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Ekron – Eliasaph
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Ekron
A city in the Philistine Pentapolis, not conquered by Joshua (). but theoretically a border city of Judah () and Dan () said, in a passage which is probably an interpolation, to have been smitten by Judah (). Hither the captured ark was brought from Ashdod (). and on its restoration the Philistine lords who had followed it to Beth-shemesh returned to Ekron (). Ekron was the border town of a territory that passed in the days of Samuel from the Philistines to Israel (). and it was the limit of the pursuit of the Philistines after the slaying of Goliath by David (). Its local numen was Baal-zebub, whose oracle Ahaziah consulted after his accident (). Like the other Philistine cities, it is made the subject of denunciation by Jeremiah, Amos, Zephaniah, and the anonymous prophet whose writing occupies Zee 9-11. This city is commonly . identified with ‘Akir, a village on the Philistine plain between Gezer and the sea, where there is now a Jewish colony. For the identification there is no basis, except the coincidence of name; there are no remains of antiquity whatever at’ Akir. K. A. S. Macalistek.
EL.— See God.
Ela
1. 1 Esdras 9:2, . 2. . father of Solomon’s commissariat officer in Benjamin.
Elah
1. A ‘duke’ of Edom (. ). 2. Son of Baasha, king of Israel. He had nominal possession of the throne two years or fractions of years (). himself to drunken dissipation, until Zimri, one of his generals, revolted and killed him. The usual extirpation of the defeated dynasty followed. 3. Father of Hoshea ( IS’- 4. Second son of Caleb (). 6. A Benjamite ().
H. P. Smith.
Elah
(‘terebinth’). A valley in the ShephSlah, the scene of the battle between David and Goliath (. ). It is most likely the modern Wady es-Sunt, which, rising in the mountains about Jeba, about 11 miles due S.W. of Jerusalem, runs westward, under various names, till it opens on the Maritime Plain at Tell es-Safi. In the middle of the valley is a watercourse which runs in winter only; the bottom is full of small stones such as David might have selected for his sling. R. A. S. Macalisteh.
Elam
1. A son of Shem ( Ch ). the eponymousancestorof theEIamites (see following article). 2. A Korahite (). 3. A Benjamite (). 4. The eponym of a family of which 1254 returned with Zerub. (. . 1 Esdras 5:12) and 71 with Ezra (. 1 Esdras 8:33). It was one of the BenS-Elam that urged Ezra to take action against mixed marriages (). and six of the same family are reported to have put away their foreign wives (). Elam ace. to ‘sealed the covenant.’ 6. In the parallel lists . ‘the other Elam’ has also 1254 descendants who return with Zerubbabel. 6. A priest who took part in the dedication of the walls ().
Elam
An important country of Western Asia, called Blamtu by the Babylonians and Elymais by the Greeks (also Susiana, from Shushan or Susa the capital). It corresponds nearly to the modern Chuzistan, lying to the east of the lower Tigris, but including also the mountains that skirt the plain. The portion south of Susa was known as Anshan (Anzan). In (1 Ch ) Elam is called a son of Shem, from the mistaken idea that the people were of the Semitic race. They belonged to the great family of barbarous or semi-barbarous tribes which occupied the highlands to the east and north of the Semites before the influx of the Aryans.
Historically Elam’s most important place in the Bible is found in ff.: where it is mentioned as the suzerain of Babylonia and therewith of the whole western country Including Palestine. The period there alluded to was that of Elam’s greatest power, a little later than B.C. 2300. For many centuries previous, Elam had upon the whole been subordinate to the ruling power of Babylonia, no matter which of the great cities west of the Tigris happened to be supreme. Not many years later, Hammurabi of Babylon (perhaps the Amraphel of ) threw oft the yoke of Elam, which henceforth held an inferior place. Wars between the two countries were, however, very common, and Elam frequently had the advantage. The splendidly defensible position of the capital contributed greatly to its Independence and recuperative power, and thus Susa became a repository of much valuable spoil secured from the Babylonian cities. This explains how it came about that the Code of Hammurabi, the most important single monument of Oriental antiquity, was found in the ruins of Susa. A change in relations gradually took place after Assyria began to control Babylonia and thus encroach upon Elam, which was thenceforth, as a rule, in league with the patriotic Babylonians, especially with the Chaldseans from the south-land. Interesting and tragic is the story of the combined efforts of the Chaldseans and Elamites to repel the invaders. The last scene of the drama was the capture and sack of Susa (c. B.C. 645). The conqueror Ashurbanipal (Bibl. Osnappar) completed the subjugation of Elam by deporting many of its inhabitants, among the exiles beinga detachment sent to the province of Samaria (). Shortly thereafter, when Assyria itself declined and fell, Elam was occupied by the rising Aryan tribes, the Medes from the north and the Persians from the south. Cyrus the Persian (born about B.C. 590) was the fourth hereditary prince of Anshan.
