1 Kings 18:12; 1 Kings 18:3,4
I thy servant fear the LORD from my youth.
And Ahab called Obadiah, which was the governor of his house. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly: For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, that Obadiah took an hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.)
WILLIAM N. TOMKINS (1839-1918): Obadiah was the governor of Ahab’s house, a king who did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him! But as if to guard our minds against entertaining unworthy thoughts about Obadiah, the Holy Spirit is careful to tell us, “Now Obadiah feared Jehovah greatly.” We may well, therefore, pause before we pass judgment on him, for “the fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments,” Psalm 111:10.
MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): How could he and some other Israelites be said to fear the Lord, when they did not go up to Jerusalem to worship, as God had commanded?
JOHN TRAPP (1601-1699): God bore with him, though he hazarded not his life and liberty for the legal ceremonies.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): Though he did not go up to Jerusalem to worship, which ceremonial service was dispensed with in him, yet he did not worship the calves, nor Baal, but served the Lord.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): We may be sure it was not made necessary to qualify him for preferment that he should be of the king’s religion, that he should conform to the “statutes of Omri,” or the “law of the house of Ahab.” Obadiah would not have accepted the place if he could not have had it without bowing the knee to Baal, nor was Ahab so impolitic as to exclude those from offices that were fit to serve him, merely because they would not join with him in his devotions. That man that is true to his God will be faithful to his prince.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): There is nothing wrong in a child of God holding a position of influence if he can do so without the sacrifice of principle. Indeed, it may enable him to render valuable service to the cause of God. Obadiah was undoubtedly in a most difficult and dangerous position, yet so far from bowing his knee to Baal, he was instrumental in saving the lives of many of God’s servants.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): He was a sincere and zealous worshipper of the true God, and his conduct towards the persecuted prophets was a full proof both of his piety and humanity.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): Few great men are good men, and in a corrupt court, piety is not to be expected: yet God has His chosen ones in the worst times and most dangerous places.
JOHN TRAPP: Such as was also Jacob to Laban, Joseph to Pharaoh, Naaman to Benhadad, Mordecai to Ahashuerus, and Nehemiah to Artaxerxes.
D. L. MOODY (1837-1899): We cannot but notice that every man of God spoken of in the Bible was a man of prayer.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): But the house of the wicked Ahab, and his still more wicked consort Jezebel, must have been a painful school for the righteous soul of Obadiah.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): He must have had to walk very delicately and watch his words most carefully. He came to be extremely prudent and looked on things round about so as neither to compromise his conscience nor jeopardize his position. It took an uncommonly wise man to do that…Obadiah’s religion was intense within him—it dwelt deep within his soul and others knew it. Jezebel knew it, I have no doubt whatever. She did not like him, but she had to endure him; she could not dislodge him. Ahab had learned to trust him and could not do without him…Possibly Ahab liked to retain him just to show Jezebel that he could be obstinate if he liked and was still a man! I have noticed that the most yielding husbands like to indulge in some notion that they are not quite governed by their spouses.
C. H. MACKINTOSH: What Obadiah did for the Lord was done by stealth. He was afraid to act openly and decidedly; yet “He took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water.” This was a most precious token of devotedness of heart to the Lord—a blessed triumph of divine principle over the most untoward circumstances.
JOHN BUNYAN (1628-1688): What was it that moved so upon his heart, as to cause him to do this thing? Why, it was this blessed grace of the fear of God—yea, had he not greatly feared him, he would not have been able to do this thing. Every saint fears the Lord, but every saint does not greatly fear Him. O, there are but few Obadiahs in the world, among the saints on earth—So it was with Job, “There is none like him in the earth, one that feareth God,” Job 1:8. There was even none in Job’s day that feared God like him in all the earth, but doubtless there were more in the world that feared God; but this fearing of him greatly, in that he did outstrip his fellows. It is also said of Hananiah, that “he was a faithful man, and feared God above many,” Nehemiah 7:2.
MATTHEW HENRY: Obadiah “feared the Lord from his youth.” He began early to be religious and had continued long. Early piety, it is to be hoped, will be eminent piety.
C. H. SPURGEON: Obadiah, with his early grace and persevering decision, became a man of eminent piety. Nor was he carried away by the fashion of those evil times. To be a servant of Jehovah was thought to be a mean thing, old-fashioned, ignorant—a thing of the past. The worship of Baal was the “modern thought” of the hour. All the court walked after the god of Sidon and all the courtiers went in the same way. But Obadiah told Elijah, “I, thy servant, have feared Jehovah from my youth,” 1 Kings 18:12.
WILLIAM N. TOMKINS: Let us admire the grace that could maintain the man in such a king’s palace.
A. W. PINK: Though surrounded by so many temptations he preserved his integrity.
C. H. SPURGEON: To continue gracious during a long life of temptation is to be gracious, indeed! Obadiah was not even affected by the absence of the means of grace. The priests and Levites had fled into Judah and the Prophets had been killed or hidden away—there was no public worship of Jehovah in Israel! He had no opportunity of hearing anything that could strengthen him, yet he held on his way. I wonder how long some professors would keep up their profession if there were no places of worship, no Christian associations, no ministrations of the Word? But this man’s fear of the Lord was so deep that the absence of that which is usually needed for the sustenance of piety did not cause him to decline. Indeed, this is a wonder of grace!
JOHN BUNYAN: Now then, seeing this grace admits of degrees, and is in some stronger, and in some weaker, let us all be awakened to this grace also. That like as you abound in everything—in faith, in utterance, in knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us, see that ye abound in this grace also.
