CHERITH:
The name of a brook or wadi near the Jordan, where Elijah, in the time of drought and famine, was told to hide himself, and there findwater and food (I Kings xvii. 3, 5). When the brook dried up he was sent to Zarephath. In the verses cited from Kings the expression "before Jordan" (literally, "by the face of the Jordan") certainly points to the eastern side; hence Robinson's proposed identification with the Wadi al-Ḳalt, apart from philological difficulties, is impossible. Cheyne proposes Reḥoboth, which he explains as worn down into "Cherith," and further suggests that "Egypt" be substituted for "Jordan." Buhl ("Geog. des Alten Palästina," p. 121) argues for the identification of Cherith with Wadi al-Ḥimar, on the supposition that Tishbi is Khirbat Istib. None of the modern attempts at identification is satisfactory.
