When False Gods Fail

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.

So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab.

Now the famine was severe in Samaria, and Ahab had summoned Obadiah, his palace administrator, his chief operating officer, and Obadiah was a devout believer in the Lord.

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.

Ahab the king 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 that we won't have to kill any of our animals.

So they divided the land that they were to cover, Ahab going in one direction and Obadiah in another.

Okay, so in these two opening scenes of the story, we see that Israel is sick.

The land is dying.

It hasn't rained for three years.

Day after day, week after week, month after month, the blazing sun scorches the parched earth, leaving the fields dusty and barren.

The famine in Samaria, the capital of the kingdom of Israel, is so severe that the king and his chief operating officer are forced to scour the countryside, looking for every blade of grass that they can find to keep their animals from dying.

So drought, famine, death.

These are the symptoms.

But what's the cause of this sickness? Well, let's read on.

Verse 7.

As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him.

Elijah, whose name means, my God is Yahweh.

He meets him.

Obadiah recognises him, bows down before the prophet on the ground and says, is it really you, my Lord Elijah? Yes, he replied.

Go tell your master, Elijah is here.

What have I done wrong? asked Obadiah, that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death.

As surely as the Lord your God lives, there is not a nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to look for you.

And whenever a nation or kingdom claimed that you were not there, he made them swear that they couldn't find you.