the sky (as aloft · conjunction + definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
black
הִֽתְקַדְּרוּ֙hit.ka.de.Ru
H6937
to be ashy · verb, hithpael perfect, 3rd person common plural
clouds
עָבִ֣ים'a.Vim
H5645
properly · noun, common masculine plural absolute
wind
וְר֔וּחַve.Ru.ach
H7307
wind · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
great
גָּד֑וֹלga.Dol
H1419
great (in any sense) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
rain
גֶּ֣שֶׁםGe.shem
H1653
a shower · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Ahab
אַחְאָ֖ב'ach.'Av
H256
Achab · proper noun, a man's name
rode
וַיִּרְכַּ֥בvai.yir.Kav
H7392
to ride (on an animal or in a vehicle) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
went
יָלַךְyâlak
H3212
to walk (literally or figuratively)
Jezreel
יִזְרְעֶֽאלָהyiz.re.'E.lah
H3157
Jizreel · proper noun, a place name + directional suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Numbers 25:8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So t…
Joshua 17:16 And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of…
Joshua 19:18 And their border was toward Jezreel, and Chesulloth, and Shunem,
2 Samuel 21:14 And the bones of Saul and Jonathan his son buried they in the country of Benjamin in Zelah, in the sepulchre of Kish his father: and they pe…
1 Kings 18:39-40 And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, he is the God; the LORD, he is the God.
1 Kings 21:1 And it came to pass after these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of Ahab king of…
1 Kings 21:23 And of Jezebel also spake the LORD, saying, The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.
2 Kings 9:16 So Jehu rode in a chariot, and went to Jezreel; for Joram lay there. And Ahaziah king of Judah was come down to see Joram.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 1 Kings 18:41–end
Israel being thus far reformed that they had acknowledged the Lord to be God, and had consented to the execution of Baal's prophets, that they might not seduce them any more, though this was far short of a thorough reformation, yet it was so far accepted that God thereupon opened the bottles of heaven, and poured out blessings upon his land, that very evening (as it should seem) on which they did this good work, which should have confirmed them in their reformation; see Hag 2:18, Hag 2:19.
I. Elijah sent Ahab to eat and drink, for joy that God had now accepted his works, and that rain was coming; see Ecc 9:7. Ahab had continued fasting all day, either religiously, it being a day of prayer, o…
Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel--now Zerin, a distance of about ten miles. This race was performed in the midst of a tempest of rain. But all rejoiced at it, as diffusing a sudden refreshment over all the land of Jezreel.
Adam Clarke on 1 Kings 18:44
There ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. - ככף איש kechaph ish, like the hollow of a man's hand. In the form of the hand bent, the concave side downmost. I have witnessed a resemblance of this kind at sea previously to a violent storm, a little cloud the size of a man's hand first appearing, and this increasing in size and density every moment, till at last it covered the whole heavens, and then burst forth with incredible fury.
Mr. Bruce mentions a similar appearance in Abyssinia: -
"Every morning, in Abyssinia, is clear, and the sun shines. About nine a small cloud, not above four hundred feet broad, appears in the east, whirling violently round, as if upon an axis;…
And it came to pass in the mean while,.... That the servant was gone with the message to Ahab, and Ahab was getting ready his chariot:
that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain; which all sprung from the cloud like a man's hand; and so we are told (k), that sometimes a little cloud called the ox's eye is seen on a mount of the Cape of Good Hope, called Tafesbery, when the sky is most serene, and the sea quiet; which is at first scarce so big as a barley corn, and then as a walnut; and presently it extends itself over the whole surface of the mountain:
and Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel; as fast as he could.
(k) Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacra, vol. 3. p. 591.
The Church Fathers
In my opinion Elijah accorded a great honor to Ahab, of which he was unworthy, when he ran in front of him like a servant. And there are two reasons for this. In the first place, [the prophet intended] to comfort with his company the terrified and trembling king who was troubled in his spirit by the sudden weather changes that had occurred. It seems that he was taken by a great fear when, in a second, the sun had veiled its light and a heavy darkness had spread over all the land. And in that obscure and thick darkness he saw lightning and heard terrifying peals of thunder and a storm of violent winds and the rain falling like a cataract. Indeed, it was necessary that the atmosphere was clothed with such a dress in order to show the greatness of the sign that God had accomplished before his prophet. But the main reason for this action was that the king, who saw the honor that the prophets, messengers of the Highest, accorded to him, might learn that he had to honor God, his Creator, over all things, might be converted, might fulfill his commandments, observe his laws and obey the prophets sent to him.See the humility of Elijah, and admire his wisdom before the pride, insanity and foolishness of Ahab. I certainly call mad and senseless one who, after seeing the wind, the water, the fire and the weather subjected to the power of Elijah, and hearing the entire people proclaim his power similar to that of God, did not recognize the excellence of his dignity, did not admire his action or honor his person, but in the excess of his pride, let him march before him, as a servant precedes one who is superior to him many times over. Indeed, the king should have let the prophet climb up and sit with him on his chariot.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Carmel — A park; generally with the article, “the park.” (1.) A prominent headland of Central Palestine, consisting of several connected hills extending from the plain of Esdraelon to the sea, a distance of…
Colour — The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18),…
Elijah — Whose God is Jehovah. (1.) “The Tishbite,” the “Elias” of the New Testament, is suddenly introduced to our notice in 1 Kings 17:1 as delivering a message from the Lord to Ahab. There is mention made…
Jezreel — God scatters. (1.) A town of Issachar (Josh. 19:18), where the kings of Israel often resided (1 Kings 18:45; 21:1; 2 Kings 9:30). Here Elijah met Ahab, Jehu, and Bidkar; and here Jehu executed his…
Ahab · .Reproved by Elijah; assembles the prophets of Baal — .Reproved by Elijah; assembles the prophets of Baal
Carmel · prophets — prophets
Clouds · Different kinds of, mentioned: Black — Different kinds of, mentioned: Black
Jezreel · .Ahab’s resi — .Ahab’s resi
Miracles Wrought Through Servants Of God · Elijah: Rain brought — Elijah: Rain brought
Rain · .By Elijah — .By Elijah
Wind, The · Frequently brings rain — Frequently brings rain
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Keil & Delitzsch on 1 Kings 18:20–end
Elijah's contest with the prophets of Baal. - Ahab sent through all Israel and gathered the prophets (of Baal) together upon Mount Carmel. According to Kg1 18:21, Kg1 18:22, and Kg1 18:39, a number of the people ("all the people") had also come with them. On the other hand, not only is there no further reference in what follows to the 400 prophets of Asherah (cf. Kg1 18:25 and Kg1 18:40), but in Kg1 18:22 it is very obvious that the presence of the 450 prophets of Baal alone is supposed. We must therefore assume that the Asherah prophets, foreboding nothing good, had found a way of evading the command of Ahab and securing the protection of Jezebel.
(Note: It is true that in Kg1 18:22 the lxx…
