THE WILDERNESS OF THE BROOK CHERITH
Copyright by Underwood & Underwood and used by special permission.

It was in this wild country that Elijah stayed while the drought was wasting the land. The exact location of the "brook Cherith" is not known.

Of this region the following description tells: "When you realize that this howling waste came within reach of nearly every Jewish child; when you climb the Mount of Olives, or any hill about Bethlehem, or the hill of Tekoa, and, looking east, see those fifteen miles of chaos, sinking to a stretch of the Dead Sea, you begin to understand the influence of the desert on Jewish imagination and literature. It gave the ancient natives of Judaea, as it gives the mere visitor of to-day, the sense of living next door to doom; the sense of how narrow is the border between life and death; the awe of the power of God, who can make contiguous regions so opposite in character. 'He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and water springs into a thirsty ground.' The desert is always in the face of the prophets, and its howling of beasts and its dry sand blow mournfully across their pages the foreboding of judgment."

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"And it shall come to pass, that him that escapeth from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay: and him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet will I leave me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him."

So he departed thence, and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen before him, and he with the twelfth: and Elijah passed over unto him, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, "Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee."

And he said unto him, "Go back again; for what have I done to thee?"

And he returned from following him, and took the yoke of oxen, and slew them, and made a feast of their flesh, and gave to the people, and they did eat. Then he arose, and went after Elijah, and ministered unto him.

How the Wicked King and Queen Did an Evil Deed, and How They Were Rebuked by Elijah.