1 Kings 17:13

13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go and do according to your word; only make for me a small bread cake from it first, and bring it out to me. Make it for yourself and for your son afterward.

1 Kings 17:13 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 17:13

And Elijah said unto her, fear not
That she and her son should die, it would not be the case:

go and do as thou hast said:
mix her meal and her oil, and make a cake thereof, and bake it:

but make thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after
make for thee and for thy son:
which was not said from a selfish spirit of the prophet, but to try the faith of the woman; and besides, as Abarbinel observes, the prophet was not only hungry and thirsty through his journey, and so required to be served first, but it was for the sake of his sustenance, that the Lord would command a blessing on the meal and oil; wherefore, if she dressed it for herself and her son first, there would have been none left for the divine blessing to descend upon.

1 Kings 17:13 In-Context

11 She went to fetch [it], and he called to her and said, "Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand."

12 She said, "{As Yahweh your God lives}, surely I do not have a cake, {but only a handful of flour} in the jar and a little olive oil in the jug. Here I [am] gathering a few pieces of wood, and I will go and prepare it for me and my son, that we might eat it and die."

13 Elijah said to her, "Don't be afraid. Go and do according to your word; only make for me a small bread cake from it first, and bring it out to me. Make it for yourself and for your son afterward.

14 For thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel: 'The jar of flour will not be emptied and the jug of olive oil will not run out until the day Yahweh gives rain on the surface of the earth.'"

15 So she went and did according to the word of Elijah; then [both] she and he ate with her household for many days.