Eleasah

Eleasah (also spelled Elasah) is a name borne by several men in the UPDV — two of them tucked into Chronicler genealogies, and two more attached to brief but pointed moments in the post-exilic and exilic record. Whether the genealogical Eleasahs are two distinct men or one figure pulled into separate lines is, as the older indexers conceded, uncertain; what the text gives is four name-slots in four different settings.

Eleasah in the Jerahmeelite line

The Chronicler's genealogy of Judah runs Eleasah's name through the house of Jerahmeel. He stands between Helez and Sismai: "and Azariah begot Helez, and Helez begot Eleasah, and Eleasah begot Sismai, and Sismai begot Shallum" (1Ch 2:39). Within the long Judahite roll-call, Eleasah is no more than a link in the chain — son of Helez, father of Sismai — but his place in the line is recorded.

Eleasah in the line of Saul

The other Chronicler-Eleasah descends from Saul through Jonathan and Merib-baal. In the Benjaminite genealogy of 1 Chronicles 8, the chain runs from Moza through Binea, Raphah, Eleasah, and Azel: "And Moza begot Binea; Raphah was his son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son" (1Ch 8:37). The parallel listing in 1 Chronicles 9 gives the same descent with a small spelling variation in the intervening name: "and Moza begot Binea; and Rephaiah his son, Eleasah his son, Azel his son" (1Ch 9:43). In both passages Eleasah is the father of Azel, who in turn has six named sons (1Ch 8:38; 1Ch 9:44) — making this Eleasah a near-terminal node in the surviving Saulide line.

Elasah son of Shaphan, courier to Babylon

The exilic Elasah is one of two men entrusted with carrying Jeremiah's letter from Jerusalem to the deportees in Babylon. The prophet's words go out "by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah (whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon)" (Jer 29:3). Elasah's role is functional rather than oratorical — he is the courier, and the letter he carries is the one telling the captives to build houses, plant gardens, and seek the welfare of the city where they have been sent into exile. His father Shaphan's house had already figured prominently in Jeremiah's record, and Elasah here continues that family's link with the prophet.

Elasah of the sons of Pashhur

The last of the four appears in Ezra's list of priests who had married foreign women and were called to put them away. Among the sons of Pashhur named in that register: "Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah" (Ezr 10:22). The setting is the post-exilic reform under Ezra, and Elasah is named alongside his fellow priests as one of those involved in the marriage covenant breach the assembly had gathered to address.

A shared name across separate lives

The four references do not converge into a single biography. The Jerahmeelite Eleasah belongs to Judah's genealogy; the Saulide Eleasah belongs to Benjamin's; Shaphan's son Elasah serves at Zedekiah's court; the priestly Elasah stands among Pashhur's sons in Ezra's reform. The older indexing tradition flagged the possibility that some of these are one man under different lists, but the UPDV simply preserves the name in each setting. What the text gives, it gives plainly: a recurring Hebrew name attached, in turn, to a Judahite link, a Benjaminite link, an exile-era courier, and a post-exilic priest.