Chapter 17 of Melachim A opens the sequence of chapters about Eliyahu the prophet. Achav reigns, Izevel incites, Israel follows the Baal, and into this picture enters one prophet, without an army and without a royal court, who decrees a decree that changes the face of the land: the withholding of rain. In the chapter before us we will learn what that decree was, on what it rested, and why it is specifically Eliyahu who is able to decree it. As is our way, we will proceed according to the order of the pesukim, primarily in light of the Malbim's explanations, and we will weave in the words of Chazal and the commentators.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלִיָּהוּ הַתִּשְׁבִּי מִתֹּשָׁבֵי גִלְעָד אֶל־אַחְאָב, חַי־יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֲשֶׁר עָמַדְתִּי לְפָנָיו, אִם־יִהְיֶה הַשָּׁנִים הָאֵלֶּה טַל וּמָטָר כִּי אִם־לְפִי דְבָרִי. - And Eliyahu the Tishbi, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Achav: As Hashem the God of Israel lives, before whom I have stood, there shall not be dew or rain these years except by my word.
"Eliyahu the Tishbi, of the inhabitants of Gilead" - from a city named Toshav originally, and afterward he settled in Gilead. Chazal disagreed about Eliyahu's identity: there is an opinion that he was from the tribe of Gad, some said from the tribe of Binyamin, and some said he was a kohen - "Pinchas is Eliyahu." The Radak comments on this: each of them bases his words on the pesukim through distant reasoning, and we do not know the truth. The Arizal too, whose day of passing is today, may his merit protect us and all of Israel, expands on this matter in Sefer HaGilgulim, and explains that there were two Eliyahus and two aspects of soul - Eliyahu the Tishbi and Eliyahu the Giladi, and whoever wishes may study it there.
Where did Eliyahu and Achav meet? Chazal say: when the sons of Chiel of Beit El all died, Eliyahu went to comfort him. Chiel was not a simple man - not a great Torah scholar, but an important man, and Eliyahu came to console him. And whom does he meet there? None other than Achav, for Chiel was his groomsman and companion.
When Achav saw Eliyahu arriving, he understood at once: soon they would ask "the honorable Eliyahu" to say a few words between Mincha and Maariv, and Eliyahu the prophet, whose zeal for Hashem burns within him and who makes no calculations, would lash out with whips. Achav decided to defuse things in advance. He turned to him with a question: Tell me, Eliyahu, who is greater, the master or the disciple? Moshe Rabbeinu or Yehoshua? Eliyahu answered: What kind of question is that, certainly Moshe Rabbeinu, who received the Torah from Sinai. Achav said to him: If Moshe is greater, how can you come and claim that Chiel's sons died on account of an ancient curse of Yehoshua? For Moshe too cursed: "And the anger of Hashem will burn against you and He will shut up the heavens and there will be no rain and the ground will not give its produce" - and when? "And you turn aside and serve other gods." And behold, we turn aside and serve other gods and commit all the abominations, and you see that the matter does not come to pass! If curses are fulfilled, why was Moshe's curse not fulfilled? Rather, apparently it is all chance, and there is nothing here. Achav came to argue that everything occurred in a natural way.
Eliyahu answered him: Hashem is patient with you, He has compassion and mercy on you, and instead of thanking Him for this, you still come and provoke? It is not enough that you show no gratitude for His having compassion on you, you even speak ill of Hashem the Blessed and of Moshe His servant? Therefore - "As Hashem the God of Israel lives, before whom I have stood, there shall not be dew or rain these years except by my word." I decree that what Moshe said shall be fulfilled: there will be no dew or rain except by my word.
Eliyahu punished Achav, but he did not give an answer to his question. And we want an answer, for Achav asked a good question: how can it be that Yehoshua's decree is fulfilled while Moshe's decree is not fulfilled?
