Elath

, also called Eloth (perhaps: grove of terebinths) (Deut. 2:8; 2 Kings 14:22; 16:6) — an Edomite city and important seaport on the Gulf of Aqaba, at its northern end. Journeying from Sinai through the wilderness of Arabia, the Hebrews passed by this city, and it afterward fell under the power of David and Solomon (1 Kings 9:26; cf. 2 Sam. 8:14 and 2 Chron. 26:2), the former of whom stationed a garrison here. Elath was afterward taken from Judah, but was rebuilt and restored by Azariah, or Uzziah (2 Kings 14:22).

Some sixty or seventy years later, Rezin, king of Syria, took it from the Jews and placed in it a garrison, or colony, of Syrians (2 Kings 16:6). The Greeks and Romans called Elath “Elana,” the Arabs “Aylah,” and it still exists today as a minor town. The nearby fortress, surrounded by a palm grove, is called Aqaba, and after it the whole gulf is often called the Gulf of Aqaba. We find the city of Elath, in the reign of Solomon, associated with another important seaport lying at the head of the Gulf of Arabia, namely Ezion-geber, where Solomon built a merchant fleet whose ships sailed as far as Ophir (1 Kings 9:26–28), and for this reason it is usually mentioned together with that latter city.