ELIJAH AND ELISHA.
STORIES OF THE WONDERFUL DEEDS PERFORMED BY TWO MEN OF GOD WHO LIVED IN ISRAEL.
How Elijah Pronounced the Doom of Drouth. How He Was Entertained by a Poor Widow, and How He Paid for His Hospitality.
(In the Northern kingdom of Israel, a very wicked king named Ahab came to the throne. This very wicked king married a woman named Jezebel, who was even more wicked than himself, and they both did continually that which was evil in the sight of God. They worshiped idols, and they cruelly put to death those who worshiped God. Then there arose a prophet named Elijah, and one day he came to the court of the wicked king and queen, and spoke these words):--
"As the Lord, the God of Israel, liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word."
This made the king very angry, and he would have killed Elijah, but he escaped, for the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there."
So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: [{114}] for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
And the word of the Lord came to him, saying, "Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain thee."
So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks: and he called to her, and said, "Bring me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink."
And as she was going to bring it, he called to her, and said, "Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand."
And she said, "As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in the barrel, and a little oil in the cruse: and, 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."
And Elijah said unto her, "Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it forth unto me, and afterward make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith the Lord, the 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.'"