1 Kings 17:17-24--Elijah Raises the Widow's Son

1 Kings 17:17-24
English Standard Version

Elijah Raises the Widow's Son
17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill. And his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him. 18 And she said to Elijah, “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!” 19 And he said to her, “Give me your son.” And he took him from her arms and carried him up into the upper chamber where he lodged, and laid him on his own bed. 20 And he cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, have you brought calamity even upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by killing her son?” 21 Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again.” 22 And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 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 lives.” 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.”

---

"After this" means after the initial contact the Elijah had with the Widow of Zarephath, but before the end of the three years that he stayed with her.  While the LORD had promised Elijah and the widow that there would be ample food for them to survive throughout the entire drought, they were not promised that they would be free from all hardship and suffering.  At some point during the drought, the widow's son became ill and was so severe that he died.

The widow spoke frankly with the LORD (by speaking to Elijah), saying that it was like the child was being punished for the sins of the mother. That is, the claim is being made by the widow that the child is innocent and has no sins of his own worthy of death.  We know most mothers say this about their own children, but I get the feeling that it was probably true in this case.  We get no indication that this mother is trying to remember only the good things about her son, but that he was really wicked.  If that were so, the book of 1 Kings has had no issue with telling us the true nature of wicked people that the LORD punishes, but we do not see that here.  This simply looks like a case of the effects of sin in the world touching everyone--even the righteous.

Elijah decided to plead for her son to the LORD and asked her to give him her son (his lifeless body).  He took the boy from her arms and carried him up to the upper chamber where he, Elijah, had been staying, and Elijah laid the boy on his bed in that upper chamber.  He prayed over and over again (three times), "O LORD my God, let this child's life come into him again," and the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah.  This is not something we should expect to happen every time, but it happened this time.

The LORD returned life to the boy and Elijah brought him back downstairs and gave him to his mother with the message, "See, your son lives."  Why did this happen?  The text tells us with the woman's response, "Now I know you are a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in your mouth is true."  Apparently there had been some doubt in the mind of the Widow of Zarephath so that the LORD used this situation ot remove all doubt about who He was and who Elijah, the prophet of the LORD was, and that the words Elijah spoke were true because they were the LORD's own words.