TROUBLER OF ISRAEL
Opening Prayer
Lord, give me a listening heart as you speak through your Word. Give me understanding and a willingness to apply what you teach me.
Read 1 KINGS 18:1–19
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Elijah and Obadiah
18 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.
7 As Obadiah was walking along, Elijah met him. Obadiah recognized him, bowed down to the ground, and said, “Is it really you, my lord Elijah?”
8 “Yes,” he replied. “Go tell your master, ‘Elijah is here.’”
9 “What have I done wrong,” asked Obadiah, “that you are handing your servant over to Ahab to be put to death? 10 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 you were not there, he made them swear they could not find you. 11 But now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ 12 I don’t know where the Spirit of the Lord may carry you when I leave you. If I go and tell Ahab and he doesn’t find you, he will kill me. Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth. 13 Haven’t you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets of the Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord’s prophets in two caves, fifty in each, and supplied them with food and water. 14 And now you tell me to go to my master and say, ‘Elijah is here.’ He will kill me!”
15 Elijah said, “As the Lord Almighty lives, whom I serve, I will surely present myself to Ahab today.”
Elijah on Mount Carmel
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.”
New International Version (NIV)Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Meditate
Pray ‘for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness.’1
Think Further
Three years into the drought, the situation was desperate. Ahab and Obadiah divided the country between them and walked through the land looking for fodder for their animals (vv. 5, 6). Now the Lord spoke again, telling Elijah to visit Ahab: he is going to send rain on the land (v. 1). Everyone will benefit, good and bad alike!2
Obadiah was the chief servant in the royal palace, but he was also a devout believer (v. 3). When Jezebel was having the Lord’s prophets killed, he hid a hundred of them in caves and fed and watered them (v. 4). He was just the person who was needed at that time. ‘The Lord has his faithful servants planted in the places they are least expected so that they can carry out the work of God where it is most opposed.’3
While Obadiah was searching, Elijah met him – no doubt his hairy clothes and leather belt made him easy to recognize4 – and told him to let Ahab know that he was there (v. 8). For Obadiah, that felt like a death sentence (v. 9). Seemingly, Elijah had a reputation for being elusive and Obadiah feared that when he told Ahab, Elijah might disappear again, and it would be doom for him (v. 12). However, Elijah could be trusted and he confirmed his promise with an oath (v. 15). Keeping his word, Elijah told Ahab the unpopular truth about himself and his family and set in motion plans for a huge contest between himself and the prophets of Baal and of Asherah. This ‘troubler of Israel’ (v. 17) was not afraid to speak truth to power.
Apply
Are there things you need to say to powerful people – politicians, church leaders, business people, and even family members? Ask for courage to speak up clearly.5
Closing prayer
In the challenges that come against my faith in Christ, Father, I ask not so much that they be removed, but for courage to do your will and stand for what is right.
1 1 Tim 2:2 2 Matt 5:45 3 Musa Gotom, in Africa Bible Commentary, ed by T Adeyemo, Zondervan, 2006, p437 4 2 Kings 1:8 5 Esth 4:14
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