Bible Story of Elijah and the Widow: Trusting God's Provision

The story of the prophet Elijah and the widow of Zarephath is a powerful tale of divine testing, trust in the face of uncertainty, and a demonstration of God’s infinite love and mercy to those who will listen to Him– or those He sends as messengers. Interestingly, when we first meet Elijah, we don’t know how God chose him or what his life was like before becoming a mouthpiece of the Lord. God called him to confront Israel’s wicked King Ahab, declaring a drought as judgment for the nation's idolatrous worship of Baal, a pagan deity introduced by Ahab’s wife, Jezebel. The drought was God’s tool to show His overwhelming power as the God of Israel.

After Elijah gave this prophetic warning to Ahab, God told him to leave and hide by the brook Cherith. There God protected and provided for him by sending ravens to feed him, since there was no food supply in the area. Jehovah Jireh (“The Lord Will Provide") took care of the one that He called, knowing that He was going to use him to continue to show God’s mighty power. 

When the brook finally dried up because of the drought, God had other plans for Elijah. This time, when God told him to “get up and go,” he wouldn’t return to go “toe-to-toe” with Ahab, but headed instead to a special appointment with a Gentile widow who needed to know the God of all. It’s a story that has significance throughout eternity.

Who Was the Widow of Zarephath?

God told Elijah, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you” (I Kings 17:9). This may have been puzzling to Elijah who may have wondered, “God wants me to meet with a pagan woman who is supposed to take care of me even though she won’t believe in me, or in my God who is sending me?” Yet Elijah obeyed as he had already seen how God demonstrated his omnipotence. And he would have understood that once again God was looking out for him by providing a widow to feed him.

Although Elijah began his prophetic career working with God to rid Israel of evil, God then sent him outside of Israel, to Sidon, the “county seat” of Baal worship. Here, it was believed that Baal was stronger than the God of the Israelites, and the region was a place where God had no power. God was about to demonstrate not only his majesty, but also His mercy–something a pagan god could never do.

This journey marked the first prophetic mission to a Gentile, foreshadowing God’s plan to extend His mercy beyond Israel. The widow of Zarephath was a poor woman who had no hope. In the Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise), he writes, “The person appointed to entertain Elijah is not one of the rich or great men of Sidon; but a poor widow woman, in want, and desolate, is made both able and willing to sustain him. It is God's way, and it is his glory, to make use of, and put honour upon, the weak and foolish things of the world.” As a widow, she was on her own–likely poor without someone to help her, vulnerable to other men and potentially an outcast to those who thought she must have done something wrong to displease her “god.” She was affected by the drought as well and was about to prepare her last meal for herself and her son when she encountered Elijah.

What Was Elijah's Request to the Widow?

While the widow of Zarephath was gathering sticks for cooking when Elijah came through the town gate, he said, “'Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?’ As she was going to get it, he called, ‘And bring me, please, a piece of bread’” (1 Kings 17:10-11). To our modern ears, this would have seemed very presumptuous for a stranger to ask a woman he didn’t know for food and drink. But it was not unusual in this part of the world in the 9th century BC. Notice how the verse says “As she was going to get it…” as if this was an everyday occurrence. Travelers counted on the hospitality of townsfolk when journeying through an area. Also, God had told Elijah that He was sending him to a widow who would feed him, and he expected nothing less.

Unfortunately, the widow told him in verse 12 that she had only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. This would be enough to make one last bit of bread for her and her son before they would die. Elijah told her not to be afraid, and to make him a little cake before she made any for her and her son. She may have been taken aback, but then Elijah said, “For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth'” (1 Kings 17:14). She must have believed because she did as she was told, and she and her household ate for many days. And as God told Elijah, she didn’t run out of flour or oil. 

My guess is that Baal had never made such promises to her (of course not). And that the neighbors who saw her starving were not going to help her, but this man of the God of Israel said he would help her. I imagine that she rushed to see if what Elijah said would be true, because if it was, she was going to have to figure out whether Baal truly held all power. 

What Does This Story Demonstrate about God’s Provision?

