ELNATHAN

(El·naʹthan) [God has given].

1. The father of King Jehoiachin’s mother Nehushta. (2 Ki. 24:8) Likely he is the Elnathan identified as the “son of Achbor” and whom King Jehoiakim sent down to Egypt to bring back the prophet Urijah. (Jer. 26:22, 23) Interestingly, one of the Lachish letters dating from this period mentions the name Elnathan, saying: “The commander of the host, Coniah son of Elnathan, hath come down in order to go into Egypt.”

2, 3, 4. Three men bearing the name Elnathan are mentioned in the book of Ezra. Two are designated as “head ones” and the other as an instructor. At the river Ahava, before making the trip to Jerusalem, Ezra gave them a command to appeal to Iddo and the Nethinim at Casiphia to provide from their number ministers for the house of God, to which the Levites and the Nethinim responded.—Ezra 8:15-20.