Practicality dictates. The famine that encompassed the land brought on by Eliyahu's edict that there be no rain eventually caught up with him. His own water source dried up as did the other water sources throughout the land. Rather than perform a miracle to bring water out of the rock, Eliyahu was directed by Heaven to take the practical course and relocate. From the Biblical record it appears that his original hiding place was on the east banks of the Jordan River. Now, this Zarephath is near Zidon, which is in modern day Lebanon. This must have been some trip.

Hopefully Eliyahu had some means of transportation, but knowing him, he probably walked. With his prophetic physical strength and stamina, this would have been no great feat. In modern Israel, the soldiers who guard the Northern Border have an annual marathon run from the North to Jerusalem. It takes them a few days with rest stops along the way. If they can do such a feat today, covering over a hundred miles, we can rest assured that Eliyahu HaNavi could have done the same and much more.

G-d commands Eliyahu to continue his seclusion in the house of a widow, who, as we see, has a minor son. While we do not know the age of the boy, the text seems to imply that he is still too young to go out and work. Eliyahu takes up residence with this family.

How strange is it that G-d would direct Eliyahu to the house of a single available woman. In today's world such a move would be considered scandalous. Were there not any families with husbands or bands of prophets for Eliyahu to seclude himself that he had to go in to the home of a woman? Mind you, widows, whose husbands have died of old age, were in ancient times usually much younger than they would be today. It is conceivable that this widow may actually have been as young as in her thirties or forties. Granted we cannot rule out that she was even in her twenties or for that matter in her fifties. Judging from her abilities she could not be that old or infirmed. She might have even been attractive and able to remarry any time in the future.

None of these concerns fazed Eliyahu. He went into her home and stayed there, not necessarily at every moment in the presence of her awake son. This would technically place Eliyahu in violation of the law of yihud (improper seclusion with a member of the opposite sex). These laws legend tells us were adopted by King David after the episode with his daughter Tamar. If so, is it possible that Eliyahu did not know of these laws or did not concern himself with them? We do not have all the details to extract a definitive answer. All we do know is that if a Rabbi or Sage today would take up residence in the home of a single woman (widow, divorcee or whatever), it would create a scandal. Luckily for Eliyahu, apparently in his day, his behavior created no scandal. Scandals are not good for men on the run and who are hiding out avoiding attention at all costs.

So Eliyahu travels to reside with the widow. Somehow both the widow and Eliyahu recognized each other. There may have been a number of women drawing water at that well. How did he know which one was a widow? Not all widows dressed in an identifiable fashion. Whether through prophetic intuition on both their parts, or possibly through some secret kind of indentifying code or maybe even that they had met before under other circumstances not recorded, we cannot ascertain. The text is clear that Eliyahu knew who the widow was and without explaining how the widow knew who he was.

Eliyahu asks for the woman to draw him some water. She complies with appropriate respect for a weary traveler. Then Eliyahu asks her for some bread. Here is where it is obvious that the widow must have somehow recognized Eliyahu. She responds to his request for bread by saying, "as HaShem your G-d lives." Now, this statement seems rather nebulous unless one knows a little bit of Hebrew. For the name "Eliyahu" translates to mean, HaShem is my G-d. Here the widow responds to him and says "HaShem your G-d." This is clearly a Hebrew pun on Eliyahu's name. Certainly HaShem was also the G-d of the widow. Why wouldn't she have said, HaShem OUR G-d; why did she specifically say HaShem YOUR G-d? Was this some kind of ancient prophetic code language, or did the widow already know Eliyahu and thus addressed him as a familiar?

The widow's response to Eliyahu's request is one of desperation. She tells him that she has no bread and only enough ingredients to make the smallest of loaves which she plans to prepare for her and her son. After that without any more food or resources to acquire any, she tells the prophet that she and her son plan to die of starvation. She seems to be resided to her fate. Nowhere does the text suggest that she asked Eliyahu for anything. No supplications for prayers, no requests for mercy. She simply tells him, we'll eat today and die tomorrow. Knowing who Eliyahu was, I wonder why she did not fall at his feet and ask for his help. Well, regardless of her lack of supplications, Eliyahu marches to the rescue and uses his prophetic powers of special manipulations to save the day.

