Elijah’s Simple Meal

From 1 Kings 17

Bread knots and flavored olive oil dips

Don't be afraid - the Lord is your provider

Story outline:

Our story today is from the first book of Kings, chapter 17. It is the classic story of how the Lord provides in times of trouble and how a little faith and a bit of obedience goes a long way. Interestingly, Jesus used this story as a reference in Luke, chapter 4. The story goes with Prophet Elijah asking a poor widow to provide him some food and the widow in turn experiences not one but two awesome miracles. Why did a prophet ask a widow for food that ended up with two miracles? What can we learn from this story today? Let's get into the story and find out the answers, shall we?

Did you know the most common phrase in the Bible is the different versions of 'don't be afraid'? It is there for a reason. Fear is the strongest emotion, an emotion that is so very easy to encroach upon our heart and draw us to give our complete attention to it. It results in sleepless nights, worry, anxiety and much more. Even our happiness sometimes gets wrapped up with a little fear. For example, I remember being over the moon when I first laid eyes on my baby. Nothing compares to that kind of happiness and satisfaction. It's been years now but I still remember that first second I saw my son. Do you know what else I remember? I was worried. I remember thinking, Is the baby ok? Is everything where it is supposed to be? You see, even at the pinnacle of the happiest of times, we can experience fear.

We, as Christians, know that fear is not from the Lord but the irony is we all experience fear day after day. So it's good to meditate on stories like this and remind ourselves how our Lord is our provider. He knows exactly what we want and when we want it. No, we cannot understand why the Lord, who is giving, also takes away. All we know is, He is in charge and He alone is our provider.

Elijah Intro:

Prophet Elijah (9th century BCE), who ranks right up there with Moses, is one of the prominent prophets of the Old Testament. Elijah means 'Yahweh is my God'. He lived out a life worthy of his name! In our last story (Jeroboam's offering for Ahijah the prophet), we saw how the kingdom got broken into two - the northern and southern kingdom. Elijah worked with the northern kingdom. He was introduced in 1 Kings, chapter 17 as Elijah the Tishbite in Gilead.

Honestly I was looking for a bit more glamorous introduction knowing what we know about Elijah. I mean this is a prophet who didn't face death: he was taken up to heaven in a whirlwind, but we don't even know how old Elijah was when he was first introduced. I have always imagined Elijah as an old man. But was he really old in this chapter? We don't know! We know that the Bible is not a story book. It gives us only the information that we truly need. So Elijah randomly appears in this chapter and presents himself in front of King Ahab and delivers him this dire message.

1 Kings 17:1

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."

I mean, why? This context is crucial for us to understand why Elijah is looking for food and ends up asking the widow. To shed more light, we need to learn a little bit about the political situation.

Political background:

In those times the southern kingdom (Judah) was ruled by Asa - great grandson of King Solomon. And he, in total, reigned for 41 years. But in the meantime, the Northern kingdom was far from stable.

Nadab, son of Jeroboam ruled for 2 years and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord and then Baasha son of Ahijah took over the kingdom by killing the entire family of Nadab. Baasha reigned for 24 years and was evil. Elah son of Baasha reigned after him for two years and was killed by his servant Zimri. Zimri also killed the entire house of Baasha and reigned Israel. He reigned only for 7 days, and he took his own life. Omri, the commander of the army, took over the region but not without a huge political unrest and battle. Omri reigned for 12 years and after him his son Ahab took over the kingdom.

Altogether there were 7 kings who reigned in the northern kingdom just during the reign of one southern king, Asa. Talk about political instability, confusion, pagan worship, sin and not to forget, the sheer number of deaths!

Ahab here is no breeze. He did more evil than anyone before him, married Jezebel and was big into worshiping the god Baal. It says,

'Ahab did more to provoke the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him'.

Back to story:

This is where we find Elijah declaring to King Ahab that there shall be neither dew nor rain till he says so in his land. And there won't be any rain for three and a half years. After a period of hiding near a brook (by the Lord's command), where he was miraculously fed bread and meat by the ravens everyday till the brook dried up, the Lord will ask him to go to Zarephath to meet the widow.

1 Kings 17: 8- 12 says,

Then the word of the Lord came to him, “Arise, go to Zarephath, which belongs to Sidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to feed you.” So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, “Bring me a little water in a vessel, that I may drink.” And as she was going to bring it, he called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.”

And she said, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a jug. And now I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare for myself and my son, so that we may eat it and die.”

The widow of Zarephath:

Lord informs Elijah that he has already commanded a widow there to feed him. So who is this widow of Zarephath? We don't know much about who she is but we can understand some key details just in these above verses.

She and her son may have been abandoned by her family, as usually a widow and her children will be taken care of by their family by the customs of that time. Maybe they couldn't be provided for because of the severe famine in the land.

