Elishah

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

Elishah . The eldest ‘son’ of Javan (  Genesis 10:4 ), whence the Tyrians obtained the purple dye (  Ezekiel 27:7 ). The latter favours identification with S. Italy and Sicily, or Carthage and N. African coast, both districts famous for the purple dye. Elissa, or Dido, the traditional foundress of Carthage, may indicate Elissa as an early name of Carthage, and Syncellus gives the gloss ‘Elissa, whence the Sikeloi.’ The Targum on Ezk. gives ‘the province of Italy.’ The Tell el-Amarna tablets include letters to the king of Egypt from the king of Alashia , Egyptian Alsa , which has been identified with Cyprus; known to Sargon, king of Assyria, as the land of the Ionians, Javan. There are difficulties in all these identifications, possibly because the name itself denoted different districts at different epochs, and no certainty can yet be attained.

C. H. W. Johns.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Eli'shah. (God Is Salvation). The eldest son of Javan.  Genesis 10:4. The residence of his descendants is described in  Ezekiel 27:7, as the isles of Elishah, whence, the Phoenicians obtained their purple and blue dyes. Some connect the race of Elishah with the Aeolians, others with Elishah, and in a more extended sense, Peloponnesus, or even Hellas.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Eldest son of Javan, the son of Japheth.  Genesis 10:4;  1 Chronicles 1:7 . His descendants apparently occupied the 'isles of Elishah,' and supplied the Phoenicians with blue and purple.  Ezekiel 27:7 . Josephus identifies them with the Æolians. Others connect Elishah with Elis in the Peloponnesus.

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

Javan's oldest son ( Genesis 10:4).  Ezekiel 27:7; "purple from the isles of Elishah." As Javan represents the Ionian Greeks; so Elishah the Aeolians, whose favorite resort was to maritime situations, in Greece, Thessaly, and Asia Minor, and Lesbos and Tenedos. Hellas (Greece) and Elis in the Peloponnese are kindred Bathes.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A son of Javan,  Genesis 10:4 . "The isle of Elishah," which sent purple and scarlet stuffs to Tyre,  Ezekiel 27:7 , are supposed to mean Greece and the adjacent islands.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 10:4 1 Chronicles 1:7 Ezekiel 27:7

Easton's Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 10:4 Ezekiel 27:7

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Hebrew Elishah', אלִֵישָׁה deriv. unknown; Sept. Ε᾿Λισά and Ε᾿Λισαί ; Josephus, Ε᾿Λισᾶς , Vulg. Elisa), the oldest of the four sons of Javan ( Genesis 10:4;  1 Chronicles 1:7). B.C. cir. 2450. He seems to have given name to a region on the Mediterranean, "the isles ( אִיּיס , Shores) of Elishah," which are described as exporting fabrics of purple and scarlet to the markets of Tyre ( Ezekiel 27:7). If the descendants of Javan peopled Greece, we may expect to find Elishah in some province of that country. The circumstance of the purple suits the Peloponnesus, for the fish affording the purple dye was caught at the mouth of the Eurotas, and the purple of Laconia was very celebrated. (See Purple). The name seems kindred to Elis (Bochart, Phaleg, 3:4), which, in a wider sense, was applied to the whole Peloponnesus; and some identify Elishah with Hellas (Michaelis, Spicileg. 1:79). — Kitto, s.v. Josephus, however, identified the race of Elishah with the AEolians (Ant. 1:6, 1). His view is adopted by Knobel (Volkertrfel, page 81 sq.). It appears correct to treat it as the designation of a race rather than of a locality; and if Javan represents the Ionians, then Elishah the AEolians, whose name presents considerable similarity ( Αίολεῖς having possibly been Αίλεῖς ), and whose predilection for maritime situations quite accords with the expression in Ezekiel. In early times the AEolians were settled in various parts of Greece, Thessaly, Boeotia, AEtolia, Locris, Elis, and Messenia: from Greece they emigrated to Asia Minor, and in Ezekiel's age occupied the maritime district in the N.W. of that country, named after them AEolis, together with the islands Lesbos and Tenedos. The purple shell-fish was found on this coast, especially at Abydus (Virgil, Georg. 1:207), Phocaea (Ovid, Metam. 6:9), Sigeum and Lectum (Athenaeus, 3:88). Not much, however, can be deduced from this as to the position of the "isles of Elishah," as that shell- fish was found in many parts of the Mediterranean, especially on the coast of Laconia (Pausan. 3:21, § 6). Schulthess (Paradies, page 264), without the slightest probability, argues in favor of a position on the western coast of Africa, on the ground of the resemblance to Elisa as the Phoenician name of Carthage. (See Ethnology).

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

ē̇ - lı̄´sha ( אלישׁה , 'ĕlı̄shāh , "God saves"; Ἐλισά , Elisá , Ἐλεισαί , Eleisaı́ ): Mentioned in  Genesis 10:4 as the eldest son of Javan, and in   Ezekiel 27:7 as the source from which the Tyrians obtained their purple dyes. On the ground of this latter statement attempts have been made to identify it with Southern Italy or the north of Africa. Josephus ( Ant. , I, vi, 1) identified Elisha with the Aeolians. The Targum on Ezekiel gives "the province of Italy." Other suggestions include Hellas, Ells, and Alsa; the last named is a kingdom mentioned in the Tell el-Amarna Letters , but its precise location is unknown. It is impossible as yet to claim certainty for any of these conjectures.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Elis´hah, a son of Javan , who seems to have given name to 'the isles of Elishah,' which are described as exporting fabrics of purple and scarlet to the markets of Tyre . If the descendants of Javan peopled Greece, we may expect to find Elishah in some province of that country; but no certainty can be arrived at on the subject.