“Because the text is silent on her heritage, it leaves us to assume it from her location.”
Heh. The text may be silent, but Jesus is not!
Luke 4:25-27 But truly I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land. 26 Elijah was sent to none of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
Jesus clearly implies the widow was a Sidonian and not an Israelite. That’s good enough for me!
Thanks again for making the Elijah-Peter connection for us.