Has it not been told my lord what I did when Jezebel killed the prophets of the LORD, how I hid a hundred men of the LORD's prophets by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water?
Elijah has just told Ahab's steward to go and announce his arrival to the king, and Obadiah, terrified, answers by reciting the bravest thing he ever did — sheltering a hundred prophets from Jezebel's killing and keeping them alive on bread and water. The deed was real and costly; the question the commentators press is why he is producing it now, as an argument for his own safety.
The deed in a hostile house
Obadiah managed Ahab's household, serving the king and his wife Jezebel. What he did for the prophets showed where his heart really lay.
C. H. MackintoshObadiah, the governor of Ahab's house, feared the Lord in secret, deep in his own spirit. But he was planted in a most unholy atmosphere. The house of the wicked Ahab, and his still more wicked wife, must have been a painful school for the righteous soul of Obadiah. And so he found it. He was hindered in service and testimony. What he did for the Lord was done by stealth. He was afraid to act openly and decidedly; yet he did quite enough to show what he would have done had he been planted in better soil... Hiding a hundred prophets by fifty in a cave and feeding them was a most precious sign of devotion of heart to the Lord. It was a blessed triumph of divine principle over the most unfavourable circumstances.
The plea and its motive
His speech has one aim: to keep himself out of danger. He offers the old rescue as evidence of his character.
The Christian's FriendIt is very humbling to read all this eloquence. Its only object was to keep himself safe from danger, and to prove that he must not be judged by his circumstances. He seems to admit that present appearances were against him. But there was a deed in the past that would testify to his character beyond dispute. In other words self, and self alone, was the burden of his speech. In a day of ruin and falling away, he had no zeal at all for the Lord God of Israel. There was not even a trace of confidence in the protection of Him whom he claimed to serve.
Reporting your own service
A good work is one thing. A man's account of his own good work is another.
H. L. RossierIn this state of bondage to the world one feels it necessary to justify oneself by giving testimony to oneself... So many Christians report their own work, their own activity and its results! This gives a wrong impression, to themselves and to others, about their true moral condition. God had been pleased to use Obadiah, even in the wrong position he held. He could be sure that the Lord would not forget even a cup of water given to one of these little ones. But how much more pleasing it would have been to God to see Obadiah setting out at His command, full of trust and obedience, to carry out the mission to the king!
Where the fear came from
Obadiah trusts God to rescue Elijah. He does not trust God to rescue him.
Hamilton SmithThis unholy association keeps Obadiah living in fear of the king, and it destroys his confidence in God. He knows the Spirit of the Lord will protect Elijah from the king's revenge. For himself, he has no faith to count on God's protection. A false position and an uneasy conscience have robbed him of all confidence in the Lord.
A word for the defence
Commentators differ on how hard to be on Obadiah. One writer asks whether he was wrong to avoid a needless death.
The Bible TreasuryThe moment seemed to demand it, so he tells Elijah what the Holy Spirit also records about him in the story. Was it wrong of Obadiah to wish not to throw his life away for nothing? Did not the Lord Jesus say to His disciples, "when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next"? And do not forget what happened next. Elijah assured him that he would show himself to Ahab that day, and Obadiah obeyed at once: he "went to meet Ahab, and told him." Better to have Obadiah's care for God's people and his obedience to God's word through the prophet than to find fault with the servant so quickly.
The hundred who were still alive
Later Elijah told God that he alone was left in Israel. The men in that cave prove otherwise.
An Outline of Sound WordsMuch of this was true. But Elijah was wholly taken up with his own faithfulness to God, and could not take account of what was not hidden from the eye of God. Obadiah and the hundred prophets of the Lord he had saved from Jezebel were clearly not men of the same stamp as Elijah. They did not have the same zeal for God, nor the same energy in testimony. Still, they were not to be counted among those who had thrown down the Lord's altars.
Summary
- The deed — inside Ahab's own house, Obadiah hid and fed a hundred hunted men. Divine principle triumphed in the worst conditions.
- The plea — he brings that deed out to defend himself. Self, not zeal for God, is the burden of his speech.
- The telling — God never forgets a cup of water given to one of His little ones. But a man who reports his own record gives a wrong impression of his true condition.
- The root — a false position left him afraid of the king. He trusted God to protect Elijah, but not himself.
- The record — the hundred were still alive when Elijah said he stood alone. God counts faithful people the boldest servant never sees.