Elishah

(of unknown origin; in Samaritan: Elisha) (Gen. 10:4; Ezek. 27:7) — son of Javan and descendant of Japheth. This may be the name of a people or a country, since the name Javan is often identified with Ionia or Greece, and for this reason some consider Elishah to be Aeolia, Hellas, and the like. In the book of the prophet Ezekiel (27:7) Elishah is named among the cities from which Tyre received multicolored fabrics of blue and purple. “Blue and purple from the isles of Elishah was that which covered thee,” says the prophet Ezekiel in his prophecy concerning Tyre. It is well known that purple dye was one of the chief articles of trade exported by Greece, but trade in it was also carried on in Asia Minor and along its coasts, as we see in the person of Lydia, of the city of Thyatira, who traded in purple at Philippi in Macedonia (Acts 16:12–14).

The expression in the book of the prophet Ezekiel (27:1 [as given]) — “the isles of Elishah” — does not mean that any literal islands are meant by these words, but simply denotes a coastal region, or seaboard. The opinion that Elishah is another form denoting Hellas or Aeolia seems to have insufficient grounds, since Elishah existed long before any mention of Hellas or Aeolia.