Sidon was the homeland of the wicked queen Jezebel (1 Kings 16:31). This particular widow, however, was a believer in the God of Israel (1 Kings 17:12, 24). Jesus’ point, which must have shocked and outraged the audience, was that God would save an outcast Gentile woman who admitted her poverty, bondage, blindness, and oppression (cf. 1 Kings 17:18), but not a Jew who would not. The implication was that if they refused to abandon their self-righteousness and admit their desperate spiritual need they