E´lah, son of Baasha king of Israel. After a reign of two years (B.C. 930-929) he was assassinated while drunk, and all his kinsfolk and friends cut off, by Zimri, 'the captain of half his chariots.' He was the last king of Baasha's line, and by this catastrophe the predictions of the prophet Jehu were accomplished ().
Elah, 2
E´lah, a valley in which the Israelites were encamped when David fought Goliath (). It doubtless received this name from the terebinth trees, or from some remarkable terebinth tree, growing in it. Ecclesiastical traditions identify it with the present valley of Beit Hanina, about eight miles north-west from Jerusalem. In this valley olive trees and carob trees now prevail, and terebinth trees are few; but the brook is still indicated whence the youthful champion selected the 'smooth stones' wherewith he smote the Philistine. The brook is dry in summer, but in winter it becomes a mighty torrent, which inundates the vale. Dr. Robinson, however, disputes this ancient tradition, and finds that the conditions of the history require him to identify the valley of Elah with the Wady es-Sumt (acacia valley), which he crossed on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, about eleven miles south-west from the former city. His reasons are given in Biblical Researches, iii. 350; and he remarks that the largest specimen of the terebinth tree which he saw in Palestine still stands in the vicinity.
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John Kitto was an English biblical scholar of Cornish descent.Born in Plymouth, John Kitto was a sickly child, son of a Cornish stonemason. The drunkenness of his father and the poverty of his family meant that much of his childhood was spent in the workhouse. He had no more than three years of erratic and interrupted education. At the age of twelve John Kitto fell on his head from a rooftop, and became totally and permanently deaf. As a young man he suffered further tragedies, disappointments and much loneliness. His height was 4 ft 8 in, and his accident left him with an impaired sense of balance. He found consolation in browsing at bookstalls and reading any books that came his way.
From these hardships he was rescued by friends who became aware of his mental abilities and encouraged him to write topical articles for local newspapers, arranging eventually for him to work as an assistant in a local library. Here he continued to educate himself.
One of his benefactors was the Exeter dentist Anthony Norris Groves, who in 1824 offered him employment as a dental assistant. Living with the Groves family, Kitto was profoundly influenced by the practical Christian faith of his employer. In 1829 he accompanied Groves on his pioneering mission to Baghdad and served as tutor to Groves's two sons. In 1833 Kitto returned to England via Constantinople, accompanied by another member of the Groves mission, Francis William Newman. Shortly afterwards he married, and in due course had several children.
A London publisher asked Kitto to write up his travel journals for a series of articles in the Penny Magazine, a publication read at that time by a million people in Britain, reprinted in America and translated into French, German and Dutch. Other writing projects followed as readers enquired about his experiences in the East amidst people living in circumstances closely resembling those of Bible times.
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