Today’s Old Testament reading (1 Kings 17:1‑6) tells the story of Elijah taking on King Ahab and his trouble-brewing wife, Jezebel. Jezebel, it seems, convinced Ahab to abandon worshiping Yahweh in favor of adopting the “new” regional religion of Baal. This apostasy, warned Elijah, would lead to great troubles for the Jewish people, starting with a profound draught during which no rain, not even the morning dew, would fall, except as Elijah called for it. After his audience with the King, God told Elijah to flee to the Wadi (stream) Cherith east of the Jordan River where he would drink from the Wadi and be fed by ravens. There he would stay for 3-½ years.
Ravens are interesting birds and are used many times throughout the Bible. The first bird specifically mentioned in the Bible is the raven. While most people remember that Noah sent out a dove from the ark to find out if dry land was available for the rescued humans and animals after the flood, fewer recall that he first sent out a raven (Genesis 8:6‑7). The fact that the raven didn’t return provided Noah with only a partial answer for the question he was asking: the bird had found some food to scavenge, but Noah still had no way to tell how much land had emerged from the flood. The dove’s thoughtful return with a branch gave Noah confidence that, while the earth was returning to normal, the dove hadn’t found enough vegetation to survive on, and so it returned.
The raven’s distinct all-black plumage led to the bird being used in comparisons. The bride in Song of Songs calls her lover’s hair “black as a raven” (Song 5:11). And a wise man name Agur, who contributed a chapter to the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament, included this warning to children: “The eye that makes fun of a father and hates to obey a mother will be plucked out by ravens in the valley and eaten by young vultures” (Proverbs 30:17). This behavior was probably observed by Agur, as ravens will pluck out the eyeballs of their prey, sometimes even before it is dead. I recall the gruesome scene in the movie, Jesus of Nazareth, where the “bad” thief had his eyes plucked out by a raven while still alive on the cross.
While ravens were considered an unclean bird (Leviticus 11:15; Deuteronomy 14:14), they make an appearance in the Bible not only as examples of God’s provision but also as messengers with God’s provision. God told Job that part of the evidence for God’s care of his creation was that he fed the ravens (Job 38:41), a theme that both a psalmist (Psalm 147:9) and Jesus echoed: “Consider the ravens. They don’t plant or harvest. They don’t even have a storeroom or a barn. Yet, God feeds them. You are worth much more than birds” (Luke 12:24). Ravens are a particularly good symbol for God’s providential care because they engage in a behavior called “caching.” They eat some food right away, but some they save in a particular spot and come back for it later. And they are smart enough to remember where their caches are, unlike some animals.
When Elijah was a fugitive in the wilderness, God supplied his basic needs by sending ravens with food (1 Kings 17:4-6). Here the raven that symbolized God’s care for the animal world was the tool God used to care for Elijah in his hour of need. It is like the way God cares for us and then expects us to pass that comfort along to others (2 Corinthians 1:3-6).
But let us spend some time with the great prophet as he sits beside that drying brook in a hidden place, far from the haunts and habitations of people. Elijah certainly must have considered the ravens during those days beside that brook. He must have looked forward to their visits twice a day.
Elijah must have considered their color, black and glossy. Elijah would doubtless think of the Shulamite, in Solomon’s spirit-born song. That reminder would take Elijah’s soul by storm, for the Shulamite’s words reached far beyond her own beloved. They pointed to Another, one who was yet to come, one to whom the Shulamite’s beloved was but a type. Elijah’s thoughts took wings. From the visiting ravens and from the shepherd-love of the Shulamite, his thoughts would soar down the centuries from the Shulamite’s beloved to heaven’s Beloved. So, the color of the ravens alone reminded the lonely prophet of Christ.
Then he considered their cry. As they dropped their tribute at his feet and wheeled away into the setting sun, Elijah would think, perhaps of, the psalmist’s words, “Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving . . . He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry” (Psalm 147:7, 9). True, the ravens waited on his table in the wilds, but it was God Himself who spread the feast.
Moreover, he would consider their character. The Levitical Law would come to his mind. Moses had specifically pronounced ravens to be unclean: “And these are they which ye shall have in abomination among the fowls . . . every raven after his kind (Leviticus 11:13, 15). The raven, Leviticus said, by nature was an unclean bird. So the black, unclean birds would remind Elijah of the abomination that rode triumphant in Israel, spurred on by Jezebel and urged on by hundreds of her attendant court priests. Yet, he would take courage as he viewed the ravens coming from afar. If God could so cleanse ravens and make them ministers to His own good, then there was nothing that was too hard for God. He had changed the very nature of these birds so that twice a day they brought him meat and bread to eat. If God could do that, He could also change the heart of the erring Israel.
So, sitting by his brook, Elijah drew lessons from the ravens; and his faith grew strong. There was nothing that was too hard for God. The man who had thus learned to look to heaven for food would soon be able to look to heaven for his fire.
The Rhys family coat of arms (the Welsh spelling of my last name, Rees) of Dynever (English spelling: Denver—I grew up and earned my doctorate while living in Denver), Lliw Valley District (OK, I can’t make a connection with the Lliw Valley—sorry), Wales, to this day bears the emblem of three ravens on their arms. In Celtic countries, the raven was believed to be wise and able to restore sight. Ravens deserting their nests was considered a very bad omen and popular superstition, even today, declares that if the ravens ever fled the Tower of London, the monarchy would fall. Among Catholics, the raven is a symbol for solitude and an attribute of several saints whom ravens fed in the wilderness, including St. Anthony of the Desert, St. Paul the Hermit, and St. Benedict.
OK, Roy, I’m going to stop here.
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!