1 Kings 17:1

Contextual Overview

¹ And Eliiah the Tishbite one of the inhabitats of Gilead sayde vnto Ahab, As the Lorde God of Israel liueth, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dewe nor rayne these yeeres, but according to my worde. ¹ Eliyah the Tishbi, who was of the sojourners of Gil`ad, said to Ach'av, As the LORD, the God of Yisra'el, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. ¹ Elijah was a prophet from the town of Tishbe in Gilead. He said to King Ahab, "I serve the Lord , the God of Israel. By his power, I promise that no dew or rain will fall for the next few years. The rain will fall only when I command it to fall." ¹ Now Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the Lord , the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." ¹Now Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, "As the LORD, the God of Israel lives, before whom I stand, there shall be neither dew nor rain these years, except by my word." ¹ And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As Jehovah, the God of Israel, liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. ¹ And Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, By the living Lord, the God of Israel, whose servant I am, there will be no dew or rain in these years, but only at my word. ¹ Elijah was a prophet from Tishbe in Gilead. One day he went to King Ahab and said, "I'm a servant of the living Lord , the God of Israel. And I swear in his name that it won't rain until I say so. There won't even be any dew on the ground." ¹ Eliyahu from Tishbe, an inhabitant of Gil‘ad, said to Ach'av, "As Adonai the God of Isra'el lives, before whom I stand, there will be neither rain nor dew in the years ahead unless I say so." ¹ And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the settlers of Gilead, said unto Ahab: 'As the LORD, the God of Israel, liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

am 3094, bc 910

Elijah: Heb. Elijahu, Matthew 11:14, Matthew 16:14, Matthew 27:47, Matthew 27:49, Luke 1:17, Luke 4:25, Luke 4:26, Luke 9:30, Luke 9:33, Luke 9:54, John 1:21, John 1:25, Romans 11:2, Elias

As the Lord God: 1 Kings 22:14, 2 Kings 3:14, 2 Kings 5:16, Isaiah 49:18, Matthew 7:29, Luke 1:17

before whom: Deuteronomy 10:8, Jeremiah 15:19, Luke 1:19, Luke 21:36, Acts 27:23

dew nor rain: Luke 4:25, James 5:17, Revelation 11:6

Reciprocal: Genesis 12:10 - was a Genesis 27:28 - of the dew Genesis 31:21 - Gilead Genesis 41:30 - seven years Leviticus 26:4 - Then I Leviticus 26:19 - make Deuteronomy 11:17 - shut up Deuteronomy 28:16 - in the field Deuteronomy 28:23 - General Ruth 1:1 - a famine 2 Samuel 21:1 - a famine 2 Samuel 24:13 - seven 1 Kings 1:29 - As the 1 Kings 8:35 - heaven 1 Kings 17:12 - As the Lord 1 Kings 18:1 - in the third year 1 Kings 18:10 - the Lord 1 Kings 18:15 - before whom I 1 Kings 18:41 - a sound 2 Kings 1:3 - Elijah 2 Kings 8:1 - the Lord 1 Chronicles 5:9 - Gilead 1 Chronicles 21:12 - three years' famine 2 Chronicles 6:26 - the heaven Job 6:17 - when it is hot they are consumed Job 12:15 - Behold Job 27:2 - God liveth Job 38:28 - dew Psalms 107:33 - turneth Proverbs 29:1 - General Jeremiah 1:10 - I have Jeremiah 5:24 - that giveth Jeremiah 14:22 - vanities Jeremiah 28:8 - prophesied Daniel 1:19 - therefore Hosea 6:5 - have I Hosea 9:8 - with Hosea 12:10 - have also Hosea 12:11 - iniquity Amos 2:11 - I raised Amos 4:6 - and want Haggai 1:10 - General Haggai 1:11 - I called Zechariah 4:14 - that Zechariah 8:12 - the heavens Zechariah 10:1 - rain in Zechariah 14:17 - even Matthew 17:3 - Elias Luke 12:24 - the ravens Acts 11:28 - great Revelation 11:4 - standing

Cross-References

Genesis 5:22
And Henoch walked with God, after he begate Methushelah, three hundreth yeeres, and begate sonnes and daughters.

