ancient world, Alexander, besieged it for seven months, and ultimately conquered, 
only by throwing the stones of Old Tyre into the sea, and thus forming the Causeway, 
by which he was enabled to assault the walls. The City was at length absorbed into 
the general tide of Roman conquest. But it then obtained, even if unconsciously, 
the highest distinction in its history. It was visited, or at least, approached by our 
Lord. “ And He arose, and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon, and entered 
into an house. And a certain woman, whose daughter had an unclean spirit, heard 
of him, and came and fell at his feet.” 1 It was also the seat of an early Christian 
Church visited by St. Paul on his way to Jerusalem. 2 In the Crusades it fell into 
the hands of the Christians (June 27, 1124), and was held by them until the memorable 
year 1291—the era of the expulsion of the Franks from Palestine; when Melek-el- 
Ashref, Sultan of Egypt and Damascus, so terrified the people by his severities at 
Acre, that on his approach to Tyre, the Franks fled on board their ships, and left the 
gates open. From that time it sank into a decay, which has defied all restoration. 
1 Mark, vii. 24. 2 Acts, xxi. 2-4. 
SAREPTA. 
Here the scenery changes from the general aspect of the south of Palestine: the 
hills assume a bolder character, and the chain of Lebanon, capped with snow, rises 
majestically in the background. 
In front of the village on the hill, and close to the sea, is a small Mosque, traditionally 
covering the site of the house in which the prophet Elijah took refuge, and restored the 
widow’s son to life by prayer. 1 The name of the village is now Sura fend. 
Sarepta had the high distinction of being named in both the Old Testament and the 
New. In the history of the great prophet it is recorded ,—“ And the word of the Lord 
came unto him and said, Arise, get thee to Zarephath (Sarepta), which belongeth to Zidon, 
and dwell there.” 2 
And our Lord, in rebuking the stubbornness of his nation, repeats the record ,—■“ I tell 
you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was 
shut up three years and six months, when a great famine was throughout all the land; 
but unto none of them was Elias sent save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman 
that was a widow.” 3 
Sarepta was erected into a Bishopric by the Crusaders, who raised a Chapel over the 
reputed spot where Elijah restored the widow’s child. 4 In the twelfth century it seems to 
have been a fortified city, with a port, and some stately buildings. The true Sarepta 
evidently stood on the shore. The village of Snrafend, its present substitute, was probably 
formed by refugees from the decayed City, and has grown subsequently to the Crusades. 
1 Roberts’s Journal. 
3 Luke, iv. 25. 
2 1 Kings, xvii. 9, 10. 
4 Le Quien, Oriens Christianus, iii. 13:38. 
