Zarephath

Zarephath, a Phoenician city between Tyre and Sidon, where Elijah stayed with a widow during a famine and performed miracles (1Kgs. 17:9-10; Obad. 1:20; Luke 4:26).

Zarephath, also known as Sarepta, was a Phoenician city located between Tyre and Sidon on the Mediterranean coast. The city is most notably mentioned in the Bible in connection with the prophet Elijah. During a severe famine, God directed Elijah to go to Zarephath, where he had commanded a widow to provide for him (1Kgs. 17:9). Upon arriving at the city gate, Elijah met the widow and asked her for water and bread. Despite her limited resources, the widow shared her last meal with Elijah, and as a result, her flour and oil miraculously never ran out until the end of the famine (1Kgs. 17:10-16). Later, when the widow's son fell ill and died, Elijah prayed to God and raised the boy back to life (1Kgs. 17:17-24). In the New Testament, Jesus references Elijah's stay in Zarephath as an example of God's grace extending beyond Israel to the Gentiles (Luke 4:26). The city is also mentioned in the Book of Obadiah, where it is prophesied that the exiles of Israel will possess the land as far as Zarephath (Obad. 1:20). Zarephath's significance in the Bible lies in its connection to Elijah's ministry and its role in demonstrating God's power and provision.

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).