By way of review, the first Hebrew word of 1 Kings 17 is “and he said,” centralizing the spoken word that is a key element of this section. Elijah has earlier said to Ahab that there will be no rain “these years,” a vague temporal indicator that suspends royal chronology and replaces it with prophetic time. Noticeably, the next installment of the story begins in the “third year” of prophetic time (18:1), as God announces that he will send rain. The next segment of the chapter (18:2–15) is best viewed through the lens of Obadiah, a figure whose actions and words glance back to the previous chapter and set the stage fo…