God sends Elijah to a city of [Gentile] people in order to change his hardness into mercy. He who had given him power over rain and dew did not want to withdraw by force what he had granted him. He wanted, nevertheless, to help the world which was tormented by starvation, but only with the consent of his servant. That is why he sends to the big city of Zarephath Elijah, who had stayed hidden to that time in the valley of Cherith, so that he may see with his own eyes the distress of its inhabitants, even though they had given no cause for that suffering, as they had not participated in the rebellion of Ahab. And even if they did not observe the law of Moses, they did not ridicule it, because they did not know it. ^[1] THE WIDOW SYMBOLIZES THE FUTURE CHURCH OF CHRIST. AUGUSTINE (CAESARIUS OF ARLES): After this, Elijah was commanded to set out for Zarephath of the Sidonians, in order that he might be fed there by a widow. Thus, the Lord spoke to him, Go to Zarephath of the Sidonians: I have commanded a widow there to feed you. How and by whom did God command the widow, since there was almost no other prophet at that time except blessed Elijah, with whom God spoke quite plainly? Although the sons of some of the prophets lived at that time, they feared the persecution of Jezebel so much that they could scarcely escape even when hidden. I have commanded a widow, said the Lord. How does the Lord command, except by inspiring what is good through his grace within a soul? Thus, God speaks within every person who performs a good work, and for this reason no one should glory in himself but in the Lord. Were there not many widows in Judea at that time? Why was it that no Jewish widow merited to offer food to blessed Elijah, and he was sent to a Gentile woman to be fed? That widow to whom the prophet was sent typified the church, just as the ravens that ministered to Elijah prefigured the Gentiles. Thus, Elijah came to the widow because Christ was to come to the church. ^[1]

When Elijah reached the gate of Zarephath, he met a woman and immediately realized, through the Holy Spirit, that she was the widow about whom God had talked to him. She was there and looked at him. It seems to me that Elijah had asked his Lord whether she was the one, as he was afraid that his severity would be weakened if he began to make inquiries about the widows of Zarephath. And, at the same time, the woman had received the order to feed the prophet through revelation, dream or another means. This is, in fact, what the words of God to Elijah indicate: I have commanded a widow there to feed you.

When he found her barefoot and dressed in rags in the act of gathering some wood, wasted by starvation and made miserably thin, he had the impression of seeing a burned stick, and he himself was ashamed of asking her for bread so that he first asked her for water. Later he added the request of bread. He knew for sure that a jug of flour would not have been lacking thanks to the promise of his Lord. ^[1] SYMBOLS OF THE CROSS AND BAPTISM. AUGUSTINE (CAESARIUS OF ARLES): Let us further see where blessed Elijah found that widow, dearly beloved. She had gone out to get water and to pick up sticks of wood. Let us now consider what the water and the wood signify. We know that both are very pleasing and necessary for the church, as it is written: He is like a tree planted near running water.^[1] In the wood is shown the mystery of the cross, in the water the sacrament of baptism. Therefore, she had gone out to gather two sticks of wood, for thus she replied to blessed Elijah when he asked her for food: As the Lord lives, I have nothing but a handful of meal and a little oil in a cruse; and behold, I am going out to gather two sticks that I may make food for me and my son . . . and we will eat it and die. The widow typified the church, as I said above; the widow’s son prefigured the Christian people. Thus, when Elijah came, the widow went out to gather two sticks of wood. Notice, brothers, that she did not say three or four, nor only one stick; but she wanted to gather two sticks. She was gathering two sticks of wood because she received Christ in the type of Elijah; she wanted to pick up those two pieces because she desired to recognize the mystery of the cross. Truly, the cross of our Lord and Savior was prepared from two pieces of wood, and so that widow was gathering two sticks because the church would believe in him who hung on two pieces of wood. For this reason that widow said, I am gathering two sticks that I may make food for me and my son, and we will eat it and die. It is true, beloved; no one will merit to believe in Christ crucified unless he dies to this world. For if a person wishes to eat the body of Christ worthily, he must die to the past and live for the future. ^[2] AN OFFERING TO GOD IS NECESSARY. ISHO‘DAD OF MERV: [First] make me a [little] cake. He certainly did not make this request because he was hungry but to teach the widow that, through the mediation of the priests, some of the first fruits of her crops had to be offered to God. In the same manner Elijah said to the wife of the prophet, Bring me a full vessel.^{[1] [2]}

She went and did as Elijah said. Consider the faith of the widow, her obedience and charity, and then meditate on the greatness of the reward that he granted her. Indeed it is written, The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah, nor did the number of her family members diminish, because, in ex-change for the nourishment given to the prophet, her dead child was resurrected.

Observe carefully the tears of that woman, and see her humility in her grief, because she does not at all blame the judgment of God or rise against the prophet. In the humility of her intellect, she recognizes that that sentence struck her because of her guilt, and she says to the prophet, You have come to me to bring my sin to remembrance.

He stretched himself on the child three times and cried out to the Lord, ‘O Lord my God, let this child’s life come into him again.’ These words contain many symbols. [The Scripture] shows us immediately that through the invocation of the three names^[1] a human being will come back to life. If he kills the ancient Adam with the help of the Messiah in the holy baptism. The divine Paul says, If we have died with the Messiah, we believe that we will also live with him.^[2] And what follows agrees precisely with this meaning: He stretched himself on the child, because in this life, which he will give us after we are dead to that ancient Adam, he will transform the body of our humiliation that it may be conformed to the body of his glory.^[3] And here you can also see a symbol of the triple descent of the Son of God to the dead: the first symbol consists here in the fact that he was made flesh and included his infinite nature into the womb of the Virgin; the second, that he stretched his body on the wood and was crucified; the third, that whoever accepts death lies in the grave and goes down to Sheol, so that, in order to vivify humankind, God consented to stretch his majesty on our smallness. O ineffable miracle, which Isaiah calls wonder,^[4] his Lord has come down to the man and has assumed the likeness of a slave.^{[5] [6]} THE RESURRECTION OF CHRISTIAN PEOPLE. AUGUSTINE (CAESARIUS OF ARLES): As we mentioned, that widow prefigured the church, and her son was a type of the Gentiles. The son of the widow lay dead because the son of the church, that is, the Gentiles, was dead because of many sins and offenses. At the prayer of Elijah, the widow’s son was revived; at the coming of Christ, the church’s son or the Christian people were brought back from the prison of death. Elijah bent down in prayer, and the widow’s son was revived; Christ sank down in his passion, and the Christian people were brought back to life. Why blessed Elijah bent down three times to arouse the boy I believe that the understanding of your charity has grasped even before I say it. In the fact that he bowed three times is shown the mystery of the Trinity. Not only the Father without the Son, nor the Father and Son without the Holy Spirit, but the whole Trinity restored the widow’s son or the Gentiles to life. Moreover, this is further demonstrated in the sacrament of baptism, for the old person is plunged in the water three times, in order that the new person may merit to rise. ^[1]