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Eleileh

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(Hebrews Elaleh', אֶלְעָלֵה , whither God has ascended, once Elale', אֶלְעָלֵא, Numbers 32:37; Sept. Ε᾿λεαλή ), a place on the east of Jordan, in the pastoral country, taken possession of and rebuilt by the tribe of Reuben (Numbers 32:3; Numbers 32:37). We lose sight of it till the time of Isaiah and Jeremiah, by both of whom it is mentioned as a Moabitish town, and, as before, in close connection with Heshbon (Isaiah 15:4; Isaiah 16:9; Jeremiah 48:34). It apparently lay close to the border of Reuben and Gad (Joshua 13:26). On the decline of Jewish power, Elealeh, with the whole Mishor, fell into the hands of the Moabites, and is thus included in the woes pronounced by Isaiah on Moab (Isaiah 16:9): "I will water thee with my tears, O Heshbon and Elealeh; for the alarm is fallen upon thy summer fruits, and thy harvest." Elealeh was still a large village in the time of Eusebius and Jerome, one mile from Heshbon (Onomast. s.v. Ε᾿λεάλε, Eleale). The extensive ruins of the place are still to be seen, bearing very nearly their ancient name, El-A'al, though with a modern signification, "the high," a little more than a mile north of Heshbon (Robinson, Researches, 2:278). It stands on the summit of a rounded hill commanding a very extended view of the plain, and the whole of the southern Belka (Burckhardt, Syria, page 365; Seetzen, 1854, page 407). The whole surrounding plain is now desolate. The statements of all travelers who have visited it show how fully the prophetic curses have been executed (Irby and Mangles, 1st ed. page 471; Ritter, Pal. und Syr. 2:1172.; G. Robinson's Palest. and Syr. 2:180 sq.).