1 Kings 17:3

Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan.

Get thee hence ... At first the king may spurned the prediction as the utterance of a vain enthusiast; but when he found the drought last, and increase in severity, he sought Elijah, who, as it was necessary that he should be far removed from either the violence or the importunities of the king, was divinely directed to repair to a distant and unknown retreat.

And turn thee eastward, х qeedªmaah (H6924); not mizraach due east, but only in an easterly direction form the point of departure-in all probability Samaria-inclining either north or south (cf. 1 Kings 7:39; Numbers 34:3; Numbers 34:15); Septuagint, kata anatolas].

And hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan, х bªnachal (H5158), in a torrent-bed, or water-course (wady); Septuagint, en too cheimarroo Chorrath; Kªriyt (H3747), the name of a torrent (signifying a cutting, or separation-namely, through a mountain ravine); `al (H5921) pªneey (H6440) ha-Yardeen (H3383), on the face of the Jordan.] The difficulty is to discovers locality which answers all the conditions of the text. Three different places have had their claims advocated by eminent scholars. Since the words translated "before," are used elsewhere (Genesis 25:18; Joshua 19:11) to denote 'east,' Eusebius and Jerome ('Onomast.,' article 'Chorath') have placed Cherith in the trans-Jordanic country; and Rabbi Swartz ('Palestine,' p. 51) takes the same view, placing it in Wady Alias el-Yabis, which is south of Mahanaim, and runs into the Jordan a few miles below the ford opposite Beth-shan (Kirby and Mangles, p. 305).

In favour of this claimant, it has been urged that Elijah would naturally wish to have the Jordan as a protecting barrier between him and the bloodhounds of the court, who laboured to track his route. The intermixture of hill and valley that forms a characteristic feature of that region, covered with dense woods, abounding in flowing streams, and in caverns on the precipitous sides of the rocky ravines, in strongly urged in support of the hypothesis that Wady Alias was the Cherith, while local traditions lend it additional confirmation. But this description is equally applicable to other localities in Palestine; and, as shown above, the words "before" and "eastward" are not sufficiently precise to establish the determinate claims of this spot. One reason for this conclusion is the language of Josephus ('Antiquities,' b. 8:, ch. 13:, sec. 2), who, while he does not mention the name of the brook, says that Elijah 'departed into the southern parts;' and the traditions of the Church have almost uniformly placed the brook of Elijah on the west side of the Jordan. Accordingly, considering "eastward" as meaning 'southeast'-the direction in which the traditions describe the locality to have been situated-and "before" as denoting 'toward' (Genesis 18:26), modern scholars are divided in opinion between two wadys which lead down from the central mountain-chain to the western bank of the Jordan.

The one is Wady Fasael, flanked on both sides by steep precipitous rocks, and frequently swept by searching winds (Van de Velde, 'Syria and Palestine,' 2:, p. 309). The only foundation for its claim is the possession of a living fountain ('Ain), which in a time of severe and prevalent drought would be a great boon to the fugitive prophet; and yet this very circumstance of its having a perennial spring is a direct refutation of its claim to be Cherith; not only because the brook dried up, while the living or flowing waters did not, but, because the Cherith had no fountain, only a "brook," which would become dry when the protracted drought had exhaled all the moisture of the land. The honour of having been the real Cherith of the prophet is assigned now by general consent to Wady Kelt, a little south of Wady Fasael, and answering more fully than it to the description given in this passage. Its extension "eastward;" its numerous arch-mouthed caverns, any of which might have served as a safe hiding-place from the myrmidons of the court; its "brook" (nachal, not ain) flowing with impetuous current, yet capable of being dried up for want of rain to feed it, and producing a narrow strip of fresh verdure along the sides of its channel; its 'cut' or separation of the tremendous precipices at the deep bottom of the gorge; its opening at the termination "before" or 'upon the face of' the Jordan; its name Kelt, euphonized by the Arabs from the ancient Cherith, through a not-uncommon substitution of L for R; and its being, moreover, beyond the confines of the kingdom of Israel, and within the territory of that of Judah-all these circumstances combined, harmonizing, as they appear to do, with the scriptural description, with Josephus, and with local traditions, have, in the minds of competent judges; created a strong presumption that its wild, unfrequented, precipitous fastnesses afforded Elijah the refuge where he was commanded to seek. Its vicinity to Gilgal, where he had so many friends and followers, and their ignorance of the place of his retreat, would induce Ahab to search for him in every quarter rather than there (Robinson, 'Biblical Researches,' 2: p. 288; Stanley, 'Sinai and Palestine,' pp. 299, 300; Osborne's 'Palestine, Past and Present,' pp. 391-396; Porter's 'Handbook,'

p. 191).