God’s Delivery System (by Rodney Baker)

“It shall be that you will drink of the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to provide for you there.” 1 Kings 17:4 NASB

I have commanded – Many years ago I worked in an automotive assembly plant here in my hometown of Adelaide. It was originally built by Chrysler (Australia) but in the early ’80’s Chrysler sold its Australian manufacturing operations to the Japanese giant Mitsubishi Motors. One of the (then) revolutionary changes the new management brought in was the concept of “just in time” delivery. Rather than having huge amounts of parts and raw materials delivered from suppliers to a massive store and then providing the parts or materials to the assembly process out of that store, with all of the associated logistical equipment and processes, they moved to receiving multiple, smaller deliveries from suppliers delivered (almost) directly to the assembly area, “just in time” for when they were needed.

God’s delivery system seems to work along similar principles. He always provides right when He knows we will need it. Not before, not after, but “just in time.” The story of Eliyahu ha-Navi (Elijah the Prophet) is a classic example. In 1 Kings 17:1, Eliyahu goes to King Ahab with a word from YHVH; “As YHVH lives, before whom I stand, there shall be no rain these years, except by my word.”  This obviously went down well because God warns him, in fact commands him, to get out of there! 
[1Ki 17:2-3 NASB] 2 The word of the LORD came to him, saying, 3 “Go away from here and turn eastward, and hide yourself by the brook Cherith, which is east of the Jordan.”

Now we come to verse 4. The translators usually render the verb צִוִּיתִי (tzviytiy) as “I have commanded” (technical description: it is first person masculine singular qatal qal form) and indeed this verb tense is most often understood to refer to a past, completed action, however “past” is not really the correct term. It really should be termed “anterior action” – anterior, that is, to other verbs in context.

[Warning – technical grammatical discussion follows.]

The verb “It will be” – וְהָיָה (vǝhayah) is in the weqatal conjugation. The weqatal form of a verb always appears at the beginning of a clause and refers to future or repeated action (hence, “It will be…”). The verb “you will drink” (תִּשְׁתֶּה) is in the second person masculine singular yiqtol conjugation. Yiqtol, like weqatal, also refers to future or repeated actions but always appears either in the middle or at the end of its clause.

So, verse 4 has 2 verbs describing actions that will occur some time in the future. Now to “I have commanded” –  צִוִּיתִי. As we have already noted, the qatal form of the verb describes completed action that occurs anterior to other verbs in context. Since both verbs in the context under consideration occur in the future, tzvitityalso refers to a future, but completed, action; i.e. an action that will be completed in the future, but before the other actions that preceded it in the context. Therefore, it really should be translated in the future perfect tense – “I will have commanded.”

It is also worthwhile at this point considering the word for “the ravens” –  הָעֹרְבִים – ha’orbiym. The root of this word is ע.ב.ר (ayin-bet-resh); there are in fact 3 separate and distinct roots with the same letters.[1]  Davidson gives the second meaning of the first root as “to become surety, to give oneself as a pledge for another” and the third “to pledge, to give as a pledge.”

The second instance of the root comes from Arabic and means “black.” It is also the root of the word “evening” (ereb). In Aramaic the root carries the meaning of “mixing.” The ravens are called “orbiym” because of their black colour, but there may also be a connection here to the alternative meaning of a pledge, because YHVH is making a pledge to Elijahu that, when he gets to the Cherith  Wadi to hide away from Ahab, YHVH will have made provision for his well-being. The ravens,  ha’orbiym, will be the means by which the pledge (arob) will be fulfilled, providing him meat and bread morning and night, and he will have an abundant supply of water as well. The text does not say that they had already been commanded when YHVH instructed Eliyahu to leave, because he didn’t need the provision until he got there. It says that, by the time he needed it, YHVH would have provided.

When YHVH asks (or commands) us to do something, we may not have the resources to obey; we may not even be able to see where they will come from. We can be confident, however, that by the time we need them, YHVH will have commanded their provision. Just in time.

Topical Index:  Rodney Baker, commanded, tzviytiy, tsawa, to command, 1 Kings 17:4