itself was more peaceable, he saw to it that the work started by Elijah was thoroughly carried out and lived to see it done. He is credited with sixteen miracles as compared with Elijah’s eight. Like Elijah, he showed great zeal for Jehovah’s name and true worship. He manifested patience, love and kindness, and yet was very firm when Jehovah’s name was involved and did not hesitate to express God’s judgment against the wicked. He earned for himself a place among the “so great a cloud of witnesses” mentioned at Hebrews 12:1.

Since the work that Elijah did was prophetic of things to come in Jesus’ day, with also a yet later fulfillment, it is reasonable to assume the same thing regarding Elisha’s work, since he actually completed the work Elijah began, carrying out his unfinished commission.

ELISHAH

(E·liʹshah).

Son of Javan and a family head from whom the “population of the isles of the nations was spread about.” (Gen. 10:4, 5; 1 Chron. 1:7) The only other Biblical mention of Elishah is in the dirge pronounced against Tyre, where the name appears as that of a land or region trading with Tyre. Tyre is represented as a figurative ship, outfitted by many nations, with “the islands of Elishah” providing the “blue thread and wool dyed reddish purple” for the ship’s deck covering (perhaps a type of awning to protect from sun and rain).—Ezek. 27:1-7.

There have been numerous suggestions as to the region populated by Elishah’s descendants. Some associate Elishah with the city of Carthage because the traditional founder of that city, Queen Dido, was also called “Elisa.” Carthage, however, was a Phoenician colony and hence unrelated to Javan and his sons. Egyptian documents and Hittite cuneiform inscriptions mention a land called Alashia, but, although some would connect this place with the island of Cyprus and others with a region in N Syria near Cilicia, its actual location is uncertain. At any rate Cyprus is represented by another of Javan’s sons, Kittim (Gen. 10:4), and is mentioned as distinct from Elishah at Ezekiel 27:6.

Many commentators favor a location more closely connected with Greece itself, anciently (and modernly) known by the name of Hellas. First-century Jewish historian Josephus applied the name of Elishah to the Æolians, one of the parent branches of the Greek peoples. By Ezekiel’s time the name Æolis had come to designate only a portion of the W coast of Asia Minor. A similarity to the name of Elishah is noted in the district of Elis on the NW coast of the Peloponnesus (the southern peninsula of Greece). The Greeks are also known to have established colonies in southern Italy and the island of Sicily, and the Aramaic Targum in commenting on Ezekiel 27:7 identifies Elishah as “the province of Italy.” Any of these locations would fit the account in Ezekiel in the sense of being regions productive of the purple dye so highly prized, but nothing conclusive can be stated as to their definite connection with Elishah, except that the weight of evidence points in the direction of Greece rather than North Africa or Cyprus. It is also reasonable that the descendants of Elishah may not have remained fixed but that over the centuries the region of their settling may have altered or expanded and the name of Elishah may thus have applied to different areas at different times.

ELISHAMA

(E·lishʹa·ma) [God has heard].

1. Son of Ammihud of the tribe of Ephraim; grandfather of Joshua. (Num. 1:10; 2:18; 1 Chron. 7:26, 27) Elishama was one of the twelve chieftains designated by Jehovah to assist Moses and Aaron in registering the sons of Israel for the army. He was also over the army of his tribe. (Num. 1:1-4, 17; 2:18; 10:22) Besides sharing in the group presentation made by the chieftains after the setting up of the tabernacle, Elishama thereafter represented his tribe individually in presenting an offering on the seventh day for the inauguration of the altar.—Num. 7:1, 2, 5, 10, 11, 48-53.

2. Son of Jekamiah of the tribe of Judah.—1 Chron. 2:3, 41.

3. A son born to David in Jerusalem. This Elishama is listed as Elishua in 2 Samuel 5:15; 1 Chronicles 14:5 and in two Hebrew manuscripts at 1 Chronicles 3:6. Elishua is generally considered to be the correct name, as the name Elishama appears again in 1 Chronicles 3:8 and therefore could easily have crept into verse 6 through a scribal error. However, since the Masoretic text, the Septuagint, the Syriac Peshitta Version and the Latin Vulgate read “Elishama” at 1 Chronicles 3:6, this form of the name has been retained in the New World Translation as well as other translations.

4. Another son born to David in Jerusalem.—2 Sam. 5:16; 1 Chron. 3:8; 14:7.

5. A priest in the days of King Jehoshaphat who, with other Levites and princes, “kept going around through all the cities of Judah and teaching among the people.”—2 Chron. 17:1, 7-9.

6. A secretary in the court of King Jehoiakim.—Jer. 36:12, 20, 21.

7. Grandfather of Ishmael the assassin of the Jewish governor Gedaliah.—2 Ki. 25:25; Jer. 41:1-3.

ELISHAPHAT

(E·li·shaʹphat) [God has judged].

One of the chiefs of hundreds whom Jehoiada the priest took into a covenant and who was among those afterward sent throughout Judah to collect the Levites and the heads of the paternal houses of Israel. (2 Chron. 23:1, 2) Elishaphat gave his support to Jehoiada in securing the kingship for Jehoash the rightful heir to the throne and deposing the usurper Athaliah.

ELISHEBA

(E·liʹshe·ba) [God is an oath].

The daughter of Amminadab and the wife of Moses’ brother Aaron. Elisheba bore Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar to Aaron. Her brother Nahshon was the chieftain of the sons of Judah.—Ex. 6:23; Num. 2:3.

ELISHUA

(E·liʹshu·a) [God is salvation].

One of the sons born to King David in Jerusalem. (2 Sam. 5:15; 1 Chron. 14:5) Elishua is called Elishama at 1 Chronicles 3:6.—See ELISHAMA No. 3.

ELIUD

(E·liʹud) [God is majesty].

An ancestor of Jesus’ foster father Joseph.—Matt. 1:15, 16.

ELIZABETH

(E·lizʹa·beth) [Gr., E·li·saʹbet from Heb., ʼE·li·sheʹvaʽ, God is an oath].

The God-fearing wife of the priest Zechariah and the mother of John the Baptist. Elizabeth herself was of the priestly family of Aaron the Levite. Both she and her husband were well along in years when the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah in the Holy of the temple and announced that, in answer to his supplications, Elizabeth would give birth to a son who was to be called John. Upon becoming pregnant, Elizabeth kept herself secluded for five months. In the sixth month of her pregnancy she was visited by her relative Mary. On that occasion the unborn John leaped in his mother’s womb, and Elizabeth, filled with holy spirit, blessed Mary and the fruit of her womb, calling her “the mother of my Lord.”—Luke 1:5-7, 11-13, 24, 39-43.

ELIZAPHAN, ELZAPHAN

(E·li·zaʹphan, El·zaʹphan) [God has concealed].

1. The son of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, who, along with his brother Mishael, at Moses’ direction, carried the bodies of Nadab and Abihu outside the camp. (Ex. 6:22; Lev. 10:4; Num. 3:30) Elizaphan was the ancestral head of a Levitical family, members of which are specifically mentioned in the Bible as serving during the reigns of David and Hezekiah.—1 Chron. 15:8; 2 Chron. 29:13.