פּירוש אויף מלכים א 18:10

That they did not find you. For the nation was unable to find you.²Below v. 12.

“As the Lord your God lives” [18:10]. Obadiah said and swore. There is no kingdom in the world that Ahab did not send to seek you. They made all of them swear that nobody had hidden you. Now, if I were to go and tell Ahab that Elijah is here and in the meantime you will flee anywhere else, and Ahab will not find you, then he will kill me. You Elijah have always been righteous, so how can you allow me to be killed? You know well that I have endangered my life and have hidden a hundred prophets in the caves and fed them.

The Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer and the Yalkut write concerning the haftorah. Ten kings ruled over the whole world. The first king was the Holy One who was king over heaven and earth. The second one on earth who was king over the world was Nimrod. The third one who was king was Joseph. The fourth one was King Solomon. The fifth was Ahab, as Scripture says here, “there is no nation or kingdom” [18:10]. The sixth king was Nebuchadnezzar. The seventh was Cyrus. The eighth was Ahasuerus. The ninth is the King Messiah. The tenth is again the Holy One. After the Messiah, the Holy One will again have dominion over the whole world, as Scripture says, “and God will be king over the whole earth” [Zechariah, 14:9].⁴Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, chap. 11; Yalkut Shimoni, I Kings, Remez, 211.