Elkanah

His name signifies, to be zealous for God; from Kina, zealous; and El, God. See Hannah.

El´kanah, God the Creator. Several persons of this name are mentioned in Scripture, as a son of Korah (Exo 6:24; 1Ch 6:23); the father of Samuel (1Sa 1:1, seq.; 2:11-20; 1Ch 6:27); a friend of King Ahab (2Ch 28:7); one of David’s heroes (1Ch 12:6); Levites (1Ch 6:23; 1Ch 6:25-27; 1Ch 15:23).

El’kanah. (God-provided).

1. Son, or rather grandson, see 1Ch 6:22-23; 1Ch_ 6:7-8, of Korah, according to Exo 6:24.

2. A descendant of the above, in the line of Ahimoth, otherwise Mahath, 1Ch_ 6:26; 1Ch 6:35; Heb 11:20.

3. Another Kohathite Levite, father of Samuel, the illustrious judge and prophet. 1Ch 6:27; 1Ch 6:34. (B.C. About 1190). All that is known of him is contained in the above notices and in 1Sa 1:1; 1Sa 1:4; 1Sa 1:8; 1Sa 1:19; 1Sa 1:21; 1Sa 1:23 and 1Sa 2:11; 1Sa 2:20.

4. A Levite. 1Ch 9:16.

5. A Korhite, who joined David, while he was at Ziklag. 1Ch 12:6. (B.C. 1054).

5. An officer in the household of Ahaz, king of Judah, who was slain by Zichri, the Ephraimite, when Pekah invaded Judah. 2Ch 28:7. (B.C. 739).

1. Son of Korah, son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi (Exo 6:24); compare 1Ch 6:22-23, where an Elkanah is mentioned, grandson of Korah. "The children of Korah died not" when he was consumed (Num 26:11).

2. A descendant of the previous Elkanah, in the line of Ahimoth or Mahath (1Ch 6:26; 1Ch 6:35).

3. Another Kohathite in Heman’s line, father of Samuel by Hannah (1Ch 6:27; 1Ch 6:34; 1Ch 6:1 Samuel 1-2). Lived at Ramathaim Zophim, or Ramah, in mount Ephraim. Piously repaired yearly to Shiloh to sacrifice at the tabernacle. His costly offering of three bullocks at Samuel’s dedication, and the "portions" of offerings which he gave to his family, indicate wealth. David first established the Levitical and priestly courses in the temple; hence Elkanah does not appear to have performed any sacred function as a Levite.

4. A Levite (1Ch 9:16).

5. A Korhite who joined David at Ziklag (1Ch 12:6, compare 1Ch 15:23).

6. King Ahaz’ officer next to himself, slain by Zichri, a mighty Ephraimite, at Pekah’s invasion (2Ch 28:7).

[some El’kanah] (Hebrew, Elkanah’, אְֵלקָנָה, whom God has gotten; Sept. Ε᾿λκανά but Ε᾿λκανά in Exod., and ᾿Ηλκανά v.r. Ε᾿λκανά in 1Ch 12:6; 1Ch 15:23; Josephus, Ε᾿λκάνης and Ε᾿λκάν; Vulg. Elcana), the name of several men, all apparently Levites.

1. Second son of Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, according to Exo 6:24,where his brothers are represented as being Assir and Abiasaph. But in 1Ch 6:22-23 (Heb 7:1-28; Heb 8:1-13) Assir, Elkanah, and Ebiasaph are mentioned in the same order, not as the three sons of Korah, but as son, grandson, and great-grandson respectively; and this seems to be correct. If so, the passage in Exodus must he understood as merely giving the families of the Korhites existing at the time the passage was penned, which must in this case have been long subsequent to Moses. In Num 26:58, "the family of the Korhites" (A.V. "Korathites") is mentioned as one family. As regards the fact of Korah’s descendants continuing, it may be noticed that we are expressly told in Num 26:11, that when Korah and his company died, "the children of Korah died not." SEE KORAH. On the above view, this Elkanah becomes the son of Assir (q.v.). grandson of Korah, and father of Ebiasaph (q.v.). B.C. cir. 1700. SEE SAMUEL. A writer in the Journal of Sacred Lit. (April, 1852, page 200), however, proposes to reject both Assir and this first Elkanah from the list in Chronicles.

