1 Kings 17 is the seventeenth

chapter Chapter or Chapters may refer to: Books * Chapter (books), a main division of a piece of writing or document * Chapter book, a story book intended for intermediate readers, generally age 7–10 * Chapters (bookstore), Canadian big box bookstore ...

of the

Books of Kings The Book of Kings (, ''Sefer (Hebrew), Sēfer Malik, Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of ancient Is ...

in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

of the

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

. The book is a compilation of various annals recording the acts of the kings of Israel and Judah by a Deuteronomic compiler in the seventh century BCE, with a supplement added in the sixth century BCE. This chapter belongs to the section comprising 1 Kings 16:15 to 2 Kings 8:29 which documents the period of Omri's dynasty. The focus of this chapter is the activity of prophet

Elijah Elijah ( ) or Elias was a prophet and miracle worker who lived in the northern kingdom of Israel during the reign of King Ahab (9th century BC), according to the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Kings 18, Elijah defended the worsh ...

during the reign of king

Ahab Ahab (; ; ; ; ) was a king of the Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), the son and successor of King Omri, and the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, according to the Hebrew Bible. He is depicted in the Bible as a Baal worshipper and is criticized for causi ...

in the northern kingdom.

Text

This chapter was originally written in the

Hebrew language Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and remained in regular use as a first language unti ...

and since the 16th century is divided into 24 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

are of the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; ) is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (''Tanakh'') in Rabbinic Judaism. The Masoretic Text defines the Jewish canon and its precise letter-text, with its vocaliz ...

tradition, which includes the

Codex Cairensis The Codex Cairensis (also: ''Codex Prophetarum Cairensis'', ''Cairo Codex of the Prophets'') is a Hebrew manuscript containing the complete text of the Hebrew Bible's Nevi'im (Prophets). It has traditionally been described as "the oldest dated He ...

(895),

Aleppo Codex The Aleppo Codex () is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the city of Tiberias in the tenth century CE (circa 920) under the rule of the Abbasid Caliphate, and was endorsed for its accuracy by Maimonides. ...

(10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008). There is also a translation into

Koine Greek Koine Greek (, ), also variously known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek, Septuagint Greek or New Testament Greek, was the koiné language, common supra-regional form of Greek language, Greek spoken and ...

known as the

Septuagint The Septuagint ( ), sometimes referred to as the Greek Old Testament or The Translation of the Seventy (), and abbreviated as LXX, is the earliest extant Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible from the original Biblical Hebrew. The full Greek ...

, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include

Codex Vaticanus The Codex Vaticanus ( The Vatican, Bibl. Vat., Vat. gr. 1209), is a manuscript of the Greek Bible, containing the majority of the Old Testament and the majority of the New Testament. It is designated by siglum B or 03 in the Gregory-Aland numb ...

(B;

\mathfrak

^B; 4th century) and

Codex Alexandrinus The Codex Alexandrinus (London, British Library, Royal MS 1. D. V-VIII) is a manuscript of the Greek Bible,The Greek Bible in this context refers to the Bible used by Greek-speaking Christians who lived in Egypt and elsewhere during the early ...

(A;

\mathfrak

^A; 5th century).

Elijah's conflict with Ahab and his flight (17:1–6)

Following the list of Ahab's mistake in the previous chapter, prophet Elijah suddenly appeared to confront the king with

Yahweh Yahweh was an Ancient Semitic religion, ancient Semitic deity of Weather god, weather and List of war deities, war in the History of the ancient Levant, ancient Levant, the national god of the kingdoms of Kingdom of Judah, Judah and Kingdom ...

's word against Ahab's policy of syncretizing the worship of Yahweh and

Baal Baal (), or Baʻal, was a title and honorific meaning 'owner' or 'lord Lord is an appellation for a person or deity who has authority, control, or power (social and political), power over others, acting as a master, chief, or ruler. The ...

, and declaring the war against Baal (as the god of fertility and rain) that the land would suffer drought and hunger (only Yahweh can control rain). This set up a tense conflict between the worship of the two deities which would be resolved in 1 Kings 18:41-5. As soon as he finished with his message, Elijah withdrew to a small east Jordanian river valley, being fed by the usually greedy (ravenous) ravens.

Verse 1

:''And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word."'' * "

": his name means: 'My God is Yahweh!', and his stories depict him as a man led by God and obedient to him. *"Tishbite": or "from Tishbe", here is a place in

Gilead Gilead or Gilad (, ; ''Gilʿāḏ'', , ''Jalʻād'') is the ancient, historic, biblical name of the mountainous northern part of the region of Transjordan.''Easton's Bible Dictionary'Galeed''/ref> The region is bounded in the west by the J ...

