For it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord,
 &c.] Or slew them, as the Targum; put them to death some way or another; such as were brought up in the schools of the prophets, trained up in religious exercises, and instructed others therein: 
 that Obadiah took one hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a
 cave;
 fifty in one cave and fifty in another; for there were large caves in the land of Israel capable of holding such a number, and many more, see ( 1 Samuel 22:1 ) ( 24:3 ) and fed them with bread and water; which in this time of famine were very acceptable; though these may be put for all the necessaries of life.