1 Kings 17:10

10 So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?”

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

1 Kings 17:10 In-Context

8 Then the LORD said to Elijah,

9 “Go and live in the village of Zarephath, near the city of Sidon. I have instructed a widow there to feed you.”

10 So he went to Zarephath. As he arrived at the gates of the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks, and he asked her, “Would you please bring me a little water in a cup?”

11 As she was going to get it, he called to her, “Bring me a bite of bread, too.”

12 But she said, “I swear by the LORD your God that I don’t have a single piece of bread in the house. And I have only a handful of flour left in the jar and a little cooking oil in the bottom of the jug. I was just gathering a few sticks to cook this last meal, and then my son and I will die.”