1 Kings 1:3

1:3 So they looked through all Israel ¹  for a beautiful young woman and found Abishag, a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.

1 Kings 17:16

17:16 The jar of flour was never empty and the jug of oil never ran out, just as the Lord had promised ²  through Elijah.

1 Kings 17:24

17:24 The woman said to Elijah, “Now I know that you are a prophet and that the Lord really does speak through you.” ³ 

1 Kings 22:28

22:28 Micaiah said, “If you really do safely return, then the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he added, “Take note, ⁴  all you people.”

1 Kings 22:36

22:36 As the sun was setting, a cry went through the camp, “Each one should return to his city and to his homeland.”

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¹ tn Heb “through all the territory of Israel.”

² tn Heb “out, according to the word of the Lord which he spoke.”

³ tn Heb “you are a man of God and the word of the Lord is truly in your mouth.”

sn This episode is especially significant in light of Ahab’s decision to promote Baal worship in Israel. In Canaanite mythology the drought that swept over the region (v. 1) would signal that Baal, a fertility god responsible for providing food for his subjects, had been defeated by the god of death and was imprisoned in the underworld. While Baal was overcome by death and unable to function like a king, Israel’s God demonstrated his sovereignty and superiority to death by providing food for a widow and restoring life to her son. And he did it all in Sidonian territory, Baal’s back yard, as it were. The episode demonstrates that Israel’s God, not Baal, is the true king who provides food and controls life and death. This polemic against Baalism reaches its climax in the next chapter, when the Lord proves that he, not Baal, controls the elements of the storm and determines when the rains will fall.

⁴ tn Heb “Listen.”