2

the young of ravens, when they are not fed by their parents, have themselves certain small creatures serving the divine providence which sends them, and thus receiving those things from the air, they are nourished for growth. For this reason he says: To the young of the ravens that call upon him.

Since, therefore, Elijah undertook a hatred of children against the Jews as useless children, God intercedes with him through fathers who hate their children, almost shouting this to Elijah in silence: Is there so much hatred of children in you against the Jews, as there is in the ravens against their own young? But see now the ravens changed; see their 56.584 philanthropy, O Elijah; those who are inhuman towards their own young, become your generous hosts. It is strange, O Elijah, that the ravens should become mediators to you of my philanthropy, but that you should not become a mediator for the Jews from my punishment against them. Respect the change of the ravens, and become kind towards the Jews; for I honor your decision, but I pity those being punished. When, therefore, God saw that Elijah was not yielding, he again cuts off the food from the ravens, compelling him toward reconciliation, so that, forced by the famine, he might annul the decision at least for his own sake. But even when the ravens were withdrawn, he endured; I will starve, he says, only let me see the impious being punished; let my body perish with them, punished by famine. Therefore, when the food from the ravens ceased, and much time had passed, Elijah, again constrained, moves to another place, and pressed by the famine he departs, and becomes a suppliant of a gentile woman, and she a widow and poor. And God, wanting him to become more philanthropic, since at that time association with gentiles was forbidden to the Jews, anticipating, he announces beforehand what is to happen: Arise, he says, from here, and go to Zarephath of Sidon, and I will command a gentile widow woman there to feed you; so that hearing the word, Gentile, he might loathe the food, and might beseech God for a supply of rains. But he was not even moved by this voice, but ran to the sustenance from the gentile woman; and what is greater, God prepares the widow to speak harsh words to him at once in his hunger, driving him from all sides toward kindness.

What then does the gentile woman say to him? As the Lord your God lives. And whence did the gentile woman know to say, As the Lord your God lives? God, anticipating, shows the prophet to the widow in a vision; for this is what God had proclaimed to the prophet: I will command a widow woman there to feed you. God showed beforehand to the woman the prophet's appearance, his form, his age, his future request. Whence, after the prophet appeared, the widow remembered the vision; she saw him to be such as he had appeared to her in the vision. Thence, therefore, knowing the revelation to be divine, immediately when the prophet stood before her [she cried out] and asked for food, she cried out: As the Lord your God lives; I have no cake, but only a handful of flour in a jar, and a little oil in a cruse; and I will go in and prepare it for myself and my children, and we will eat it and die. Immediately words of despair or of giving. I have no cake, but only a handful of flour; this I will go in and prepare for myself and my children, and we will eat it and die. Nothing else is left for us, she says, once the handful is spent, but death. Elijah began to feel something at this voice. She, he says, struggles with a greater famine than I; for though I am hungry alone, she starves with her children. May I not become an agent of death to my hostess. What then? As I said, he is moved by the voice, he begins henceforth to carry about in himself a practice of philanthropy; The cruse of oil, he says, will not fail, nor the jar of flour, until the Lord sends rain upon the earth. Already a little of the rains

2

κοράκων οἱ νεοσσοὶ, καὶ παρὰ τῶν γονέων μὴ τρεφόμενοι, ἔχουσιν αὐτοὶ ζῶα μικρά τινα τὴν θείαν ἐπιπέμπουσαν πρόνοιαν διακονούμενα, καὶ οὕτως ἐκ τοῦ ἀέρος ἐκεῖνα δεχόμενοι, πρὸς αὔξησιν τρέφονται. ∆ιὰ τοῦτό φησι· Τοῖς νεοσσοῖς τῶν κοράκων τοῖς ἐπικαλουμένοις αὐτόν.

