Morning Bible Study: Elijah in Scripture, 1 Kings 17:1-7

Elijah Announces Famine
17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from the Gilead settlers, said to Ahab, “As the Lord God of Israel lives, in whose presence I stand, there will be no dew or rain during these years except by my command!”

2 Then the word of the Lord came to him: 

3 “Leave here, turn eastward, and hide at the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan. 

4 You are to drink from the wadi. I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.”

5 So he proceeded to do what the Lord commanded. Elijah left and lived at the Wadi Cherith where it enters the Jordan. 

6 The ravens kept bringing him bread and meat in the morning and in the evening, and he would drink from the wadi. 

7 After a while, the wadi dried up because there had been no rain in the land.

Commentary
(the following is from Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary, 1706 -- www.christianity.com)

"God wonderfully suits men to the work he designs them for. The times were fit for an Elijah; an Elijah was fit for them. The Spirit of the Lord knows how to fit men for the occasions. Elijah let Ahab know that God was displeased with the idolaters, and would chastise them by the want of rain, which it was not in the power of the gods they served to bestow. Elijah was commanded to hide himself. 

If Providence calls us to solitude and retirement, it becomes us to go: when we cannot be useful, we must be patient; and when we cannot work for God, we must sit still quietly for him. The ravens were appointed to bring him meat, and did so. Let those who have but from hand to mouth, learn to live upon Providence, and trust it for the bread of the day, in the day. 

God could have sent angels to minister to him; but he chose to show that he can serve his own purposes by the meanest creatures, as effectually as by the mightiest. Elijah seems to have continued thus above a year. The natural supply of water, which came by common providence, failed; but the miraculous supply of food, made sure to him by promise, failed not. 

If the heavens fail, the earth fails of course; such are all our creature-comforts: we lose them when we most need them, like brooks in summer. But there is a river which makes glad the city of God, that never runs dry, a well of water that springs up to eternal life. Lord, give us that living water!"