Many learned men have raised doubts on those parts of the Inspired Word, which may, by the perverseness of their argument and the ingenuity of their surmise, be made to appear inconsistent with fact. In this case, they are not satisfied with being expressly told by God that the ravens supplied Elijah with food, while the brook gave him drink, but apparently to mystify a manifest miracle, they suggest whether these ravens might not be merchantmen, or the inhabitants of a neighbouring town. Let any unprejudiced reader and lover of the Bible take the whole history of Elijah, and he will find that his life was almost a daily illustration of the power of God in his miraculous interpositions. Instance the supply of provision in the unwasting barrel of meal and cruse of oil, after the prophet had removed to Zarephath: the power communicated to him to raise the widow's son from death: the wonderful interposition of the Lord to prove the folly of Baal's worshippers, in sending down fire from heaven to consume Elijah's sacrifice and lick up the water, although the sacrifice had been saturated therewith, and the altar surrounded by a deep trench to prevent its running away. The prayer for rain is another instance: the sojourn in Horeb forty days and forty nights, after having eaten of the cake: the destruction of Ahaziah's messengers twice: the smiting of the waters at Jordan: the fall of the mantle on Elisha: and finally, in the closing scene of life, he was taken to glory without tasting the pains of death, the sting was taken away.

17:6

ravens <06158> [the ravens.]