Ἐπειδὴ τοίνυν μισοτεκνίαν ὁ Ἠλίας κατὰ Ἰουδαίων ὡς τέκνων ἀχρήστων ἀνέλαβε, διὰ μισοτέκνων πατέρων πρεσβεύεται πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Θεὸς, μονονουχὶ τοῦτο πρὸς τὸν Ἠλίαν σεσιγημένως βοῶν· Μὴ τοσαύτη παρὰ σοὶ κατὰ Ἰουδαίων μισοτεκνία, ὅση τοῖς κόραξι κατὰ τῶν νεοσσῶν τῶν οἰκείων; Ἀλλ' ὅρα νῦν μεταβεβλημένους τοὺς κόρακας· ὅρα τὴν ἐκεί 56.584 νων, ὦ Ἠλία, φιλανθρωπίαν· οἱ περὶ τοὺς οἰκείους ἀπάνθρωποι νεοσσοὺς, σοῦ γίνονται ξενοδόχοι φιλότιμοι. Ἄτοπόν ἐστιν, ὦ Ἠλία, τοὺς μὲν κόρακας μεσίτας γίνεσθαι πρὸς σὲ τῆς παρ' ἐμοῦ φιλανθρωπίας, σὲ δὲ μεσίτην τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις μὴ γίνεσθαι τῆς παρ' ἐμοῦ κατ' αὐτῶν τιμωρίας. Αἰδέσθητι τὴν τῶν κοράκων μεταβολὴν, καὶ γενοῦ περὶ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους χρηστός· ἐγὼ γὰρ τιμῶ σου μὲν τὴν ἀπόφασιν, κἀκείνους δὲ κολαζομένους οἰκτείρω. Ὡς οὖν εἶδεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν Ἠλίαν οὐκ ἐνδιδόντα, συστέλλει πάλιν τὴν διὰ τῶν κοράκων τροφὴν, πρὸς καταλλαγὰς αὐτὸν βιαζόμενος, ἵνα τῷ λιμῷ βιασθεὶς τὴν ἀπόφασιν κἂν δι' ἑαυτοῦ λύσῃ. Ὁ δὲ καὶ τῶν κοράκων συσταλέντων ἠνείχετο· Λιμώξω, φησὶ, μόνον τοὺς δυσσεβοῦντας ἴδω κολαζομένους· ἀπόλοιτό μου τὸ σῶμα μετὰ τούτων λιμῷ κολαζόμενον. Ἐκλειπούσης τοίνυν τῆς διὰ τῶν κοράκων τροφῆς, καὶ χρόνου διελθόντος πολλοῦ, πάλιν συσχεθεὶς ὁ Ἠλίας ἐφ' ἕτερον μεθίσταται τόπον, καὶ τῷ λιμῷ συνθλιβόμενος ἄπεισι, καὶ γίνεται ἱκέτης ἐθνικῆς, καὶ ταύτης χήρας καὶ πενομένης. Καὶ βουλόμενος δὲ αὐτὸν ὁ Θεὸς γενέσθαι φιλανθρωπότερον, ἐπειδὴ τότε τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις ἀπείρητο ἡ μετὰ ἐθνῶν συνουσία, προλαμβάνων προκαταγγέλλει τὸ γενησόμενον· Ἀνάστηθι, φησὶν, ἐντεῦθεν, καὶ ἄπελθε εἰς Σαρεφθὰ τῆς Σιδωνίας, καὶ ἐντελοῦμαι ἐκεῖ χήρα γυναικὶ ἐθνικῇ τοῦ διατρέφειν σε· ἵνα ἀκούσας τὸ, Ἐθνικῇ, μυσάζηται τὴν τροφὴν, καὶ παρακαλέσῃ τὸν Θεὸν εἰς χορηγίαν τῶν ὄμβρων. Ὁ δὲ οὐδὲ πρὸς ταύτην τὴν φωνὴν ἐχαυνοῦτο, ἀλλ' ἔτρεχε πρὸς τὴν τῆς ἐθνικῆς διατροφήν· καὶ τὸ δὴ μεῖζον, παρασκευάζει τὴν χήραν ὁ Θεὸς εὐθὺς αὐτῷ πεινῶντι λαλῆσαι ῥήματα σκληρὰ, πανταχόθεν αὐτὸν εἰς χρηστότητα συνελαύνων.

