ELKANAH (nON ; LXX. 'EXtcavd ; Vulg. Elcana), ' God - acquired ' [cf. ; phcen.
etc.), a name of not unfrequent currence in the O. T., more especially among the descendants of Levi's second son, Kohath (Kehath).
t. A Son' of Korah, and founder of one of the Korahite families' (Exod. vi. 24). The apparent discrepancy between Elkanah's genea logy as given here, and that contained in I Chron. vi. 22, 23 (6, 7, in the Hebrew text) ; the former of which would make him the offspring of Korah himself, and brother of Ebiasaf (or Abiasaf), and Assir ; • while the latter makes him the son of Assir and the father of Ebiasaf, might be re conciled by assuming that in Exod. does not mean 'sons' in the usual sense, but issue,' and that in reality the Assir, Elkanah, Ebiasaf' of both passages stand to each other in the relation of father, son, and grandson :—in which case, how ever, it would be rather strange to see the three families of father, son, and grandson, mentioned as three distinct (surviving) families. Or, which seems more plausible, that Exod. does enumerate the sans of Korah : Assir, Elkanah, Ebiasaf, while in Chron. it is only intended to trace the pedigree of Samuel; and that the three names stand in the same order here by a curious but by no means uncom mon coincidence. Assir, Korah's son, may have named his son after his own brother Elkanah, while upon his grandson was bestowed the name of his other brother Ebiasaf : just as we find the name of Elkanah constantly recurring in the se veral generations and branches of the family, or as Ebiasaf's son was again called Assir (in both genealogies, vi. 23 and vi. 37), after his great grandfather. The Elkanah of Chron. vi. 23 would then be the nephew of the Elkanah of Exodus, whose own offspring is not given, whereas that of both his brothers (Ebiasaf's, vi. 37 ; Assir's, vi. 6), is enumerated for certain purposes. [KonAH.] 2, The father of Samuel the prophet. He is described (I Sam. i. t, ff.) as living at Rama thaim Zophim in the Mount Ephraim, and as being the son of Jeroham, son of Elihu, son of Tohu, son of Zuph, Efrati ;' a genealogy which agrees in the main with the one given in the pedi gree of Henan, I Chron. vi. 34, 35, but differs considerably from I Chron. vi. 27, ff. By both these lists of Chron., however, he is traced to Levi ; a circumstance which has been thought by modern critics to stand in direct contradiction to the Ephrati ' or Ephraimite' in Samuel, no less than to Elkanah's living in a place of Mount Efraim, not enumerated among the Levitical towns. It has, therefore, been thought that the genealogies of Chron. were framed at a late period for the purpose of making Samuel, whom we see performing sacerdotal duties, a Levite by birth. But it has been forgotten, in the first place, that Ephrati ' does not only mean a man of the tribe of Ephraim, but also a man of Ephrata, i.e., Beth Lehem, where Elkanah's ancestors may have lived (cf. Ruth i. 2, Machlon and Chilion, Ephratites from Beth Lehem Jehuda Sam. xvii. 12, David, the son of the Ephratite from Beth Lehem Jehuda.') Secondly, that the Levites were not by any means obliged to live in the forty-eight towns especially set aside for them, but were al lowed to settle wherever they pleased (cf. Judg.
xvii. 7, etc.) In fact, if a further proof of the authenticity of the independent lists in Chron. were needed, we should feel inclined to find it in the very discrepancies of some of the intermediate names, which point to the remote antiquity and genuineness of the former.
This Elkanah, who lived during the later years of Eli's high-priesthood, had, we are told, two wives, Hannah and Peninnah, the latter of whom he had probably married on account of the steri lity of Hannah, whom he loved,' and to whom he doubled the presents which he was wont to give to his other wife, and all her sons and daughters' (their number is not stated), on the occasion of his annual sacrifice at Shiloh. Elkan ah does not, at the time of the narrative at least, appear to have officiated as a Levite ; either be cause he then perhaps had passed the age of fifty, when the Levitical duties ceased, or because the respective Mosaic ordinances had in some manner fallen into disuse, and were not restored to their pristine authority until David's time. This would also solve the difficulty of Hannah's dedicating the son she might have `to the Lord,—all his days ;' a thing which, although incumbent upon her, was not customary at that time. Another way of ex plaining this her vow, might be, to assume that she referred to those early years of her son (up to five and-twenty, according to Num. viii. 24, or up to thirty according to Num. iv. 3, 23, 3o, 47), before his legal inauguration into the Levitical office. Little more is known of Elkanah. He appears to have been in easy circumstances, and of a pious and good-natured disposition. Hannah bore him three sons and two daughters after the birth of Samuel. Whether the 'Ephrati' refers to him or to his great great - grandfather Zuph is a moot point. The Accent (a Tipchah, ` Rex' or principal sign of division) under Zuph, and the absence of the article (ro in Ephrati, seem to indicate that it refers to the first name, viz., to Elkanah, and it has, indeed, by most versions been taken in this sense. The Midrash, followed by Targum Jona than, makes Elkanah a prophet : on-al in, wtly timo For from Ramathaim Zophim' read Mathaim-Zophim'—' One of the two hundred Seers' (Jalk. ad loc.) of the disciples of the prophets' ( Jonathan). Korahites ' of the same name are the follow ing four : 3. The father of Amasai and Achimoth (r Chron. vi. 25). (The beginning of the following verse has evidently a corrupt reading.) 4. A son of Mathath (r Chron. vi. 35), per haps identical with the former.
5. A son of Joel (1 Chron. vi. 36).
6. One of the mighty men' who rallied round David at Ziklag before his assuming the crown (1 Chron. xii. 6).— 7. Another Levite, but of uncertain family ; the father of Asa, dwelling in a village of the Neto phathites (1 Chron. ix. 16).
S. A man in high office. ` Second to the king' at the court of Ahaz, the king of Judah (2 Chron. xxviii. 7). He fell in an encounter with the Israel ites by the hands of Zichri, an Ephraimite. —E. D.