Elam has a somewhat prominent place in the prophetic writings, in which Media + Elam = Persian empire. See esp. ff.: ff.: and cf. . . Ezlf . Particular interest attached to the part taken by the Elamites in the overthrow of Babylonia. An effect of this participation is curiously shown in the fact that after the Exile, Elam was a fairly common name among the Jews themselves (, . . et cU.). J. F. McCurdy. ELASA (1 Maccabees 9:5). — The scene of the defeat and death of Judas MaccabEeus. The site may be at the ruin Il’asa, near Beth-horon.
Elasah
(‘God hath made’). 1. One of those who had married a foreign wife (). 2. The son of Shaphan, who, along with Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, carried a message from king Zedekiah to Babylon ().
Elath
(called also Eloth, ‘the great trees’). An important Edomite town on the N.E. arm of the Red Sea, near Ezion-geber. It is mentioned as one of the places passed by the Israelites during their wanderings (). Close to it liing Solomon’s navy was constructed(1 K ). Subsequently the town must have been destroyed, as we read in of its being built by Azariah. Later on it was conquered by the Edomites (so RVm). W. O. E. Oesterley,
El-berith
See Baal^-berith.
EL -BETHEL. — The name which Jacob is said to have given to the scene of his vision on his way back from Paddan-aram, Gu 35’ (P 7).
Eldaah
A sou of Midian (. ).
Eldad
One of the seventy elders appointed to assist Moses in the government of the people. On one occasion he and another named Medad were not present with Moses and the rest of the elders at the door of the Tabernacle to hear God’s message and receive His spirit. But the spirit of the Lord came upon them where they were, and they prophesied in the camp. Joshua regarded this as an irregularity, but Moses declined to interfere ().
Elder
(in OT). The rudimentary form of government which prevailed amongst the Hebrews in primitive times grew out of family life. As the father is head of the household, so the chiefs of the principal families ruled the clan and the tribe, their authority being ill-defined, and, like that of an Arab sheik, depending on the consent of the governed. In our earliest documents the ‘elders of Israel’ are the men of position and influence, who represent the community in both religious and civil affairs (, f. , . ) the ‘elders’ of are the ‘nobles’ of . Josephus sums up correctly when he makes Moses declare: ‘Aristocracy ... is the best constitution’ (Ant. VI. viil. 17). The system existed in other Semitic races (. . . ). After the settlement in Canaan the ‘elders’ still possessed much weight ( . f.: ). And now we find ‘elders of the city’ the governing body of the town (Eu , . , , . , ) the little town of Succoth boasted no fewer than seventyseven (). Deuteronomy brings into prominence their judicial functions ( ff. ff. ff.). which were doubtless infringed upon by the position of the king as supreme judge (. . .
. , ) but could not be abolished ( ff.; ff. ). During the Exile the ‘elders’ are the centre of the people’s life (. . ff. ff. ; cf. Sus ‘), and after the Return they continue active (, , . , ji ). It is not improbable that the later Sanhedrin is a development of this institution. J. Taylor.
Elder
(in NT). See Bishop ; Church Government, 6(2).
Elead
An Ephraimite ().
Eleadah
An Ephraimite ().
Elealeh
Elealeh (, , ig les, jer 48). A town of the Moabite plateau, conquered by Gad and Reuben, and rebuilt by the latter tribe. It is now the ruined mound of el- Al, about a mile N. of Heshbon.