, not a place with similar name in the territory of Naphtali, which was the birthplace of Tobit (Tobit 1:2). Ellicott, C. J. (Ed.) (1905)
''Ellicott's Bible Commentary for English Readers''. 1 Kings 17.
London : Cassell and Company, Limited,

905-1906 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

Online version: (OCoLC) 929526708. Accessed 28 April 2019. *"These years": or "these following years", which were three and a half years according to Luke 4:25 and James 5:17.Benson, Joseph
''Commentary on the Old and New Testaments''. 1 Kings 17.
Accessed 9 Juli 2019.

Elijah and the widow in Zarephath (17:7–16)

After a period of time, Elijah experienced the same drought as the people of Israel, with the brook near where he lived, the wadi Cherith (see verse 3), running dry, so God sent him to the Sidon region, on the coast of Phoenicia (modern Lebanon), home of Queen

Jezebel Jezebel ()"Jezebel"
(US) and

, and the heartland of Baal worship (cf. 1 Kings 16:31). Elijah was to find a widow to feed him there by having randomly asked a woman at the gates of Zarephath for water and then for bread. When she claimed, 'as Yahweh your God lives', that she and her son are starving themselves, Elijah repeated his wish, but adding the soothing words, 'Do not be afraid', and a prophecy of an endless supply of food, which happened as Elijah had said.

Elijah awakens the dead (17:17–24)

This story as the previous one involves the same three people and deals with the same question of whether it is worthwhile to support the men of God, whose presence might bring not only death (by revealing sins and bestowing punishment, verse 18), but also life. The narrative is closely related to that in 2 Kings 4:18-37, showing that while a prophet 'plays the role of a magician reviving a dead soul by a ritual action', only God has the authority over life and death (the prophet had to plead twice to God). There are notable parallels of this narrative with the

raising of the son of the widow of Nain The raising of the son of the widow of Nain (or Naim) is an account of a miracle by Jesus, recorded in the Gospel of Luke Luke 7, chapter 7. Jesus arrived at the village of Nain during the burial ceremony of the son of a widow, and raised the youn ...

Luke 7 Luke 7 is the seventh chapter of the Gospel of Luke in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. It tells the records of two great miracles performed by Jesus, his reply to John the Baptist's question, and the anointing by a sinful woman.Halley, H ...

, especially some verbal parallels. The

raising of the son of the woman of Shunem The raising of the son of the woman of Shunem is a miracle by Elisha narrated in the Hebrew Bible, 2 Kings 4: The story begins at 2 Kings 4:8, and is demarcated from the previous story by Elisha's arrival in Shunem, and by a change in heroine � ...

(

2 Kings 4 2 Kings 4 is the fourth Chapters and verses of the Bible, chapter of the second part of the Books of Kings in the Hebrew Bible or the Second Book of Kings in the Old Testament of the Christianity, Christian Bible. The book is a compilation of va ...

) by

Elisha Elisha was, according to the Hebrew Bible, a Jewish prophet and a wonder-worker. His name is commonly transliterated into English as Elisha via Hebrew, Eliseus via Greek and Latin, Ełishe (Yeghishe/Elisha) via Armenian or Alyasa via Arabic, a ...

is also similar, giving an example of a repeated pattern in the history of redemption.

Sinclair Ferguson Sinclair Buchanan Ferguson (born 21 February 1948) is a Scottish theologian known in Reformed Christian circles for his teaching, writing, and editorial work. He has been Chancellor's Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological S ...

,
Preaching Christ from the Old Testament
'', Proclamation Trust, 2002, page 12.

Notes

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

translations: *
Melachim I - I Kings - Chapter 17 (Judaica Press)
Hebrew text and English translation ith Rashi's commentary">Rashi.html" ;"title="ith Rashi">ith Rashi's commentaryat Chabad.org *

translations: *
''Online Bible'' at GospelHall.org
(ESV, KJV, Darby, American Standard Version, Bible in Basic English) *
1 Kings chapter 17. Bible Gateway
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kings 1 17 17 First Book of Kings chapters">17 Hebrew Bible chapters about Elijah Phoenicians in the Hebrew Bible">Hebrew Bible chapters about Elijah">First Book of Kings chapters">17 Hebrew Bible chapters about Elijah Phoenicians in the Hebrew Bible Baal Resurrection Jezebel