And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but you, and your father's house, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and you have followed Baalim.
Read Chapter 18
Ephrem The Syrian
AD 373
“When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is it you, you troubler of Israel?” He answered, “I have not troubled Israel; but you have, and your father’s house.” “It is you and your father Omri who ruined this people, because through your abominable customs and your evil commandments you corrupted their spirit and their worship and ridiculed the holy law that God had given them, and for that reason rain and dew stopped falling from heaven, and people were overwhelmed by starvation. Therefore it is not my words, which are good, but it is your actions, which are disgusting and trouble Israel.” And this freedom of speech torments Ahab greatly, but he does not fight back or rebuke Elijah about anything, as is related in the two histories of the kings, so that you may know the authority that the Lord had given Elijah over the spirit of the king and the fear toward his prophet that he had put in [Ahab’s] heart. This is what [God] had done in the ancient times to Pharaoh through Moses and Aaron...
Were Elijah and John then lacking in boldness? Did not the one reprove Ahab, and the other Herod? The latter said, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother Philip’s wife.” And Elijah said to Ahab with boldness: “It is not I that trouble Israel, but you and your father’s house.” You see that this poverty especially produces boldness? For while the rich person is a slave, being subject and in the power of every one wishing to do him hurt, one who has nothing fears no confiscation or fine. So, if poverty had made people to lack in boldness, Christ would not have sent his disciples with poverty to a work requiring great boldness. - "On the Epistle to the Hebrews 18.4"
