1 Kings 18:10

As the Lord thy God liveth [Obadiah uses precisely the same adjuration as the widow of Zarephath, 1 Kings 17:12 . But then, though Jehovah was undoubtedly his God, He was in a more special and intimate manner Elijah's God. The oath corresponds well with the prophet's name], there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee [Keil says the hyperbole is to be explained by the "inward excitement and fear" of the speaker. But the Orientals use similar exaggerations in their calmest moments. All that is meant is that all neighbouring and accessible courts had been communicated with. This search for Elijah shows that Ahab regarded him as the author of the drought, and did not recognize it as sent by God. The belief in occult and magical powers has always held possession of the Eastern mind]: and when they said, He is not there [Heb. Not, and he, etc.]; he took an oath [ LXX . ἐνέπρησε , which has been thought by some to point to acts of vengeance. But more probably it is a clerical error, perhaps for ὥρκισε , or ἐνώρκισε . On the frequency of oaths in that age see on 1 Kings 1:51 ] of the kingdom and nation, that they found thee not.