Context No. 3269 of 4322 · 1 Kings

1 Kings 18:6-14: in context

6So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it. Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself. 7As Obadiah was on the way, behold, Elijah met him. He recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, “Is it you, my lord Elijah?” 8He answered him, “It is I. Go, tell your lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here!’” 9He said, “How have I sinned, that you would deliver your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? 10As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. When they said, ‘He is not here,’ he took an oath of the kingdom and nation that they didn’t find you. 11Now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here.”’ 12It will happen, as soon as I leave you, that the LORD’s Spirit will carry you I don’t know where; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he can’t find you, he will kill me. But I, your servant, have feared the LORD from my youth. 13Wasn’t it told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the LORD’s prophets, how I hid one hundred men of the LORD’s prophets with fifty to a cave, and fed them with bread and water? 14Now you say, ‘Go, tell your lord, “Behold, Elijah is here”.’ He will kill me.”

As Ahab and his steward Obadiah search the land for grass during the famine, Elijah suddenly meets Obadiah, who falls on his face in recognition. Elijah tells him to go announce his return to Ahab. But Obadiah is afraid: if the Spirit carries Elijah off and Ahab cannot find him, Ahab will kill the messenger. He reminds Elijah that he has feared the LORD from his youth and hid a hundred prophets from Jezebel's purge.

Obadiah is a quiet hero: a man who feared the LORD greatly while serving in wicked Ahab's own court, and who at great personal risk hid a hundred of the LORD's prophets and fed them when Jezebel was killing them. He was faithful to God in a place where faith could cost his life. His fear now is understandable, and yet Elijah calls him to a bolder step of trust. There is honor in Obadiah's hidden faithfulness in a hard place, and also a call, through Elijah, to trust God for the next, riskier act of obedience. God has his faithful ones even in hostile courts, and he keeps calling them onward.

Am I faithful to God even in a hostile setting, like Obadiah, and am I willing to trust him for the next, harder step of obedience he asks?

Sources

1 Kings 18:12: "But I, your servant, have feared the LORD from my youth."
1 Kings 18:13: "I hid one hundred men of the LORD's prophets... and fed them with bread and water."
Matthew 10:28: "Don't be afraid of those who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul."