“And she said, As the LORD thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.”
King James Version (KJV)
17:12 She said - Therefore though she was a Gentile, yet she ownedthe God of Israel as the true God. Two sticks - A few sticks, thatnumber being often used indefinitely for any small number. And die - Forhaving no more provision, we must needs perish with hunger. For though thefamine was chiefly in the land of Israel, yet the effects of it were inTyre and Sidon, which were fed by the corn of that land. But whata poor supporter was this likely to be? who had no fuel, but what shegathered in the streets, and nothing to live upon herself, but an handfulof meal and a little oil! To her Elijah is sent, that he might liveupon providence, as much as he had done when the ravens fed him.