O LORD my God, have you ever introduced calamity even upon the widow with whom I’m staying, by killing her son?
O LORD my God, let this youngster’s life come into him once more.
Background
Earlier than this prayer, quite a lot of time has handed. The narrator strikes briefly via the generations of kings in each the southern Kingdom (Judah) and the Northern Kingdom (Israel). Jeroboam, within the north, doesn’t change his methods, and God punishes him for it. His son Nadab succeeded him and was killed by Baasha, who worn out the clan of Jeroboam. His son, Elah, reigned till he was killed by his commander, Zimri, which created a civil warfare between him and Omri. Omri turned king, then his son Ahab dominated for twenty-two years. All strayed farther from the methods of God.
Judah didn’t fare any higher. Rehoboam didn’t observe the methods of God and misplaced his father’s nice treasures to an Egyptian incursion. His son, Abijam, adopted in his father’s methods. The grandson, Asa, did flip again to the methods of David, although he didn’t clear the land of all of the idols.
The narrator then turns his consideration to Elijah, a prophet of God, and his dealings with the kings of the north. It isn’t shocking that we discover no prayers till Elijah comes on the scene, contemplating the faithlessness of all of the kings.
King Ahab had arrange idols and temples to the god Ba’al. Elijah seems earlier than the king and warns him that YHWH is God, not Ba’al. To show his phrases and the errors of Ahab, a famine comes upon the land. Ahab refused to hearken to the prophet.
In response to Elijah’s criticism of her husband, Ahab’s spouse, Jezebel, started a pogram to wipe out each prophet of God within the land. Elijah escaped to a cave, and, when the drought worsened, he went additional away into Phoenicia (a international land that additionally worshipped Ba’al). There, a widow gave him water, however she had no meals. Elijah reassured her, and God brought about her bottle of oil and the jar of flour to provide endlessly, saving each her and Elijah from the drought situations. Within the land of people that worship Ba’al, Elijah finds assist, whereas Israel drives him out as a result of they worship Ba’al.
The lady’s son turned ailing and died, and she or he referred to as for Elijah. Within the historic world, individuals typically thought that illness was the results of sin—a deity punishing somebody. She believes Elijah has introduced the sickness due to her previous sins. “What have you ever towards me, O man of God? You have got come to me to carry my sin to remembrance, and to trigger the loss of life of my son!”
Which means
Elijah is aware of that is unfaithful, and unhealthy theology. The Bible doesn’t help such a strict cause-and-effect between sin and struggling. Whereas illness might typically come from sin, it may also be underserved struggling. Dangerous issues typically occur in a fallen world.
Elijah is upset at this flip of occasions. He utters an emotional lament, a cry to God for the injustice of it, then prayers an intercession for the kid’s life. That is the fourth lament we’ve encountered. Like the opposite two, it’s a cry, within the midst of tragedy, which asks God “why?!” Hagar, banished to the desert along with her son to die due to the jealousy of Sarah, cries out. Joshua, seeing his military routed once they thought God was on their facet, cried out and complained to God. The individuals of Israel lament that one tribe was worn out. Like them, Elijah doesn’t perceive the unfairness of the state of affairs. Hagar did nothing incorrect. Joshua had no information that one in all his males had completed one thing incorrect. The individuals didn’t perceive the results of their vow.
Elijah asks God why he would enable this widow—the one who had saved his life—to be the recipient of such a calamity. God heals the boy, and the widow says that she is aware of he’s a person of God and a prophet of YHWH. It’s ironic {that a} Phoenician girl, who certainly worshipped Ba’al, sees the reality of God, whereas the King of Israel, who needs to be worshipping YHWH, fails to see the reality.
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