I Kings 17:18: “And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God?  Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?”

There is a question that always comes to mind when I read this passage: “Why did the widow woman blame Elijah for the death of her son?”  Ok, I just sprung that on you without giving any background.

So let’s back up a little here. Elijah might have spent close to three years living in the house of this woman and they were not married. We notice in verse 17 that she had advanced from being a widow to being a ba’al habyish or mistress (ba’al) of the house. So that indicates she ran some sort of a boarding house which in this case had just one boarder. The word ba’al can mean, a possessor, or one who has dominion, to Lord over, sometimes it is even used for a husband.  So we can safely assume with the title ba’al habysih that there was no hanky panky going on as she was the husband of the household.  Actually a ba’al habyish is commonly used as an idiom for an unmarried woman who has independent wealth.  In one swooping idiomatic expression we find the status of this woman has risen from being a starving woman to one who is quite respected in her community and a woman of some wealth. Seems here oil business was really booming.  Well, being rich can be quite subjective.  If you are living in a community where people are starving to death and yet you have enough to eat, you are wealthy.   With the miracle of the bread and oil, there is no doubt the community was well aware of the presence of a man of God and possibly the whole community was blessed because of the presence of Elijah and they protected him from Ahab’s posse which was out on a three year search for him. Verse 15 says that the widow and her house eat of this bread, not she and her son.  The word house in Hebrew (bayith) can be pretty broad term which could and I believe in this case include the community.  We also know it was a three year period that Elijah lived near Jordan and in the town of Zeraphath so his stay with the widow was an extended one.

I read in the Talmud that Elijah had a strong dislike for troubling anyone. He would even carry his own lamps and wicks so he would not have to trouble his host for such things when he would stay with someone. The meal and oil that God gave was Elijah’s meal and oil and he shared it with the widow and her house or community.  The widow sustained him in the sense that she took the meal and oil and made it into bread. So for up to three years this woman watched God provide bread for His prophet wich paid for his rent and the protection of the community.  But this woman most likely felt that God was not providing the bread for her sake, just to pay the prophet.  So God had to do something else to prove to her that He cared for her and the community as well as Elijah.

How often do we blame the lack of spirituality on the pastor?  Someone once said if you have a Godly pastor you will have a good church. If you have a good pastor you will have an average church, if you have an average pastor you will have a sinful church.  No doubt the pastor plays a role in the spiritual climate of the church, but don’t put it all on the pastor, like this widow woman.

Somewhere during this time the widow woman’s son died.  She accuses Elijah of causing her son’s death because he calls her sin into remembrance. The word sin is ’aoni which is not the usual word for sin chatah which means missing the mark. This word for sin ‘aoni has the idea of falling short of an expected standard. In Jewish literature, the Aggadic Midrash, Pesikta Rabbati chapter 3 it is suggested that what this woman was saying was that until Elijah came God only weighed her actions in comparison to the other people in her community and she was found worthy.  But with Eljiah coming into her household God was weighing her actions in light of his righteousness and she was found lacking and as result her son died. Don’t you just hate it when people treat you like you are such a righteous person and you know in your heart that you are not all you are cracked up to be? Elijah was very aware of his shortcomings, one of which was his inability to understand God’s ways.  Even Elijah questioned God as to why the son died in verse 20.  Just because Elijah was called to be a prophet does not mean that he was all that holy. He had his moments just like the rest of us.  Far too many of us put our pastors and religious leaders on such a high pedestal we forget they are human just like us and need just as much prayer for protection from the enemy, if not more from us. When you are on the front lines, you tend to get shot at more and unfortunately it is just too true what people say that Christians are the only ones who shoot their wounded.

People often wonder how this woman could accuse Elijah of causing her son’s death after this great miracle of the bread and oil. But put yourself in her shoes. To her the blessing of the bread and oil was for Elijah’s sake, he was the righteous man, she certain wasn’t.  She benefited because he was staying with her and she did his cooking for him.  She was obedient, had faith in God, was prospering, then boom, her son died.  What would think?  Most people would think what this woman thought, “Hoo boy, my sin has found me out.”  If it were not for this righteous man showing the contrast, I might have kept my sin hidden.  Now it’s time to pay the piper.”

God made it quite clear to this woman and to Elijah, that sin had nothing to do with her misfortune and that was shown by her son’s resurrection. Her son’s death was only to reaffirm that all that she had, her food, her newfound status, her son was all a gift of God and that the Lord gives and He can take away, blessed be the name of the Lord. If you had to live a perfect life before God would bless you, no one would get blessed by God.