Now, the way in which Eliyahu's miracle comes about deserves our attention. He does not immediately take pity on the widow and assure her that everything will be alright. Rather, he says to her, take the little you have and feed me first. Then, you shall receive the miracle of continuous replenishment of finite resources. Now, was Eliyahu actually placing his own physical needs before that of a starving widow and her adolescent child? G-d forbid that anyone should ever think that the holy prophet was so callous. Rather, what we have here is an example of a very important spiritual law. Before one can expect to receive for oneself, one has to be willing to give first to Heaven. And whatever Heaven demands, that is the price one has to pay, regardless if that price be hefty or small.

In this case, Eliyahu is the personal representative of Heaven. What he requests he receives and with it comes a prophecy. Eliyahu declares in G-d's Name that a miracle will occur and the flour and oil will not cease but continue to be replenished until the end of the famine. Now here is an interesting point, Eliyahu speaks a prophecy in G-d's Name, but nowhere does the text record Eliyahu having received the prophecy in the first place. Indeed, the moment happened rather suddenly. The widow spoke; Eliyahu responded and immediately related the prophecy. When was there even time for Eliyahu to have heard G-d's Voice? This communication was instantaneous. Yet, Eliyahu relates it as if it were a past event. Or maybe, there is something else going on here.

You see Eliyahu had no time to go into a prophetic trance and seek G-d's Word. Without such preparations no prophecy can ever be received. Eliyahu is no exception to this rule. Rather than having to solicit Heaven on behalf of the woman, Eliyahu spoke for G-d and made a promise in G-d's Name. Essentially Eliyahu did not technically prophesy, but rather he proclaimed in G-d's Name what he wanted to be. And indeed, G-d upheld his word. This concept we find expounded upon centuries later in the Talmud, where it says, "the righteous ordain and G-d supports their edicts."

Eliyahu was so close to G-d that he could actually speak in His Name and G-d accepted this fully. Later we read that the words were referred to as the "saying of Eliyahu" and later the word of G-d, spoke not TO Eliyahu, but rather BY Eliyahu. Eliyahu was a complete conduit for Heaven and his consciousness was immersed completely with that of Heaven. Essentially, Eliyahu was G-d's representative on Earth. Both Eliyahu and Heaven shared a kind of hive-mind, a collective consciousness, wherein which both think the same thought at the same time. This is the pinnacle of universal mind and the experience of prophecy. Eliyahu was not the first to achieve this level, centuries earlier Moshe Rabbeynu also experienced this expanded consciousness.

Eliyahu blesses the flour and oil that its flow should continue unnaturally for an extended period of time. This too is an expression of an expanded consciousness that reaches out into other physical objects and by an act of will manipulates that/those objects to accelerate their reproduction at a rate unnatural to us. Essentially, this is a technique of spiritual technology wherein which the expanded consciousness of the prophet visualizes the molecular structure of a thing, represented by the Hebrew letters of its name and then by an act of will visualizes its reproduction. This imbued energy then acts in magnetic form drawing from the Nefesh (Chi) energy in everything surrounding it and transforming it into the physical structure of that which is being reproduced, in this case the flour and oil.

This miracle is a simple act of prophetic mind over matter. It is simply using the innate powers of the mind to tap into the universal energy flow (Nefesh/chi) and redirect it from a nebulous non-descript form and into a specific physical construct. This mental act takes only a moment and then the inertia of the mental act continues unabated until its predetermined limit is reached or until an equal and opposite imposing deterrent blocks its free-flow movement. This was Eliyahu's predetermined decision to end the flow with the end of the famine and the return of rain.

Essentially our entire existence is nothing more than the continuing Thoughts of the Universal Mind (G-d). A prophet is trained to tap into and become absorbed into this Higher Mind and by doing so becomes enabled to "see from one of the world to the next." Literally this translates into the manifestation of highly developed extra sensory perceptions and abilities.

At this stage of consciousness when one gazes upon anything in creation all one sees is the program underlying its physical form. This is the combination of letters (sub-atomic particles) that give it its form. With a sheer act of will, one extends one's mind and essentially shifts a letter from one place to another and by doing so actually shifts subatomic particles. In this way one can actually turn lead into gold, or in this case, universal life-force energy (Nefesh/chi) into flour and oil.

Mind over matter powers do not stop with a mere influence over subatomic particles. Mind can even influence the life-force energy itself in more direct fashion.

To be continued...