“After many days the word of Yahweh came to Elijah, in the third year of the drought, saying. ‘Go, present yourself to Ahab. I will send rain on the earth.’ Elijah then went to show himself to Ahab.”

This is the simple message between Yahweh and Elijah, just as in the preceding chapter. They communicate freely with each other because he is a man of God. He does what Yahweh asks him to do. The drought was continuing during the reign of Ahab, the king of Israel at Samaria.