At its simplest, we can answer as follows: with Chiel of Beit El it was a limited matter, so Hashem punished him precisely according to the measure of the curse. The stopping of the rain, however, is damage to all of Israel, and the Holy One is not quick to bring troubles and damages upon all of Israel. As we will see further on, this whole matter of famine for all of Israel was truly not pleasing to the Creator of the world, even though that generation was a generation of sinners.
The Malbim, as is his way, explains the matter with greater depth. When the Torah writes of punishments for deviating from Hashem's path, all of this is said at a time when there is providence over the people of Israel, when the Holy One governs us with individual providence out of a revealed countenance. Then, naturally, when one does good, good comes, and when one does evil, evil comes, for Hashem watches over you and closes the valve.
But when the people of Israel leave that providence, and Hashem hides His face from them, into whose hand does He deliver them? Into the hand of the natural system. In other words: conduct yourselves like one of the nations. There are stars, there is a natural system, and if you want to know whether rain will fall, you check the synoptic map. It may fall and it may not. The Holy One says: I, as it were, do not intervene, I do not watch over you. It depends on the heavenly bodies, it depends on the hole in the ozone, it depends on global warming. But when we do His blessed will, the rain is providential; and when those who do His will deviate from the path, the withholding of the rain is also providential. And when they go completely off the tracks, the Holy One says: we are finished, I do not watch over you from good to evil, you will be given over to nature like the nations of the lands.
But all of this, says the Malbim, concerns the Creator's relationship with us. When Yehoshua cursed whoever would rebuild Yericho, this concerns Yehoshua's honor and Yehoshua's decree. And Yehoshua himself is connected with divine providence; it is not applicable to say that Hashem hid His face from Yehoshua. Consequently, says the Malbim, it is understood why Yehoshua's curse is fulfilled and comes to pass, for there indeed there is providence. And all the more so, since Hashem watches over and cares for the honor of His servants more than for His own honor, therefore when there is a curse of Yehoshua, Hashem watches over the honor of the tzaddik to fulfill his word.
In contrast, what Moshe said was not a curse he uttered on his own, but something he said in Hashem's name: if you turn from the path, Hashem will punish you. And the Holy One says: this is when I watch over them. But when I remove My providence from them, it may be that they will do much evil and not receive punishment, because by nature rain ought to fall. And it may be that there will be very dry years, because by nature rain ought not to fall. I have already left them, I do not conduct individual providence with them.
This is what Eliyahu hints to him in his words: "As Hashem, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I have stood." As if to say to him: you are correct that from the standpoint of providence rain is not supposed to fall, but what can be done, Hashem has left you, and since He has left you and by nature rain ought to fall, you are entirely given over to nature. But Hashem has not left me. The tzaddik is always given over to the providence of the Creator of the world, and therefore I indeed can stop the rain for you, just as Yehoshua's curse indeed comes to pass. Therefore he says "except according to my word": just as through Yehoshua Hashem fulfills, for Hashem fulfills the words of tzaddikim, a tzaddik decrees and the Holy One fulfills, so too here.
The analogy is this: like a child whom his father has sent away from the house. Even if he turns from the path, the father does not come to strike him, for he is no longer in the house. If he is in the house and does not behave properly, he is given blows and given rebuke; but if he is no longer in the house, what room is there for blows? So Eliyahu says to Achav: you are not at all deserving of providential punishment, and therefore the rain is not withheld from you, for the rain now is natural rain. But know this, Hashem will fulfill my decree "according to my word," since I decreed, and I, because I do His blessed will, am still given over to Hashem's providence.
Let us note that Eliyahu said "dew and rain," whereas in the Torah it says only "and He will restrain the heavens and there will be no rain," and dew is not mentioned. By this he comes to tell him: the fact that the rain now stops is not because it is written in the Torah "and He will restrain the heavens," but because of me, because I said so. Therefore I add dew, which is not mentioned in the Torah. He wanted to create this distinction, so that they would know that the stoppage stems from the force of his statement, and therefore dew too will not fall, because Hashem watches over him, for Hashem indeed watches over the tzaddikim. You are not deserving at all and are given over to nature, and therefore for you there can be rain even though you are wicked; but I, who am always given over to the individual providence of the Creator of the world, can say that dew too will not fall.
