And he said, “How have I sinned, that you would give your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me?
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 he said, what have I sinned,.... Or in what have I offended God or his prophet, that revenge should be taken on me in this way: that thou wouldest deliver thy servant into the hand of Ahab to slay me? for that he supposed would be the consequence of it, as he argues and more plainly expresses his sense in the following words.
1Ki 18:9-11 Obadiah was afraid that the execution of this command might cost him his life, inasmuch as Ahab had sent in search of Elijah “to every kingdom and every nation,” - a hyperbole suggested by inward excitement and fear. אין ואמרוּ is to be connected with what follows in spite of the accents: “and if they said he is not here, he took an oath,” etc.
Commenting on 1 Kings 18:9-11