grammar procured him the surname of *' the Gramma- rian" (p^ptJ-?"!?)' His first work was a commentary on the Ti^n.'J (^Makalak), or grammar of the rabbi Mo- ses Kimchi, first published by a certain Benjamin who had stolen the MS. (at Pesaro, 1508 ; frequently re- printed, with a Latin translation bj' Sebastian Miin- ster, Basel, 1527, 1531; and another by L'Empereur, Leyd. 1631). This is a difterent work from his scholia on Kimclii's "^l^'H HrQ {Pethach Deburay), or brief grammatical introduction, the text of which had ap- peared at Naples in 1492, and Levita's scholia on it at Pesara in 1507, and later editions. At Rome he com- posed a grammar entitled "liinSrt (hah-Bachn; Rome, 1518), and a work on " Composition'''' (nSS^flln, Rome, 1519), in which he treats of the irregular words of the Bible. Both works were translated by Miinster (the former first at Basel in 1518, and the latter in 1536). He also wrote a more extensive grammatical treatise in four parts, entitled "iT'^X ''n;"?^, ^'■Elijah's Sec- tions'' (Soncino, 1520, and later elsewhere ; trans, bj- Miinster, Basel, 1527, and later). After his return to Venice he wrote a book on the accents (Cr." tJ -'i:) Tub Taam (Ven. 1538, and other eds. ; likewise translated by Miinster, Basel, 1539), and, the most celel rated of all his works, a critical book on the Biblical text and its authors (ri"^1C"2il r.'^']'C^'), Maso7-eth ham-Masoreth (Venice, 1538, 1546 ; Basel, 1539 [with a Latin summa- ry of the work by IMiinster ; Sulzliach, 1769 and 1771]). This work, remarkable alike for literarj' merit, al- though it anticipated the judgments of the highest modern criticism on the questions of which it treats, and although it was, in fact, the father of the great Buxtorf and Capi)el controversy, which raged round the Hebrew Scriptures for more than a hundred years after Levita's death, had, until recently, never been act- uallj' translated either into Latin or any modern lan- guage. Nagel translated into Latin the three intro- ductions (Altdorf, 1757-1771) ; and there is a so-called German translation of Levita's book, published at Halle in 1772, and commonlj^ known as Semler's. But Semler was not realh', as indeed he did not pro- fess to be, the ti'anslator of Levita. The translation, such as it was, was executed by a young Jewish con- vert to Christianity of the name of Meyer, and all that Semler did was to supervise and annotate the Ger- man rendering. After all, the work was full of errors, and many valuable passages of the original are alto- gether omitted. A complete and very carefully exe- cuted translation into English, together with a critical edition of the original, was in 1867 published by I)r. Ginsburg (The j\Iasor€lh ha-Masoreth of Elias Levi- ta, in Hebrew, with an English Translation and Explan- atory Notes, London, 1867). Among the works com- piled by him at Isny is a Chaldaic-Rabbinical Diction- ary ("I'CS'^irp, Methurgemdn, Isny, 1541 ; Ven. 1560). Elias also prepared a German translation of the Psalms (Ven. 1545), and was, according to Salitai, the author of a Hebrew-German novel, Baha. A full list of these and other works of Elias, with their editions, transla- tions, etc., also bil)liographical treatises on them and their author, may be found in Fiirst's Blhllotheca Ju- daica, ii, 239 sq. A valualile biography of Elias is found in Dr. Ginsburg's edition of ]ifaso7-eth kam.Jfa- soreth, cited above ; see also Herzog, Eeal-Enrylcl. iii, 758 ; Hoefer, Noui\ Jiiog. Gen. xv, 810 ; Rossi, Dieiona- rio storico degli Autori Ehrei (German transl. [Hist. Handworterbuch d<r ji'id. Schriftsteller'] by Dr. Ham- berger, Leipz. 1839); Hirt, Oriental, und Exeget. Bib- liiithel; pt. vii, Jena, 1755 ; Wolfii Bibliotheca Hebrma, Hamburg, 1715, i, 153. (A. J. S.)
Eli'asaph (Heb. Elyasaph' , Cia^pN;, whom God has added; Sept. 'EXorai/j), the name of two Israelites at the time of the Exode.
ELIASHIB
141
ELIEZER
1. Son of Eeuel or Deuel, and phj'larch of the tribe of Dan (Num. i, 14 ; il, 14 ; vii, 42, 47 ; x, 20). B.C. I(j.j7.
2. Son of Lael, and chief of the family of the Ger- shoniite Levites (Num. iii, 24). B.C. 1657.
Eli'ashib (Heb. Elyashib' , ll'^d^bx, whom God will restore; Sept. 'EXiamflMV, 'EAi«/3(, 'E\iaadji, 'EA(a(T0i'i/3, etc. ; Josephus 'EXuKJiftoq; Yulg. Eli asub, EUasib), a common name of Israelites, especially at the later period of the O.-T. history.
1. A priest in the time of king David ; head of the eleventh "course" in the order of the "governors" (Q^"!-) of the sanctuary (1 Chron. xxiv, 12). B.C. 1013. '
2. A Levitical singer who repudiated his Gentile wife after the exile (Ezra x, 24). B.C. 458.
3. An Israelite of the lineage of Zattu, who did the same (Ezra x, 27). B.C. 458^
4. An Israelite of the lineage of Bani, who did the same (Ezra x, 36). B.C. 458.
5. The high-priest of the Jews in the time of Nehe- miah (Neh. xii, 28). B.C. 446. With the assistance of liis fellow-priests, he rebuilt the eastern city wall adjoining the Temple (Neh. iii, 1). His own exten- sive mansion was doubtless situated in the same vicin- ity, probably on the ridge Ophel (Neh. iii, 20, 21). See Jerusalem. Eliashib was in some way allied (21"i|^ = near) to Tobiah the Ammonite, for whom he had prepared an ante-room in the Temple, a desecration which excited the pious indignation of Nehemiah (Neh. xiii, 4, 7). One of the grandsons of Eliashib had also married the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite (xiii, 28). There seems no reason to doubt that the same Eliashib is referred to in Ezra x, 6, as the father of Johanan, who occupied an apartment in the Temple (comp. Josephus, Ant. xi, 5, 4). He is evidently the same with the son of Joiakim and father of Joiada (Josephus, " Judas," Ant. xi, 7, 1), in the succession of high-priests (Neh. xii, 10, 22). See High-priest.