2. (Sei)t. HAi'a v. r. 'EpiV;.) One of the " sons of Jeroham," and heads of Benjamite families resident at Jerusalem (1 Chron. viii, 27, where the name is in- accurately Anglicized " Eliah"). B.C. post 1612.
3. (Sept. 'HAirt.) One of the "sons of Elim" (q. v.), who divorced his Gentile wife on returning from the exile (Ezra x, 21, where the name is likewise wrongly Anglicized "Eliah"). B.C. 458.
Eli'ka [some EVila'] (Heb. Eliha, NJ^^^X, God is his rejecter; Sept. 'EXikc'i v. r. 'Erawr, Vulg. EJica), a Harodite (q. v.), one of David's thirty-seven distiu-
ELILBI
151
ELIOT
guishcd warriors (2 Sam. xxiii, 25). B.C. 1046. His name is omitted in the parallel list of 1 Chron. xi, 27 (see Kennicott's conjecture, Uisseiiation, p. 182). See Shamjioth.
Elilim. See Talmud.
E'lim (Heb. Eyliin, t'^b^X, trees [so called from their strmf/lh ; see Oak] ; perh. here palm-trees ; Sept. Ai'Afi/i)) '^ place mentioned in Exod. xv, 27; Num. xxxiii, 9, as the second station where the Israelites encamped after crossing the IJed Sea. (See Hiildrich or Ulrieh, JJe fontibus in Elim repertis, Brem. 1728). See also Beer-Elim. It is distinguished as having had "twelve wells (rather "fountains," ""D'^") of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees." Laborde {Genfjraphical Commentarij on Exod. xv, 27) supposed imd// Ustit to be Elim, the second of four wadj's lying between 29° 7' and 29° 20', which descend from the range of et-Tih (here nearly parallel with the shore) towards the sea. The route of the Israelites, however, cannot well be mistaken at this part. It evidently lay along the desert plain on the eastern shore of the Red Sea, Elim must consequently have been in this plain, and not more than about lifty miles from the place of passage. With these data, and in a countrj^ where fountains arc of such rare occurrence, it is not dilHcult to identify Elim. Near the south-eastern end of this plain, and not far from the base of Jebel Hum- mam, the outpost of the great Sinai mountain-group, a charming vale, called wady GhurinuM, intersects the line of route. It is the first of the four wadys no- ticed above, and is, in fact, the most noted valley of that region, and the only one in tlie vicinity contain- ing water (Robinson, Researches, i, 100, 105). In the dry season it contains no stream, but in the rainj^ sea- son it becomes the channel of a broad and powerful mountain current, being bounded by high ridges, and extending far into the interior. It has no soil, but drifting sand, wiiich has left but one of the "wells" remaining, the others anciently existing being doubt- less filled up. This principal fountain springs out at tlie foot of a sandstone rock, forming a pool of spark- ling water, and sending out a tiny but perennial stream. This, in fact, is one of the chief watering- places in the peninsula of Sinai (Bartlett, Forty Days in the Desert, p. 3.3 sq.). There are no palm-trees at present here, but the place is fringed with trees and shrubbery, stunted palms, with their hairj^ trunks and dishevelled branches ; tamarisks, their feather}^ leaves dripping with what tlie Arabs call manna; and the acacia, with its gray foliage and white blossoms (Stan- ley, Palestine, p. 68). These supply the only verdure, which, however, in contrast with the naked desert, is quite refreshing (Olin's Travels, i, 362). Well might such a wady, in the midst of a bare and treeless waste, be called emi)hatically AViw, " the trees." Lepsius takes another view, that Ghurundel is Mara, by others identified with Ilowara (2^ hours N.W. from Ghurun- del, and reached by the Israelites, therefore, before it), and that Elim is to be found in the last of the four above named, wady Shubeikeh (Travels, Berlin, 1845, p. 27 sq.). See Exode.
Elim'elech (Heb. Klime'leh, Tj^'^'^bs:, God is his hhig ; Sept. 'EA(/(j,\£/c; Josephus, 'EXi^ifXtxeiQ, Ant.y,^, 1), a man of the tribe of .ludah, and of the family of the Hezronites and kinsman of Boaz, who dwelt in Bethle- hem-Ephratah in the daj^s of the judges. B.C. cir. 1368. In consequence of a great dearth in the land he went with liis wife Naomi, and liis two sons, Mahlon and Chilion, to dwell in IMoat), where he and his sons died without posterity (Kuth i, 2, 3 ; ii, 1, 3 ; iv, 3, 9). See Ruth.
Elios'nai (Heb. Elyo'immJ , ''3i|i"'3X, a contracted
form of tliJ name El'ihoenai), tlie name of several men.
1. (Sept.'E/\iuij;vat v. r. 'EXiJij'uj', Vulg. Elioenai.~)
Fourth son of Bechc'r, son of Benjamin (1 Chron. vii, 8). B.C. post 1856.
2. (Sept. 'EXiiovdi v. r. 'E\iwvr)i, Vulg. Elioenai.') A chief of the posterity of Simeon (1 Chron. iv, 36). B.C. post 1618.
3. (1 Chron. xxvi, 3.) See Elihoenai.
4. (Sept. 'E\iw7)pai v. r. 'EXiwi^cfi, Vulg. Elioenai.') A priest of the sons of Pashur, who had married a for- eign wife after the return from Babylon, but who, at Ezra's instigation, put her away with the children born of her, and offered a ram for a trespass offering (Ezra x, 22). B.C. 458. He is perhaps the same mentioned in Neh. xii, 41, as one of the priests who accompanied Nehemiah with trumpets at the dedica- tion of the wall of Jerusalem. B.C. 446.
5. (Sept. 'EXuoiivat v. r. 'EXiwat, Yulg. Elioenai.') An Israelite of the sons of Zattu, who likewise divorced his Gentile wife after the exile (Ezra x, 27). B.C. 458.