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Bible Encyclopedias
Elkanah
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or [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 1 Chronicles 12:6; 1 Chronicles 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 Exodus 6:24,where his brothers are represented as being Assir and Abiasaph. But in 1 Chronicles 6:22-23 (Hebrews 7:1-28; Hebrews 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 Numbers 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 Numbers 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 (1 Chronicles 6:25; 1 Chronicles 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 (1 Chronicles 6:26; 1 Chronicles 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 (1 Chronicles 6:27-28; 1 Chronicles 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 1 Samuel 1:1; 1 Samuel 1:4; 1 Samuel 1:8; 1 Samuel 1:19; 1 Samuel 1:21; 1 Samuel 1:23; 1 Samuel 2:2; 1 Samuel 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, 1 Samuel 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 (1 Chronicles 12:6). B.C. 1054. From the terms of 1 Chronicles 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 (1 Chronicles 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 (2 Chronicles 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" (1 Chronicles 9:16). B.C. long ante 536.
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Elkanah'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/e/elkanah.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
