zarephath Summary and Overview

smelting-shop, "a workshop for the refining and smelting of metals", a small Phoenician town, now Surafend, about a mile from the coast, almost midway on the road between Tyre and Sidon. Here Elijah sojourned with a poor widow during the "great famine," when the "heaven was shut up three years and six months" (Luke 4:26; 1 Kings 17:10). It is called Sarepta in the New Testament (Luke 4:26).

(smelting place), the residence of the prophet Elijah during the latter part of the drought. #1Ki 17:9,10| It was near to, or dependent on, Zidon. It is represented by the modern village of Sura-fend. Of the old town considerable indications remain. One group of foundations is on a headland called Ain el-Kanatarah; but the chief remains are south of this, and extend for a mile or more, with many fragments of columns, slabs and other architectural features. In the New Testament Zarephath appears under the Greek form of SAREPTA. #Lu 4:26|

ZAR'EPHATH (smelting-house), and SAREP'TA. Luke 4:26. Zarephath was a town of Phoenicia, on the shore of the Mediterranean, between Tyre, which is 14 miles southward, and Sidon, which is 7 miles north. Scripture History. - At Zarephath, Elijah found shelter with a widow-woman during the great famine in Israel. 1 Kgs 17:8-24. The prophet Obadiah mentions it as marking the limits of Israel's victory. Ob 20. Jesus made reference to this incident in Elijah's life. Luke 4:26. Present Appearance. - Not a house now remains; only ruins mark the site. They extend for a mile along the seashore, and contain many fragments of columns. A little chapel, or uely. bears the name of El-Khuds, the Mohammedan title of Elijah, and possibly marks the site of the chapel erected by the Crusaders over the spot where the widow's house is supposed to have stood. There is no tomb within, because, as the Mussulmans say, Elijah is not yet dead: he "flies round and round the world." Tradition also claims this as the spot where our Lord rested when he visited these coasts. On the slope of a hill more than a mile back from the coast is the modern village of Surafend, which represents the ancient Zarephath.

("tsarfa'".) Elijah's residence during the drought (1 Kings 17:9-10); belonging to Sidon. A Canaanite, i.e. Phoenician city (Obadiah 1:20). Sarepta in Luke 4:26. The name means smelting shop. Now Surafend, a tell or hill, with a small village, seven or eight miles from Sidon, near the Zaharain river. The ancient town however was below on the shore; there, ruins of a flourishing city are found, columns, marble slabs and sarcophagi, and a chapel of the crusaders on the presumed site of the widow's house.