ELADAH (rich. God has decked), son of Tahath, a descendant of Ephraim (1 Chron.
ELAH (nab), (Heb. ay-law', oak or tere binth).
1. Son of Baasha, king of Israel. After a reign of two years (B. C. he was assassinated while drunk, and all his kinsfolk and friends cut off, by Zimri, 'the captain of half his chariots.' He was the last king of Baasha's line, and by this catastrophe the predictions of the prophet Jeliu were accomplished (1 Kings 2. Aholibamah's successor in the government of Edom (Gen. xxxvi :at ; i Chron. i :52).
3. Father of Hoshea, the last king of Israel (2 Kings xv :3o; xvii :t). (B. C. 729.) 4. An Edomite "duke," the son of Caleb. the son of Jephunneh (I Chron. :i5). (B. C. 12,t8 ) 5. One of the chiefs of the tribe of Benjamin at the time of the settlement of the country. He was son of Uzzi (1 Chron. ix :8). (B. C. 536.) 6. Father of Shimei ben-Elah, a commissariat officer of Solomon in Benjamin (1 Kings iv :18). (B. C. 96o.) 7. A valley in which the Israelites were en camped when David fought Goliath (i Sam. xvii: 19). It doubtless received this name, which some spell Alah (see ALLON ), from the terebinth trees or from some remarkable terebinth tree, growing in it. Ecclesiastical traditions identify it with the present valley of Beit Hanina, about eight miles northwest from Jerusalem. In this valley olive trees and carob trees now prevail, and tere binth trees are few ; but the brook is still indi cated whence the youthful champion selected the 'smooth stones' wherewith he smote the Philis tine. Dr. Robinson, however, disputes this an cient tradition, and finds that the conditions of the history require him to identify the valley of Elah with the Wady es-Sumt (acacia valley), which he crossed on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, about eleven miles southwest from the former city. His reasons are given in Biblical Researches, iii. 350; and he remarks that the largest specimen of the terebinth tree which he saw in Palestine still stands in the vicinity.
, ELAM (e'lam). (Heb. hidden).
1. Mentioned in Gen. x:22, as a son of Shem, from whom the tribe or nation mentioned in chap ter xiv :I, along with the kingdom of Shinar in Babylon, descended ; in Is. xxi :2, and Jer. xxv :25, Elam is connected with Media. In Ezra iv :9. the Elamites are described among the nations of the Persian empire ; and in Dan. viii :2, Susa is said to lie on the river Ulai (Euheus or Choaspes) in the province of Elam. These ac counts lead to the conclusion that Elam was the same land which was designated by the Greeks and Romans by the name of Elymais, and which formed a part of the ancient Susiana, the mod ern Khusistan. Elam was inhabited by vari
ous tribes of people. The Elymxi or Elammi, together with the Kissi seem to have been the old est inhabitants not only of Susiana proper but also of Persia ; whence the sacred writers, under the name of Elam, comprehended the country of the Persians in general. They were celebrated for skill in archery, and hence the historical propriety of the scriptural allusions to the quiver and the bow of the Elamites (Is. xxii :6; Jer. xlix :34)• Indeed, in the latter text the bow is distinctly men tioned as the chief instrument of Elamite power 'I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of his might.' It would seem that Elam was very early a sepa rate state with its own kings ; for in the time of Abraham we find that Chedorlaomer,king of Elam, extended his conquests west of the Euphrates as far as the Jordan and the Dead Sea (Gen. xiv :I). (See "CHEDORLAOMER :" also "Axiocit.") Ezekiel (xxxii :24) mentions Elam among the mighty un circumcised nations which had been the terror of the world; and about the same period (B. C. 59o) Jeremiah threatened it with conquest and destruc tion by the Chaldxans (Jer. xlix :3o. 34, sq.) This was accomplished probably by Nebuchadnezzar, who subjected Western Asia to his dominion ; for we find his successor Belshazzar residing at Susa, the capital of Elam. a province then subject to that monarch (Dan. viii :1, 2 ; Rosenmfiller's Biblical Geography, etc.) With this the scriptural no tices of Elam end. unless we add that Elamites are found among those who were at Jerusalem at the feast of Pentecost (Acts ii :9) ; which implies that Jews descended from the exiles were settled in that country. Here also they are mentioned next to the 'iledians,' with whom they are also coupled by the prophets (Is. xxi :2 ; Jer. xxv :25).
2. A Korhite Levite, the fifth son of Meshele miah; one of the Bene-Asaph in the time of David, the king (1 Chrcn. xxvi:3), B. C. 3. A chief in the tribe of Benjamin and a son of Shashak (1 Chron. viii :24). B. C. 536.) 4. The children of Elam, 1,254 in number, re turned with Zerubbabel from Babylon (Ezra ii: 7; Neh. vii :12). With Ezra 71 more returned (Ezra viii :7).
5. In the same lists is another Elam who also returned with the same number of men (Ezra ii:3I ; Neh. vii :34). (B. C. before 536.) The co incidence is curious and suspicious. For the sake of distinction he is called "the other Elam." 6. A priest who assisted Nehemiah in the dedi cation of the new wall of Jerusalem (Neh. xii : 42). (B. C. 446.) 7. One of the chiefs of the people who signed the covenant with Nehemiah (Neh. x :14). (B. C. 41o.)