There were, doubtless, many widows in Israel in Elijah's days, when the heavens were closed for three years and six months, and a severe famine prevailed throughout the country;

So he said to his gardener 'Three years now I have come to look for fruit on this fig tree, without finding any! Cut it down. Why should it rob the soil?'

For from this time, if there are five people in a house, they will be divided, three against two, and two against three.