列王紀上17:7-24

 

17:7 過了些日子，溪水就乾了，因為雨沒有下在地上。
17:8 耶和華的話臨到他說：
17:9 「你起身往西頓的撒勒法【撒勒法與路加福音四章二十六節同】去，住在那裡；我已吩咐那裡的一個寡婦供養你。」
17:10 以利亞就起身往撒勒法去。到了城門，見有一個寡婦在那裡撿柴，以利亞呼叫她說：「求你用器皿取點水來給我喝。」
17:11 她去取水的時候，以利亞又呼叫她說：「也求你拿點餅來給我！」
17:12 她說：「我指著永生耶和華─你的上帝起誓，我沒有餅，罈內只有一把麵，瓶裡只有一點油；我現在找兩根柴，回家要為我和我兒子做餅；我們吃了，死就死吧！」
17:13 以利亞對她說：「不要懼怕！可以照你所說的去做吧！只要先為我做一個小餅拿來給我，然後為你和你的兒子做餅。
17:14 因為耶和華─以色列的上帝如此說：罈內的麵必不減少，瓶裡的油必不缺短，直到耶和華使雨降在地上的日子。」
17:15 婦人就照以利亞的話去行。她和她家中的人，並以利亞，吃了許多日子。
17:16 罈內的麵果不減少，瓶裡的油也不缺短，正如耶和華藉以利亞所說的話。
17:17 這事以後，作那家主母的婦人，她兒子病了；病得甚重，以致身無氣息。
17:18 婦人對以利亞說：「神人哪，我與你何干？你竟到我這裡來，使上帝想念我的罪，以致我的兒子死呢？」
17:19 以利亞對她說：「把你兒子交給我。」以利亞就從婦人懷中將孩子接過來，抱到他所住的樓中，放在自己的床上，
17:20 就求告耶和華說：「耶和華─我的上帝啊，我寄居在這寡婦的家裡，你就降禍與她，使她的兒子死了嗎？」
17:21 以利亞三次伏在孩子的身上，求告耶和華說：「耶和華─我的上帝啊，求你使這孩子的靈魂仍入他的身體！」
17:22 耶和華應允以利亞的話，孩子的靈魂仍入他的身體，他就活了。
17:23 以利亞將孩子從樓上抱下來，進屋子交給他母親，說：「看哪，你的兒子活了！」
17:24 婦人對以利亞說：「現在我知道你是神人，耶和華藉你口所說的話是真的。」

 

 ⁷ Some time later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. ⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to him: ⁹ “Go at once to Zarephath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food.” ¹⁰ So he went to Zarephath. When he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, “Would you bring me a little water in a jar so I may have a drink?” ¹¹ As she was going to get it, he called, “And bring me, please, a piece of bread.”

¹² “As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any bread—only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it—and die.”

¹³ Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. ¹⁴ For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land.’”

¹⁵ She went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. ¹⁶ For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

¹⁷ Some time later the son of the woman who owned the house became ill. He grew worse and worse, and finally stopped breathing. ¹⁸ She said to Elijah, “What do you have against me, man of God? Did you come to remind me of my sin and kill my son?”

¹⁹ “Give me your son,” Elijah replied. He took him from her arms, carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his bed. ²⁰ Then he cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, have you brought tragedy even on this widow I am staying with, by causing her son to die?” ²¹ Then he stretched himself out on the boy three times and cried out to the Lord, “Lord my God, let this boy’s life return to him!”

²² The Lord heard Elijah’s cry, and the boy’s life returned to him, and he lived. ²³ Elijah picked up the child and carried him down from the room into the house. He gave him to his mother and said, “Look, your son is alive!”

²⁴ Then the woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a man of God and that the word of the Lord from your mouth is the truth.”

 

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     以利亞在基立溪水枯乾之後，上帝引領他到外邦的西頓的撒勒法，到一位寡婦的家。雖然那裏是拜巴力的大本營，但是上帝仍然在那裏彰顯他奇妙的作為，就是「罈內的麵必不減少，瓶裡的油必不缺短，直到耶和華使雨降在地上的日子。」

 

    不僅如此，還遇到寡婦的兒子病死的事件。然而上帝並沒有因此結束祂的作為，反倒行更大的事，就是在以利亞將孩子抱到他房間，三次向上帝祈求：「耶和華─我的上帝啊，求你使這孩子的靈魂仍入他的身體！」而上帝真的垂聽他的禱告，孩子活起來了！

 

    而這樣的記載正如羅馬書4章17-18節所說「亞伯拉罕所信的，是那叫死人復活、使無變為有的上帝，他在主面前作我們世人的父。如經上所記：『我已經立你作多國的父。』他在無可指望的時候，因信仍有指望，就得以作多國的父，正如先前所說：『你的後裔將要如此。』」

 

    是的，我們的上帝是以利亞的上帝，也是亞伯拉罕的上帝！「是那叫死人復活、使無變為有的上帝」！