were, in the barrel, and a little oil in the cruse; and who after eating this last supply, are preparing to yield themselves to want or death. Afflicted woman, my heart bleeds for you. The provider for your own comfort and that of your children is gone; the hand of the diligent that once made you, if not rich, yet comfortable, has forgotten its cunning, and it is your bitter lot to see the little which he left you, continually consuming, without your knowing, or even being able to conjecture, from whence the empty barrel is to be replenished. It is for such as you, to remember the words of Jehovah, “And let thy widows trust in me.” You have no other trust, and none are so much encouraged to trust in God, as they whose sole confidence, the Lord is. Then, above all times, is the time to look up with hope to God, when we have no other to look up to. What promises are upon record for your consolation. Having already laid them before you, I will only refer to a few of them. What sweet language is that in Psalm xxxiv. 1 — 10, and Psalm xxxvii. Turn to your Bible, and read those comforting portions of Holy Scripture. Then how cheering to the believer is the prophet’s assurance, “He shall dwell on high: his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks: bread shall be given; his water shall be sure.” — Isaiah xxxiii. 16. Can any thing be more encouraging than the apostle’s application to the individual believer, of the promise made to Joshua? So that we may boldly say, we Christians, yes, every one of us individually, The Lord is my helper. Be content with such things as ye have, then, for he hath said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” The force of this passage in the original, exceeds the power of translation: it contains five negative particles within the compass of these few words, so that literally rendered it would be, “No, I will not leave thee; no, no, I will not forsake thee.” It is one of the most emphatical and beautiful examples of the force of a negative declaration, in all the scripture. God seems to start back with dread and abhorrence at the thought of forsaking his people. Trust him. Not that I mean to insinuate that you are authorised to expect miraculous supplies. Your garments will not be rendered undecaying like those of the Israelites in the wilderness, nor your provisions inexhaustible, like those of the widow before us; but the God of providence can find you means and instruments of assistance, as effectual as if the laws of nature were suspended in your behalf. All hearts are in his hands; all events are at his disposal; all contingencies are in his knowledge and under his direction. What is Wanting on your part is FAITH. Only believe, and perhaps you are really shut up to this; you can scarcely do any thing else.
Not that I mean to discourage effort. On this subject I have dwelt in a former part of the volume: you must, in proper season and manner, exert yourself in your own support, and that of your children; but what I mean is, that when after every disposition, and fixed determination, and collected energy, to do this, you do not see through what channel, and to what object, your efforts are to be directed; you are to believe that God will, in ways unknown and unthought of by you, afford you his assistance. This is your faith. In ten thousand times, ten thousand instances, as we have already remarked, he has helped poor dependent widows as effectually without a miracle, as he did the woman of Zarephath by one. The barrel of meal, and cruse of oil Jias been replenished as truly, though not as mysteriously, as in the case before us. And why is this case recorded, but to encourage you to trust in God. It was a miracle it is true, and like other miracles had the high design of confirming the revelation of God by his prophet; but it was a miracle of supply to one in want, intended visibly to typify and illustrate God’s ordinary providence in supplying the wants of his people, and to encourage through all ages, the exercise of pious confidence in him. Read it with this view of it; and when the last supply is exhausted, from time to time, read it again and again, to raise the hope of a future communication from him, who heareth the young ravens when they cry. You do not know when or how it will come, but believe that it will come. 0 what a God-honouring grace is faith! and as this honours Him, so ne delighteth to honour it. All things are possible, and all things are promised, to him that believeth. As no miracle could be wrought, in the time when these wondrous operations were common, without faith in the subject of it; so now, in cases of providential interposition, no manifestation of God’s power and grace is to be looked for, but in answer to faith. I would not encourage enthusiasm, but I be- .ieve that God saith to his dependent and destitute people, “Be it unto you according to your faith.” Do not, then, look only to see the barrel of meal gradually sinking lower and lower, but look up unto God who can replenish it, and with much in the former to generate doubt and fear, feel also that there is as mucn in the latter to encourage faith and hope.
But there is another lesson to be learnt by the conduct of the widow of Sarepta, and that is, not to let your own grief and comparative destitution, steel your hearts against the wants of others, and close your hands to their necessities. She shared with Elijah the last meal she was preparing for herself and her son. Grief is apt to make us selfish, and limited circumstances to produce an indisposedness to communicate. Take heed against such a state of mind as this. Exhaust not all your tears upon yourself. There are many as destitute as you are, perhaps some far more so. You are prepared by experience to sympathise with them, and will find in sympathy a relief for your own sorrows. Nothing tends more to relieve that overwhelming sense of wretchedness, with which the heart of the sufferer is sometimes oppressed, than a generous pity for at fellow weeper.