She must have known the Lord, as God said He had already commanded the widow.
She is getting ready for her and her son's death due to certain starvation in the coming days.

Even in her dire state of fear, need and desperation, she is giving - as she was ready to go get water for Elijah.
She had faith but didn't have hope.

I can't even begin to imagine the state she was going through. She is getting ready to die and worse - getting ready to let her only son go to the Lord. How can someone even begin to think of others' needs in a situation like this? She did! She was ready to go get water for Elijah and she even took the time and energy to explain to Elijah her situation. 'that we may eat it and die'.

Two Miracles:

1 Kings 17 :13- 16 says,

And Elijah said to her, “Do not fear; go and do as you have said. But first make a little cake of it and bring it to me, and afterward make something for yourself and your son. 14 For thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of flour shall not be spent, and the jug of oil shall not be empty, until the day that the Lord sends rain upon the earth.’” 15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days. 16 The jar of flour was not spent, nor did the jug of oil become empty, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.

Hint: this is where our meal today is derived. A simple meal made with bread and oil.

She obeyed in spite of her fear. This particular step is not as easy as it sounds. To obey is hard, to obey while you are fearful is extremely hard. She was asked to let go of something that she very much needed to stay alive. But she did and she experienced the miracle of bread and oil never going empty until there was rain. Not only that, because of this miracle, Elijah continued to stay at her house as a guest and she was able to provide him with food all the days he was there.

Some time later the son of the woman became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. Elijah cried out to the Lord and the Lord heard Elijah’s cry. The boy’s life returned to him and he lived - DOUBLE PORTION OF THE MIRACLE.

What do we learn:

The life lived out by Elijah was not an easy one. Though he was known to be a fiery prophet, a miracle worker and later in the New Testament he even appears with Moses and Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration in the book of Matthew, the underlying story line of his life is dependence on God. At times, he was fearful, discouraged, depressed, just like any one of us, but he was provided for by the Lord as his trust was only in the Lord. What about the widow then? She was no prophet, she didn't call down fire from heaven like Elijah did, but she had all the faith that was needed. She didn't stop with having faith. She put that faith into action. She obeyed and she received, not just one but two miracles.

To meditate on:

I encourage you today, while you are making this meal, meditate on God's provision in your life. Bring to remembrance all that the Lord has done in your life in the past and all that he has done in your family's past. Lean on those remembrances and know that the Lord who didn't abandon you then, will not abandon you now. Have faith that the Lord who provided for you then will not cast you down now. Have faith in his provision. as He alone is our provider.

Let's get into the recipe:

Bread knots and flavored olive oil dips.

As this recipe in its essence is very humble and simple, I didn't want to bring in a lot of creativity. I wanted to keep it simple. The focus is on the bread and the oil. But I couldn't get myself to stop with one kind of dipping oil, as they both are my favorites. So here we go, Butter bread knots with two kinds of dipping oil - Garlic herb oil, Lemon basil oil. These oil dips are multifunctional. They are not just dipping oils, they are very good for cooking meats or veggies or simply use it as drizzling oil. I love to make sourdough toast drizzled with garlic oil and some mashed garlic that is soaking in the oil. Drizzling the basil oil on top of pizza is another favorite of mine. It can be used as salad dressings, the options are endless.

Recipes:

Butter bread knots:

Ingredients:

3.5 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 Tbsp. Olive oil

1 packet (0.4 oz) active dry yeast

1.5 cups + 2/3 cups of warm water

1 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. parmesan cheese

Method:

In a bowl, add 1.5 cups of warm water with sugar and yeast. Let it foam up for 5 minutes.
In another bowl, mix in the rest of the dry ingredients
Now add the yeast mixture and more water if necessary and make a soft dough out of it and let it rest for 20 minutes.(you don't have to knead it at this point)
After 20 minutes, knead the dough for 5 minutes, brush it with oil and let it rest for 1 hr or until the dough is doubled.
Punch the dough to deflate it and knead it for 1 more minute and let it rest again for 30 minutes.
Now the dough is ready to work. Make the dough into a cylindrical shape and cut it into small strips.
Take each strip and twist it like this.
Make a knot
Tuck the ends under and make it a knot ball.
Brush it with butter and bake it for 25 minutes at 400C. If you want a browner crust, bake it for another 3 minutes. When hot, brush it again with butter and sprinkle it with parmesan cheese and serve it with oil.

Dipping Oils:

Garlic olive oil

Ingredients:

2 cups of good quality olive oil

2 full garlic

2 bunches of thyme or rosemary

1 pinch of salt

Method:

In a pan add the olive oil and peeled garlic and let it simmer in low for 15 minutes or until the garlic cloves turn light brown.
Switch off the flame and add in one bunch of thyme, a pinch of salt and let it cool down.
Transfer it into an airtight container and it can be stored in the fridge for 3 days.

Lemon Basil oil:

Ingredients:

1 cup of loosely filled basil