In truth, in Chazal there is a lengthy discussion regarding the matter of dew, why he said "dew" to him, since dew never ceases. Some explain that he said "dew" in order to mislead him and harden his heart: Achav would say, behold, they said there would be no dew and yet there is dew. And even though the Gemara distinguishes between dew of blessing and dew that is not of blessing, Achav does not know all these distinctions, and in effect they gave him room to err.
וַיְהִי דְבַר־יְהֹוָה אֵלָיו לֵאמֹר. לֵךְ מִזֶּה וּפָנִיתָ לְּךָ קֵדְמָה וְנִסְתַּרְתָּ בְּנַחַל כְּרִית אֲשֶׁר עַל־פְּנֵי הַיַּרְדֵּן. וְהָיָה מֵהַנַּחַל תִּשְׁתֶּה וְאֶת־הָעֹרְבִים צִוִּיתִי לְכַלְכֶּלְךָ שָׁם. - And the word of Hashem came to him, saying: Go from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by Wadi Kerith, which is before the Jordan. And it shall be that you will drink from the wadi, and I have commanded the ravens to sustain you there.
The Holy One, blessed be He, reveals Himself to Eliyahu and tells him: go from this place and hide by Wadi Kerith which is before the Jordan; there you will have a place from which you can drink, and as for your food, I have already commanded the ravens to sustain you.
The Malbim explains: first, because of the danger. Achav is searching for him, and as we will see later, he was willing to pay a great deal for Eliyahu's head. Therefore, first of all - flee.
Another matter: Eliyahu through his action blocked and sealed the channels of abundance. Abundance does not descend, and "according to my word" - so did Eliyahu act. And since the channels of abundance were blocked, even Eliyahu himself, who is supposed to be fed and provided for, cannot be sustained. For if everyone were not under Divine providence but rather in the hands of nature, the righteous person is watched over for good; but if now the providence is not to give abundance, the righteous person is included as well, and even he cannot receive good. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, tells him: you will be forced to leave that place, because there there is no rain. And where will you arrive? At a place of water, a place that already had abundance beforehand. For to create new abundance for you now is impossible, since the channels of abundance are sealed. And therefore you must reach a place that already has abundance in it, namely Wadi Kerith - there rain already fell in the past, and there there is still water, and so you will be able to receive from what already exists.
Beyond this, the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were says to Eliyahu: through your actions you block the abundance. And the Malbim defines it thus: as it were, Eliyahu must sit at the narrow pass and make sure that the abundance does not arrive - to block the abundance so that it does not come, for abundance by nature always descends.
And how? The rains come from the evaporating waters, from the sea and from the wadis. By nature rain should fall, since there is a wadi, and the wadi evaporates, and when there are vapors clouds form, and when there are clouds rains fall. If so, how can a situation arise in which no rain falls? The Holy One, blessed be He, tells him: you will be beside Wadi Kerith, there the place of the water and from there the vapors rise, and through your actions you will block the abundance from rising upward, and consequently no vapors will form from the wadi and no clouds will be made from them, and no rain will fall.
And therefore it says "and turn eastward" - the east is a place where the sun rises, for the evaporation of the water is by the power of the sun. And since that is the place of the sun's rising, He tells him that there you must, as it were, hold back the lower waters so that they do not rise and turn into the aspect of clouds, so that the abundance will not descend and the rain will not fall.
וְהָעֹרְבִים מְבִאִים לוֹ לֶחֶם וּבָשָׂר בַּבֹּקֶר וְלֶחֶם וּבָשָׂר בָּעָרֶב, וּמִן־הַנַּחַל יִשְׁתֶּה. - And the ravens brought him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening, and he drank from the wadi.
