Charles Ellicott Commentary James 5:17

"Elijah was a man of like passions with us, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain; and it rained not on the earth for three years and six months." — James 5:17 (ASV)

Elias.—James supplies a gap in the story of Elijah. In 1 Kings 17:1, the prophet simply and sternly tells Ahab, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. Further on (1 Kings 18:41–46), there is a sound of abundance of rain.

In our Epistle, we read that Elias prayed earnestly—literally, prayed in his prayer, a Hebraistic form of emphasis (see margin). He asked for drought, and it lasted three years and a half, so that there was a sore famine in Samaria. He prayed once more, and the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain, and thus again, the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man.

Yet Elijah was no demi-god; we even learn how he shrank from his prophet’s yoke and longed to die. No one, therefore, should despair in his petitions but rather let his requests be made known unto God; for men ought always to pray, and not to faint (Luke 18:1).

It rained not on the earth.—This Eastern figure of speech need not be a snare to the most literal of readers. The punishment, because of Ahab and Jezebel, fell on their own kingdom, and not the whole world. In a similar hyperbole, Obadiah told Elijah, concerning this very famine, there is no nation, or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee (1 Kings 18:10).