WHO WAS OBADIAH?
Everyone knows what a
great guy Obadiah was, right? Well . . . Probably not. But yesterday the Lord wanted
me to find out about this amazing man—a brave believer and a hero. Obadiah
worked for King Ahab as “the governor over his house” (1 Kings 18:3a). But in
spite of Ahab’s disobedience, “Obadiah was a devout worshiper of the Lord” (v.3b GNT).
King Ahab had
turned so far away from God that 1 Kings 16:30 tells us he “did evil in the
sight of the Lord.” “And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal,
which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to
provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were
before him” (1 Kings 16:32-33). Because of this, God had Elijah call down a
famine in Samaria where they lived, speaking the words he received from God: “There
shall not be dew nor rain these years [until I say so]” (my paraphrase of 1
Kings 17:1). After three years of famine, it was really bad there, but to Ahab,
the most important thing to him was that he thought for sure he would lose his valuable
horses.
In the meantime, Obadiah
was still running Ahab’s household, which put him in the presence of the evil
witch Jezebel, and Jezebel hated the true believers. But somehow she either
wasn’t aware of Obadiah’s beliefs, or she felt he was insignificant, and in her
mind, not important enough or powerful enough to pay any attention to.
She was carrying
out her mission to “cut off the prophets of the Lord” (1 Kings 18:4a). She
hated the true God, and certainly did not want God’s prophets trying to
influence Ahab in any way. The Benson Commentary gives us some good insight on
this:
“1 Kings 18:4.
When Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord – The name of prophets was not
only given to such as were endowed with an extraordinary spirit of prophecy,
but to such ministers of religion as devoted themselves to the service of God,
in preaching, praying, and praising him. There were schools of these prophets,
it is likely, still remaining in Israel [at the time]; but Jezebel endeavoured
both to destoy the school, and those that were brought up in them, in order
that none might be left to instruct the people in the true religion.”
Now back to our
hero Obadiah. “Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a
cave, and fed then bread and water” (I Kings 18:4b). As per the Benson
Commentary: “At the hazard of his own life, and against the king’s command;
wisely considering that no command of an earthly prince could overrule the
command of the King of kings [the Lord our God]…. See how wonderfully God
raises up friends for his ministers and people, where one would least expect
then!” Obadiah, even through the famine, made sure God’s own were taken care
of.
But God had
another important task for the brave Obadiah. When Ahab was so bothered about
his horses, he decided he and Obadiah should go out beyond the city and gather
up some grass for them. So off they went.
“And Ahab said unto Obadiah, ‘Go into the land, unto all fountains of
water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses
and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts. So they divided the land
between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah
went another way by himself.” And God orchestrated it so that Obadiah was
on a path that brought him right to Elijah, and Elijah wanted Obadiah to go
back and give King Ahab the message that Elijah was there in the king’s land,
and he was ready to talk.
But remember that it was Elijah that told King Ahab the
famine was his fault and there was going to be no rain and not even dew in the
land until Elijah said so. So, for three years, Ahab had been in hot pursuit of
Elijah to kill him. Obadiah knew Ahab was ferocious and desperate, so he told
Elijah that if he went back and told the king that Elijah was there, and he
didn’t show, King Ahab would surely kill him. Obadiah was afraid. He knew how
furious Ahab was. Obadiah pleaded, “And now thou sayest, ‘Go tell thy lord, ‘Behold,
Elijah is here:’ and he shall slay me” (1 Kings 18:14). But Elijah reassured
him: “As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself
unto him today” (v. 15).
Brave Obadiah trusted Elijah and so he went to deliver the
message. And when he did, nothing bad happened to him, but instead, Ahab rushed
off to meet Elijah and that was that.
There’s more to the story, including the destruction of the
450 prophets of Baal, the people turning back to God, and Elijah speaking God’s
will to bring back the rain and end the famine. But we don’t her too much about
Obadiah after this until we see he is the author of one of the later books of
the Old Testament.
Obadiah was a brave believer and was called by God to the
unique commission: to be right in the midst of two of the most evil people of
the Old Testament, Ahab and Jezebel. He lived around evil people without ever compromising
his faith. He knew how they thought and acted. He saw and understood their
wickedness, was face to face with their demons, and yet maneuvered around them and
kept himself pure.
Obadiah was just the kind of guy God needed to speak of the
evil people, and to them directly. He knew what he saw and learned that he needn’t
be afraid. Obadiah called things as they really are, and thus, the book of
Obadiah. It’s only one chapter, a battle cry against Edom, its evil partners,
and its evil ways. And it ends the way all good battles should: “and the
kingdom shall be the Lord’s” (Obadiah 1:21).
So that’s some of what we see about the life and maturity of
a unique and brave believer, Obadiah. There’s not a lot about him in the Bible,
but he sure made a big difference, and we all do.
Love, Carolyn
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