n she told him that there
was not a morsel of bread in her house. All she had in the world was
a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse, and that
she was gathering a few sticks, that she might go and bake the last
cake for herself and her son, that they might eat it and die. And
Elijah said, "Fear not; go, and do as thou hast said; but make me
thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make
for thee, and for thy son. 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."

This was a hard thing to ask a mother to do. It was asking her to
take the last morsel of bread she had, and that she needed for
herself and for her hungry boy, and give it to a stranger. Yet she
did it; because she believed God. I seem to see her turning the meal
barrel up, to get the meal all out. Then she pours out the oil from
the cruse, and drains out the last drop. She mixes the meal and the
olive oil together, as is the custom in that country still, and makes
a cake which can soon be baked. She takes it to the man of God, who
eats it thankfully, and is refreshed. Then she returns to the empty
barrel and cruse, and finds as much in them as she had lately taken
out. She prepares some bread for herself and her son, and they eat it
thankfully as bread sent from heaven. The next day it is the same,
and the day after, and so on through all the days of the famine. We
are not told how long it was after Elijah went to the widow's house
before the days of the famine were over. But suppose we make a
calculation about it. The famine lasted for three years. Now let us
suppose, that the first half of this time was spent by the prophet at
the brook Cherith. Then his stay at the widow's house must have been
at least eighteen months. And, if this miracle of increasing the meal
and the oil was repeated only once a day, there would be for the
first twelve months, or for the year, three hundred and sixty-five
miracles; and for the six months, or the half year, one hundred and
eighty-two more; and adding these together we have the surprising
number of _five hundred and forty-seven_ miracles, that were
performed to reward this good widow for the kindness she showed to
the prophet Elijah, when she gave him a piece of bread, and a drink
of water! What an illustration we have here of the truth we are
considering, that _g