Elasah (Hastings' Dictionary)

1. One of those who had married a foreign wife (Ezr 10-). 2. The son of Shaphan, who along with Gemariah, the son of Hilkiah, carried a message from king Zedekiah to Babylon (Jer 29"). For no apparent reason, RV retains the AV spelling Elasah in both the above passages, althoutjh both AV and RV give for the same Heb. the form Eleasah (wh. see) elsewhere. J. A. Selbie. ELATH or ELOTH (nVi?, mVi?).— A seaport in the extreme S. of Edom, at the head of the Gulf of Akabah. It is mentioned in Dt 2* in connexion with Ezion-geber, one of tlie ' stations ' of the Israelites. Elath, Eloth, and Elim may possibly be various names of one and the same place, tho ' palm-grove' which was the second halting, place after the passage of the Red Sea. (See Sayce, HCM p. 268). fe. is probably identical with El-paran of Gn H' and Elah of Gn 36". It has also been suggested that it is referred to in 1 Ch 4", where for ' Iru, Elah ' (nSi(, n-y) we might read ' Ir and Elah ' (Ty .-i^Ki). See further Dillmann on Gn 36". The history of E. was a chequered one. Coming into the possession of Israel when Edom was subdued by David (2 S 8"), it was an important naval station during the reign of Solomon (1 E 9-'). When the disiuption of the kingdom took place, Edom con- tin led to be a vassal of the house of David, until it recovered its independence in the time of Tehoram the son of Jehoshaphat (2 K S^). The port of E. passed once more mto the possession of Jndah, when Amaziah and Uzziah had inflicted a succession of defeats upon Edom (2 K 14^). It was wrested permanently from Jndah during the operations undertaken against Aliaz by I'ekah and Rezin (2 K 10"), and either the Syrians {Kethihh) or the Edomites (Kere) became its pos- sessors. With this event (c. B.C. 734) ends its history as far as OT ia concerned. K. is the xaoAeTa'Alabah. J. A. Selbik.