Eleasah
1. A Judahite (, ). 2. A descendant of Saul ( ).
Eleazar
(‘God hath helped’). !, A son of Aaron. It was natural that priestly traditions should have much to say about him. But in earlier writings his name appears only twice, both probably from E: (his succession to the priestly office at Aaron’s death), (his death and burial). In P he is the third son of Aaron by Elisheba, his brothers being Nadab, Abihu, and Ithamar (. ). With them he was consecrated priest (). and was chief over the Levites (). Nadab and Abihu having died ( f.). he succeeded Aaron as chief priest (). He took part in the census in Moab (, ). and afterwards played a prominent part in the history of the settlement under Joshua ( ). He married a daughter of Putiel, and she bore him Fhinehas (). When the Zadokite priests returned from Babylon, they traced their descent to Aaron through Eleazar, ignoring the house of Eli () in some cases, however, the claim was made through Ithamar ( f.). ). 2. Son of Abinadab (). 3. One of David’s three heroes (. 1 Ch f.). 4. A Levite ( ). 5. 1 Esdras 8:43 = Eliezer, . 6. A priest (. . 1 Es ). 7. 1 Es 9i’=Eliezer, . 8. One who took a non-Israelite wife (. 1 Esdras 9). 9. A brother of Judas Maccabeeus (1 Maccabees 2:5 6:43–46. 2 Mac823). 10. A martyr under Antiochus Epiphanes (2 Maccabees 6:18–31). H. Father of Jason;(l MacS"). 12. Sirach Eleazar (Sirach 50:27). 13. An ancestor of Jesus (Mt li3). A. H. M’Neile.
ELECTION.^The idea of election, as expressive of God’s method of accomplishing His purpose for the world in both providence and grace, though (as befits the character of the Bible as peculiarly ‘the history of redemption’) especially in grace, goes to the heart of Scripture teaching. The word ‘election’ itself occurs but a few times ( ‘vessel of election,’ , . ) ‘elect’ in NT much oftener (see below); but equivalent words in OT and NT, as ‘choose,’ ‘chosen,’ ‘foreknow’ (in sense of ‘fore-designate’), etc., considerably extend the range of usage. In the OT, as will be seen, the special object of the Divine election is Israel (e.g. etc.); but within Israel are special elections, as of the tribe of Levi, the house of Aaron, Judah, David and his house, etc. ; while, in a broader sense, the idea, if not the expression, is present wherever individuals are raised up, or separated, for special service (thus of Cyrus, ). In the NT the term ‘elect’ is frequently used, both by Christ and by the Apostles, for those who are heirs of salvation (e.g. , , , . . , . . ). and the Church, as the new Israel, is described as ‘an elect race’ (). Jesus Himself is called, with reference to la 42. God’s ‘chosen’ or ‘elect’ One (. RV, ) and mention is once made of ‘elect’ angels (). In St. Paul’s Epistles the idea has great prominence (, etc.). It is now necessary to investigate the implications of this idea more carefully.
Election, etymologically, is the choice of one, or of some, out of many. In the usage we are investigating, election is always, and only, of God. It is the method by which, in the exercise of His holy freedom, He carries out His purpose (‘the purpose of God according to election,’ ). The ‘call’ which brings the election to light, as in the call of Abraham, Israel, believers, is in time, but the call rests on God’s prior, eternal determination (, ). Israel was chosen of God’s free love ( ff.) believers are declared to be blessed in Christ, ‘even as he chose’ them ‘in him’ — the One in whom is the ground of all salvation — ‘before the foundation of the world’ (). It is strongly insisted on, therefore, that the reason of election is not anything in the object itself (, ) the ground of the election of believers is not in their holiness or good works, or even in fides prcevisa, but solely in God’s free grace and mercy (; holiness a result, not a cause). They are ‘made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will’ () ; or, as in an earlier verse, ‘according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace’ (). Yet, as it is axiomatic that there is no unrighteousness with God () that His loving will embraces the whole world (. ) that He can never, in even the slightest degree, act partially or capriciously (. ) and that, as salvation in the case of none is compulsory, but is always in accordance with the saved person’s own free choice, so none perishes but by his own fault or unbelief — it is obvious that difficult problems arise on this subject which can be solved, so far as solution is possible, only by close attention to all Scripture indications.
