Jerome, in his Qiiatst. Ilehr. on both passages — he does not state whether from ancient tradition or not — translates Elhanan mio A \l'0-d: this, and adds fliussal- it'is Pofi/tnifat-ius Bctklehemites — "the son of a wood, a weaver, a Bethlehemite." Adeodatus, he says, is Da- vid, which he argues not only by considerations drawn from the meaning of each of the above words, but also from the statement in the concluding verse of the rec- ord that all these giants "fell b}' tlie hand of David and by the hand of his servants," and as Elhanan slew Goliath, Elhanan must be David.
3. Elhanr.n is elsewhere called the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, one of " the thirty" of David's guard, and named first on the list (2 Sam. xxiii, 24; 1 Chron. xi, 26). See Kennicott's Dissertation, p. 179. Perhaps his fixther had both names. — Smith, s. v. See Jair. Elevation of the Host. See Host and Mass. Elfege. See Alphage. Elfric. See /Elfric.
E'li (Heh. Eli', ^h'J, i. q. ''hv, ascent; Sept. 'HXt [so N. T. see Heli], Josephus 'H\{(,Vulg. ffeli), the higli- priest of the Jews when the ark was in Shiloh (1 Sam. i, 3, 9). He was descended from Aaron through Itha- mar, the youngest of his two surviving sons (Lev. x, 1, 2, 12), as appears from the fact that Aliiathar, who was certainly a lineal descendant of Eli (1 Kings ii, 27), had a son Ahimelech, who is expressly stated to have been "of the sons of Ithamar" (1 Chron. xxiv, 3 ; comp. 2 Sam. viii, 17). With this accords the circum- stance that the names of Eli and his successors in the high-priesthood up to and including Abiathar are not found in the genealogy of Eleazar (1 Chron. vi, 4-15 ; comp. Ezra vii, 1-5). As the history makes no men- tion of any high-prict^t of the line of Ithamar before Eli, he is generalh' supposed to have been the first of that line who held the office (.Josephus, Ant. viii, 1, 3). From him, his sons having died before him, it appears to have passed to his grandson Ahitub (1 Sam. xiv, 3 ; comp. however Josephus, Ant. v, 11, 2), and it certain- ly remained in his famih' till Abiathar, the grandson of Aliitub, was "thrust out from being priest unto the Lord" by Solomon for his share in Adonijah's rebel- lion (1 Kings ii, 26, 2-7 ; i, 7), and the high-priesthood passed l)ack again to the family of Eleazar in tlie per- son of Zadok (1 Kings ii, 35). How the office ever came into the younger branch of the house of Aaron we are not informed ; perhaps it was through the inca- pacity or minority of the then sole representative of the elder line, for it is very evident that it was no un- authorized usurpation on the part of Eli (1 Sam. ii, 27, 28, 30). See Ithamar. Eli also acted as regent or civil judge of Israel after the death of Samson, being the immediate predecessor of his pupil Samuel (1 Sam. vii, 6, 15-17), the last of the judges. This function, indeed, seems to have been intended, by the theocrat- ical constitution, to devolve upon tlie high-priest, by virtue of his office, in the absence of anj' person spe- cially appointed by the divine King to deliver and govern Israel. He is said to have judged Israel 40 years (1 Sam. iv, 18) : the Septuagint makes it 20. It has been suggested, in explanation of the discrepancj', that he was sole judge for 20 years, after having been co-judge with Samson for 20 years (Judg. xvi, 31). But the probabilitj' is that tlie numl>er 40 is correct, but that it comprehends only the period of his admin- istration as judge ; for not only does the whole tenor of the narrative imply that this immediately succeeded the judgeship of Samson (as indeed Josephus evidently understood it ; a fact apparent not only from his his- tory, but also from the summing up of his numbers as computed by himself, ^?j<. v, 9 ; x, 3 ; title to liook v), but this view is evidently taken by Paul in his assign- ment of the period of 450 years to the judges (Acts xiii, 20), a number that immediately results from sim- ply adding together the items as given in the O.-T. history, including Samson and Eli as continuous to the others. See Judges. As Eli died at the age of nine- tj'-eight (1 Sam. iv, 15), the forty years (B.C. 1165- 1125) must have conmienced when he was fifty-eight years old. (Sec Lightfoot's Worlcs, i, 53, 907, fol. Lond. 1684; Selden, De Success, in Pontif. Hehr. lib. i, cap. 4). Sec High-priest.
Eli seems to have been a religious man, and the only fault recorded of him was an excessive easiness of temper, most unbefitting the high responsiliilities of his official character. His sons Hophni and Phine- has, whom he invested with authority, misconducted
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themselves so outrageously as to excite deep disgust aniony; the people, and rendei" the services of the tab- ernacle odious in their ej'es (1 Sam. ii, 27-36 ; 1 Kings ii, 27). Of this misconduct Kli was aware, but con- tented himself with mild and ineffectual remonstrances (1 Sam. ii, 22-25), where his station required severe and viicorous action (1 Sam. iii, 13). For ttiis neglect the judi^ment of (iod was at length denounced upon his liousc, tliroUiih the young Samuel (q. v.), who, un- der ]ieculiar circumstances, had been attached from childhood to his person (1 Sam. ii, 29; iii, 18). Some years passed without any apparent fulfilment of this denunciation, l)Ut it came at lengtli in one terrible crash, by which the old man's heart was broken. The Philistines had gained the upper hand over Isi-ael,and the ark of God was taken to the field, in the confidence of victory and safety from its presence. But in the battle wliich followed the ark itself was taken bj' the Philistines, and the two sons of Eli, who were in at- tendance upon it, were slain. The high-priest, then blind with age, sat bj' the wayside at Sliiloh, awaiting tidings from the war, "for his heart trembled for the ark of God." A man of Benjamin, with his clothes rent, and with earth upon his head, brought the fatal news : and Eli heard that Israel was defeated — that his sons were slain — that the ark of God was taken — at which last word he fell heavily from his seat, and died (1 Sam. iv). According to Schwarz {Palest, p. Ii2), an erroneous tradition locates his grave in an elegant building at tlio village Charim ben-Elim, eight miles N.N.E. of Jaffa, on the sliorc. The ultimate doom upon Eli"s house was accomplished wlien Solomon re- moved Abiathar (tlic last high-priest of this line) from his office, and i-estored the line of Eleazar, in the per- son of Zadok (I Kings ii, 27). See Abiathar. An- other part of tlie same sentence (1 Sam. ii, 31-33) ap- pears to have been taking effect in tlie reign of David, when wo read that "there were more chief men found of the sons of Eleazar than of the srns of Ithamar" — sixteen of the former, and only eight of the latter (1 Chron. xxiv, 4). — Kitto, s. v. ; Smith, s. v,