El-Beth'el (Ileb. El Beyth-El,' bN-r.-^a bx, God of Bethel; Sept. simply Brt(.5-//X, Vulg. Domus Dei), the name given by Jacob to the altar erected by him as a sanctuary (Gen. xxxv, 7), on the spot where he had formerly experienced the vision of the mj'stic ladder (chap, xxxi, 13; xxviii, 18). See Bethel. Elcesaites. See Elkesaites. El'cia (EX/oi'rt), one of the forefathers of Judith, and therefore belonging to the tribe of Simeon (Jud. viii, 1) ; what Hebrew name the woi'd represents is doubtful. Hilkiah is probably Chelkias, two steps back in the genealogy. The Syriac version has El- Jcaiia. In the Vulgate the names are hopelessly alter- ed.— Smith, s. V.
El'daah [some Eldci'ah'] (Heb. Eldaah', 'r^'J'fi^, whom God called; Sept. 'EXSaya, '¥J\daM; Josephus 'EX("«Ci -Iw^- it 15, 1), the last-named of the five sons of Midian, Abraham's son by Keturah (Gen. xxv, 4; 1 Chron. i, 33). B.C. post 2063.
El'dad (Heb. Eldud' , T^^N, whom God has loved; comp. Theophilus ; Sept. 'EXdc'a)), one of the seventj^ elders who had been appointed under Moses to assist in the administration of justice among the people. B.C. 1658. He is mentioned along with Medad, an- other elder, as having on a particular occasion re- ceived the gift of prophec}^, wliich came upon them in the camp, while Moses and tiie rest of the elders were assembled around the door of the tal)ernacle. The spirit of prophecy was upon tliem all ; and the simple psculiarity in the case of Eldad and Medad was that they did not bse their share in the gift, though they abode in the camp, liut they prophesied there. It ap- peared, however, an irregularity to Joshua, the son of Nun, and seems to have suggested tlie idea that they were using the gift with a view to their own aggran- dizement. He therefore entreated Moses to forbid them. But Moses, with characteristic magnanimity, replied, " Enviest thou for my sake ? Would God tliat all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!" (Num. xi, 24- 29). — Fairbairn, s. v. The great fiict of the passage is the more general distribution of the spirit of prophecy, which had hitherto been concentrated in Moses ; and
the implied sanction of a tendency to separate the ex- ercise of this gift from the service of the tabernacle, and to make it more generally available for the en- lightenment and instruction of the Israelites, a ten- dency which afterwards led to the establishment of "schools of the prophets." The circumstance is in strict accordance with the Jewish tradition that all prophetic inspiration emanated originallj' from Moses, and was transmitted from him by a legitimate succes- sion down to the time of the captivit}'. The inode of prophecy in the case of Eldad and Medad was proba- blj^ the extempore production of hymns, chanted forth to the people (Hammond) ; comp. the case of Saul, 1 Sam. X, 11. From Num. xi, 25, it appears that the gift was not merely intermittent, but a continuous en- ergy, though only occasionally developed in action. — Smith, s. v. See Prophecy.
Elder (properly li^T, zdken'; irpeffjSvTipoc, a term which is plainly the origin of our word '■'■ priest f Sax- on preoster andpres/e, then priest. High and Low Dutch priester, French prestre and pretre, Ital. prete, Span. jiresbytero), literally, one of the older men ; and be- cause, in ancient times, older persons would naturally be selected to hold public offices, out of regard to their presumed superiority in knowledge and expe- rience, the term came to be used as the designation for the office itself, borne by an individual of whatever age. (See Gesenius, Ileb. Lex. s. v.) Such is tlie origin of the words yepov>jia (a council of elders), sena- tus, alderman, etc.
I. In the 0. T. — The term elder was one of extensive use, as an official title, among the Hebrews and the sur- rounding nations. It applied to various offices ; Eli- ezer, for instance, is described as the "old man of the house," i. e. the major-domo (Gen. xxiv, 2); the officers of Pharaoh"s household (Gen. 1, 7), and, at a later period, David's head servants (2 Sam. xii, 17) were so term- ed; while in Ezek. xxvii, 0 the "old men of Gebal" are the masler-tvorkmen. But the term "elder" appears to be also expressive of respect and reverence in gen- eral, as sif/nore, seigneur, seiior, etc. The word occurs in this sense in Gen. 1, 7, "Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt" (Sept. Trpfff/SiVfooi, Vulg. senes). These elders of Egypt were probably the various state officers. As betokening a political office, it applied not only to the Hebrews and Egyptians, but also to the Moaliites and Jlidianites (Num. xxii, 7). The elders of Israel, of whom such frequent mention is made, may have been, in early times, the lineal de- scendants of the patriarchs (Exod. xii, 21). To the elders Moses was directed to open his commission (Exod. iii, 16). They accompanied Moses in his first interview with Pharaoh, as the representatives of the Hebrew nation (ver. 18) ; through them Jloses issued his communications and commands to the whole peo- ple (Exod. xix, 7 ; Deut. xxxi, 9) ; they were his im- mediate attendants in all great transactions in the wilderness (Exod. xvii, 5) ; seventy of their number were selected to attend Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, at the giving of the law (Exod. xxiv, 1), on which occasion they are called the nobles (D"'3"i:iX, lit. deep-roofed, i. e. of high-born stock ; Sept. iTriXfK- TOi) of the children of Israel, who did eat and drink before God, in ratification of the covenant, as rei)re- sentatives of the nation (ver. 11). In Num. xi, 16, 17, we meet with the appointment of seventy elders to bear the burden of the people along with Moses ; these were selected by Moses out of the whole nunilicr of the elders, and arc dcscril)ed as being already officers over the children of Israel. It is the opinion of Mi- chaelis that this council chosen to assist Moses should not be confounded with the Sanhedrim, which, he thinks, was not instituted till after the return from the Babylonish captivity. See Sanhedrim. He ob