A small brook flowing into the Jordan, to which Elijah once withdrew, and where ravens brought him supplies of bread and flesh, 1Ki 17:3-5. Robinson suggests that it may be the present Wady Kelt, which drains the hills west of Jericho, and flows near that town on its way to the Jordan. This brook is dry in summer.

a cutting; separation; a gorge, a torrent-bed or winter-stream, a "brook," in whose banks the prophet Elijah hid himself during the early part of the three years' drought (1Ki 17:3,5). It has by some been identified as the Wady el-Kelt behind Jericho, which is formed by the junction of many streams flowing from the mountains west of Jericho. It is dry in summer. Travellers have described it as one of the wildest ravines of this wild region, and peculiarly fitted to afford a secure asylum to the persecuted. But if the prophet's interview with Ahab was in Samaria, and he thence journeyed toward the east, it is probable that he crossed Jordan and found refuge in some of the ravines of Gilead. The "brook" is said to have been "before Jordan," which probably means that it opened toward that river, into which it flowed. This description would apply to the east as well as to the west of Jordan. Thus Elijah's hiding-place may have been the Jermuk, in the territory of the half-tribe of Manasseh.

("separation".) The brook or torrent channel (wady) by which Elijah sojourned in the early part of the three years drought (1Ki 17:3,5). Probably running into the Jordan from the E. side, Elijah's native region, where he would be beyond Ahab's reach. Possibly now the Wadi Fasail, further North.

The 'brook' by which Elijah lived (1Ki 17:3,5) was 'before,' i.e. on the E. of Jordan. The popular identification of Cherith with the Wady Kelt between Jerusalem and Jericho is unwarranted.

Cherith'

Brook or wady 'before Jordan,' where Elijah was fed by the ravens during part of the three years' famine. 1Ki 17:3,5. It is not, identified.