Zarephath

Biblical Text

Zarephath first appears in 1 Kings 17. During the reign of King Ahab of the northern kingdom of Israel, Elijah announced a drought and then hid by the brook Cherith. When the brook dried up, God commanded him, "Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there" (1 Kings 17:9). At the city gate Elijah met the widow of Zarephath, who was gathering sticks, and asked her to make him a cake first from the last of her meal and oil. Thereafter, the text says, the barrel of meal did not run out and the cruse of oil did not fail until the rain came (1 Kings 17:14–16). When the widow's son fell ill and died, Elijah prayed and the child was restored to life, and the widow acknowledged Elijah as a man of God (1 Kings 17:17–24).

Zarephath also appears in Obadiah 1:20. In the prophecy that the children of Israel returning from captivity would possess the land "even unto Zarephath," the name marks the northern boundary. In the New Testament the name is spelled "Sarepta," following the Greek form (Luke 4:26).

Background

Zarephath was a Phoenician town on the Mediterranean coast, situated between Tyre and Sidon. It is widely identified with a site near Sarafand on the southern coast of present-day Lebanon. Modern excavations there are reported to have uncovered remains from the Phoenician period.

Some connect the Hebrew name Tsarephath with a root meaning "to smelt" or "to refine," though this derivation is uncertain. Sidon was a region where the worship of Baal flourished, and Ahab's wife Jezebel was the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians (1 Kings 16:31; see Ahab and Jezebel). Elijah, then, was cared for by a Gentile woman in the very homeland of the Baal-worshiping Jezebel.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

Jesus Christ referred to this episode directly in the synagogue at Nazareth. He said that although there were many widows in Israel in Elijah's day, Elijah was sent to none of them "save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow," and he added the example of Naaman the Syrian (Luke 4:25–27). Those in the synagogue who heard this were filled with wrath. The passage is commonly read as showing that God's grace extends to the Gentiles as well.

Elijah's drought is mentioned again in James 5:16–18 as an example of prayer. Many commentators hold that Jesus' raising of the widow's son at Nain (Luke 7:11–17) recalls the Zarephath episode, since in both accounts the restored son is "delivered" to his mother.

Interpretation and Debate

• The widow's faith: The widow initially speaks of "the LORD thy God" (1 Kings 17:12). Interpreters therefore differ over whether she worshiped the LORD from the beginning or came to faith through these events.
• Contrast with Baal: Baal was worshiped as the god of rain and fertility. Some interpreters read the LORD's provision of food in Baal's own land as a polemic against Baal worship.
• Application in sermons on giving: The passage is sometimes preached as teaching that those who give their last first will receive material blessing. Others criticize such an application as departing from the passage's focus on God's sovereignty and his grace toward Gentiles, and as bordering on prosperity theology.
• Later traditions: Some later Jewish writings preserve a tradition that the widow's son was the prophet Jonah. This does not appear in the biblical text. Medieval Jews, drawing on Obadiah 1:20, also used the Hebrew Tsarephath as a name for France.

In the Korean Church

In the Korean church, expressions such as "the devotion of the widow of Zarephath" and "the barrel of meal and cruse of oil that never ran dry" frequently appear in sermons and testimonies. The passage is often cited to express trust that God provides even in hard times, or to encourage offerings and devotion.