1. In the OT. — Valuable help is afforded, first, by observing how this idea shapes itself, and is developed, in the OT. From the first, then, we see that God’s purpose advances by a method of election, but observe also that, while sovereign and free, this election is never an end in itself, but is subordinated as a means to a wider end. It is obvious also that it was only by an election — that is, by beginning with some individual or people, at some time, in some place — that such ends as God had in view in His Kingdom could be realized. Abraham, accordingly, is chosen, and God calls him, and makes His covenant with him, and with his seed; not, however, as a private, personal transaction, but that in him and in his seed all families of the earth should be blessed (, etc.). Further elections narrow down this line of promise — Isaac, not Ishmael; Jacob, not Esau (cf. ) — till Israel is grown, and prepared for the national covenant at Sinai. Israel, again, is chosen from among the families of the earth (. . ) not, however, for its own sake, but that it may be a means of blessing to the Gentiles. This is the ideal calling of Israel which peculiarly comes out in the prophecies of the Servant of Jehovah (Is 41-49) — a calling of which the nation as a whole so fatally fell short (, ). So far as these prophecies of the Servant point to Christ — the Elect One in the supreme sense, as both Augustine and Calvin emphasize — His mission also was one of salvation to the world.
Here, however, it will naturally be asked — Is there not, after all, a reason for these and similar elections in the greater congruity of the object with the purpose for which it was designed? If God chose Abraham, was it not because Abraham was the best fitted among existing men for such a vocation? Was Isaac not better fitted than Ishmael, and Jacob than Esau, to be the transmitters of the promise? This leads to a remark which carries us much deeper into the nature of election. We err grievously if we think of God’s relation to the objects of His choice as that of a workman to a set of tools provided for him, from which he selects that most suited to his end. It is a shallow view of the Divine election which regards it as simply availing itself of happy varieties of character spontaneously presenting themselves in the course of natural development. Election goes deeper than grace — even into the sphere of nature. It presides, to use a happy phrase of Lange’s, at the making of its object (Abraham, Moses, David, Paul, etc.), as well as uses it when made. The question is not simply how, a man of the gifts and qualifications of Abraham, or Moses, or Paul, being given, God should use him in the way He did, but rather how a man of this spiritual build, and these gifts and qualifications, came at that precise juncture to be there at all. The answer to that question can be found only in the Divine ordering; election working in the natural sphere prior to its being revealed in the spiritual, God does not simply find His instruments — He creates them: He has had them, in a true sense, in view, and has been preparing them from the foundation of things. Hence St. Paul’s saying of himself that he was separated from his mother’s womb ( ; cf. of Jeremiah, ; of Cyrus, etc.).
Here comes in another consideration. Israel was the elect nation, but as a nation it miserably failed in its vocation (so sometimes with the outward Church). It would seem, then, as if, on the external side, election had failed of its result; but it did not do so really. This is the next step in the OT development — the realization of an election within the election, of a true and spiritual Israel within the natural, of individual election as distinct from national. This idea is seen shaping itself in the greater prophets in the doctrine of the ‘remnant’ (cf. S’s-is etc.); in the idea of a godly kernel in Israel in distinction from the unbelieving mass (involved in prophecies of the Servant) ; and is laid hold of, and effectively used, by St. Paul in his rebutting of the supposition that the word of God had failed ( ‘for they are not all Israel that are of Israel,’ , etc.). This yields us the natural transition to the NT conception.
2. In the NT. — The difference in the NT standpoint in regard to election may perhaps now be thus defined. (1) Whereas the election in the OT is primarily national, and only gradually works round to the idea of an inner, spiritual election, the opposite is the case in the NT — election is there at first personal and individual, and the Church as an elect body is viewed as made up of these Individual believers and all others professing faith in Christ (a distinction thus again arising between inward and outward). (2) Whereas the personal aspect of election in the OT is throughout subordinate to the idea of service, in the NT, on the other hand, stress is laid on the personal election to eternal salvation; and the aspect of election as a means to an end beyond itself falls into the background, without, however, being at all intended to be lost sight of. The believer, according to NT teaching, is called to nothing so much as to active service; he is to be a light of the world (), a worker together with God (), a living epistle, known and read of all men (, ) the light has shined in his heart that he should give it forth to others () he is elected to the end that he may show forth the excellencies of Him who called him (). etc. St. Paul is a ‘vessel of election’ to the definite end that he should bear Christ’s name to the Gentiles (). Believers are a kind of ‘first-fruits’ unto God (, , , ) there is a ‘fulness’ to be brought in ().
