Lessons Taught and Lessons Learned

After a while, the son of the mistress of the house fell sick, and his illness grew worse, until he had no breath left in him. She said to Elijah, "What harm have I done you, O man of God, that you should come here to recall my sin and cause the death of my son? (I Kings17: 17-18)

In the final scene the widow's son dies and Elijah revives him. The child's death monitors the progress of the drought and places the three scenes in order of ascending gravity. Elijah is now made painfully aware of the repercussions of his actions. His wrath against the idolatrous people of Israel has brought about the death of an innocent orphan in Phoenicia. His mother ascribes the child's death to the numinous presence of the holy man in her household. Elijah is shocked; he never intended the death of innocents. Yet what of the countless innocents who have suffered as a result of the drought he declared?

Give me the boy," he said to her; and taking him from her arms, he carried him to the upper chamber where he was staying and laid him down on his own bed. He cried out to the Lord and said, "O Lord my God, will You bring calamity upon this widow whose guest I am, and let her son die?" Then he stretched out over the child three times, and cried out to the Lord, saying, "O Lord my God, let this child's life return to his body!" The Lord heard Elijah's plea; the child's life returned to his body, and he revived. Elijah picked up the child and brought him down from the upper room into the main room, and gave him to his mother, "See," said Elijah, your son is alive. (I Kings 17:19-23)

In the widow's house Elijah mobilizes all of his prophetic powers of prayer and sacred presence and restores the boy to life: he is now prepared to actively confront the sources of evil that demanded the declaration of drought in the first place, and to restore the fortunes of his people.

And the woman answered Elijah, "Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord is truly in your mouth." (I Kings17: 17-24)

Bringing the child back to life, powerfully symbolizes Elijah's next challenge -- the revival of the people of Israel. He has achieved the ability to inspire trust and make others cognizant of his power as well as his compassion. More importantly, Elijah, the unrelenting zealot, has taught the widow and himself that his powers are not his own. He is a man of God, and his pronouncements are the true words of the living God.