Obadiah Meets Elijah

“And as Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah?  And he answered him, I am: go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here”.  I Kings 18:7-8

Three years had passed since Elijah had prophesied to Ahab that a drought would come upon the land.  The situation was dire, but since we don’t read of thousands of people dying, there must have been enough food and water to survive but survive was about all they could do.  God’s word came to Elijah and said for him to return to Ahab and tell him that God would be sending rain.  Elijah obeyed and began his journey to see Ahab while the famine was still in full force.  Meanwhile, Ahab called his governor, Obadiah, to come for an important task concerning the famine.  Obadiah was a God-fearing man, a servant of the LORD, but also a servant to Ahab, a godless man.  It seems strange that Ahab would choose a man whose allegiance was to the God of Israel rather than a man like himself who was an idol worshiper.  On second thought, Ahab’s choice only goes to show folks that the godless will put trust in a believer before their own kind sometimes.  This reinforces what I believe about those who say they don’t believe in God.  I think that every person knows that God exists, but they do not want to acknowledge Him (Romans 1:19-21) because if they acknowledge him, they know they are accountable to Him.  Whether or not they believe in God, they are still accountable to Him so why not be on His side and find life’s road much easier to navigate?

Obadiah had shown himself to be honest and a man of integrity much more so than those who had rejected God.  Obadiah was also a brave man.  He displayed his courage in trying to protect the prophets that God had spread throughout Israel.  These were not priests and Levites for they were all in Jerusalem, but these were men designated to read God’s law in private meetings in people’s homes.  They did not have the ability to prophesy, offer sacrifice, or burn incense.  Their task was to keep God’s word alive among those in Israel who refused to bow to the images and idols that Ahab had set up in various parts of Israel.  Jezebel, Ahab’s “no good, razor-totin'” wife was out to destroy these prophets, thus Obadiah had hidden two groups of 50 prophets each in caves, feeding them bread and water.  We assume that neither Jezebel nor Ahab knew about Obadiah’s effort to protect these prophets.  It was a miracle of God that there was enough food to feed them.

Ahab was greatly concerned about saving the horses and mules, their chief forms of transportation, that were still alive.  He called Obadiah to give him his plan for search and rescue of these animals.  Both of them set out in the effort to find food for the horses and mules with Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah going in a different direction.  As they journeyed, Elijah was also on his journey and met up with Obadiah who recognized Elijah as the prophet of God.  Obadiah fell on his face to the ground, but to verify the prophet’s identity, he asked if he was truly Elijah.  God’s prophet answered in the affirmative and told Obadiah to go find Ahab and tell him that he was here as per God’s instructions.

Obadiah was very skeptical.  He asked Elijah if it was sin that he, Obadiah, had committed that his report to Ahab about Elijah would bring about his death because Ahab had been searching for Elijah, sending scouts out to all the surrounding nations to find the prophet and return him to Ahab.  The king was very adamant about finding Elijah that he had made the rulers of other nations swear that they had no knowledge of Elijah’s whereabouts.  And now, Obadiah said to Elijah that if he goes to Ahab, and they return to the spot where Elijah is supposed to be waiting but he is not there, then Ahab would take out his anger on Obadiah and kill him.  Obadiah thought that he had it all figured out and was not eager to bring danger to his own life.  He didn’t think he deserved to put his own life at risk using the excuse that he had been a lifelong servant of the LORD God.  He even brought up his brave and heroic deed of hiding the 100 prophets of God right under the noses of Ahab and Jezebel.  He wanted to make sure that Elijah knew about his good deed.  Surely that would prevent him from going to Ahab and risking his life.  Isn’t that one good deed enough?  As Peter asked, “How many times do I have to forgive, seven times?”  “No”, said Jesus.  Forgiveness is unlimited (Matthew 18:21-22). And so are good deeds.

Elijah assured Obadiah that he wasn’t going anywhere, that he would be right there when Ahab came to see him.  He swore by the LORD of hosts, the God whom he served.  Obadiah complied with Elijah’s request and set out to find Ahab, who, upon hearing the news, went to meet Elijah.

Next time:  Elijah’s Challenge to Ahab