"You will drink from the wadi" - as we said, a place that was prepared in advance. "And I have commanded the ravens to sustain you there" - the ravens are meant to give food to Eliyahu. And from where did the ravens bring him the food? There are two opinions among Chazal: some say from the table of Achav, and some say from the table of Yehoshafat. From the table of Yehoshafat is understandable, since Yehoshafat was righteous. But how could he eat from the table of Achav - does Achav invite you to lunch and you eat at his place? Who was Achav's kashrut supervisor? Ovadyah, who was over the house. And when there is a man like Ovadyah who was over the house, of whom it is said "your servant fears Hashem greatly" - more than what is said of Avraham and more than what is said of Iyov - at such a level one can certainly eat there.
But this is still not "glatt kosher," for there is meat here that was left unattended, out of sight. Therefore we need what the other commentators said: since it was by God's will that they brought it to him, surely Heaven would not arrange for him something that was not kosher. If they arranged this for him from Heaven, it was certainly something kosher.
There is another interpretation, that the "ravens" (orvim) were merchants, as it is written in Yechezkel "the merchants of your trade," where the meaning is merchants. According to this, the merchants who were passing through there were the ones who brought him his sustenance and his food.
And why specifically through ravens? Because Heaven wanted to remind him: you did an act that contains cruelty toward the people of Israel. And the raven, as explained by Chazal, has a cruel nature, for it acts cruelly toward its young. As Chazal say of a person who does not provide for his children: cruel to his children like the ravens.
As is known, within every person are embedded the natures of all the animals, whether more or less, and in each person a different nature prevails. There is a person who has a nature of cruelty - this is the nature of the raven. There is one with might - the nature of the lion. There is one who cowers and is frightened of his own shadow - the nature of the rabbit. And there is one who is cunning - the nature of the snake or the fox. Within a person are embedded all the powers found in those animals, and therefore they said "Be bold as a leopard, light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and mighty as a lion": a person must take all those powers that God planted within him and dedicate them to the service of God. And here they came, as it were, to show him that in this act he acted from the power of the nature of zealotry and cruelty, and therefore he was sustained specifically through the ravens.
Chazal say that Noach said to the raven: what need does the world have for you? Not for eating and not for a sacrifice - and therefore he sent specifically it out of the ark. The raven said to him: how can you send me out? What if one species will be missing from the world? And if I go and become lost and drown and the waters have not dried up, what will you do then? Noach answered him: no matter, even if you go the world will lose nothing if there are no ravens in it; we do not eat you and you are not fit for a sacrifice, what benefit is there in a raven?
The Holy One, blessed be He, said to him: accept it, for the world will still need it. And when? "Until the waters dried up from upon the earth." And Chazal expounded: a certain righteous man is destined to dry up the world, and I will make him need them - as it says "and the ravens brought him bread and meat." "Yevoshet" (dried up), in its letters, is "Tishbi": until Tishbi comes who will dry up the waters from upon the earth, and then they will need the ravens. Therefore He said to him: these ravens still have merit, accept them into the ark.
The Maharal asks: why did God prepare the ravens specifically for this mission, while for Noach's mission they were not suitable? The Maharal explains: the raven's nature is cruel, as Chazal said "black as a raven," and the Torah is sustained only by one who makes himself cruel to his children like this raven. Not, God forbid, that he should be cruel to them, but that he should not seek out for them all sorts of pleasures, for then he would have to labor all his days only to obtain for them the pleasures he wishes to bring. As the Gemara relates: they asked him, and your children, what will be with them? He said to them: I am going to occupy myself with Torah. And your children, what will be with them? He said: "Are there not herbs by the marsh?" - there is greenery near the marsh, let them eat from what is there. Only one who is cruel to his children in this matter can merit Torah. And so it is written "He gives to the beast its food, to the young of the raven that cry out" - for the raven does not feed or sustain its young, and therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, feeds and sustains them.
