ELON e’ lŏn (אֵילﯴנ׃֙, אֵלֹ֖ון, אֵלָה, terebinth). The name of three men and a locality mentioned in the OT. 1. A Hitt. whose daughter Basemath married Esau (Gen 26:34). She caused much grief to Isaac and Rebekah. In Genesis 36:2, Elon’s daughter Basemath is called Adah. (Note that in the latter passage the name Basemath is given to the daughter of Ishmael so that two of Esau’s wives were actually named Basemath.) One wife is the daughter of Elon and one wife is the daughter of Ishmael. (Perhaps, since Esau had two wives of the same name, the Hitt. was given an alternate name to distinguish the two.)

2. A son of Zebulun. He was among those who came to Egypt with Jacob (Gen 46:14). From him sprang the Elonites (Num 26:26).

3. A judge in Israel from the tribe of Zebulun (Judg 12:11). He judged Israel ten years after which he died and was buried in Aijalon in the territory of Zebulun (12:12).

4. A city on the border of the inheritance of Dan betwen Ithlah and Timnah (Josh 19:43). It is identified today as Kirbet Wādi ’Alīn about one m. E of ’Ain-Shems (Beth-shemesh).

Two other appearances of the name Elon are to be noted. 1. The name Aijalon in Judges 12:12 is read “Elon” by the LXX due to the fact that in the Heb., the consonants for Aijalon and Elon are identical, and only the vowels are different.

2. A compound place-name Elon-beth-hanan is mentioned in connection with the twelve districts from which officers of Solomon were to provide food for the king and his household (1 Kings 4:9).

Bibliography F. Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews and A History of the Jews, 170; A. Edersheim, Bible History, III (1890), 153, 163; Oesterley and Robinson, An Introduction to the Books of the Old Testament (1958), 76; E. Young, An Introduction to the Old Testament (1958), 186; J. Simons, The Geographical and Topographical Text of the Old Testament (1959), 200, 349.