Elijah announces a drought
1 Kings 17; Luke 4:25–26; James 5:17
The prophet Elijah told Ahab there would be no dew or rain except at his word; God fed Elijah by ravens and through a widow at Zarephath.
Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.”
1 Kings 17:1 (World English Bible)
While Israel went hungry, God provided for Elijah at the brook Kerith and then in the home of a poor widow in Sidon, Jezebel's homeland, whose flour and oil never ran out. When her son died, Elijah prayed and God brought him back to life.
Jesus pointed to this widow to show that God's mercy reached beyond Israel (Luke 4:25–26).
Places
Ancient witnesses outside the Bible
Historical sources, not Scripture.
- Antiquities 8.13.2 — Menander, from the records of Tyre, on a drought in the reign of Ethbaal, Jezebel’s father
Dating notes
The drought lasted three and a half years (Luke 4:25; James 5:17). It falls within Ahab's reign (918–897 BC), but the exact years aren't given; the date shown is an estimate.