And Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for [there is] a sound of abundance of rain.
Ver. 41. Get thee up, eat and drink.] One of the Hebrews saith that Ahab had long fasted, that he might obtain rain of God. The chief cause of God's wrath was now removed; he might therefore rejoice and take his repast.
For there is a sound of abundance of rain.] We read of Wilfride, bishop of Chichester, that about the year of grace 700 he converted to the faith many pagans in those parts: and a day being appointed for their baptism, they had no sooner received the same, but immediately it rained plentifully, the want whereof had caused a dearth three years before; and that so great, as not only many died daily for hunger, but great numbers joining hand in hand, forty or fifty in a company, threw themselves headlong into the sea. a
a Godw., Catal, p. 465.