XXI. ELIJAH AND ZAREPHATH

Towards the end of the famine caused by this drought, Elijah is commanded by God to “get him to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there;” where a widow-woman was to sustain him [1 Kings 17:9.] . He goes; finds the woman gathering sticks near the gate of the city; and asks her to fetch him a little water and a morsel of bread. She replies, “As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” [1 Kings 17:12.]

This widow-woman then, it seems, dwelt at Zarephath, or Sarepta, which belongeth to Zidon. Now, from a passage in the book of Joshua, [Josh. 19:28.] we learn that the district of Zidon, in the division of the land of Canaan, fell to the lot of Asher. Let us, then, turn to the thirty-third chapter of Deuteronomy, where Moses blesses the Tribes, and see the character he gives of this part of the country: “Of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil;” [Deut. 33:24.] indicating the future fertility of that region, and the nature of its principal crop. It is likely, therefore, that at the end of a dearth of three years and a half, oil should be found there, if anywhere. Yet this symptom of truth occurs once more as an ingredient in a miraculous history—for the oil was made not to fail till the rain came. The incident itself is a very minute one; and, minute as it is, only discovered to be a coincidence by the juxtaposition of several texts from several books of Scripture. It would require a very circumspect forger of the story to introduce the mention of the oil; and when he had introduced it, not be tempted to betray himself by throwing out some slight hint why he had done so.