Elijah and the Widow
This story was written in Hebrew. Take a look at some of the words from the story in the original Hebrew to find new meaning.
Elijah
Explanation: Elijah's name means Yah is God or Yah is my God. Yah is a shortened name for YHWH, the God of Israel.
Question: How does Elijah's name connect with his stories?
To sustain or nurish
Context in the story (1 Kings 17:4): You shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to kul you there.”
Context in the story (1 Kings 17:9): “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to kul you.”
Question: What parallels do you see in the two verses where this word is used? (Both of them are God speaking to Elijah.) How is sustain different than just to feed?
To command or order
Context in the story (1 Kings 17:4): "You shall drink from the brook, and I have tsavah the ravens to feed you there.”
Context in the story (1 Kings 17:9): "“Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have tsavah a widow there to feed you.”
Question: What parallels do you see in the two verses where this word is used? (Both of them are God speaking to Elijah.)
To live
Context in the story (1 Kings 17:1): "Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, chay, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word.”
Context in the story (1 Kings 17:12): "And she said, “As the Lord your God chay, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die.”
Context in the story (1 Kings 17:23-24): "And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper chamber into the house and delivered him to his mother. And Elijah said, “See, your son chay.” 24 And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is truth.”"
Finish, complete, end
lack, diminish
Context in the story (1 Kings 17:16): "The jar of flour was not kalah, neither did the jug of oil chaser, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah."
Question: Is there a nuance of difference between these two words? How do theses concepts connect to the phrase "the word of the Lord" in this passage?
To become weak (sick)
Context in the story (1 Kings 17:17): " After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became chalah. And his chalah was so severe that there was no breath left in him."
Explanation: Weakness is the Hebrew word for disease or illness, whether physical or mental. It can also mean weakness in a more general sense. In this case, it is clearly an illness being described.
To do evil or bring harm
Context in the story (1 Kings 17:20): "And he cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, have you brought raa even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?”
Explanation: This is one of the key questions of the story. Has God brought evil to this household?
Question: How would you answer Elijah's question? If God didn't cause the raa, then what did?
To measure
Context in the story (1 Kings 17:21): "Then he madad himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child's life come into him again.”
Question: This is an unusual word choice placed at a key part of the story. What do you think this means?
Explanation: Literally translated: "And he madad (above, over, or upon) the child three times..." This word is used many places in the Bible, and always with the sense of measuring something. However, this is the only place in the Bible that this particular verb form is used and therefore it is open to some conjecture. It's often translated "to stretch" from the context, and because Arabic may provide an etymological link to the word "stretch." But there is no way to know if this is the correct translation.
Look up Hab 3:6 to see another place this word madad is used and see if it might open any new ideas:
He stood and madad the earth;
he looked and shook the nations;
then the eternal mountains were scattered;
the everlasting hills sank low.
His were the everlasting ways.
Biblical poetry often uses parallel lines with similar meanings. Here, "madad the earth" is parallel with "shook the nations." What do you think madad might mean in this context? If you're still unsure, don't worry. Many wise Bible scholars have pondered the use of madad in this verse.
Breath of a living being
Context in the story (1 Kings 17:21-22): “Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the Lord, “O Lord my God, let this child's nephesh come into him again.” And the Lord listened to the voice of Elijah. And the nephesh of the child came into him again, and he revived."
Explanation: In older translation this is often translated soul, but soul was more of a later Greek concept for which the Hebrews had no exact equivalent.
True, reliable, trustworthy, firm, constant
Context in the story (1 Kings 17:24): "And the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is emet.”
Question: This is the final statement of this chapter. How does this statement and the understanding of the word emet serve as a good summary of the whole chapter?
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