THE "RAVENS" THAT FED ELIJAH.
It is probable that the ravens that fed Elijah were Arabians. On the words of 1 Kings xvii, 4, 6: "And it shall be that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning and bread and flesh in the evening, and he drank of the brook," Horne in his introduction says: "Had these writers (unbelievers), however, consulted the original word of this passage, and also other places where the same word occurs, they would have found that Orbhim (the word translated raven) signifies Arabian. Such is the meaning of the word in 2 Chron xxi, 16, and in Neh. vi, 7, where our version renders it Arabian. Now we learn from the Bereshith Rabba (a Rabbinical commentary on the book of Genesis) that there anciently was a town in the vicinity of Berthsham (where the prophet concealed himself), and are further informed by Jerome, a learned writer of the fourth century, that the 'Orbin' or inhabitants of a town on the confines of the Arabs, gave nourishment to Elijah. This testimony of Jerome is of great value, because he spent several years in the holy land, in order that he might acquire the most correct notion possible of the languages and the geography of the country, as well as the customs and habits of the people, in order to understand, explain and translate the language of the holy Scriptures. Although the common printed editions of the Latin Vulgate read Corui, crows or ravens, yet in 2 Chron. xxi, 17, and Neh. iv, 17, Jerome properly renders the same word (Arbin or Arabian) Arabians. What adds further weight to those testimonies is the fact that the Arabic version considers the word as meaning a people, Arabian, and not ravens or fowls of any kind. We may also add that the celebrated Jewish commentator, Jarchi, gives the same interpretation. It is therefore most likely that some of the inhabitants of Oreb or Orbo, furnished the prophet food, being specially and divinely directed to do so."