in
spite of all their father's greatness.

What was the use of wealth? He could not eat gold, nor drink
jewels. What was the use of his power? He could not command the
smallest cloud to rise up off the sea, and pour down one drop of
water to quench their thirst. Yes, Obadiah was in bitter misery
that day, no doubt; and all the more, because he felt that all was
God's judgment on the people's sins. They had served Baalim and
Ashtaroth, the sun and moon and stars, and prayed to them for rain
and fruitful seasons, as if they were the rulers of the weather and
the soil, instead of serving the true God who made heaven and earth,
and all therein: and now God had _judged_ them: he had given his
sentence and verdict about that matter, and told them, by a sign
which could not be mistaken, that he, and not the sun and moon, was
master of the sky and the sea, and the rain and the soil. They had
prayed to the sun and moon; and this was the fruit of their prayers--
that their prayers had not been heard: but instead of rain and
plenty, was drought and barrenness;--carcasses of cattle scattered
over the pastures--every village full of living skeletons, too weak
to work (though what use in working, when the ground would yield no
crop?)--crawling about, their tongues cleaving to the roof of their
mouths, in vain searching after a drop of water. Fearful and
sickening sights must Obadiah have seen that day, as he rode wearily
on upon his pitiful errand. And the thought of what a pitiful
errand he was going on, and what a pitiful king he served, must have
made him all the more miserable; for, instead of turning and
repenting, and going back to the true God, which was the plain and
the only way of escaping out of that misery, that wretched King Ahab
seems to have cared for nothing but his horses.

We do not read that he tried to save one of his wretched people
alive. All his cry was, 'Go into the land, to all fountains of
water and all brooks; perhaps we shall find grass enough to save the
horses and mules alive: that we lose not all the beasts.' The
horses were what he cared for more than the human beings, as many of
those bad kings of Israel did. Moses had expressly commanded them
not to multiply horses to themselves; but they persisted always in
doing so, nevertheless. And why? Because they wanted horses to
mount their guards; to keep up a strong force of cavalry and
chariots, in order to oppress the poor country peo