James Nisbet Commentary - 1 Kings 18:12 - 18:12

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James Nisbet Commentary - 1 Kings 18:12 - 18:12


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

A STEADFAST LIFE

‘I thy servant fear the Lord from my youth.’

1Ki_18:12

I. All we know of Obadiah is contained in this chapter, and yet he was a great man in his day.—He was, it seems, King Ahab’s vizier, or prime minister, the first man in the country after the king. Of all his wealth and glory the Bible does not say one word. His wealth and power did not follow him to the grave, but by his good deed he lives in the pages of the Bible; he lives in our minds and memories; and, more than all, by that good deed he lives for ever in God’s sight. In the day when Elijah met him, Obadiah found that his prayers and alms had gone up before God, and were safe with God, and not to be forgotten for ever.

II. The lesson for us is to persevere in well-doing, for in due time we shall reap if we faint not.—Cast, therefore, thy bread upon the waters, and thou shalt find it after many days. Do thy diligence to give of what thou hast, for so gatherest thou to thyself in the day of necessity, in which with what measure we have measured to others God will measure to us again.

III. A doubt comes in here—what are our works at best.—What have we that is fit to offer to God? Bad in quality our good works are, and bad in quantity, too. How shall we have courage to carry them in our hand to that God who charges His very angels with folly, and the heavens are not clean in His sight? Too true if we had to offer our own works to God. But there is One who offers them for us—Jesus Christ the Lord. He cleanses our works from sin by the merit of His death and suffering, so that nothing may be left in them but what is the fruit of God’s own Spirit, and that God may see in them only the good which He Himself put into them.

—
Canon Kingsley.

Illustrations

(1) ‘The story of Obadiah is full of useful and practical lessons. In spite of his environment, he presented a noble character and did a splendid work. People often cast the blame of their failures upon their circumstances. When inclined to do so, think of this noble hero of faith, and like him walk in the path of duty with firm step, in spite of all hindrances. The promise will be fulfilled in the experience of every one who earnestly resolves to live a high-toned and useful life. “My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Let us then be strong, and rise above opposing forces, and stand fast on the side of virtue and religion.’

(2) ‘We are astonished to find Obadiah in such a family. We do not know the history of his spiritual development further than this, “that he feared the Lord from his youth.” He was probably trained by a pious mother, who impressed her boy’s mind with the knowledge of the true God, and imprinted on his heart impressions that never were effaced. “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” What an encouragement, both in the family and in the school, to imprint upon the plastic minds of children the truths of religion!’

(3) ‘The poor man must often have been in a great strait to reconcile his duty to Jehovah with his duty to his other master, Ahab. And Elijah shrewdly hinted at it, when he said, “Go, tell thy lord, behold Elijah is here!” Imagine a courtier of Oliver Cromwell trying to be true to the Commonwealth and to the cause of the exiled Stuarts! The life of policy and expediency is a species of rope-walking; it needs considerable practice in the art of balancing.’

(4) ‘Obadiah was in a very anomalous position, but we must not judge him too harshly for being in Ahab’s house, unless he was there at the expense of his testimony. Our loyalty to God does not involve leaving the service of men like Ahab, unless we are called upon to violate our conscience. The Apostle said distinctly that we were to abide in the calling in which we were when we became Christians.’