As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you. And when they would say, ‘He is not here,’ he would take an oath of the kingdom or nation, that they had not found you.
Obadiah managed King Ahab's household. He meets Elijah during the famine. A simple errand draws out of him the story of a manhunt that crossed every border. His answer shows two things at once. It shows how hard the king had worked to find the prophet. It also shows how little the man who "feared the LORD greatly" trusted the God he swore by.
A search across every border
Obadiah's first reason is what the king had already been doing about Elijah.
The Christian's FriendThe first was his master's known hostility to Elijah. Along with it he reveals that Ahab had been seeking the prophet for a long time. The king even sent messengers to all the surrounding kingdoms and nations to find where he was hidden. Ahab's aim, as Obadiah well knew, was to put the faithful messenger of the LORD to death. He wanted to be rid of this true and incorruptible witness. Obadiah knew nothing now of the secret of Elijah's strength. So he was afraid for himself, and he marvelled at the prophet's boldness.
The search was also formal and documented, not a rumour-chase.
Leslie M. GrantObadiah protested that Ahab had sent to all the surrounding nations to hunt for Elijah. He had also obtained sworn statements from them that Elijah was not in any of those nations.
Everywhere except his own heart
Ahab could organise a hunt through every neighbouring kingdom. He never looked for the real cause of the famine.
C. H. MackintoshHe could have enjoyed himself among Jezebel's idolatrous prophets. Only the horrors of famine drove him out. Even then he did not search out the cause of the famine in true self-judgement and humility. He did not seek pardon and restoration from the hand of God. Instead he goes out in selfishness, with no repentance, to look for grass.
Why the ravens
The size of the search explains something from earlier in the story. One writer reads Obadiah's words and sees why God fed His prophet as He did:
William Kelly"How have I sinned, that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me? As the LORD your God lives, there is no nation or kingdom where my lord has not sent to seek you." We can understand therefore why Elijah was fed by ravens.
"My lord" — the word that gives Obadiah away
In this verse Obadiah calls Ahab "my lord," and Elijah had said "your lord" to him. One writer sees the whole problem in that one word.
C. H. MackintoshNo doubt he was serving his master; but should Ahab have been his master? I believe not. I believe his service to Ahab was not the result of communion with God. True, it did not rob him of his name and character as one who feared the Lord greatly, and the Holy Spirit has graciously recorded this about him. But it was a miserable thing for a man who feared the Lord greatly to own the worst of Israel's apostate kings as his master. Elijah would not have done so. He would not own Ahab as his master, though he was bound to own him as his king.
An oath sworn by a God he could not trust for himself
Obadiah swears by the living God. In the same breath he tells Elijah that Ahab will kill him.
Hamilton SmithThis unholy partnership keeps Obadiah living in fear of the king. It also destroys his confidence in God. He recognises that the Spirit of the Lord will protect Elijah from the king's revenge. But for himself he has no faith to count on the protection of God. A false position and an uneasy conscience have robbed him of all confidence in the Lord.
The root of it, another writer argues, is a heart pulled in two directions.
The Christian's FriendThat he feared the LORD, we know on the authority of the Holy Spirit. But he seems to have feared Ahab even more. The secret of it all was that he was in a false position, and so had a divided heart. Nothing drains the soul so completely as trying to serve God and the world at the same time.
Summary
- Searched. Ahab combed every nation and kingdom for one man. He took sworn statements to prove it.
- Missed. The one place he never searched was his own heart. He looked for grass and for the prophet, never for the cause of the famine.
- Hidden. The size of the hunt explains the ravens. God fed His servant out of sight while the world searched for him.
- Divided. Obadiah calls Ahab "my lord". A man can be a ruler's subject without making him his master.
- Fearful. He swears by the living God, yet expects to die. He believes God will shield Elijah, but not him. A divided heart drains the soul of confidence.