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From: 1 Kings 17:1-6

Elijah foretells the drought

[1] Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord the
God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these
years, except by my word.” [2] And the word of the Lord came to him, [3] “Depart
from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, that is east
of the Jordan. [4] You shall drink from the brook and I have commanded the ra-
vens to feed you there.”

The ravens bring Elijah food

[5] So he went and did according to the word of the Lord; he went and dwelt by
the brook Cherith that is east of the Jordan. [6] And the ravens brought him bread
and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from
the brook.

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Commentary:

1 Kings 17:1-2 - 2 Kings 1:18. The ample coverage given to the reign of Ahab is
not so much due to the actions of the king as to the fact that God raised up at
this time prophets who played a critical role in maintaining knowledge and wor-
ship of the God of Israel when they were under threat. The most outstanding of
these prophets is Elijah. It is quite likely that the narratives to do with Elijah were
lifted straight out of another text and inserted here, like other accounts of pro-
phets of the same time — an unnamed prophet (chap. 20) and Micaiah the son
of Imlah (chap. 22), both of whom speak to the king on God’s behalf during the
war against Syria.

17:1-19:21. The great drought, which is the backdrop of chapters 17-19, seems
to be a divine punishment for the king’s idolatry reported in the previous chapter;
but the main thing it does is to provide an opportunity to show the superiority of
the God of Israel over the Canaanite god Baal. Elijah, whose name means “my
God is the Lord”, is an itinerant prophet who, like the patriarchs, moves around
the country in obedience to the word of the Lord.

God makes himself known in a new way through the prophet Elijah. The same
God who manifested himself as friend and protector of the patriarchs, and who
gave the Law to Moses, now reveals himself as the Lord of creation and of na-
ture. To the Canaanites the god Baal was master of the forces of nature — rain,
storms, fertility etc. Through the prophet Elijah the true God reveals himself to
be distinct from and higher than all those forces, no matter what their power (cf.
19:11-13), as well as being their Lord (cf. 17:1). Elijah is the champion of the
rights of God and of the poor (cf. chap 21) and in this sense he is a model for
all the prophets that will come after him, the so-called writer prophets. “Elijah is
the ‘father’ of the prophets, ‘the generation of those who seek him, who seek the
face of the God of Jacob’ (Ps 24:6)” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2582).

17:1-4. It is possible that in Gilead, a region in the Transjordan, the religious tra-
dition of Israel was kept in a purer form than in Samaria, where Jezebel’s influ-
ence reigned. “Before whom I stand” (v. 1): Elijah uses this technical expres-
sion to present himself as a servant of God (in the same sort of way as courtiers,
who stand in the presence of the king, serve the king) and as his representative.

The prophet’s oracle (”As the Lord lives . .”: v. 1), which appears in the text out
of nowhere, spells outright rejection of the cult of Baal, the god of rain, because
only the God of Israel is the master of nature. Moreover, since the prophet repre-
sents God, what he says (since it always accords with the divine will) will be
what God does. This will happen also with those who bear witness to Jesus in
the New Testament: they act with the power of the Lord and through their faithful
testimony they are able to emerge victorious over an opposition or any obstacle
they meet, as the apostle John teaches, apropos of the two witnesses, when he
recalls this episode of Elijah (cf. Rev 11:6, 12). St John Chrysostom comments
that “in the time of Elijah, the heavens were opened and closed again, but only
to let rain fall or to prevent it. Now, however, God has opened the gates of heaven
to allow us to enter; and not only so that we ourselves may enter, but — and this
is a greater marvel yet — so that we may bring all others along with us; so great
is this faith and power that we are given over what is his” (Homiliae in Matthaeum,
12,4).

17:5-7. The “brook Cerith” (location uncertain) may have been a small gorge run-
ning north from the river Yarmuk. The food given the prophet is reminiscent of the
manna that God gave his people in the wilderness (cf. Ex 16:8-12).

St Augustine sees in this passage an allegory of Christ and his Church: “The ho-
ly prophet Elijah is a figure of the Lord and Saviour. Just as Elijah suffered perse-
cution at the hands of the Jews, the true Elijah, our Lord, was rejected and con-
demned by the Jews. Elijah left his people and Christ left the synagogue. Elijah
went out into the desert and Christ came into this world. Elijah was fed in the de-
sert by crows, and Christ was nourished in the desert of this world by the faith of
the Gentiles. The crows that brought food to Elijah in accordance with the Lord’s
command symbolize the Gentile peoples. Thus it is written of the church of Gen-
tiles: ‘I am black but beautiful, daughters of Jerusalem.’ Why black and beautiful?
Black by birth, and made beautiful by grace. Why black? ‘Because I was con-
ceived in iniquity and born of my mother in sin.’ Why beautiful? ‘Sprinkle me with
the hyssop and I will be made clean, wash me and I will be made whiter than
snow’” (Sermons attributed to St Augustine, Sermons, 40, 1).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.