1 Kings 18:43

43 Then he said to his servant, "Please go [and] look in the direction of [the] sea." So he went up and looked; then he said, "There is nothing." Then he said, "Go back," seven times.

1 Kings 18:43 Meaning and Commentary

1 Kings 18:43

And said to his servant
Whom some take to be the son of the widow of Sarepta, but he must be too young to be employed in such service as this was:

go up now;
still higher on Mount Carmel; than where he was, even to the highest point of it:

look towards the sea:
or the west, as the Targum, the Mediterranean sea, which lay to the west of the land of Israel:

and he went up and looked, and he said, there is nothing;
there was nothing in the sky, or arising out of the sea, that looked like or foreboded rain:

and he said, go again seven times;
till he should see something.

1 Kings 18:43 In-Context

41 Then Elijah said to Ahab, "Go up, eat and drink, for [there is] the sound of the noise of rain."
42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink while Elijah went to the top of Carmel, bent down to the earth, and put his face between his knees.
43 Then he said to his servant, "Please go [and] look in the direction of [the] sea." So he went up and looked; then he said, "There is nothing." Then he said, "Go back," seven times.
44 It happened that at the seventh time, he said, "Look, there is a small cloud, as [the] hand of a man, coming up from the sea." Then [Elijah] said, "Go up, say to Ahab, 'Harness [your horses] and go down, lest the rain stop you.'"
45 {In no time} the heavens grew black [with] clouds and wind, and there was heavy rain. Ahab rode and he went to Jezreel,
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.