I may go and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it and die.’' [1]
The prophet assured her saying: “Fear not, but go and do as thou hast said; but first make for me[2] of the same meal a little hearth-cake. For thus saith the Lord: ‘The pot of meal shall not waste nor the cruse of oil be diminished until the day wherein the Lord will give rain upon the earth. ”
The woman did as Elias had told her, and from that day forth she had meal in her pot and oil in her cruse and knew no want, neither Elias nor she nor her son. Now it happened some time after that the son of this poor woman of Sarepta fell sick and died. She said to the prophet: “What have I done to thee, thou man of God? Hast thou come to me that my iniquities should be remembered?” Thereupon Elias took the child and went into the upper chamber, and laid it upon his own bed. Then he cried [3] to the Lord: “O Lord, hast Thou also afflicted the widow with whom I am after a sort maintained?” Then he stretched himself and measured himself three times upon the child; and the soul of the boy returned and he revived.
Elias took the child and brought him down to his mother and said: “Behold, thy son liveth.” Full of joy and gratitude the woman exclaimed: “Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and the word of the Lord in thy mouth is true.”
COMMENTARY.
The Mercy of God. Of His mercy He did not entirely reject the faithless Israelites, but sent His prophets to them from time to time to give them a chance of repentance and pardon.
The Omniscience of God. The prophets were inspired by God, or else they would not have been able to foretell the future. The future is known only to God, with whom times and seasons are as nothing.
The Omnipresence of God. “As the Lord liveth in whose sight I stand,” said Elias to Achab. Wherever we are or go, God is with us. Elias lived in the constant recollection of God’s presence, and this it was that gave him courage and consolation under persecution and when in danger of death. He did not feel himself deserted even in the cave of Carith, because God was with him.
