The widow did as Elijah requested. The only satisfying explanation for this is that a saving work of the Spirit had taken place in her heart. The Lord vindicated his word that he spoke through Elijah. Neither the jar of flour nor the jug of oil was emptied during the time of the drought. Elijah, the woman, and her household
ate from them for the duration of the drought.
An interpretive problem arises in connection with the word translated as household.
The Hebrew root is beth, and it can mean a house or a household, meaning those dwelling under the same roof. The difficulty arises because her original reply to Elijah made it sound as if she and her son made up the entire household,
so why does 1 Kings 17:15 give the impression that there were more people involved than Elijah, the woman, and her son?
One possibility, and not an unlikely one, is that as the drought progressed, the woman opened her home to more than just Elijah. It is also possible that the impression of a household consisting of merely her and her son in 1 Kings 17:12 was not the impression that the writer intended. She and her son may have been the ones in the household most critically in need of nourishment.
It is noteworthy that in 1 Kings 17:17, which introduces the death of the widow’s son, she is called in the mistress of the house,
which is literally the owner of the house.
This may suggest that there were others living in the dwelling who were members of her immediate family.
15 And she went and did as Elijah said. And she and he and her household ate for many days.