The in Your Face Attack on Baal

Elijah starts out basically being taken care of miraculously by God, sitting in the ravens that defeat him. And then when God moves Elijah, Elijah becomes the instrument through which God takes care of notness of himself, but also then of this widow and her family. So this is once more an in your face attack against Baal because Baal was not able to provide rain and all the necessities for the people in this area. In the ancient world, you ordinarily thought about the gods being as it were attached to a certain area. That's what made the God of Israel different.