Elijah and the Widow of Zarephath story from the perspective of the widow’s son

Script by Carmen Peter 

(moved here by moderator to consolidate topic)

A long time ago, in a country far from here, a boy lived with his mother.

Their land was not good farmland. It looked worthless; it was mostly sand. Trees and crops only grew near rivers and creeks.

Their country had a king instead of a president. Their king quit believing in God. He built altars to Baal – an idol -- and he worshiped Baal, the god of rain. God became very angry because King Ahab was leading God’s people away from God. God sent many prophets to tell Ahab that he must quit worshiping Baal but Ahab did not listen.

Finally God told the prophet Elijah to go to Ahab. Elijah didn’t get to say “God says to quit idol worship.” He had to tell Ahab that God was going to stop the rain until Ahab quit worshiping Baal; they would be without rain for at least three years. Elijah did as God said.

What would you do if you were Elijah and had made the king VERY angry? That is what Elijah thought, too. God even told him a good place to hide, beside a creek east of the Jordan river. God arranged for a raven, a big black bird, to bring Elijah bread and meat every morning and every evening. He had water in the creek to drink. Where do you suppose that the raven got the bread and meat? I haven’t a clue, but if God can tell a raven to deliver food twice a day then I know that God can take care of me.

What do you think Elijah did while he was hiding? Did he wonder what God would want him to do next? Did he continue to trust God?

You are probably thinking that I have forgotten that this story is about a boy and his mom, but I haven‘t. After a while the creek where Elijah got his water dried up, because it had not rained. The Bible does not say that Elijah was worried and complained to God. It tells us that God came to Elijah and said, “I have found another place for you to live. I have commanded someone to take care of you.”

Elijah no longer had water so God probably wouldn’t expect him to walk very far to this new place - right?

But, Elijah had to walk 50 miles to his next safe place, Zarephath. The first thing he did when he got there was to ask for a drink of water.

(If desired, involve a puppet as the storyteller a this point or have it nod in agreement as you tell the story.)

Now I will tell you the story that the little boy, Benjamin, told me.
[or
I would like you to meet Benjamin; he has a story to tell you.]

Things were really bad at my house, we were almost out of food. Everybody was having trouble, but because my dad died last year we were more poor than our neighbors and we didn’t have as much grain in our storage jars as they did. Our jug of oil was almost empty, it didn’t even slosh. (You may use a jar for meal and a jug for oil as props.) Mom tried to be cheerful but I’m pretty smart and I knew she was worried.

Every day mom would go get a little water from the well and pick up dry sticks to make a fire to cook our food. It wasn’t hard for her to find dry sticks, everything was dry, and she didn’t need to find very many sticks because we didn’t have much to cook.

One day a traveler was at the well. Mom said he looked very tired and he was covered with dust. He asked her for a drink of water because he did not have a bucket to get water out of the well. Then he asked for bread. I told you that mom was really worried. She said that she got really upset and told him that with God as her witness “I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in jar, and a little oil in a jug.” She continued by telling him, “Actually I’m gathering a few sticks so I can cook one more meal for my son and myself - then we will starve to death.”

Boy, I knew things were bad but she hadn’t told me that we had only enough food for … one more meal.

The dusty stranger told mom not to worry. Boy, he must have been out in the sun too long; that didn‘t make any sense. Again he asked her to make a small piece of bread for him FIRST, then make bread for us. Finally mom said she would bake it for him because God has told us to be kind to travelers.

Then he told her something amazing. My mom believes in God. This man said that God promised that our jar of meal and our jug of oil will never be empty until God sends rain. She made bread for him and bread for us.

Mom said that the stranger could stay in our extra room on the roof. His name was Elijah. The neighbors didn’t trust him and they wondered why we didn’t run out of meal and oil.

I liked him; he had been many places. He even had seen King Ahab. It was fun to have someone in our house to tell stories.

One day I got very, very sick. I remember being sick but my mom told me what happened next. Mom said that I quit breathing. You know how moms get really upset when their kids need help and no one is helping? My mom yelled at Elijah and said that me being sick was his fault, that he had told God to punish my mother by making me sick. Some of the people in our town thought that God does that.

Elijah got really upset, picked me up and took me to the room where he stayed. The Bible says that Elijah yelled at God asking why I had gotten so sick that I died. Then he lay on top of me three times. I don’t know why he did that, but the Bible says that is what he said and did.

GOD LISTENED. I started to breath again. I remember Elijah picking me up and taking me down to my mother, I wondered how I had gotten to his room on the roof. He was so excited. He said to Mom, “See he is alive.” Mom cried and told Elijah that he truly was a prophet of the Lord. I knew that Elijah was a prophet; mom did too. But she must have forgotten when she was upset about me being dead.

Elijah stayed with us a while longer. One day he told us that God had another job for him to do but we shouldn’t worry. We would still have meal and oil until it rained. About a week after he left it rained. We heard that he was in a contest to prove that our God is most powerful. Elijah and God won, the prophets of Baal lost - but that is another story.