Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 18

The third year. —By the accurate tradition, preserved in Luke 4:25, James 5:17, it would seem that the drought lasted three years and six months. If, therefore, the expression in the text is to be taken literally, it must be reckoned from the beginning of the visit to Zarephath.

Obadiah. —The name (“servant of Jehovah”) here corresponds to the character of the man. It is curiously significant of the hesitating and vacillating attitude of Ahab, that while Jezebel is allowed to persecute, a high officer in the court is able to profess openly the service of Jehovah, and secretly to thwart the cruelty of the queen. In his heart Ahab always seems to acknowledge the true God, but is overpowered by the commanding and ruthless nature of Jezebel.

Jezebel cut off the prophets. —The persecution referred to here, in which for the first time the royal power was placed in distinct antagonism to the prophetic order, is known only by this allusion. It may well have followed the denunciation of judgment; and Elijah’s retirement to Cherith and Zarephath may have been a means of escape from it. If Elijah’s oft-repeated phrase, I, even I, alone remain, is to be taken literally, Obadiah’s merciful interposition must have availed only for a time, or have simply given an opportunity for escape.

Art thou that ... —The sense is either (as the Septuagint has it) “Is it your very self, my lord Elijah?” or (perhaps more suitably to the context), “You here, my lord Elijah,” when all seek your life? The prophet’s answer is still simpler in its original brevity, “Behold, Elijah!” standing in dignified contrast with the humble and almost servile address of Obadiah, which is clearly the offspring not only of reverence, but of fear.

There is no nation. —This unremitting search—implying perhaps some supremacy or authority over neighbouring kingdoms—ill suits the half-hearted enmity of Ahab. No doubt it was the work of Jezebel, in Ahab’s name, connived at (as in the murder of Naboth) by his timidity.