Mount Cherith
A deserted place located between the south of Ephraim and the west of Jericho, to be distinguished from the Yabis traditionally given as the valley of Cherith.
Inhabitants or natives[edit | edit source]
Elijah the Essene, the young thief converted by Zacchaeus[1]
Description[edit | edit source]
The place described in Maria Valtorta does not seem to be the Yabis river traditionally given as the valley of Cherith where the prophet Elijah took refuge.
Mount Cherith, described here as a place or as a mountain, would be located west of Jericho, northwest of the Dead Sea, in a remote and wild area, on the border of Judah and Samaria. It is explicitly the place where Elijah was fed by the corbWaterx. Although Essenes are found there, the place described does not resemble the outskirts of Qumran, further south."There are safe gorges there to gather in God, and very close are the roads to Jericho and to Samaria. It is a group of mountains that seems occupied and concerned with continually rising. And each stage, I would say, of its effort is marked by a steep chain of rocky hills, with very steep slopes, cut by narrow valleys like gigantic incisions, crowned with wild ridges. From there, one can incidentally glimpse parts of the Dead Sea located southeast of the place where the Apostles are with the Master. The Jordan and its fertile and peaceful valley are not visible, nor are Jericho or other cities. There are only mountains and more mountains rising towards Samaria, and the dark Dead Sea between two mountainous escarpments. Below, a stream flows east-west that certainly goes to the Jordan."[2]
Significant facts[edit | edit source]
After the 3rd Passover, Jesus makes a retreat here in preparation for new and increasingly fierce Struggles. Like Elijah fed by the corbWaterx, it is thieves who supply the apostolic group[3]. Among them is a young thief who will join the converts gathered by Zacchaeus the publican[1], the other is Disma, the good thief, the "good thief".
Its name[edit | edit source]
Kerith means "The cutting, the gorge".
Where is it mentioned in the work?[edit | edit source]
EMV 379 EMV 380
EMV 499
EMV 514 EMV 524
EMV 632
Learn more about this place[edit | edit source]
It is in the valley of Mount Cherith that Elijah took refuge after announcing the drought to King Ahab. He was fed there by the corbWaterx[4]. The stream is explicitly indicated there as east of the Jordan.
Excerpt from the Geographical Dictionary of the Gospel Salton Maria Valtorta, by Jean-François Lavère:After the Passover of the 3rd year, leaving Jerusalem, Jesus decides on a few days’ retreat in a wild valley[2], [5]And Jesus specifies: "Here Elijah was fed by the corbWaterx (…). Doesn’t this stream, over there, start at the source flowing from this slope ?";[6]
The Calllation designates both a mount, a valley (and a river), and this is exactly what emerges from Maria Valtorta’s account. The valley is oriented west to east, and travelers have described it as one of the wildest ravines in the region. It is indeed there that Elijah withdrew during the first three years of famine, at the source of Ein Mabua.
(See El Kelt)[7] : The wild valley that opens onto the plain of Jericho is the valley of Wadi El Kelt. But in the dialogues reported by Maria Valtorta, Jesus' contemporaries call it Mount Cherith, and they also give this name to the stream that flows at the bottom of the valley, as well as to the nearby mountain.
Explore[edit | edit source]
• From 31° 51’ 27’’ N / 35° 20’ 16’’ E to 31° 50’ 29’’ N / 35° 21’ 09’’ E
• +370m to +0m