Cherith

2 definitions found

From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary [easton]:

  Cherith
     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 (1 Kings 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.
     

From Hitchcock's Bible Names Dictionary (late 1800's) [hitchcock]:

  Cherith, cutting; piercing; slaying