This chapter begins with a prophecy of Elijah, that there should be want of rain for some years to come, and he is directed to go first to the brook Cherith, where he should be fed by ravens, 1Ki 17:1, and afterwards he is sent to a widow at Zarephath, where he, she, and her son, were supported for a considerable time with a handful of meal, and a little oil in a cruse miraculously increased, 1Ki 17:8, whose son falling sick and dying, he restored to life, 1Ki 17:17.
Ver. 1. And Elijah the Tishbite, [who] was of the inhabitants of Gilead,.... Which belonged partly to the Reubenites and Gadites, and partly to the half-tribe of Manasseh on the other side Jordan, where this prophet dwelt; but why he is called the Tishbite is not easy to say; what Kimchi observes seems right, that he was at first of a city called Toshab, and afterward's dwelt at Gilead; which city perhaps is the same with Thisbe, in the tribe of Naphtali, the native place of Tobit,"Who in the time of Enemessar king of the Assyrians was led captive out of Thisbe, which is at the right hand of that city, which is called properly Nephthali in Galilee above Aser.'
' (Tobit 1:2)and, if so, is an instance of a prophet, even the prince of prophets, as Abarbinel calls him, coming out of Galilee, contrary to the suggestions of the Jews, Joh 7:52. R. Elias Levita observes, that after the affair of Gibeah an order was given to smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead, Jud 21:8, and that as it is reasonable to suppose some might escape, he thinks Elijah was one of them; and that when this began to be inhabited again, they that returned were called the inhabitants of Gilead, of whom Elijah was, who lived in those times, being, as the Jews suppose, Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron, see Jud 20:28, but that he should be Elijah, and live to the times of Ahab, is beyond belief.
By Origen he is said to be in Thesbon of Gilead; and by Epiphanius to be of Thesbis, of the land of the Arabians, Gilead bordering upon it: the samesaid unto Ahab; who perhaps had been with him before, and reproved him for idolatry, warned him of the evil consequences of it, but to no purpose, and therefore now threatened in a very solemn manner:as the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand; he swears by the living God, in whose presence he was, and to whom he appeals as the omniscient God, whose minister and prophet he was, and in whose name he came and spoke, and to whom he prayed; for standing was a prayer gesture, and sometimes put for it, See Gill on "Mt 6:5" and it was at the prayer of Elijah that rain was withheld, as follows, see Jas 5:17there shall not be dew nor rain these years; for some years to come, even three years and a half:but according to my word; in prayer, or as he should predict, in the name of the Lord.
In Tishbi, p. 275. Vid. Shalshalet Hakabala, fol. 11. 1. & David de Pomis Lexic. fol. 235. 4. Comment. in Matth. p. 224. Ed. Huet. De Prophet. Vit. c.