From here, says the Maharal, a good man is a bearer of good tidings and is sent on a good mission, and an evil man is a bearer of evil tidings and is sent on a negative mission. When there was a need to announce "that the waters had abated" - this is good tidings, that life has returned to the world and there is a possibility to renew life - the raven is not built for this; the raven comes to announce evil, its nature is evil and its nature is cruel.
Here, by contrast, the mission itself is cruel. For if Eliyahu had nothing at all to eat, what would the Holy One, blessed be He, do? He would bring back the rains. It turns out that when the ravens bring him food, they are essentially ensuring that no rain will fall; as long as Eliyahu has sustenance, the rain ceases from falling. If so, the mission of the ravens is an evil mission, cruel toward the community - and therefore with Noach it was not fitting for them to carry out the mission, while here it was, for their nature suits a mission that contains cruelty toward the people as a whole.
The Rama of Fano writes: who were these ravens? The sons of Shmuel. For it is written of Shmuel's sons that they did not walk in his ways, but rather had a lust for money and a trait of stinginess, and they would sit in their place in order to increase the wages of their deputies and assistants. Whoever came to be judged would pay a fee, and pay and pay, all in order to increase their wages, and they did not walk in the ways of their father. Says the Rama: they were the ravens of Eliyahu.
Therefore, from where did the ravens bring the meat? Not from their own, but from Achav's, for Chazal say that Achav was generous with his money. And even though this was not done of his own will but rather was decreed from Heaven, in any case Heaven arranged that it should come about through them: since they did what they did out of stinginess and miserliness, it was arranged that through them Eliyahu would be sustained. And beyond this, says the Rama of Fano, Achav was of the root of Nadav, and "Nadav" is an expression of generosity (nedivut), and therefore too through him Eliyahu received meat. And "Nadav" in its reduced numerical value with the addition of one (the kollel), in gematria, equals "Achav."
וַיֵּלֶךְ וַיַּעַשׂ כִּדְבַר יְהֹוָה, וַיֵּלֶךְ וַיֵּשֶׁב בְּנַחַל כְּרִית אֲשֶׁר עַל־פְּנֵי הַיַּרְדֵּן. - And he went and did according to the word of Hashem, and he went and dwelt by the brook Kerit, which is before the Yarden.
We must understand the repetition: "And he went and did according to the word of Hashem" and then "And he went and dwelt by the brook Kerit." Was once not enough? Says the Malbim: in his going, Eliyahu acted on two planes. The first, that he caused the Supreme Providence, as it were, to hold back the rain, and this is the hidden part of the matter. The second, the revealed part, that he uprooted himself and went and dwelt there. For, as we explained, he had to stand, as it were, at the narrow point and ensure that there would be no state of an influx of abundance flowing from here above, and from there rain descending below. If so, there were two goings here: regarding the spiritual part, "And he went and did according to the word of Hashem," that he went and stood spiritually at the narrow point and prevented the rise of abundance and consequently also the descent of abundance below; and regarding the physical going, "And he went and dwelt by the brook Kerit, which is before the Yarden."
וַיְהִי מִקֵּץ יָמִים וַיִּיבַשׁ הַנָּחַל, כִּי לֹא־הָיָה גֶשֶׁם בָּאָרֶץ. - And it came to pass after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.
In its simple sense, why did the brook dry up? So that Eliyahu would know how much the people were in need of rain, and through this he would have to leave his place and would understand that the Holy One, blessed be He, has pain when Israel suffers.
But the Malbim explains it according to what we clarified, that there is natural rain and there is providential rain. Natural rain comes from the evaporation of water that forms clouds which bring down rain. Providential rain does not need evaporation nor anything at all. Hashem creates clouds out of nothing and brings down rain, or as we learned in the past that the Holy One, blessed be He, brings down rain from the upper heavens, that there is water in the upper heavens and from it He brings down rain. This is a dispute in the Gemara, and today it has been scientifically proven that there is indeed water in the upper atmosphere and that rain even descends from it.
