1 Kings 18:3 (LSB)

Passage

And Ahab called Obadiah who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly.

Nearby Context

1 Kings 18:1 Now it happened after many days that the word of Yahweh came to Elijah in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the face of the earth.”

1 Kings 18:2 So Elijah went to show himself to Ahab. Now the famine was severe in Samaria.

1 Kings 18:3 And Ahab called Obadiah who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared Yahweh greatly.

1 Kings 18:4 And it happened that when Jezebel was cutting down the prophets of Yahweh, Obadiah took one hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and sustained them with bread and water.)

1 Kings 18:5 Then Ahab said to Obadiah, “Go through the land to all the springs of water and to all the valleys; perhaps we will find grass and keep the horses and mules alive, and not have to cut down some of the cattle.”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "called", "ahab", "obadiah", "over", "household", "feared", and "yahweh". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "called" and "ahab", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "So Elijah went to show himself to..." into verse 4's "And it happened that when Jezebel was...", so "called" and "ahab" belong inside that flow. In 1 Kings context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "called" and "ahab" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.