As carrying us, perhaps, most deeply into the comprehension of the NT doctrine of election, it is lastly to be observed that, apart from the inheritance of ideas from the OT, there is an experiential basis for this doctrine, from which, in the living consciousness of faith, it can never be divorced. In general it is to be remembered how God’s providence is everywhere in Scripture represented as extending over all persons and events — nothing escaping His notice, or falling outside of His counsel (not even the great crime of the Crucifixion, ) — and how uniformly everything good and gracious is ascribed to His Spirit as its author (e.ff. , . . , ). It cannot, therefore, be that in so great a matter as a soul’s regeneration (see Regenehation), and the translating of it out of the darkness of sin into the light and blessing of Christ’s Kingdom (. Col !"■ , ). the change should not be viewed as a supreme triumph of the grace of God in that soul, and should not be referred to an eternal act of God, choosing the individual, and in His love calling him in His own good time into this felicity. Thus also, in the experience of salvation, the soul, conscious of the part of God in bringing it to Himself, and hourly realizing its entire dependence on Him for everything good, will desire to regard it and will regard it; and will feel that in this thought of God’s everlasting choice of it lies its true ground of security and comfort (. si). It is not the soul that has chosen God, but God that has chosen it (cf. ). and all the comforting ahd assuring promises which Christ gives to those whom He describes as ‘given’ Him by the Father (, etc.) — as His ‘sheep’ ( etc.) — are humbly appropriated by it for its consolation and encouragement (cf. lo^‘-^‘etc.).
On this experiential basis Calvinist and Arminian may be trusted to agree, though it leaves the speculative question still unsolved of how precisely God’s grace and human freedom work together in the production of this great change. That is a question which meets us wherever God’s purpose and man’s free will touch, and probably will be found to embrace unsolved element till the end. Start from the Divine side, and the work of salvation is all of grace; start from the human side, there is responsibility and choice. The elect, on any showing, must always be those in whom grace is regarded as effecting its result; the will, on the other hand, must be freely won; but this winning of the will may be viewed as itself the last triumph of grace — God working in us to will and to do of His good pleasure (. , ). From this highest point of view the antinomy disappears; the believer is ready to acknowledge that it is not anything in self, not his willing and running, that has brought him into the Kingdom (). but only God’s eternal mercy. See, further, Predestination, Regeneration, Reprobate.
James Orr.
Elect Lady
See John [Epistles op, ii.].
EL -ELOHE -ISRAEL . —Upon the ‘parcel of ground’ which he had bought at Shechem, Jacob built an altar and called it El-elohe-Israel, ‘El, the god of Israel,’ (E). This appears a strange name for an altar, and it is just possible that we should emend the text, so as to read with the LXX, ‘be called upon the God of Israel.’
El Elyon
See God, and Most High.
Element
A component or constituent part of a complex body. The ancient philosophers Inquired after the essential constituent elements, principles, or substances of the physical universe; and many supposed them to consist of earth, air, fire, and water. As used in the NT the word always appears in the plural.
1. In , the physical elements of the heavens and the earth are referred to as destined to destruction at the sudden coming of the Day of the Lord, ‘by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.’ In the same sense the apocryphal Book of Wisdom (7) employs the word, and speaks of ‘the constitution of the world and the operation of the elements.’ It should be observed also that the later Jewish angelology conceived these different elements and all the heavenly bodies as animated by living spirits, so that there were angels of the waters, the winds, the clouds, the hail, the frost, and the various seasons of the year. Thus we read in the NT Apocalypse of the four angels of the four winds, the angel that has power over fire, the angel of the waters, and an angel standing in the sun. And so every element and every star had its controlling spirit or angel, and this concept of the animism of nature has been widespread among the nations (see Angel).
