Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid. Go home and do as you have said. But first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me, and then make something for yourself and your son. – 1 Kings 17:13

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 21, 2016): 1 Kings 17

Twelfth-Century Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides wrote that “The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.” It is a terror that I recognize. Too many of the people living around me are terrified that they might make a wrong decision. Sometimes the terror keeps them following a bad decision (because admitting that you were wrong in a world where you have to be right is simply no fun). This is the only way that I can explain the “Christians for Trump” movement that seems to flourish in spite of the disaster of The Donald’s overt behavior. But often it keeps them from making a decision at all. They sit in their terror, and what is really scary is that they teach their children to sit in their terror, and just let the world happen – never stepping out to make a decision. They don’t seem to realize that there is more terror in no decision then there is in a wrong decision.

I have often wondered what it would be like to be this woman who we know of as the Widow of Zarephath. Zarephath is commonly associated with the city of Sarepta along the Mediterranean Coast. It was a Phoenician city, which meant its people were cousins of the Hebrew nation that existed just to the south. The people of the city were very religious, but they most likely followed a group of gods led by the Storm God Ba’al. There might have been Temple prostitution and child sacrifice in the area. It is unlikely that she knew nothing of this Hebrew God that Elijah followed, but it is also unlikely that she followed him – although both races would have served a God called “El” – which just means “god.”

The words of Elijah seem strangely out of place. “Don’t be afraid.” It might be that she wasn’t afraid. That time had come and gone. She had fretted away the night trying to figure out a way to stay alive. And now she had made a decision. She would make one last meal and then she and her son would lay down and die. It might not have been much of a decision, but it was the only one that she could see to make.

Knowing all of this, it also seems that Elijah’s words were a little absurd. Note that it is not “share your meal with me.” That might have made some sense. But the words are “make me a meal first, and then take what is left over and share that with your son.” It is like sitting down beside a beggar on the street and asking him to give you his meager supplies. It seems likely that it was Elijah’s words that produced the fear. She had made her decision. The terror of indecision was passed. She was moving confidently into the only future that she could see. And now this strange man was throwing her back into the mode of indecision once more.

But then again maybe it wasn’t much of a risk. She had probably promised her son a meal, and he would get his meal. She would give hers to this unknown stranger, this cousin from the south. She would sell her cow for a few magic beans in the hope that, maybe, things might get better. That, just maybe, she and her son could live for just a few more days.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 18