1 Kings 18:4

_FOR IT WAS SO, WHEN JEZEBEL CUT OFF THE PROPHETS OF THE LORD, THAT OBADIAH TOOK AN HUNDRED PROPHETS, AND HID THEM BY FIFTY IN A CAVE, AND FED THEM WITH BREAD AND WATER.)_ An hundred prophets - not men endowed with the extraordinary gifts of the prophetic office, but who were devoted to the service of God, preaching, praying, praising, etc. (1 Samuel 10:10). FED THEM WITH BREAD AND WATER. These articles are often used to include sustenance of any kind. Since this succour must have been given them at the hazard, not only of his place, but his life, it was a strong proof of his attachment to the true religion....

1-16 The severest judgments, of themselves, will not humble or change the hearts of sinners; nothing, except the blood of Jesus Christ, can atone for the guilt of sin; nothing, except the sanctifying Spirit of God, can purge away its pollution. The priests and the Levites were gone to Judah and Jerusalem, 2 Chronicles 11:13; 2 Chronicles 11:14, but instead of them God raised up prophets, who read and expounded the word. They probably were from the schools of the prophets, first set up by Samuel. They had not the spirit of prophecy as Elijah, but taught the people to keep close to the God of Israel. These Jezebel sought to destroy. The few that escaped death were forced to hide themselves. God has his remnant among all sorts, high and low; and that faith, fear, and love of his name, which a...

Verse 1 Kings 18:4. _FED THEM WITH BREAD AND WATER._] By these are signified the necessaries of life, of whatsoever kind....

We have no details of Jezebel’s deed of blood. Some have conjectured that it was the answer of Jezebel to Elijah’s threat, and that the command given him to hide in Cherith alone saved him from being one of the victims. This view receives some support from Obadiah’s act and words 1 Kings 18:13. FIFTY IN A CAVE - The limestone formation of Judaea and Samaria abounds with large natural caverns, the size of which is easily increased by art. These “caves” play an important part in the history of the country, serving especially as refuges for political offenders and other fugitives Jdg 6:2; 1 Samuel 13:6; Hebrews 11:38.

EXPOSITION ELIJAH'S RETURN AND THE ORDEAL OF MOUNT CARMEL.—The preceding chapter having been exclusively occupied with the fortunes of Elijah during his enforced absence of three and a half years from the land of Israel, we are left to conjecture what the course of events in the northern kingdom during this period of drought and suffering must have been. But it is not difficult to picture in our minds the steadily increasing alarm and distress which the solemn ban he had pronounced must have occasioned. At one time, it may be, especially if the prophet up to that period had been unknown, both king and people, under the malign influence of Jezebel, professed to regard his threatening with contempt, the more so as the priests of Baal would not fail to assure them of the protection and blessing of "the Lord" of nature. But as the

FOR IT WAS SO, WHEN JEZEBEL CUT OFF THE PROPHETS OF THE LORD,.... Or slew them, as the Targum; put them to death some way or another; such as were brought up in the schools of the prophets, trained up in religious exercises, and instructed others therein: THAT OBADIAH TOOK ONE HUNDRED PROPHETS, AND HID THEM BY FIFTY IN A CAVE; fifty in one cave and fifty in another; for there were large caves in the land of Israel capable of holding such a number, and many more, see 1 Samuel 22:1 and fed them with bread and water; which in this time of famine were very acceptable; though these may be put for all the necessaries of life....

2. ELIJAH ON CARMEL: THE ANSWERED PRAYER CHAPTER 18 _ 1. The command to see Ahab (1 Kings 18:1)_ 2. Elijah's response (1 Kings 18:2) 3. Ahab and Obadiah (1 Kings 18:3) 4. Elijah and Obadiah (1 Kings 18:7) 5. Elijah meets Ahab (1 Kings 18:16) 6. Elijah's demand (1 Kings 18:19) 7. The events on Carmel (1 Kings 18:20

ELIJAH'S MEETING WITH AHAB AND HIS CONTEST WITH THE PRIESTS OF BAAL. The history of Ahab's reign must have been something like the following: On his marriage with Jezebel he must have allowed the worship of the Baal of Tyre and been met with the remonstrances of the prophets. Furious at their opposition, Jezebel had massacred a large number, but the king's steward had supported the cause of Yahweh (1 Kings 18:4); so Ahab cannot have been wholly ill-disposed to those who were faithful to the God of Israel. But he had no mercy for the leader of the whole movement, Elijah, who had prophesied the drought. He was sought in every neighbouring kingdom as the author of all the agitation, the troubler of Israel. In the meantime Jezebel had organised the worship of the Baal, and supported at her own. cost four hundred and fifty prophets ...

JEZEBEL. The first record of using the civil power against the true religion (and by. woman). See note on Judges 4:21. FIFTY IN. CAVE. fifty men....

_Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord_ Not content with having Baal-worship established and fostered by her husband, the queen determined to destroy all the worshippers of Jehovah, and probably she included in her extermination the priests who ministered at Dan and Bethel, for they did not disown Jehovah, though they brake His law by setting up an image to represent him. But no doubt the larger number whom Jezebel cut off were -the sons of the prophets," those who belonged to the schools of the prophets, which we learn from 2 Kings 2. were both numerous and largely frequented. It was a hundred of these men whom Obadiah saved in the time of persecution. The story of Jezebel's butchery is not given us, but it is alluded to here and in 1 Kings 19:10-14....