Zarephath
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Luke 4:26; 1 Kings 17:9)—a Gentile city of Phoenicia on the Mediterranean coast between Tyre and Sidon, belonging to the latter and therefore called Zarephath of Sidon. Elijah stayed there with a poor widow during the drought, an account to which the Lord Jesus refers in Luke. Obadiah 20 also names the city. Once flourishing, it was known for copper and iron works. During the Crusades it was fortified and became the seat of a Latin bishop dependent upon the archbishop of Tyre. The Crusaders built a chapel at the traditional site of the widow’s house, later a mosque. The village of Sarafand occupied the ancient site inland from the shore; Phoenician tombs south of it bore images of palms, the sun, and the moon.