1 Kings 19:1

" And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done ." Was there no word, then, of what God had done? Did he think that Elijah, by his own power or holiness, had brought down fire from heaven? Or if Elijah brought it, was there no thought of Him who sent it? But it is an everyday experience that men will think of anything, talk of anything but their Maker. They do not "like to retain God in their thoughts" ( Romans 1:28 ). Perhaps Ahab was afraid in the presence of Jezebel to connect the awful portent with the name of the Lord. That would be tantamount to confessing before her that the Lord He was God ( 1 Kings 18:24 ). Jezebel, therefore, may think it was magic if she will Men are not unseldom cowards in religion, even before their own wives and children. How blessed it is when husband and wife rehearse to each other the righteous sets of the Lord; how doubly blessed when the believing husband wins and saves the unbelieving wife ( 1 Corinthians 7:14 , 1 Corinthians 7:16 ). Then marriage is a sacrament indeed.

"And … how he had slain all the prophets, " etc . There was no need to tell her that, at least that night. This communication shows that Ahab's heart was unchanged, otherwise he would have practised a discreet reserve. He must have known full well what the effect of those dark tidings would be. Had he wished for her conversion, he would surely have waited till the morning light. That would have given the other tidings he had brought a chance to work repentance. To speak of the death of the prophets would be to fill her with ungovernable rage. It was charity to hold his peace. That was "a time to keep silence."