Genesis 5:22
And Enoch found favor in the presence of God three hundred years after he begot Methuselah, and begot sons and daughters;

Genesis 5:22
Hanokh walked with God after he became the father of Metushelach three hundred years, and became the father of sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:22
After Methuselah was born, Enoch walked with God for 300 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:22
Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:22
and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:

Genesis 5:22
And after the birth of Methuselah, Enoch went on in God's ways for three hundred years, and had sons and daughters:

Genesis 5:22
and during the next three hundred years he had more children. Enoch truly loved God,

Genesis 5:22
After Metushelach was born, Hanokh walked with God 300 years and had sons and daughters.

Genesis 5:22
And Enoch walked with God after he had begotten Methushelah three hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And Elijah the Tishbite, [who] was of the inhabitants of Gilead,.... Which belonged partly to the Reubenites and Gadites, and partly to the half-tribe of Manasseh on the other side Jordan, where this prophet dwelt; but why he is called the Tishbite is not easy to say; what Kimchi observes seems right, that he was at first of a city called Toshab, and afterward's dwelt at Gilead; which city perhaps is the same with Thisbe, in the tribe of Naphtali, the native place of Tobit,

"Who in the time of Enemessar king of the Assyrians was led captive out of Thisbe, which is at the right hand of that city, which is called properly Nephthali in Galilee above Aser.'' (Tobit 1:2)

and, if so, is an instance of a prophet, even the prince of prophets, as Abarbinel calls him, coming out of Galilee, contrary to the suggestions of the Jews, John 7:52. R. Elias Levita l observes, that after the affair of Gibeah an order was given to smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead, Judges 21:8, and that as it is reasonable to suppose some might escape, he thinks Elijah was one of them; and that when this began to be inhabited again, they that returned were called the inhabitants of Gilead, of whom Elijah was, who lived in those times, being, as the Jews suppose, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron, see Judges 20:28, but that he should be Elijah, and live to the times of Ahab, is beyond belief. By Origen m he is said to be in Thesbon of Gilead; and by Epiphanius n to be of Thesbis, of the land of the Arabians, Gilead bordering upon it: the same

said unto Ahab; who perhaps had been with him before, and reproved him for idolatry, warned him of the evil consequences of it, but to no purpose, and therefore now threatened in a very solemn manner:

as the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand; he swears by the living God, in whose presence he was, and to whom he appeals as the omniscient God, whose minister and prophet he was, and in whose name he came and spoke, and to whom he prayed; for standing was a prayer gesture, and sometimes put for it, Judges 20:28- : and it was at the prayer of Elijah that rain was withheld, as follows, see James 5:17

there shall not be dew nor rain these years; for some years to come, even three years and a half:

but according to my word; in prayer, or as he should predict, in the name of the Lord.

l In Tishbi, p. 275. Vid. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 11. 1. & David de Pomis Lexic. fol. 235. 4. m Comment. in Matth. p. 224. Ed. Huet. n De Prophet. Vit. c. 6.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The name Elijah means “Yahweh is my God.” It is expressive of the truth which his whole life preached.

The two words rendered “Tishbite” and “inhabitant” are in the original (setting aside the vowel points) “exactly alike.” The meaning consequently must either be “Elijah the stranger, of the strangers of Gilead,” or (more probably) “Elijah the Tishbite, of Tishbi of Gilead.” Of Tishbi in Gilead there is no further trace in Scripture; it is to be distinguished from another Tishbi in Galilee. In forming to ourselves a conception of the great Israelite prophet, we must always bear in mind that the wild and mountainous Gilead, which bordered on Arabia, and was half Arab in customs, was the country wherein he grew up.

