THE SITE OF ZAREPHATH. From a photograph.]

Elijah was now in Phoenicia, the native country of Jezebel, the
wife of King Ahab. It would seem to be the last place in which
an enemy of Baal would seek refuge, but Elijah knew that God
had a purpose in sending him there. Ethbaal, the father of
Jezebel, was the King of Phoenicia, and the famine which
followed the drought had reached that country, and was causing
terrible suffering.

Just outside Zarephath, Elijah found a woman gathering sticks
for firewood. She was a widow, and in such poverty that all
the food she had in the world was a handful of meal and a
little oil in a bottle or jar. Consumed with thirst, Elijah
asked her for water, and, as she turned to bring it, he asked
her also for a piece of bread.

Sadly the woman told him she had no bread. She was gathering
sticks to make a fire over which she would cook the handful of
meal and the little oil remaining in the bottle. When she and
her son had eaten this, they would have no more food, and in
consequence would die of hunger.

[Image: "A WOMAN GATHERING STICKS FOR FIREWOOD."]

It is probable that this woman was an Israelite, and not a
worshipper of Baal, for, when Elijah told her to mix the meal
and oil into a cake and bake it for him, adding, _"For thus
saith the Lord God of Israel, the barrel of meal shall not
waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that
the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth,"_ the woman did as she
was told, evidently recognizing him as a prophet of God. She
fed him before she and her son tasted of food, and gave him
the shelter of her house as well; and during all the time of
drought and famine, the supply of meal and oil never failed.

After a while, trouble came upon the little household. The
widow's son suddenly became very sick and then died. The
heart-broken mother demanded of Elijah why he had come to them
only to slay her son. The prophet replied, _"Give me thy
son,"_ and taking the boy from his mother's arms, carried him
into his own chamber and laid him on the bed.

Then Elijah called upon God, and prayed that the child might
be made alive again, and God heard his prayer, for the boy sat
up alive and well. Taking him in his arms, the prophet carried
the child to his mother, who was so happy that she exclaimed,
_"Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the
word of the Lord is in thy mouth."_

[Image: "ELIJAH CARRIED THE CHILD TO HIS MOTHER."]