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1 Kings 18 Commentary
by Brad Boyles
Obadiah was a manager of Ahab’s royal palace and a devout worshiper of God. He demonstrated his faithfulness to the Lord by hiding 100 prophets from Jezebel. She had a history of killing God’s prophets, and evidently, was really intimidating. No one wanted to stand up to her including Ahab who basically just took orders.
What’s so interesting about this relationship is that Ahab was horribly wicked but apparently had a good relationship with Obadiah. He chose Obadiah as a manager of the palace and to this point he hadn’t been killed by Jezebel. It’s a strange paradox of how these two coexisted when so many other faithful prophets were being killed. Maybe it was because he didn’t trust anyone else and knew that Obadiah was an honest, faithful man?
But… But… What If…
When Obadiah meets Elijah, he is very disturbed that he will upset Ahab and Jezebel. He was confident in risking his life to save 100 prophets but is paranoid about risking his life for Elijah. This is so interesting to me.
When reading the interaction between Elijah and Obadiah, it sounds just like a conversation we would have with God when He asks us to follow through with obedience. God shows us something in our life that needs work and we wail and complain. “Are you serious God… I have to do what?” God says “Go and do such and such…” and we typically reply “But what if THIS happens!” God says, “Go.” We reply, “But… what if …” God interrupts. “Go.”
“But… but… what if…”
All of Obadiah’s fears were unwarranted. The “what-if” scenario he played in his mind would not come true.
The Showdown
The sin of worshiping the idol of Baal was the biggest stumbling block at the moment. God was about to bring the ultimate humiliation to the followers of this false god. Elijah calls for a competition to see whose God is real. The prophets of Baal cry out for their god. They scream. They frenzy. They grow louder as they cut their flesh and repeated themselves over and over again.
All afternoon they kept on raving until the offering of the evening sacrifice, but there was no sound; no one answered, no one paid attention.
1 Kings 18:29 HCSB
Our God is not a God that needs to be summoned or awakened. He is not a God who is deaf or blind. He is not a God disinterested with His people. He is a loving Father who hears His children even before we cry out to Him! Yes, this story proves that He is the One True God, full of divine power. However, it’s not just about His power but His relationship. He is our Father who loves us and He is actively working in our lives!