4. (Sept. 'E\((;()«/\fr,Vulg. Eliphalet.) The third of the three sons of Eshek, of the posterity of Benjamin, and a descendant of king Saul through Jonathan (1 Chron. viii, 39). B.C. ante 530.
5. (Sept. 'EXifaXa^! v. r. 'EXKpaXdr, Vulg. Elijjke- kf.) One of the sons of Adonikam, who returned from Baiij'lon with his two brothers and 60 males (Ezra viii, 13). B.C. 459.
6. (Sept. 'E/\(^rt\tr,Vulg. Eliphelelh.) An Israelite of the lineage of Hashum, who divorced his Gentile wife after the exile (Ezra x, 33). B.C. 458.
Elis'abeth ('EXktw'/Sct-), wife of Zacharias or Zach- ariah, and mother of John the Baptist (Luke i, 5). She was a descendant of Aaron, or of the race of the priests ; and of her and her husband tiiis exalted char- acter is given bj' the evangelist : " They were both righteous before God, walking in all the command- ments and ordinances of the Lord blameless" (Luke i, 7, 13). Thjy had remained childless till the decline of life, when an angel foretold to her husband Zacha- riah the birth of John, and Zachariah returning home, Elisabeth conceived. During five months she con- cealed the favor God had granted her ; Init the an- gel Gabriel discovered to the Virgin Mary this mirac- ulous conception, as an assurance of the birth of the Messiah bj-- herself. See Annunciation. Mary vis- ited Elisabeth, and when she .saluted her, Elisabeth felt the quickening of her unborn babe. When her child was circumcised she named him John, accord- ing to previous instructions from her husband (Luke i, 39-63). B.C. 7. See Zaciiauias.
The name in this precise shape does not occur in the Old Testament, where the names of few females are given. But it is a Hebrew naime, the same in fact as Elisheba (q v.). Il is p^^rhaps etymologically con- nected with Elissn or Elisa, the Phoenician name of queen Dido (Virgil, ^En. iv, 335), whence the modern Eliza, Elizabeth.
Elisee'us ('EXtor/roc or 'EXktctoioc), the Graeeized form of the name of El!SHA (q. v.) in the N. T. (Luke iv, 27) and Apociypha (^EXirrati, Ecclus. xlviii, 12), as well as Josephus (^Ant. viii, 13, 7 etc.).
Eli'sha (Heb. Elisha% i'l^-i^X, for ra.-'-^^^X, God is his salvation; Sept. 'EXtaais or 'EXirraaii, Josephus and N. T. 'EA(f7(Ta(0f,Vulg. Elisrens, A.V. in N. T. and Apocr. "ElisEeus"), the son of Shaphat of Abel-meho- lali (1 Kings xix, 16-19), who became the attendant and disciple of Elijah (.losephus. Ant. viii, 13, 7), and his successor as prophet in the kingdom of Israel. See Elijah.
1. J/istori/.—The earliest mention of Elisha's name is in the command to Elijah in the cave at Iloreb (1 Kings xix, 16, 17). But our first introduction to the future prophet is in the fields of his native place (B.C. cir. 9nO). Abel-meholah — the " meadow of the dance" — was probably in the valley of the Jordan, and, as its name would seem to indicate, in a moist or watered sit- uation. See Ar.Ei>. Elijah, on his way from Sinai to Damascus by the Jordan valley, lights on his successor •"■ngaged in the labors of the field, twelve yoke before him, i. e. probably eleven other ploughs preceding him along the same line (see Thomson, Land and Book, i, 208). To cross to him, to throw over his shoulders the rough mantle — a token at once of investiture with the prophet's office, and of adoption as a son — was to Eli-
jah but the work of ah instant, and the prophet strode on as if what he had done were nothing — " Go back again, for what have I done unto thee?" So sudden and weighty a call, involving the relinquishment of a position so substantial, and family ties so dear, might well have caused hesitation. But the parley was only momentarv. To use a figure which we may almost believe to have been suggested by this ver}^ occur- rence, Elisha was not a man who, having put his hand to the plough, was likely to look back ; he delayed merely to give the farewell kiss to his father and moth- er, and preside at a parting feast with his people, and then followed the great prophet on his northward road to become to him what in the earlier times of his na- tion Joshua had been to Moses. Of the nature of this connection we know hardly anj'thing. ''Elisha the son of Shaphat, who poured water on the hands of Eli- jah," is all that is told us. The characters of the two men were thoroughly dissimilar, but how far the lion- like daring and courage of the one had infused itself into the other, we can judge from the few occasions on which it blazed forth, while every line of the narrative of Elijah's last hours on earth bears evidence how deep was the personal affection which the stern, rough, re- served master had engendered in his gentle and pliant disciple.
Seven or eight years must have passed between the call of Elisha and the removal of his master, and dur- ing the whole of that time we hear nothing of him. But when that period had elapsed he reappears, t(3 be- come the most prominent figure in the histoiy of his country during the rest of his long life.
Being anxious, after his remarkable appointment on receiving the robe as a symbol of inheriting the pro- phetic spirit of his ascended master, to enter at once upon the duties of his sacred office, Elisha determined to visit the schools of the prophets which were on the other side of the Jordan. Accordingly, returning to that river, and wisiiiiig that sensible evidence should be afforded, both to himself and others, of the spirit and power of his departed master resting upon him, he struck its waters with Elijah's mantle, when they part- ed asunder and opened a way for him to pass over on dry land. Witnessing this miraculous transaction, the fifty sons of the prophets, who had seen from the oppo- site side Elijah's ascension, and who were awaiting Elisha's return, now, with beconung reverence, ac- knowledged him their spiritual head. These young prophets are not more full of reverence for Elisha than of zeal for Elijah : they saw the latter carried up in the air — they knew that this was not the first time of his miraculous removal. Imagining it therefore pos- sible that the Spirit of God had cast him on s-onie re- mote mountain or valley, they ask permission to go and seek him. Elisha, though fully aware that he was received up into glory, but j'et fearful lest it should be conceived that he, from an}' unworthy motives, was not anxious to have him brought back, yielded to their request. The unavailing search confirmed Elisha's fame. (B.C. cir. 892.)