Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Kings 18:4

"for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)" — 1 Kings 18:4 (ASV)

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.