Τί οὖν ἡ ἐθνικὴ πρὸς αὐτόν; Ζῇ Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου. Καὶ πόθεν τῇ ἐθνικῇ τὸ εἰπεῖν, Ζῇ Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου; Προλαβὼν ὁ Θεὸς δείκνυσι τὸν προφήτην τῇ χήρᾳ κατ' ὀπτασίαν· τοῦτο γάρ ἐστιν ὃ τῷ προφήτῃ ὁ Θεὸς ἐπεβόα· Ἐντελοῦμαι ἐκεῖ χήρᾳ γυναικὶ τοῦ διαθρέψαι σε. Ἔδειξεν ὁ Θεὸς προλαβὼν τῇ γυναικὶ τοῦ προφήτου τὸ σχῆμα, τὴν μορφὴν, τὴν ἡλικίαν, τὴν μέλλουσαν αἴτησιν. Ὅθεν μετὰ τὸ παραστῆναι τὸν προφήτην, ὑπεμνήσθη τῆς ὀπτασίας ἡ χήρα· εἶδεν αὐτὸν τοιοῦτον, οἷος αὐτῇ κατ' ὀπτασίαν ἐφάνη. Ἐντεῦθεν οὖν γνοῦσα θείαν εἶναι τὴν ἀποκάλυψιν, εὐθὺς ἐπιστάντι τῷ προφήτῃ [ἐβόα] καὶ αἰτήσαντι τροφὴν, ἐβόα· Ζῇ Κύριος ὁ Θεός σου· οὐκ ἔστι μοι ἐγκρυφίας, ἀλλ' ἢ δρὰξ ἀλεύρου ἐν τῇ ὑδρίᾳ, καὶ ὀλίγον ἔλαιον ἐν τῷ καμψάκῃ· καὶ εἰσελθοῦσα ποιήσω ταύτην ἐμαυτῇ καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις μου, καὶ φαγούμεθα καὶ ἀποθανούμεθα. Εὐθὺς ἀπογνώσεως ἢ δόσεως ῥήματα. Οὐκ ἔστι μοι ἐγκρυφίας, ἀλλ' ἢ δρὰξ ἀλεύρου· ταύτην εἰσελθοῦσα ποιήσω ἐμαυτῇ καὶ τοῖς τέκνοις μου, καὶ φαγούμεθα καὶ ἀποθανούμεθα. Οὐδὲν ἡμῖν, φησὶ, τὸ περιλειπόμενον ἕτερον, τῆς δρακὸς δαπανηθείσης, ἢ θάνατος. Ἤρξατό τι πάσχειν πρὸς τὴν φωνὴν ὁ Ἠλίας. Ἐμοῦ, φησὶ, πλείονι αὕτη παγκρατιάζει λιμῷ· ἐγὼ κἂν μόνος πεινῶ, αὕτη δὲ μετὰ τῶν τέκνων λιμώττει. Μὴ γένωμαι πρόξενος τῇ ξενοδόχῳ θανάτου. Τί οὖν; Ὥσπερ εἶπον, χαυνοῦται πρὸς τὴν φωνὴν, ἄρχεται λοιπὸν φιλανθρωπίας ἐν ἑαυτῷ περιφέρειν μελέτην· Οὐκ ἐκλείψει, φησὶν, ὁ καμψάκης τοῦ ἐλαίου, οὐδὲ ἡ ὑδρία τοῦ ἀλεύρου, ἕως τοῦ δοῦναι Κύριον ὑετὸν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. Ἤδη μικρὸν τὴν τῶν ὄμβρων