His abrupt appearance may be compared with the similar appearances of Ahijah 1 Kings 11:29, Jehu 1 Kings 16:1, Shemaiah 2 Chronicles 11:2, Azariah 2 Chronicles 15:1, and others. It is clear that a succession of prophets was raised up by God, both in faithful Judah and in idolatrous Israel, to witness of Him before the people of both countries, and leave them without excuse if they forsook His worship. At this time, when a grosser and more deadly idolatry than had been practiced before was introduced into Israel by the authority of Ahab, and the total apostasy of the ten tribes was consequently imminent, two prophets of unusual vigour and force of character, endowed with miraculous powers of an extraordinary kind, were successively raised up, that the wickedness of the kings might be boldly met and combated, and, if possible, a remnant of faithful men preserved in the land. The unusual efflux of miraculous energy at this time, is suitable to the unusual emergency, and in very evident proportion to the spiritual necessities of the people.

As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand - This solemn formula, here first used, was well adapted to impress the king with the sacred character of the messenger, and the certain truth of his message. Elisha adopted the phrase with very slight modifications 2 Kings 3:14; 2 Kings 5:16.

Drought was one of the punishments threatened by the Law, if Israel forsook Yahweh and turned after other gods (Deuteronomy 11:17; Deuteronomy 28:23; Leviticus 26:19, etc.).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XVII

Elijah's message to Ahab concerning the three years' drought, 1.

He is commanded to go to the brook Cherith; where he is fed by

ravens, 2-7.

He afterwards goes to a widow's house at Zarephath, and

miraculously multiplies her meal and oil, 8-16.

Her son dies, and Elijah restores him to life, 17-24.

NOTES ON CHAP. XVII

Verse 1 Kings 17:1. Elijah the Tishbite — The history of this great man is introduced very abruptly; his origin is enveloped in perfect obscurity. He is here said to be a Tishbite. Tishbeh, says Calmet, is a city beyond Jordan, in the tribe of Gad, and in the land of Gilead. Who was his father, or from what tribe he sprang, is not intimated; he seems to have been the prophet of Israel peculiarly, as we never find him prophesying in Judah. A number of apocryphal writers have trifled at large about his parentage, miraculous birth, of his continual celibacy, his academy of the prophets, c., c., all equally worthy of credit. One opinion, which at first view appears strange, bears more resemblance to truth than any of the above, viz., that he had no earthly parentage known to any man that he was an angel of God, united for a time to a human body, in order to call men back to perfect purity, both in doctrine and manners, from which they had totally swerved. His Hebrew name, which we have corrupted into Elijah and Elias, is אליהו Alihu, or, according to the vowel points, Eliyahu and signifies he is my God. Does this give countenance to the supposition that this great personage was a manifestation in the flesh of the Supreme Being? He could not be the Messiah; for we find him with Moses on the mount of transfiguration with Christ. The conjecture that he was an angel seems countenanced by the manner of his departure from this world; yet, in James 5:17, he is said to be a man ομοιοπαθης, of like passions, or rather with real human propensities: this, however, is irreconcilable with the conjecture.

There shall not be dew nor rain these years — In order to remove the abruptness of this address, R. S. Jarchi dreams thus: - "Elijah and Ahab went to comfort Hiel in his grief, concerning his sons. And Ahab said to Elijah, Is it possible that the curse of Joshua, the son of Nun, who was only the servant of Moses, should be fulfilled; and the curse of Moses, our teacher, not be fulfilled; who said, Deuteronomy 11:16-17: If ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them, then the Lord's wrath shall be kindled against you; and he will shut up the heaven that there be no rain? Now all the Israelites serve other gods, and yet the rain is not withheld. Then Elijah said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." This same mode of connecting this and the preceding chapter, is followed by the Jerusalem and Babylonish Talmuds, Sedar Olam, Abarbanel, &c.