“Did you come here to kill my son?” Her piercing words and the child’s lifeless form mobilized the boarder to quickly take the little one to his room, laying him on his bed. Three times he pleaded with the Lord for the soul to return to the body.
Who was this boy, and why did God send Elijah to rescue him twice? His story is often lost in the illustrations of his widowed mother gathering sticks for his final meal just as the prophet arrived in their town. But it was as much for the boy that the man of God was sent. In fact, it may have been primarily for the boy.
Perhaps, as you read this message this week, you will see yourself in this little fellow. His story gives hope in this season of Yom Teruah (the Day of Trumpets) that God raises the dead. So, for the next few moments, I want to introduce you to the “boy from Zarephath”, a symbol of hope in the coming resurrection.
I. A Boy Whose Mother Believed in God
“So she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” I Kings 17.12 NKJV
Yeshua told the people of Nazareth that there were many widows in Israel, but Elijah was not sent to any of them. Instead, he was told to go to a widow in Zarephath. (Luke 4.25) In order to meet the boy, we first encounter his mother. From the outset we discover something amazing. She believes that the God of Israel lives! She has confidence that He rules overall. Despite the King Ahab’s following the false god ba’al, this widow in a foreign land was firm in her belief that that Jehovah is the living God! And in that town of Zarephath, we meet her son. He is hungry, fatherless, and his mother is gathering sticks for their final meal.[1] In other words, she saw no hope of a future for the boy.
II. A Boy with a Future and a Hope
I have a word for you today. God sees a future and a hope for you. Even while others are preparing you last meal, the Lord sees your salvation and restoration. You know the story of how the prophet asks the widow to make the meal for him first and that miraculously there would be enough. But I want you to know that the prophet did not come for a meal. He stayed long enough that the widow provided him with a room above her home to live. Now, the boy who had no father, and did not have a male influence in his life has the prophet of God living above his home. It is in the nature of boys to find role models for good or for bad. I am sure that this boy was no different. How many days did he follow the prophet? How many evenings did he spend asking the man of God questions? The Bible doesn’t tell us, but this is the nature of little boys.
It was not simply to the widow that Elijah was sent; it was also for the boy. Who was this boy? What impact would he make on the world? Just as it seemed the worst was behind his story took a tragic turn.
III. A Boy who was a Sign of the Resurrection
“Now it happened after these things that the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. So she said to Elijah,“What have I to do with you, O man of God? Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?” I Kings 17.17-18 NKJV
Suddenly, the meal barrel and cruse of oil mean nothing if they cannot sustain her little boy. The text wants us to see the finality of the sickness, “there was no breath left in him”. We can identify with this woman. She hoped things would get better, they got worse. She blamed herself, and she blamed this prophet for killing her son. What she did not realize that God was setting her up for a blessing. Maybe the Lord has set you up for a blessing. This widow’s son is the first person in the Bible raised from the dead!
By the first century, there was a Jewish Sadducean sect had stopped believing in the resurrection. One ancient Rabbi when faced with arguments against the resurrection said, “If anyone tells you that there is no resurrection, point them to Elijah the prophet who saw this boy raised to life again.” Some argue the writer of the book of Hebrews was referring to this widow specifically when he said, “Women received their dead raised to life again.” Hebrews 11.35 NKJV.
IV. A Boy with a Testimony
Jewish tradition does not like anonymity in the characters of the Bible. For good or bad, tradition identifies the anonymous servants who held Abraham’s donkey, the man who met Joseph on the path to his brothers, and even the woman who threw the millstone. This boy was no exception. Using textual clues, tradition says this boy was Jonah the prophet. [2] I will not attempt to prove or disprove this belief. Perhaps it is true, perhaps not, but we do know for sure that God had a work to do through his testimony and life. Wherever he went he told the story of the God who raised him from the dead, saying, “this God is the true God”. His story is still being told today.
“The Boy from Zarephath”
Just a boy at his mother’s feet
Gathering sticks, pulling her dress
Noting the stranger passing their street
A hungry prophet in distress
Only a handful of flour in a jar,
And a little oil, was her cry.
But God sent Elijah from afar
To proclaim, “your son will not die”!
Now, it happened after those things,
The boy became sick unto death.
And to the prophet she did bring,
Her still child without breath.
A boy, who at her feet had played,
Lay lifeless on the bed
Three times Elijah prayed,
Three times he stretched upon the dead.[3]
Here, see your son lives!”
Jubilantly the prophet cried.
And blessed be the Lord who gives,
Hope for the resurrection and the life.
~ J. E. Foran
V. A Boy Pointing us to the Messiah
“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” I Thessalonians 4. 16-17 NKJV
Three times the prophet stretched out upon the lifeless boy. In a similar way the prophet Jonah was three days in the great fish. The text of Jonah, read completely on Yom Kippur, lends itself that the prophet died and was resurrected. If this boy was indeed Jonah, it was the third time his life had been spared and the second time that he was resurrected from the dead. No wonder the ancients said, if someone claims there is no resurrection to remind them of Elijah and the raising of this boy.
Paul the Apostle however points us to an even greater example and hope of the resurrection and that hope is intimately tied to the Day of Trumpets, and the great Shofar blast at the resurrection. Paul warns us that those who deny resurrection, are also denying the resurrection of Yeshua.
This prophet Elijah stretched out upon this boy three times, but for three days Yeshua was in the tomb. All hope was lost. Disciples had gone back to their hometown. Some went into hiding, but on the third day, Yeshua rose from the grave – the first fruits of the resurrection.
Yom Teruah is a memorial of the blowing of trumpets. It reminds us that one day the great shofar of heaven will sound, and the dead will be changed and those who are alive and remain will be changed.
Conclusion
As we approach this New Jewish year, may we meditate on the miracle of this boy’s resurrection from the dead. It points us to the God who raises the dead. This is the mystery, we will not all sleep, but we shall all be changed at the sounding of the great shofar! Many struggle like this boy’s mother. She firmly believed that the God of Elijah lives, but doubted that she and her son would also live. Yeshua’s resurrection guarantees that what His promise of everlasting life to those who believe in Him will come to pass. One day the shofar of Heaven will sound. Be encouraged as we enter the year 5782. God knows where you are and is concerned about you today, and it may well be that the shofar of God is close to sound.
Shavuah Tov from Zion
[1] The Rabbis applied this verse from the Eshet Hayil (“Virtuous Woman”) passage (Prov. 31:20): “her hands are stretched out to the needy”, because she fed Elijah (Midrash Eshet Hayil, Batei Midrashot, vol. 2)
[2] Pirḳe R. El. xxxiii.
[3] Some Jewish traditions and Midrashim identify the widow of Zarephath’s son as the prophet Jonah.