2. The exact meaning of the phrase ‘elements of the world’ in the four texts of , and , has been found difficult to determine, (a) Not a few interpreters, both ancient and modern, understand the ‘elements’ mentioned in these passages to refer to the physical elements possessed and presided over by angels or demons. It is argued that the context in both these Epistles favours this opinion, and the express statement that the Galatians ‘were in bondage to them that by nature are no gods,’ and the admonition in Colossians against ‘philosophy, vain deceit, and worshipping of the angels,’ show that the Apostle had in mind a current superstitious belief in cosmic spiritual beings, and a worshipping of them as princes of the powers of the air and world-rulers of darkness. Such a low and superstitious bondage might well be pronounced both ‘weak and beggarly.’ (6) But probably the majority of interpreters understand by these ‘elements of the world’ the ordinances and customs of Jewish legaUsm, which tied the worshipper down to the ritualism of a ‘worldly sanctuary’ (cf. ). Such a bondage to the letter had some adaptation to babes, who might need the discipline of signs and symbols while under the care of a tutor, but it was a weak and beggarly thing in comparison with conscious living fellowship with the Lord Christ. For the sons of God through faith in Jesus Christ are not to remain little children, or in a state of dependence nothing different from that of a bond-servant, but they receive the fulness of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, and cry ‘Abba, Father.’ Such are no longer ‘held in bondage under the rudiments of the world,’ for Christ sets them free from dependence upon rites, ordinances, vows, sacrifices, observance of times and seasons, which all belong to the elementary stages and phases of the lower religious cults of the world. It should be noticed that both these interpretations of the texts in Gal. and Col. claim support in the immediate context, and both will probably long continue to find favour among painstaking and critical expositors. But the last-mentioned interpretation seems to command widest acceptance, and to accord best with the gospel and teaching of St. Paul.
3. The word is found also with yet another meaning in . where the persons addressed are said to need instruction in ‘the rudiments of the first principles of the oracles of God.’ Here the term ‘rudiments,’ or ‘elements,’ is obviously used in an ethical sense. By these ‘elements of the beginning of the oracles of God’ the writer means the primary and simplest truths of God’s revelation of Himself in the prophets and in Christ. These are the A B C of the Christian religion.
M. S. Terry.
Eleph
( only). A town of Benjamin, probably the present village Lifta, W. of Jerusalem.
Elephant
AVm, but RVm correctly ‘hippopotamus’ (see Behemoth) . The use of elephants in warfare is frequently noticed in the Books of Maccabees(e.g. 1 Maccabees 3:34 6:30 8:6 ll", 2 Maccabees 11:4 13:15). See also IVORT.
Eleutherus
Eleutherus (1 Maccabees 11:7 12:30). A nver which separated Syria and Fhcenicia, and appears to be the mod. Nahr el-Kelnr or ‘Great River,’ which divides the Lebanon In two north of Tripoli.
Elhanan
(‘God is gracious’). 1, The son of Jair according to . of Jaare-oregim according to ; in the former text he is represented as slaying Labmi the brother of Goliath, in the latter as slaying Goliath himself, A comparison of the Hebrew of these two texts is instructive, because they offer one of the clearest and simplest examples of how easy it is for corruptions to creep into the OT text. It is difficult, without using Hebrew letters, to show how this is the case here; but the following points may be noticed. Oregim means ‘weavers,’ a word which occurs in the latter halt of the verse in each case, and may easily have got displaced in the 2 Sam. passage; in both the texts the word which should be the equivalent of Jair is wrongly written; the words ‘the Bethlehemite’ (2 Sam.) and ‘Lahmi the brother of (1 Chr.) look almost identical when written in Hebrew. The original text, of which each of these two verses is a corruption, probably ran:’ And Elhanan the son of Jair, the Bethlehemite, slew Goliath the Gittite, the staff of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam.’ But if this is so, how are we to reconcile it with what we read of David’s killing Goliath? Judging from what we know of the natural tendency there is to ascribe heroic deeds to great national warriors, realizing the very corrupt state of the Hebrew text of the Books of Samuel, and remembering the conflicting accounts given of David’s first introduction to public life (see David, § 1), the probabihty is that Elhanan slew Goliath, and that this heroic deed was in later times ascribed to David.