2. Son of Shaul or Joel, being father of Amasai, and sixth in descent from Ebiasaph, son of the foregoing (1Ch 6:25; 1Ch 6:36). B.C. cir. 1445.

3. Son of Ahimoth or Mahuth, being father of Zuph or Zophai, and great grandson of the one immediately preceding (1Ch 6:26; 1Ch 6:35), B.C. cir. 1340. (See Hervey, Genealogies, page 210, 214, note.)

4. Another Kohathite Levite, in the line of Heman the singer. B.C. cir. 1190. He was the fifth in descent from the foregoing, being son of Jeroham, and father of Samuel, the illustrious judge and prophet (1Ch 6:27-28; 1Ch 6:33-34). Josephus (Ant. 5:10, 2) calls him a man "of middle condition among his fellow-citizens" (τῶν έν μέσῳ πολιτῶν). All that is known of him is contained in the above notices and in 1Sa 1:1; 1Sa 1:4; 1Sa 1:8; 1Sa 1:19; 1Sa 1:21; 1Sa 1:23; 1Sa 2:2; 1Sa 2:20, where we learn that he was of a Bethlehemite stock (an "Ephrathite;" the Levites not being confined to their cities), but lived at Ramathaim-Zophim in Mount Ephraim, otherwise called Ramah; that he had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah, but had no children by the former, till the birth of Samuel in answer to Hannah’s prayer. We learn also that he lived in the time of Eli the high priest, and of his sons Hophni and Phinehas; that he was a pious man, who went up yearly from Ramathaim-Zophim to Shiloh, in the tribe of Ephraim, to worship and sacrifice at the tabernacle there; but it does not appear that he performed any sacred functions as a Levite; a circumstance quite in accordance with the account which ascribes to David the establishment of the priestly and Levitical courses for the Temple service. He seems to have been a man of some wealth from the nature of his yearly sacrifice, which enabled him to give portions out of it to all his family, and from the costly offering of three bullocks when Samuel was brought to the house of the Lord at Shiloh. After the birth of Samuel, Elkanah and Hannah continued to live at Ramah (where Samuel afterwards had his house, 1Sa 7:7), and had three sons and two daughters. SEE SAMUEL.

5. Another man of the family of the Korhites who joined David while he was at Ziklag (1Ch 12:6). B.C. 1054. From the terms of 1Ch 12:2, some have thought it doubtful whether this can be the well-known Levitical family of Korhites; but the distinction there seems merely to refer to residents within the tribe of Benjamin, which included the Levitical cities. Perhaps he was the same who was one of the two doorkeepers for the ark when it was brought to Jerusalem (1Ch 15:23). B.C. 1043.

6. An officer in the household of Ahaz, king of Judah, and slain by Zichri the Ephraimite, when Pekah invaded Judah; apparently the second in command under the praefect of the palace (2Ch 28:7). B.C. 739. Josephus says that he was the general of the troops of Judah, and that he was merely carried into captivity by "Amaziah," the Israelitish general (Ant. 9:12, 1). SEE AHAZ.

7. Father of one Asa, and head of a Levitical family resident in the "villages of the Netophathites" (1Ch 9:16). B.C. long ante 536.

[Elka’nah]

1. Son or grandson of Korah. Exo 6:24; 1Ch 6:23.

2. Son of Jeroham and father of the prophet Samuel. 1Sa 1:1-23; 1Sa 2:11; 1Sa 2:20; 1Ch 6:27; 1Ch 6:34.

3, 4. Two descendants of Kohath. 1Ch 6:25-26; 1Ch 6:35-36.

