“As Obadiah was in the way, behold, Elijah met him: and he knew him, and fell on his face, and said, Art thou that my lord Elijah?” 1 Kings 18:7. (PK 138.1) MC VC

During the apostasy of Israel, Obadiah had remained faithful. His master, the king, had been unable to turn him from his allegiance to the living God. Now he was honored with a commission from Elijah, who said, “Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here.” 1 Kings 18:11. (PK 138.2) MC VC

Greatly terrified, Obadiah exclaimed, “What have I sinned, that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab, to slay me?” 1 Kings 18:9. To take such a message as this to Ahab was to court certain death. “As the Lord thy God liveth,” he explained to the prophet, “there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee: and when they said, He is not there; he took an oath of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not. And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here. And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from thee, that the Spirit of the Lord shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall slay me.” 1 Kings 18:10-12. (PK 138.3) MC VC

Earnestly Obadiah pleaded with the prophet not to urge him. “I thy servant,” he urged, “fear the Lord from my youth. Was it not told my lord what I did when Jezebel slew the prophets of the Lord, how I hid an hundred men of the Lord’s prophets by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water? And now thou sayest, Go, tell thy lord, Behold, Elijah is here: and he shall slay me.” 1 Kings 18:12-14. (PK 138.4) MC VC