God knew exactly when Elijah should arrive in Sidon because He was going to perform a miracle at the last possible moment for this woman and her son. It reminds us of a similar event in Genesis when God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son Isaac, but provided a ram for the sacrifice as Abraham “took the knife to slaughter his son” (Genesis 22:10). 

This story teaches us that God is all-seeing, all-knowing, all-compassionate, and that His demonstration of love to this woman and her son also acted as a display of His sovereignty. It also reminds us that God doesn’t always provide in the way that we would imagine, but always does the right thing at the right time (sometimes at the last minute when it seems all hope is lost). It’s as if God delights in leveling the playing field at times to show that He is the only hope, the only way out of a situation. When He does respond, He is glorified in heaven and on the earth!

What Happened to the Widow's Son and How Did Elijah Respond?

Some time after this miracle, the son of the widow became ill to the point of death. She cursed Elijah for bringing a curse on her, though interestingly she believed that her past had something to do with her son’s death. She said, “What have you against me, O man of God? You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance and to cause the death of my son!" (1 Kings 17:18). 

Elijah asked the woman for the son, carried him upstairs and put him on his bed. Elijah cried out to God, asking why He was bringing this terrible thing upon her son, whom He just saved. Elijah then stretched himself across the child three times and begged God to bring life into his body again. God answered Elijah’s prayer, and Elijah then carried him downstairs for his mother to see. “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’” (1 Kings 17:24).

Though God had already performed a miracle for the widow in providing her a never-ending supply of food, it took a second miracle for her to believe. God was patient and merciful in doing so. It reminds us that we need to be thankful for everything that God does, because we never know how He will choose to answer a prayer. Woe to us if we are given so much and we don’t recognize it as coming from our Heavenly Father!

Is the Story of Elijah and the Widow Referenced in the New Testament?

There is a direct reference to the story of Elijah and the widow in the New Testament, and some indirect allusions to the themes of the story:

• But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up for three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. (Luke 4:25-26).

Jesus was speaking about how prophets were not accepted in their hometown, because he was rejected in his town of Nazareth. When He speaks of Elijah going to Sidon, Jesus is making the point that God will send prophets to Gentiles if His own people, the Israelites, would not believe. 

Other parallels include:

• But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man O Lord” (Luke 5:8)--reference to when the widow thought of her sinfulness and how it may be implicated in her plight.

• And a young man named Eutychus, sitting at the window, sank into a deep sleep as Paul talked still longer. And being overcome by sleep, he fell down from the third story and was taken up dead. But Paul went down and bent over him and taking him in his arms, said, ‘Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him” (Acts 20:10)--reference to Elijah bending over the widow’s son and praying for life to return to him.

What Did This Encounter Teach Elijah?

While the story focuses on God’s provision for the widow, it also reveals how this was a divinely orchestrated appointment for Elijah. Later, he would confront Ahab again and stand against 450 prophets of Baal, so Elijah benefited from seeing God's faithfulness in smaller, personal ways. These miracles weren’t just for the widow—they were opportunities for the development of Elijah’s own faith.

Despite God’s mighty displays that destroyed the prophets of Baal, Elijah would still later struggle with fear and despair (1 Kings 19). This shows that even God’s most faithful servants wrestle with fear and doubt.

So often in the Bible, God calls us to remember what He has done for us. It may be easy to do so when things are going well, but when things are difficult, we may have a harder time retrieving those moments from memory. But without them, we can’t go through trials confidently, knowing that the God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever, will carry us as He always has. 

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Mary Oelerich-Meyer is a Chicago-area freelance writer and copy editor who prayed for years for a way to write about and for the Lord. She spent 20 years writing for area healthcare organizations, interviewing doctors and clinical professionals and writing more than 1,500 articles in addition to marketing collateral materials. Important work, but not what she felt called to do. She is grateful for any opportunity to share the Lord in her writing and editing, believing that life is too short to write about anything else. Previously she served as Marketing Communications Director for a large healthcare system. She holds a B.A. in International Business and Marketing from Cornell College (the original Cornell!) When not researching or writing, she loves to spend time with her writer daughter, granddaughter, rescue doggie and husband (not always in that order).