אֶלְתְּקֹן
Eltekon, a place in Palestine
Definition
Eltekon is a proper noun referring to a town in the hill country of Judah, mentioned only once in the Old Testament. It was one of the settlements allotted to the tribe of Judah during the division of the Promised Land (Joshua 15:59). The name itself, meaning 'God (is) straight' or 'God is established,' likely served as a declaration of divine righteousness or reliability. As a specific location, its primary significance is geographical, identifying a place within the tribal inheritance.
Biblical Usage
The word 'Eltekon' is used only once in the entire Old Testament, in Joshua 15:59. It appears in a list of cities given to the tribe of Judah within the hill country district. Its usage is purely as a proper place name within a geographical catalog, with no narrative or descriptive context provided beyond its listing.
Etymology
The name Eltekon (אֶלְתְּקֹן) is a compound word derived from 'El' (אֵל, H410), a primary term for God, and the root 'taqan' (תָּקַן, H8626), meaning to be straight, right, or established. Thus, the name can be interpreted as 'God is straight' or 'God is established,' suggesting a place named to affirm God's uprightness or firm foundation.
Semantic Range
While the place itself is not the focus of any biblical narrative, its etymological meaning—'God is straight' or 'God is established'—offers a subtle theological reminder. It signifies that even ordinary locations in the Promised Land could bear names that confessed God's character, embedding a testimony to His righteousness and reliability into the very geography of Israel's inheritance.
In ancient Israel, place names often carried descriptive, historical, or theological significance. Naming a town 'Eltekon' would have served as a constant, communal affirmation of God's upright nature. For the original audience, such a name reinforced their identity as a people living in a land marked by declarations of their God's attributes, differentiating it from a purely secular or geographical designation.
No direct synonyms as a proper place name. Related conceptually to other Judahite town names compounded with 'El,' such as Eltolad (H513) and Eltekeh (H514).
Word Details
How this works
Hebrew definitions are from Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906) and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (1890), both public domain. BDB was groundbreaking for its era but reflects 19th-century assumptions about Semitic etymology. Modern scholarship (HALOT, DCH) has revised many entries. Use these definitions as a starting point for exploration, not as the final word on a term's meaning in context.
Full methodology & sources →