1 Kings 17:2-7

B. ELIJAH AT CHERITH 17:2-7

TRANSLATION

(2) And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, (3) Go from this place and torn for your sake to the east, and hide yourself at the river Cherith, which is before the Jordan. (4) And it shall come to pass that from the brook you shall drink, and the ravens I have commanded to feed you there. (5) So he went and did according to the word of the LORD, and he went and dwelt at the brook Cherith, which was before the Jordan. (6) And the ravens brought to him bread and meat in the morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and from the brook he drank. (7) And it came to pass at the end of several days, that the brook dried up, for there was no ram in the land.

COMMENTS

Shortly after Elijah announced the drought in Israel he received a divine revelation (1 Kings 17:2) instructing him to proceed immediately eastward to the brook (lit., water course) Cherith. Cherith was one of the lateral valleys which run down to the Jordan river. It was probably located in the region of Gilead in a very secluded area.[411] There he was to hide himself (1 Kings 17:3) both to escape royal punishment and to avoid the importunity of his countrymen who would no doubt cry out to him because of the burden he had laid on the land. From that brook Elijah was to drink; but God would provide his food in a miraculous manner. The ravens would bring his food to him in that secluded spot. The ministry of these birds was prolonged and methodical. Under the commandment of God they acted in an intelligent and rational way: they brought food to the prophet, and they brought it for months together with unfailing regularity. Elijah carried out the instructions of the Lord (1 Kings 17:5), and the Lord was faithful to the promises which He had made concerning the miraculous provision of the daily food (1 Kings 17:6).

[411] One tradition places Cherith near Jericho at Wadi-el-kelt.

The miracle of feeding by the ravens has been questioned from earliest times, as for example by Jerome. It is possible by altering the vowel points on the word ravens to yield the meaning Arabs. According to this view Elijah was cared for by some Bedouins who lived in the region of Cherith. The Arabs even to this day are noted for their generous hospitality and loyalty to strangers.[412] This interpretation certainly cannot be ruled out because the Hebrew vowel points are not part of the inspired consonantal Hebrew text and were only added to the Hebrew Bible in the Middle Ages. Still another view transliterates the Hebrew consonants and vowels as a proper name. According to this view it was the Orbites, i.e., the inhabitants of Orbo who fed Elijah at Cherith. But no town by the name of Orbo is attested in the Bible. The correct reading attested by all the ancient versions of the Old Testament (except the Arabic) is ravens. In, the days of Josephus (Ant., VIII, 13.2) at the end of the first Christian century the reading ravens was accepted. Therefore, the traditional understanding of the text is probably the correct one.

[412] However, Bedouins eat very little meat, and it would be very strange that they would twice daily share meat with Elijah. Skinner (cited in SBB, p. 123) calls this emendation of the text a rationalistic absurdity.