5. Grandfather of Berechiah, who dwelt in the villages of the Netophathites. 1Ch 9:16.

6. A Korhite who joined David at Ziklag. 1Ch 12:6.

7. Door-keeper for the ark. 1Ch 15:23.

8. Officer in the household of king Ahaz. 2Ch 28:7.

By: Emil G. Hirsch, Eduard König

Father of Samuel, living at Ramah (I Sam. i. 19, ii. 11; comp. xxviii. 3), in the district of Zuph. Hence in I Sam. i. 1 his ancestral line is carried back to Zuph (comp. I Sam. ix. 5 et seq.). The word in I Sam. i. 1 should be emended to ("the Zuphite"), the final mem being a ditto-gram of that with which the next word, , begins; as the LXX. has it, Σειφὰ. Elkanah is also represented in I Sam. i. 1 as hailing from the mountains of Ephraim, the word here denoting this (comp. Judges xii. 5; IKings xi. 26)—if indeed is not a corruption for "Ephraimite"—and not, as in Judges i. 2 and I Sam. xvii. 12, an inhabitant of Ephrata (see Lxx.). His genealogy is also found in a pedigree of the Kohathites (I Chron. vi. 3-15) and in that of Heman, his great-grandson (ib. vi. 18-22). According to the genealogical tables, Elkanah was, a Levite, a fact otherwise not mentioned in the books of Samuel. The fact that Elkanah, a Levite, was denominated an Ephraimite is analogous to the designation of a Levite belonging to Judah (Judges xvii. 7).

ELKANAH (‘God hath acquired’).—1. A son of Korah (Exo 6:24). 2. An Ephraimite, husband of Peninnah and Hannah; by the former he had several children, but Hannah was for many years childless. Her rival mocked her for this as they went up year by year with Elkanah to sacrifice in Shiloh. Elkanah loved Hannah more than Peninnah, and sought, in vain, to comfort her in her distress. At length Hannah conceived, and bore a son, Samuel. Afterwards three sons and two daughters were born to them (see Hannah, and Samuel). 3. The son of Assir (1Ch 6:23). 4. The father of Zophai (Zuph), a descendant of 3 (1Ch 6:26; 1Ch 6:35). 5. A Levite who dwelt in a village of the Netophathites (1Ch 9:16). 6. One of the mighty men who came to David to Ziklag (1Ch 12:6). 7. A door-keeper for the ark (1Ch 15:23). 8. A high official, ‘next to the king,’ at the court of Ahaz (2Ch 28:6-7).

W. O. E. Oesterley.

el-kā´na (אלקנה, ’elḳānāh, “God has possessed”):

(1) An Ephraimite, the father of Samuel (1 Sam 1:1-28; 1Sa 2:11-20). Of his two wives, Hannah, the childless, was best beloved. At Shiloh she received through Eli the promise of a son. Elkanah, with Hannah, took the young Samuel to Shiloh when he was weaned, and left him with EIi as their offering to Yahweh. They were blessed with three other sons and two daughters.

(2) The second son of Korah (Exo 6:24), who escaped the fate of Korah, Dathan and Abiram (Num 26:11).

(3) One “next to the king” in Jerusalem in the time of Ahaz; slain by one Zichri of Ephraim in war with Pekah (2Ch 28:7).

(4) One of the Korahites among David’s “mighty men” (1Ch 12:1, 1Ch 12:6).

(5) A Levite, possibly the same as (2) above (1Ch 6:23, 1Ch 6:15, 1Ch 6:36).

(6) Another Levite of the same line (1Ch 6:26, 1Ch 6:35).

(7) Another Levite, ancestor of Berechiah (1Ch 9:16).

(8) Another Levite (if not the same as (4) above), one of the “doorkeepers for the ark” (1Ch 15:23).