and when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave and fed them with bread and water.)
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
For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord,.... Or slew them, as the Targum; put them to death some way or another; such as were brought up in the schools of the prophets, trained up in religious exercises, and instructed others therein: that Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave; fifty in one cave...
an hundred prophets--not men endowed with the extraordinary gifts of the prophetic office, but who were devoted to the service of God, preaching, praying, praising, &c. (Sa1 10:10-12). fed them with bread and water--These articles are often used to include sustenance of any kind.