1 Kings 17/18 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 1 Kings 17:1 / 18:1-6,16-20

17:1 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, ‘As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.’

18:1 After a long time, in the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah: ‘Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the land.’ 2 So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.

Now the famine was severe in Samaria, 3 and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator. (Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord. 4 While Jezebel was killing off the Lord’s prophets, Obadiah had taken a hundred prophets and hidden them in two caves, fifty in each, and had supplied them with food and water.) 5 Ahab had said to Obadiah, ‘Go through the land to all the springs and valleys. Maybe we can find some grass to keep the horses and mules alive so we will not have to kill any of our animals.’ 6 So they divided the land they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.

16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, ‘Is that you, you troubler of Israel?’

18 ‘I have not made trouble for Israel,’ Elijah replied. ‘But you and your father’s family have. You have abandoned the Lord’s commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.’ 20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.

A. Find Out:    

1. Who told Ahab what? 17:1
2. What was the state of Samaria 3 years on? 18:1,2
3. Who was Obadiah and what had he done? v.3,4
4. What had Ahab told him to do? v,5,6
5. How did Ahab greet Elijah? v.16,17
6. How did Elijah reply & what did he say to do? v.18-20

B. Think:

1. What was the state of Israel at this time?
2. What was Elijah’s role?
3. Read the story of Elijah that we have missed out.

C. Comment:

     We now move into an area of Scripture that is a mix of telling about the kings of Israel and (more) about Elijah and Elisha, two of God’s key prophets operating in Ahab’s reign.

     The first mention of Elijah is very simply when he comes to tell Ahab that there is going to be a God-sent drought. He then leaves and Ahab is left to himself for the next three years, after which Elijah is told by the Lord to return and pronounce an end to the drought. In all of this we see more of what is taking place in the state of the nation. Ahab, we read earlier had married Jezebel and had brought Baal worship into the land. Jezebel, we now learn, started persecuting and killing the faithful prophets of the Lord.

     Fortunately for them, Obadiah who was a senior official of Ahab was also a believer and so he arranged to hide away a hundred of these ‘prophets’. (It would appear that at that time bands of believers who were prophetic would gather together). Ahab sends Obadiah out to look for grassland and while out he encounters Elijah who is on his way to pronounce the drought’s end. Obadiah knows where Ahab is and directs Elijah to him. Ahab recognises Elijah and remembers he is the apparent originator of this drought. Elijah says, no, he Ahab is. He also instructs all the false prophets be called to meet with him. Such is his authority that Ahab arranges it. Watch this space!

D. Application:

1. However low spiritually the nation is, there will be some believers.
2. Remain faithful regardless of what others appear to be doing.