2. In and Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem is numbered among David’s ‘mighty men.’ Remembering that the word Jair above is wrongly written in each case, and that it thus shows signs of corruption, it is quite possible that this Elhanan and the one just referred to are one and the same.
W. O. E. Gestehlet.
Eli
Eli (possibly an abbreviated form of Eliel, ‘God Is high’). — The predecessor of Samuel as ‘judge,’ and high priest in the sanctuary at Shiloh. Excepting in the final scene of his life, every time he comes before us it is in connexion with others who occupy the position of greater interest. Thus in his interviews with Hannah, in the first one it is she in whom the chief interest centres ( ff.) in the second it is the child Samuel (). The next time he is mentioned it is only as the father of Hophni and Phinehas, the whole passage’ being occupied with an account of their evil doings ( ff.). Again, in ff.: Eli is mentioned only as the listener to ‘a man of God’ who utters his prophecy of evil. And lastly, in his dealings with the boy Samuel the whole account (ch. 3) is really concerned with Samuel, while Eli plays quite a subsidiary part. All this seems to illustrate the personality of Eli as that of a humble-minded, good man of weak character; his lack of infiuence over his sons only serves to emphasize this estimate. W. O. E. Oesterlet.
Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachthahi
SeeELOi, Eloi, etc.
Eliab
(‘God is father’). 1, The representative, or ‘prince,’ of the tribe of Zebulun, who assisted Moses and Aaron in numbering the children of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai ( ff.). 2. The father of Dathan and Abiram (). 3. The eldest brother of David, and thought by Samuel to have been destined for kingship in Israel on account of his beauty and stature (, ). He is mentioned as being a warrior in the Israelite camp on the occasion of Goliath’s challenge to and defiance of the armies of Israel; he rebukes his , younger brother David for his presumption in mixing himself up with the affairs of the army; his attitude towards David, after the victory of the latter over Goliath, is not mentioned. 4. One of the musicians who were appointed by the Levltes, at David’scommand, to accompany the procession which was formed on the occasion of bringing the ark from the house of Obed-edom up to Jerusalem (). 5. One of the Gadites who joined David, during his outlaw life, in the hold in the wilderness (). 6. An ancestor of Samuel (; see ELinn No. 1). 7. One of Judith’s ancestors (Judith 8:1). W. O. E. Oesterley.
Eliada
1. A son of David (285:16) ; called Beeliada in . 2 . Father of Rezon, an ‘adversary’ of Solomon(1 K ). 3. A warrior of Benjamin ().
Eliadas
Eliadas (1 Esdras 9:28) = Elioeani.
Eliahba
One of David’s ‘Thirty’ (. ).
Eliakim
(‘God will establish’). 1. The son of Hilkiah, he who was ‘over the household’ of king Hezekiah, and one of the three who represented the king during the interview with Sennacherib’s emissaries(2 K 1818, ). In ( seems to be out of place) he is contrasted favourably with his predecessor Shebnah (who is still in office), and the prophet prophesies that Eliakim shall be a ‘father’ in the land. 2. The name of king Josiah’s son, who reigned after him ; Pharaoh-necho changed his name to Jehoiakim (). 3. In a priest of this name is mentioned as one among those who assisted at the ceremony of the dedication of the wall. 4. The son of Abiud (). 5. The son of Melea (). The last two occur in the genealogies of our Lord.
W. O. E. Oesterley.
Eliali
(1 Esdras 9:34). The name either corresponds to Binnui in or is unrepresented there.
Eliasi
1. Father of Bathsheba, whose first husband was a Hittite, ( = , where Eliam is called Ammiel). 2. Son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, and one of David’s heroes (). It is not impossible that this EUam is the same as the preceding.
Eliaonias
Eliaonias (1 Esdras 8:31). A descendant of Phaathmoab, who returned from Babylon with Esdras. In Eliehoenai.
Elias
See Elijah.
Eliasaph
1. Son of Deuel, and prince of Gad at the first census ( , lO^" P). 2. Son of Lael, and prince of the Gershonltes ( P).
James Hastings (ed.), with John A. Selbie and John C. Lambert, Dictionary of the Bible (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1909). Public domain. Scan of Cornell University Library’s copy from the Internet Archive; text from its OCR, with the Bible references read again from the page images.