Again the word of God came upon Elijah, telling him what road to take to his next shelter. Across the mountains of Lebanon, where the brooks were as dry as that of Cherith, the prophet made his way. Descending their further slopes, he crossed the plains at their feet, and with his face still towards the sea, approached the village or town of Zarephath. The modern village of Sura-flud is supposed to occupy its site, and the ruins of the ancient town are to be seen there.
THE SITE OF ZAREPHATH.
From a photograph.
Elijah was now in Phœnicia, the native country of Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab. It would seem to be the last place in which an enemy of Baal would seek refuge, but Elijah knew that God had a purpose in sending him there. Ethbaal, the father of Jezebel, was the King of Phœnicia, and the famine which followed the drought had reached that country, and was causing terrible suffering.
Just outside Zarephath, Elijah found a woman gathering sticks for firewood. She was a widow, and in such poverty that all the food she had in the world was a handful of meal and a little oil in a bottle or jar. Consumed with thirst, Elijah asked her for water, and, as she turned to bring it, he asked her also for a piece of bread.
Sadly the woman told him she had no bread. She was gathering sticks to make a fire over which she would cook the handful of meal and the little oil remaining in the bottle. When she and her son had eaten this, they would have no more food, and in consequence would die of hunger.
"A WOMAN GATHERING STICKS FOR FIREWOOD."
It is probable that this woman was an Israelite, and not a worshipper of Baal, for, when Elijah told her to mix the meal and oil into a cake and bake it for him, adding, "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," the woman did as she was told, evidently recognizing him as a prophet of God. She fed him before she and her son tasted of food, and gave him the shelter of her house as well; and during all the time of drought and famine, the supply of meal and oil never failed.
After a while, trouble came upon the little household. The widow's son suddenly became very sick and then died. The heart-broken mother demanded of Elijah why he had come to them only to slay her son. The prophet replied, "Give me thy son," and taking the boy from his mother's arms, carried him into his own chamber and laid him on the bed.