Says the Malbim: the natural rain would rise up from the earth. And the moment there is no brook and the brook has dried up, can natural rain be formed? No. It is finished, the brook has evaporated, there is no longer any possibility of natural rain. And consequently there is no longer any need for Eliyahu to stand there at the narrow point and prevent the rise of vapors from the brook, for there is nowhere from which vapors could come. And this is what the verse says: "And it came to pass after a while that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land": since in any case the brook had dried up, rain could no longer be formed in the land, and there was no need for Eliyahu as a guard. And therefore, "And the word of Hashem came to him, saying."
קוּם לֵךְ צָרְפַתָה אֲשֶׁר לְצִידוֹן וְיָשַׁבְתָּ שָׁם, הִנֵּה צִוִּיתִי שָׁם אִשָּׁה אַלְמָנָה לְכַלְכְּלֶךָ. - Arise, go to Tzarfat, which belongs to Tzidon, and dwell there. Behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain you.
The Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: There is no need for you here to prevent the rising of the vapors, for there is no longer any brook. Therefore I have arranged for you a place of sustenance with a woman in Tzarfat that belongs to Tzidon.
And why does He emphasize "Tzarfat which belongs to Tzidon"? Because there is another Tzarfat, the land of Tzarfat mentioned elsewhere, "the Canaanites as far as Tzarfat." He therefore comes to say: we are not speaking of that Tzarfat, but of the Tzarfat that belongs to Tzidon, which is a different Tzarfat, near Tzidon, and Tzidon was part of the land of Israel.
And what is meant by "I have commanded a widow there"? The commentators say: do not mistakenly think that the Holy One, blessed be He, spoke with her and told her that Eliyahu would soon come and that she should support him. That is not the intent. Rather, just as we explained above regarding "and I have commanded the ravens to sustain you there," where the meaning was that your sustenance would come by way of the ravens, so too here: I have commanded that your sustenance be through the widow, and not that I commanded her or spoke with her. As will be seen more explicitly further on.
The Malbim says: The Holy One, blessed be He, so to speak cannot sustain Eliyahu and open for him an outpouring of abundance through providence, for what did Eliyahu do? He dried up all the channels of abundance. And since through him those channels were dried up, they cannot pour abundance upon him. He is not fit to receive abundance.
And what is the way? Only a righteous woman, who is fit in her own right and by virtue of her righteousness for Hashem to pour abundance upon her, and Eliyahu would then receive through her, for from her it would pass to him. This is why Hashem did not say to him: hide in a cave and I will provide for you there. Could He not have had him hide in a cave and send him sustenance from there, making a tree with fruit for him to eat from? Why must he be a guest with someone else? Rather, as we explained: this went against his preparedness. Eliyahu was not ready for abundance, since through him the abundance had been halted, and therefore in his own right it was not fitting for abundance to descend through him, for he lacked the preparation for it. But that widow, who was a great tzadeket as we will see further on, was able to receive abundance, and through her Hashem provides for Eliyahu as well.
The chapter opens with a confrontation in the house of mourning of Chiel, and ends with providence that sustains a prophet in the wilderness. Achav claimed that everything is nature and chance, and Eliyahu answered him with two words: "before whom I stand." Providence was indeed removed from the people who went off the rails, and therefore rain among them is a natural matter that does not respond to their sins. But the tzadik who stands before Hashem is always under individual providence, and his word is fulfilled like the word of Yehoshua. From here on, Eliyahu himself is the one who stands at the narrow point and blocks the abundance: go eastward to Nachal Kerit, the cruelty of the ravens in feeding him, and the drying up of the brook that rendered his guarding unnecessary. And to the same measure that he sealed the channels, they too were sealed before him, until he needed the abundance of a righteous widow in Tzarfat. And this is the great foundation of the chapter: rain, sustenance and abundance are not a weather map but a relationship, and each one of us chooses whether to be inside the house or outside it.