The Rabbis applied to this woman the verse from the Eshet Hayil (“Woman of Valor”) passage ( Prov. This is why the ketiv has “he and she had food,” while the keri has “she and he had food.” The Rabbis ask why, then, does God say: “I have designated a widow there to feed you”-did he eat from her food? Rather, because she received him hospitably and attended to him, this hospitality is ascribed to her, and she also merited having Elijah revive her son ( Cant. The same held true for food: when he came to the widow’s house, “she and he ate from his”. He would even take oil-lamps and wicks with him when he went from place to place, so as not to trouble others. This can be learned from Elijah, for whom God provided, as it is said ( I Kings 17:9): “I have designated a widow there to feed you” ( Tanhuma, Mikez 6).Īnother tradition reveals Elijah’s dislike of having to rely on other people.

37:25): “I have been young and am now old, but I have never seen a righteous man abandoned, or his children seeking bread.” God does not abandon the righteous or their children in time of famine, and if drought comes to the world, He arranges sustenance for them. The Rabbis applied to this the verse ( Ps. Elijah’s stay in the house of the widow was meant to bring him closer to the suffering prevalent in the world, and to acquaint him with the hunger and want from which the women and children suffered.Įlijah is commanded to go to Sidon, where he will be fed by a widow (17:9). This exegesis is based on the juxtaposition between the episode of Hiel the Bethelite (I Kings, end of chap. When God saw that there was suffering in the world but Elijah was unaware of it, He told him to go to Zarephath, the widow ( BT Sanhedrin 113a). From where did the ravens bring meat? From Ahab’s slaughterhouse. Elijah arose and went to Wadi Cherith, where the ravens brought him bread and meat (v. Elijah prayed and from heaven he was given the key of rain, so that it would descend only at his command.

The prophet immediately responded to the king: “As the Lord lives, the God of Israel there will be no dew or rain except at my bidding” ( I Kings 17:1). The curse of the teacher is not fulfilled, but that of his disciple is?!” With this question Ahab sought to deny the Divine system of reward and punishment that Elijah represented. And here, I erect idols on every ridge in the land, and the rains fall so copiously that it is impossible to walk to those ridges. In their meeting in the mourner’s house, Ahab asked Elijah: “The curse of Joshua is fulfilled, but the curse of Moses is not? Moses had said: ‘Take care not to be lured away to serve other gods For the Lord’s anger will flare up against you, and He will shut up the skies so that there will be no rain’. 6:26), and the resulting curse cost him the lives of his sons: “He laid its foundations at the cost of Abiram his firstborn, and set its gates at the cost of Segub his youngest” ( I Kings 16:34). Hiel had transgressed Joshua’s prohibition against rebuilding Jericho ( Josh. Elijah and Ahab had met when they came to console Hiel the Bethelite, who was in mourning. midrash explains why Elijah stopped the rains and how it happened that he was commanded to go to the home of the woman in Zarephath. The A type of non-halakhic literary activitiy of the Rabbis for interpreting non-legal material according to special principles of interpretation (hermeneutical rules).

Elijah and the rabbi bible study