1 Kings 17:10

10 So he got up and went to Zarephath. As he came to the entrance of the village he met a woman, a widow, gathering firewood. He asked her, "Please, would you bring me a little water in a jug? I need a drink."

1 Kings 17:10 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 17:10

So he arose, and went to Zarephath
Which, according to Bunting F6, was one hundred miles from the brook Cherith:

and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, the widow woman was
there gathering sticks:
perhaps out of an hedge just without the city this shows her to be a poor woman, who had no other way of coming at fuel but this, and no servant to fetch it for her: Bunting tells us, that now before the gate of the city there is showed a certain chapel, where they say Elias first spoke with the widow:

and he called to her, and said, fetch me, I pray thee, a little water
in a vessel, that I may drink;
being thirsty through travelling, and supposing this to be the woman he was directed to, made trial of her this way; some render it, "in this vessel" F7, which he had with him, and made use of at the brook Cherith.


FOOTNOTES:

F6 Ut supra, (Travels) p. 203.
F7 (ylkb) "in hoc vase", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.

1 Kings 17:10 In-Context

8 Then God spoke to him:
9 "Get up and go to Zarephath in Sidon and live there. I've instructed a woman who lives there, a widow, to feed you."
10 So he got up and went to Zarephath. As he came to the entrance of the village he met a woman, a widow, gathering firewood. He asked her, "Please, would you bring me a little water in a jug? I need a drink."
11 As she went to get it, he called out, "And while you're at it, would you bring me something to eat?"
12 She said, "I swear, as surely as your God lives, I don't have so much as a biscuit. I have a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a bottle; you found me scratching together just enough firewood to make a last meal for my son and me. After we eat it, we'll die."
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.