Matthew Poole and continuators on 1 Kings 17:4

4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook, and I have commanded the Ravens to feed thee there.

i. e. I have Decreed or Appointed. Or, I shall command, i. e.. Effectually move them, by Instincts and Inclinations which I shall put into them, which shall be as forcible with them, as a Law or Command is to Men. God is said to command both Brute-creatures, as Amos 9. 3. Ionah 2. 10. and sensless things; as Iob 38. 11, 12. Psal. 78. 23. Isa. 5. 6. and 45. 12. when he causeth them to do the things which he intends to Effect by them.

Which he names, and chuseth for this Work; partly, to succour the Prophets Faith against human Infirmity, by the credibility of the thing, the[illegible: 1+ letters]e being many Ravens in those parts, and those delighting to reside near brooks of Water; and that sort of Creatures being apt and accustomed to seek Provisions, and to carry them away to the places of their abode: and partly, to shew his care and power in providing for the Prophet by those Creatures, which are noted for their greediness, in Monopolizing Provision to themselves; and for their Malignity and unnaturalness towards their own young; that by this strange and noble experiment he might be taught to trust God in those many and great difficulties to which he was likely to be Exposed. Obj. The Ravens were unclean, Levit. 11. 15. Answ. They were Unclean for Meat, but not for the touch. But howsoever that Ceremonial Law was overruled by necessity, and by the Law-givers Dispensation.