1 Kings 17 · a question people ask
How long did the drought last?
Elijah says only "these years" (17:1). The next chapter says, "After many days, the LORD’s word came to Elijah, in the third year" (18:1), and the rain comes in that chapter (18:45). Jesus says "the sky was shut up three years and six months" (Luke 4:25), and James gives the same length: "it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months" (James 5:17). 1 Kings doesn't say from when "the third year" is counted. These notes set the verses side by side and don't work out how they fit. James says one more thing 1 Kings doesn't: Elijah "prayed earnestly that it might not rain" (James 5:17). 1 Kings 17:1 gives what Elijah said to Ahab; it doesn't record a prayer.
The verses
“Elijah the Tishbite, who was one of the settlers of Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the LORD, the God of Israel, lives, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.””
“After many days, the LORD’s word came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, “Go, show yourself to Ahab; and I will send rain on the earth.””
“In a little while, the sky grew black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.”
“But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land.”