1 Kings 17:12

“And she said, as the Lord thy God liveth, etc.] Which shows her to be a good woman, swearing by the living God, and him only, and that she took Elijah to be a good man, and a prophet of the Lord: I have not a cake; greater or less, not a morsel of bread in the house: but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse; these separate and unmixed, and not made into a cake, and dressed as she intended to do with them: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks; or a few, which would be sufficient to bake such a quantity as her meal and oil would make; she speaks by the figure “meiosis”, which expresses less than what is meant, as Ben Melech observes: that I may go in and dress it for…”

“As the Lord thy God liveth - The words do not prove that the woman was an Israelite, or a worshipper of the true God; any Phoenician, recognizing in Elijah’s appearance the garb and manner of a Jehovistic prophet, might have thus addressed him: Baal-worshippers would have admitted Yahweh to be “a” living God. The woman does not say “as the Lord my God liveth.” That we may eat it and die - Phoenicia always depended for its cereal supplies on the harvests of Palestine (1 Kings 5:9 note); and it is evident that the famine was afflicting the Phoenicians at this time no less than the Israelites. return to 'Top of Page'”

“She said - Therefore though she was a Gentile, yet she owned the God of Israel as the true God. Two sticks - A few sticks, that number being often used indefinitely for any small number. And die - For having no more provision, we must needs perish with hunger. For though the famine was chiefly in the land of Israel, yet the effects of it were in Tyre and Sidon, which were fed by the corn of that land. But what a poor supporter was this likely to be? who had no fuel, but what she gathered in the streets, and nothing to live upon herself, but an handful of meal and a little oil! To her Elijah is sent, that he might live upon providence, as much as he had done when the ravens fed him. 3 Kings…”

“17:12 by the Lord your God (literally as surely as the Lord your God lives): The wording reflects Elijah’s oath and pronouncement to Ahab (17:1). The Gentile woman’s oath does not necessarily claim that the Lord is her god, but it does affirm to Elijah that what she says is the truth.”

“As the Lord: Kg1 17:1; Sa1 14:39, Sa1 14:45, Sa1 20:3, Sa1 20:21, Sa1 25:26, Sa1 26:10; Sa2 15:21; Jer 4:2, Jer 5:2 but an handful: Kg2 4:2-7; Mat 15:33, Mat 15:34 that we may eat it: Gen 21:16; Jer 14:18; Lam 4:9; Eze 12:18, Eze 12:19; Joe 1:15, Joe 1:16 3 Kings (1 Kings) 17:13”