16 Sept. Elijah brings a dead boy back to life
“Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. He grew worse and worse and finally stopped breathing.”
“The woman said to Elijah, ‘Man of God, what have you done to me? Did you come here to remind me of my sin and to kill my son?’ Elijah said to her, ‘Give me your son.’ Elijah took the boy from her, carried him upstairs and laid him on the bed in the room where he was staying.”
“Then he prayed to the LORD: ‘LORD my God, this widow is letting me stay in her house. Why have you done this terrible thing to her and caused her son to die?’ Then Elijah lay on top of the boy three times. He prayed to the LORD, ‘LORD my God, let this boy live again!’”
“The LORD answered Elijah’s prayer; the boy began breathing again and was alive. Elijah carried the boy downstairs and gave him to his mother and said, ‘See! Your son is alive!’”
“Now I know you really are a man from God,’ the woman said to Elijah. ‘I know that the LORD truly speaks through you!’”
(1 Kings 17:17-24)
Does this healing miracle remind you of a similar story in the New Testament? When Jesus visited the town of Nain, he saw a crowd gathering for the funeral of a widow’s only son:
“When the Lord saw her, he felt very sorry for her and said, ‘Don’t cry.’ He went up and touched the coffin, and the people who were carrying it stopped. Jesus said, ‘Young man, I tell you, get up!’ And the son sat up and began to talk. Then Jesus gave him back to his mother.”
“All the people were amazed and began praising God, saying, ‘A great prophet has come to us! God has come to help his people.’” (Luke 7:13-16) The prophet they were referring to, of course, was Elijah.
When Jesus took his disciples to the area around Caesarea Philippi, “he asked his followers, ‘Who do people say the Son of Man is?’ They answered, ‘Some say you are John the Baptist. Others say you are Elijah’…” (Matthew 16:13-14)
Now you can understand why some people thought that Jesus was Elijah who had returned to earth. It was widely believed among the Jews of New Testament times that the prophet Elijah would come back to earth prior to the coming of the Messiah or Christ (see Malachi 4:5).
Like Elijah, using God’s almighty power, Jesus raised the dead back to life. And to the widow of Zarephath, this healing miracle not only amazed her, but it showed her that Elijah was working with the inspiration and power of God: “Now I know you really are a man from God… I know that the LORD truly speaks through you!”
The photo (by Heretiq) shows the modern city of Sidon from the old sea castle. Zarephath was situated on the coast of Lebanon between Tyre and Sidon (see 7 on the map on 15 Sept).
You can read more about Elijah and the widow of Zarephath @ https://www.thebiblejourney.org/biblejourney2/32-the-divided-kingdom-amp-journey-into-exile/jezebel-kills-the-prophets-amp-elijah-escapes/