Elijah: Fed by Ravens, Broken at Horeb

Elijah appears in the narrative without introduction — no birth story, no calling scene — and announces to King Ahab that there will be no dew or rain in Israel except by his word. Then God tells him to hide by the Wadi Cherith, east of the Jordan, where ravens will feed him. This is an odd command: ravens are unclean birds, forbidden food, the scavengers of the ancient world. But they come morning and evening with bread and meat, and Elijah drinks from the stream.

When the stream dries up — the drought Elijah announced is consuming even his refuge — God sends him north to Zarephath, in Sidon, enemy territory, to a widow who will sustain him. He finds her gathering sticks outside the city gate and asks for water and bread. She tells him the truth: she has only a handful of flour and a little oil. She is gathering fuel for a final meal for herself and her son, after which they expect to die.

Elijah tells her not to fear. Make the bread, but bring him the first portion. The flour and oil will not run out until the Lord sends rain. She does what he says. And the jar of flour does not run empty, nor does the jug of oil fail — day after day, through the length of the drought.

Then Jezebel, Ahab's queen, sends a death threat after Elijah has won the great confrontation on Mount Carmel against the prophets of Baal. He has just seen fire fall from heaven and the people return to God. And then — immediately — he runs. He goes into the wilderness, sits under a broom tree, and prays to die: It is enough, O Lord. Take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers.

He sleeps. An angel touches him: Arise and eat. There is bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water. He eats and sleeps again. A second touch: Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you. The care is extraordinarily tender for so brief a scene. Elijah walks forty days to Horeb — the mountain of God — and hides in a cave. God asks: What are you doing here, Elijah?

The answer comes in wind, earthquake, and fire — and God is in none of them. After the fire, a still small voice: a sound of thin silence. Elijah comes and stands at the mouth of the cave, and the question is asked again. The journey continues.