1 Kings 18:6

So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

18:1-16 The severest judgments, of themselves, will not humble or change the hearts of sinners; nothing, except the blood of Jesus Christ, can atone for the guilt of sin; nothing, except the sanctifying Spirit of God, can purge away its pollution. The priests and the Levites were gone to Judah and Jerusalem, 2Ch 11:13,14, but instead of them God raised up prophets, who read and expounded the word. They probably were from the schools of the prophets, first set up by Samuel. They had not the spirit of prophecy as Elijah, but taught the people to keep close to the God of Israel. These Jezebel sought to destroy. The few that escaped death were forced to hide themselves. God has his remnant among all sorts, high and low; and that faith, fear, and love of his name, which are the fruits of the Holy Spirit, will be accepted through the Redeemer. See how wonderfully God raises up friends for his ministers and people, for their shelter in difficult times. Bread and water were now scarce, yet Obadiah will find enough for God's prophets, to keep them alive. Ahab's care was not to lose all the beasts; but he took no care about his soul, not to lose that. He took pains to seek grass, but none to seek the favour of God; fencing against the effect, but not inquiring how to remove the cause. But it bodes well with a people, when God calls his ministers to stand forth, and show themselves. And we may the better endure the bread of affliction, while our eyes see our teachers.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Unto all fountains of water and unto all brooks - Rather, "to all springs of water and to all torrent-courses." The former are the perennial streams; the latter are the torrent-courses which become dry in an ordinary summer.

All the beasts - Rather, some, or, "a portion of our beasts."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. an hundred prophets—not men endowed with the extraordinary gifts of the prophetic office, but who were devoted to the service of God, preaching, praying, praising, &c. (1Sa 10:10-12).

fed them with bread and water—These articles are often used to include sustenance of any kind. As this succor must have been given them at the hazard, not only of his place, but his life, it was a strong proof of his attachment to the true religion.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ahab went one way by himself; not daring to trust any other, Obadiah excepted, lest being bribed by such as had grass for their own use, they should not give him a true account.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So they divided the land between them, to pass through it,.... And one took one part, and the other the other part:

Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself; Ahab not caring to trust any but Obadiah, who he knew was a faithful man, lest they should be bribed by those that had grass not to discover it.

Geneva Study Bible

So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. Ahab went one way by himself] We can see the grievous necessity the land was in when the king himself goes forth on such a quest. No one save the two chief persons in the realm could be trusted to make this all-important search. The LXX. does not specify that Ahab went alone, but makes further mention of Obadiah’s solitary journey, by saying ‘And Obadiah was in the way alone, and Elijah by himself came to meet him.’ There is a reason for Obadiah’s being alone when such a meeting was to take place; why Ahab should go alone is not so clear.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it ["This personal inspection by the king and one of his chief officers marks the extreme straits to which the Israelites were now reduced" (Rawlinson). The difference, however, between an Eastern and an European monarch must not be overlooked. "None (of the emirs of Arabia or the chiefs of central Asia) think it beneath them to lead an expedition in search of grass or water" (Kitto)]: Ahab went one way by himself [Heb. alone. Rawlinson says, "This does not mean that either Ahab or Obadiah was unaccompanied by a retinue," but it may very well mean that (לבַד, solus; LXX. μόνος; Bahr allein. Cf. ver. 22), if, indeed, it must not necessarily mean it; and ver. 14 certainly implies that Obadiah at least was unattended], and Obadiah went another way by himself. 1 Kings 18:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Elijah's meeting with Ahab. - 1 Kings 18:1, 1 Kings 18:2. In the third year of his sojourn at Zarephath the word of the Lord came to Elijah to show himself to Ahab; since God was about to send rain upon the land again. The time given, "the third year," is not to be reckoned, as the Rabbins, Clericus, Thenius, and others assume, from the commencement of the drought, but from the event last mentioned, namely, the sojourn of Elijah at Zarephath. This view merits the preference as the simplest and most natural one, and is shown to be the oldest by Luke 4:25 and James 5:17, where Christ and James both say, that in the time of Ahab it did not rain for three years and six months. And this length of time can only be obtained by allowing more than two years for Elijah's stay at Zarephath. - From 1 Kings 18:2 to 1 Kings 18:6 we have parenthetical remarks introduced, to explain the circumstances which led to Elijah's meeting with Ahab. The verbs ויּקרא, ויהי, ויּאמר ,ויהי , and ויחלּקוּ (1 Kings 18:3, 1 Kings 18:4, 1 Kings 18:5, 1 Kings 18:6) carry on the circumstantial clauses: "and the famine was..." (1 Kings 18:2), and "Obadiah feared..." (1 Kings 18:3), and are therefore to be expressed by the pluperfect. When the famine had become very severe in Samaria (the capital), Ahab, with Obadiah the governor of his castle (הבּית על אשׁר, see at 1 Kings 4:6), who was a God-fearing man, and on the persecution of the prophets of Jehovah by Jezebel had hidden a hundred prophets in caves and supplied them with food, had arranged for an expedition through the whole land to seek for hay for his horses and mules. And for this purpose they had divided the land between them, so that the one explored one district and the other another. We see from Obadiah 1:4 that Jezebel had resolved upon exterminating the worship of Jehovah, and sought to carry out this intention by destroying the prophets of the true God. The hundred prophets whom Obadiah concealed were probably for the most part pupils ("sons") of the prophets. אישׁ חמשּׁים must signify, according to the context and also according to Obadiah 1:13, "fifty each," so that חמשּׁים must have fallen out through a copyist's error. מן נכרית ולוא, that we may not be obliged to kill (a portion) of the cattle (מן partitive). The Keri מהבּהמה is no doubt actually correct, but it is not absolutely necessary, as the Chethb בּהמה מן may be taken as an indefinite phrase: "any head of cattle."