Elijah went to the king, Ahab, who rejected God because of his even more sinful wife, Jezebel of Tyre, who stood as a symbol of Israel's unfaithfulness. He went to Ahab and God said through his lips (1 Kings chapter 17, NIV), "As the Lord, the God of Israel lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word."