[I Kings, 18:1–39]
“After many days the word of God came to Elijah in the third year” [18:1]. It was in the third year of the famine and scarcity. God spoke to Elijah: go and present yourself, so that you will be seen by King Ahab and tell him that I will give rain so that the grain will grow, since some have repented out of great hunger. There are times when the Holy One must punish Israel in the hope that they will repent. Our sages said that Ahasuerus gave his signet from his hand to Haman that he should do to Israel as Haman wished, and Israel immediately repented. When the prophets punished Israel, they did not repent. Thus, the signet of Ahasuerus was better than all the prophets who punished Israel.1B. Megillah, 14a.
Leviticus Rabbah writes that when a person, heaven forbid, is in pain, he thinks that a few days are many days. That is why it is written here, “after many days.” That is to say, just as there was hunger for many days, and in truth it was not so many years, but in troubles, a short time feels like a long time because of the troubles.2Leviticus Rabbah, 19.5.
“Elijah went to appear before” [18:2]. Elijah went and wanted to present himself to King Ahab and the famine was very severe in Samaria.
“Ahab summoned” [18:3]. King Ahab summoned Obadiah who was in charge of his house. Obadiah feared God even when he was in the house of an evildoer. What good did he do? When Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, was killing all the righteous prophets, Obadiah hid fifty in a cave and another fifty in another cave and gave them food and drink. Obadiah risked his life with this. If Jezebel had known this, she would have killed him.
The Talmud writes in [tractate] Sanhedrin, chapter four. Rabbi Isaac said: Ahab said to Obadiah. Why was there no good fortune and blessing in his house when you are so pious? The house should have been blessed for your sake, and I, Ahab, never had good fortune in my house. Ahab said: Laban said to Jacob, who had served Laban: God had blessed his house because of Jacob. Also Joseph, who served an Egyptian, the Holy One blessed the house of the Egyptian because of Joseph. A Heavenly Voice immediately went forth and said: Obadiah is righteous, but the house of Ahab is not worthy of any blessing because Ahab is an evildoer. Rabbi Abba said: it is because Obadiah was better in his righteousness and good deeds than Abraham Our Father. Why did he hide fifty [prophets] in one cave when he could have hidden all one hundred in one cave? Rabbi Eliezer said: Obadiah learned from Jacob Our Father, who divided his household and children into groups. He thought that if Esau would come to attack one group, then the other one would run away. Obadiah did the same in dividing the prophets into two caves.3B. Sanhedrin, 39b; Yalkut Shimoni, I Kings, Remez, 210.
“And Ahab said” [18:5]. Ahab said to Obadiah. Go to all the wells of water and all the springs in the land where there was water to see if you can find water and grass so that our horses and donkeys might remain alive.
“They divided the land” [18:6]. Ahab divided the land. That is to say, he went to search half the land himself and Obadiah went to the other half of the land to search for water and grass.
“And Obadiah was on the way” [18:7]. Obadiah was on the way when Elijah the Prophet met him. Obadiah bowed to him and asked him, are you Elijah? Elijah said to him, I am Elijah. Go and say to Ahab that Elijah is here. Obadiah was very frightened and he said: what sins have I committed that you hand me over to be killed by Ahab?
“As the Lord your God lives” [18:10]. Obadiah said and swore. There is no kingdom in the world that Ahab did not send to seek you. They made all of them swear that nobody had hidden you. Now, if I were to go and tell Ahab that Elijah is here and in the meantime you will flee anywhere else, and Ahab will not find you, then he will kill me. You Elijah have always been righteous, so how can you allow me to be killed? You know well that I have endangered my life and have hidden a hundred prophets in the caves and fed them.
The Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer and the Yalkut write concerning the haftorah. Ten kings ruled over the whole world. The first king was the Holy One who was king over heaven and earth. The second one on earth who was king over the world was Nimrod. The third one who was king was Joseph. The fourth one was King Solomon. The fifth was Ahab, as Scripture says here, “there is no nation or kingdom” [18:10]. The sixth king was Nebuchadnezzar. The seventh was Cyrus. The eighth was Ahasuerus. The ninth is the King Messiah. The tenth is again the Holy One. After the Messiah, the Holy One will again have dominion over the whole world, as Scripture says, “and God will be king over the whole earth” [Zechariah, 14:9].4Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, chap. 11; Yalkut Shimoni, I Kings, Remez, 211.
The Talmud says in tractate Nedarim. Scripture says here, “your servant has served the Lord” [18:12]. It says that Obadiah boasted that he was righteous. How appropriate is it that a righteous person should praise himself? It is written, “let the mouth of another praise you, not yours” [Proverbs, 27:2]. That is to say, let a stranger praise you and not your own mouth. The explanation is that in the city where a person is known, he should not praise himself. However, in the city where he is not known, he can make himself known, hoping to protect himself from death. This is what Obadiah did. He said before Elijah that he had done acts of lovingkindness for the prophets, in the expectation that he would be saved from death. One asks a question. Rabbi Tarfon was very anguished. Someone wanted to throw him in the water because he had eaten fruit from a garden. The owner came and did not recognize that this was Rabbi Tarfon. He put him in a sack in order to throw him into a large body of water. Rabbi Tarfon shouted, woe to Rabbi Tarfon that someone is trying to kill you. The owner immediately let him go. Rabbi Tarfon was very anguished all of his days that he had benefited from the Torah in this world. He was protected from death because he had said that he was Tarfon. Here one can ask. Did Obadiah boast that he had done acts of lovingkindness for the prophets and did he intend to protect himself on account of the acts of lovingkindness? Also, why was Rabbi Tarfon so troubled? The answer is that Rabbi Tarfon was a communal leader. He did not need to say that he was Tarfon. He could have given a large sum of money to save himself from death and did not need to say that he was Rabbi Tarfon. That is why Rabbi Tarfon was very anguished.5B. Nedarim, 62a; Yalkut Shimoni, I Kings, Remez, 212.
The Tanhuma and the Yalkut write about the haftorah. Our sages say that all of Ahab’s people served foreign gods, but they had great fortune and blessing, and won all their wars. This was because they had no informers in Israel. Nobody spoke slander against the king. When Elijah stood at the top of Mount Carmel and shouted, I, Elijah am here, he was left alone and nobody informed on him to King Ahab. However, in the days of King David, all of Israel worshipped God properly and the small children were full of Torah, but Israel was full of informers. They wanted to inform on David and there were many among them who wanted to tell evil things about David to King Saul. That is why they fell into the hands of strangers and the Torah did not help them.6Yalkut Shimoni, I Kings, Remez, 213; Pesikta de Rav Kahana, Piska 4; Leviticus Rabbah, 26.2. Therefore, one should be careful to guard oneself from evil talk, since much evil comes from it.
“And Elijah said, as the Lord lives” [18:15]. Elijah said to Obadiah: do not be afraid, I will present myself to Ahab. Obadiah went and told Ahab and Ahab went to meet Elijah. Ahab said to Elijah, you troubler of Israel. Elijah responded: I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s household have troubled Israel. You have not observed the commandments and have worshipped foreign gods. Therefore, assemble all of Israel at Mount Carmel, and your prophets of Baal, four hundred and fifty men, false prophets, and a further four hundred men who are prophets of falsehood who worship the linden tree, all those who ate at the table of Jezebel. Gather them together and we will show who is right.