1 Kings 16:29-33 King Ahab of Israel marries the Phoenician princess Jezebel of Sidon (see 1 on Map 58). Jezebel introduces Baal worship into the royal court, so Ahab builds a temple to Baal at Samaria (see 2 on Map 58) and erects a sacred ‘Asherah pole’ to worship the Sidonian fertility goddess Asherah. Jezebel sets about killing the prophets of the LORD.
Map 58 Elijah's journeys
1 Kings 16:34 In c.869BC, Hiel, an Israelite chieftain from Bethel (see 3 on Map 58) builds a new settlement on the ruins of Jericho (see 4 on Map 58), destroyed over six hundred years earlier by Joshua in c.1406BC.
1 Kings 17:1 At about the same time (c.870BC), the prophet Elijah, from Tishbe in Gilead (see 5 on Map 58), tells King Ahab of Israel that the LORD, the one true God of Israel, has decreed that there will be a serious drought for two or three years.
1 Kings 17:2-6 The king is furious, so Elijah escapes from Samaria and hides near the Cherith Brook (the Wadi al Yabis), in his home territory east of the Jordan (see 6 on Map 58).
1 Kings 17:7-15 When the brook dries up, Elijah goes to Zarephath (Sarepta) (modern-day Sarafand in Lebanon), and stays for the three years of the drought with a widow and her son (see 7 on Map 58). The widow uses her last bit of flour and oil to bake some bread for Elijah.
1 Kings 17:16 Miraculously, the flour and the oil don't run out during the whole of the drought.
1 Kings 17:17-24 Some time later, the boy dies. Elijah prays to the LORD and the boy is restored to life.