<\/p>
Some notes on the death and resurrection of the widow\u2019s son in 1 Kings 17. <\/p>\n
1) This is not the first time we\u2019ve seen a sick son in Kings. In chapter 14, Jeroboam sends his wife to a prophet to request a prognosis for Abijah. Here, there is no husband, but the mother approaches the prophet regarding a son who has become sick and is dying. The connection is strengthened by the fact that the boy is said to have \u201cno breath\u201d remaining in him. \u201cBreath\u201d here is NESHAMAH, the same noun used in 15:29 to describe Baasha\u2019s elimination of the house of Jeroboam, of which Abijah\u2019s death was an omen. In 17:15, we have just learned (somewhat surprisingly) that the widow has a \u201chouse,\u201d and it appears that her house stands in stark contrast to the \u201chouse\u201d of Jeroboam or, now, Ahab. <\/p>\n
2) Speaking of that house, the widow is called the \u201cBaal of the house\u201d in 17:17. Baal, of course, can simply mean \u201clord\u201d or, here in the feminine, \u201cmistress,\u201d but in the context of 16:31-32, the title also resonates with the name of the idol. She is, moreover, in Baal\u2019s territory, in the region of Sidon. There is a house of Baal on the other side of the Jordan, built and maintained by Ahab and the \u201cmistress of the house,\u201d Jezebel. The widow\u2019s house becomes an alternative to that house. We\u2019re back, perhaps, at Elijah as the leader of a counter-temple movement once again. <\/p>\n
3) Elijah \u201cmeasures himself out\u201d on the boy three times, and the word for \u201ctimes\u201d can also mean \u201cfeet, paces, steps.\u201d There is perhaps some allusion here to the measuring out of holy space, measuring out a space for the NEPHESH of the boy to return to. <\/p>\n
4) This is the first resurrection in Scripture, and also the first time, so far as I can find, of the notion that the soul \u201cdeparts\u201d and might \u201creturn\u201d to the body. The \u201cbreath\u201d that left the boy is the same \u201cbreath\u201d that was breathed into Adam in Gen 2. When that breath leaves, it is also his soul leaving. But his soul can return. The closest analogy that I can find earlier in Scripture is 1 Kings 8, where Solomon asks Yahweh to receive His people who return to Him with all their heart and soul when they are in exile (v. 48). The departure and return of the boy\u2019s soul looks a lot like the departure and return of Yahweh\u2019s glory to His temple and land. <\/p>\n
5) Throughout the chapter, obedience to the word of Yahweh has been marked by the author\u2019s repetitions. A command is given; and obedience to the command is recorded in the same words (cf. vv. 3 and 5; 9-10; 15). In verses 21-22, this pattern occurs again, with an astonishing twist. Elijah says \u201creturn the soul of this lad on his inward parts,\u201d and Yahweh responds: \u201cthe soul of the lad returned on his inner parts and he lived.\u201d Elijah\u2019s word prevails with Yahweh, in the same fashion that Yahweh\u2019s word has prevailed with Elijah. Effectual fervent prayer, indeed. <\/p>\n
6) The whole transaction takes place in the \u201cupper place.\u201d Elijah \u201cascends\u201d to an upper room (the word in Hebrew is built on the verb for \u201cascent,\u201d which is, of course, also the word for \u201cascension offering\u201d). There is a mountain top resurrection here, and points to the resurrection of Yahweh\u2019s son at Carmel in the following chapter. Renewal takes place in the \u201cheavens,\u201d and then Elijah brings the resurrected son back to earth. Or, the upper room is the \u201cMost Holy Place\u201d of the house. <\/p>\n
7) There is a fairly obvious chiasm running through this story: <\/p>\n
A. Son sick and dies, so woman cries to Elijah
B. Elijah takes child from woman
C. Elijah ascends
D. Elijah cries to Yahweh and the boy revives
C. Elijah descends
B. Elijah returns the boy to his mother
A. Woman confesses her faith in Elijah <\/p>\n
8) It is interesting that the woman brings up the issue of her guilt when the boy first dies (v. 18). This is psychologically realistic: The woman thinks that God\u2019s favor to her was all too good to be true, that God\u2019s mercy cannot be for real. But it is also theologically important in the passage. By the end of the passage, the woman is confessing her faith in Elijah and Elijah\u2019s God. She no longer believes that Yahweh is out to get her, and pummel her for her guilt. She is assured of forgiveness, and she receives this assurance through resurrection. The blessing that returns to her house with her son\u2019s resurrection is an assurance that the Lord does not remember her sins, that he places them as far from Him as east is from west, as far as Samaria is from Zarephath. <\/p>\n
9) Resurrection provokes a confession of faith from the woman, a Gentile.
So it is written that the Christ should suffer, die, and rise again on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached to the Gentiles. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some notes on the death and resurrection of the widow\u2019s son in 1 Kings 17. 1) This is not the first time we\u2019ve seen a sick son in Kings. In chapter 14, Jeroboam sends his wife to a prophet to request a prognosis for Abijah. Here, there is no husband, but the mother approaches the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-ot-kings"],"yoast_head":"\n