After a long time, in the third year of the drought, the word of the LORD came to Elijah: “Go and present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain upon the face of the earth.”
In these verses we find, I. The sad state of Israel at this time, upon two accounts: - 1. Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord (Kg1 18:4), slew them, Kg1 18:13. Being an idolater, she was a persecutor, and made Ahab one.
Commenting on 1 Kings 18:1-16
And it came to pass after many days,.... When two years and more were gone from the time the drought and famine began; or rather from the time of the prophets departure to the brook Cherith, which might be six months after the famine began: that the word of the Lord came to Elijah in the third year; of his absence from Ahab: saying, go...
And it came to pass [after] many days, that the word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. (a) After that he departed from the river Cherith.