After predicting years of drought in Samaria, Elijah is sent eastward across the Jordan to a jagged ravine, Kerith. The name means "cutting away" and certainly large areas of his life were cut away as he lived in deep seclusion. Away from human faces and contact, away from familiar activities, away from the company that misery so loves. Sleeping in a barren rock-land, eating from the beaks of scavenger ravens--birds designated unclean, and drinking from a dwindling stream, Elijah must have had some interesting conversations with God.
1 Ki 17: 4 You will drink from the brook and I have ordered the ravens to feed you there.
On the evil and the good the sun does rise,
O God of heaven, earth, and skies.
On the just and the unjust You send rain,
But seasons run amok when You refrain.
These people, Lord, are messed up and crazy—
False prophets and gods are making them lazy.
Now drought is encroaching, the dust is a test;
Must the few good suffer from thirst with the rest?
Away from the city where I’d be in danger
You send me to Kerith where I am no stranger
With hyrax and foxes and rabbits replete
And ravens who bring me my bread and my meat.
Morning and evening, these bird so intelligent
Bring meals for this prophet’s courage and nourishment
Small black-winged angels—faithful to mission:
Daily display Your abundant provision.
I long for Your refreshing shower;
But to withhold is in Your power.
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