Bible Lesson: Miracles Of The Old
Testament: Meal And Oil Multiplied For The Widow Of Zarephath.
Occasion: Miracle Of Provision
For The Prophet, The Widow And Her Son.
Location: Zarephath.
Bible Text: I Kings 17:8-16 NLT
I Kings 16:32,33 NLT (King
Ahab, guided Jezebel, his idolatrous wife.)
32 First Ahab
built a temple and an altar for Baal in Samaria.
33 Then he set
up an Asherah pole. He did more to provoke the anger of The Lord, the
God of Israel, than any of the other kings of Israel before him.
I Kings 17:1-6 NLT (Ravens obedient
servants of The Living God, Israel's 7th
King, disobedient.)
1 Now Elijah,
who was from Tishbe in Gilead, told King Ahab, “As surely as The
Lord, the God of Israel, lives—the God I serve—there will be no
dew or rain during the next few years until I give the word!”
2 Then The Lord
said to Elijah,
3 “Go to the
east and hide by Kerith Brook, near where it enters the Jordan River.
4 Drink from
the brook and eat what the ravens bring you, for I have commanded
them to bring you food.”
5 So Elijah did
as The Lord told him and camped beside Kerith Brook, east of the
Jordan.
6 The ravens
brought him bread and meat each morning and evening, and he drank
from the brook.
7 But after a
while the brook dried up, for there was no rainfall anywhere in the
land.
Deuteronomy 11:16,17 KJV
(Moses had warned the people of God.)
16 Take heed to
yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and
serve other gods, and worship them;
17 And then The
Lord's wrath be kindled against you, and He shut up the heaven, that
there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye
perish quickly from off the good land which The Lord giveth you.
Main Text:
I Kings 17:8-16 NLT (The Widow
of Zarephath, meets Elijah.)
8 Then The Lord said to Elijah,
9 “Go and live in the village of
Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to
feed you.”
10 So he went to Zarephath. As he
arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks,
and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a
cup?”
11 As she was going to get it, he
called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”
12 But she said, “I swear by The
Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the
house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a
little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a
few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”
13 But Elijah said to her, “Don’t
be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little
bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for
yourself and your son.
14 For this is what The Lord, The
God Of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in
your containers until the time when The Lord sends rain and the crops
grow again!”
15 So she did as Elijah said, and
she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days.
16 There was always enough flour and
olive oil left in the containers, just as The Lord had promised
through Elijah.
After 3 ½ years of
drought, Kerith Brook, itself had
dried up.
I Kings 17:8-11
KJV
8 Then The Lord said to Elijah,
9 “Go and live in the village
of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there
to feed you.”
10 So he went to Zarephath. As he
arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks,
and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a
cup?”
11 As she was going to get it, he
called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”
God's prophet was both hungry and thirsty. Elijah had no doubt
surmised, that a woman looking for sticks to make a meal, with a son,
with no husband to care for her, must be the widow of Zarepath, that
God had told Elijah of.
Take heart, God knows who and where His people are, and we are
“not,” alone!
I Kings 19:14,18
KJV
Elijah's lament:
14 And he said, I have been very jealous for The Lord God Of Hosts:
because the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown
down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even
I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
The Lord's
reply:
18 Yet I have left Me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which
have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.
I Kings 17:12
NLT
But she said, “I swear by
The Lord your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in
the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a
little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a
few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”
The widow of Zarephath, was a follower of The Living God, for she
swore and oath in His name.
And she spoke the truth, for she fully expected her and her son to
starve to death after a last meal.
I Kings 17:13,14
NLT
13 But Elijah said to her, “Don’t
be afraid! Go ahead and do just what you’ve said, but make a little
bread for me first. Then use what’s left to prepare a meal for
yourself and your son.
14 For this is what The Lord, The
God Of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in
your containers until the time when The Lord sends rain and the crops
grow again!”
Certainly the threshold of miracles, must be faith!
Matthew 8:26 KJV
And He saith
unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then He arose,
and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm.
Matthew 9:29 KJV
"...According
to your faith be it unto you.
Matthew 17:20
KJV
And Jesus said
unto them...verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of
mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder
place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
Mark 9:23 KJV
Jesus said unto
him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that
believeth.
Mark 11:22 KJV
And Jesus
answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
Luke 17:5 KJV
And the
apostles said unto The Lord, Increase our faith.
Romans 10:17 KJV
So then faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by The Word Of God.
Jesus referred to this Old Testament story:
Luke 4:24-26 NLT
24 But I tell you The Truth, no prophet is accepted in his own hometown.
25 “Certainly there were many needy widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the heavens were closed for three and a half years, and a severe famine devastated the land.
26 Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them. He was sent instead to a foreigner—a widow of Zarephath in the land of Sidon.
Don't be afraid, have faith!
Elijah had a message for the widow, obey the voice of The Lord, and
He will bless you beyond measure!
“For this is what The Lord, The
God Of Israel, says: There will always be flour and olive oil left in
your containers until the time when The Lord sends rain and the crops
grow again!”
I Kings 17:15,16
NLT
15 So she did as Elijah said, and
she and Elijah and her family continued to eat for many days.
16 There was always enough flour
and olive oil left in the containers, just as The Lord had promised
through Elijah.
Through the faith and obedience of the widow of Zarephath, not only
her and her son, but all her family had miraculous food to spare!
I Samuel 15:22
KJV
And Samuel
said, Hath The Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and
sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of The Lord? Behold, to obey is
better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
Matthew 7:21 KJV
Not every one
that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of
heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven.
John 14:21 KJV
He that hath My
commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that
loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will
manifest Myself to him.
Our Lord once asked Abraham...
Genesis 18:14
KJV
Is any thing
too hard for The Lord?
And of course the answer was, and is, no!
If we have faith, and are obedient to The Word Of God,
we too will see miracles happen!
Have faith in God!
Psalm 37:3-5 KJV
3 Trust in
The Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and
verily thou shalt be fed.
4 Delight
thyself also in The Lord: and He shall give thee the desires of
thine heart.
5 Commit thy
way unto The Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to
pass.
Psalm 118:8,9
KJV
8 It is better
to trust in The Lord than to put confidence in man.
9 It is better
to trust in The Lord than to put confidence in princes.
Proverbs 3:5,6
KJV
5 Trust in
The Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own
understanding.
6 In all thy
ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.
Isaiah 26:4 KJV
Trust ye in
The Lord for ever: for in The Lord Jehovah is everlasting
strength:
