ELIEZER ('Elī' ezer "my God is help"). - Name of ten Israelites mentioned in the Bible.
1. Damascene servant of Abraham (Gen. 15, 2). He is held to be E. "the eldest servant of the house of Abraham, the steward of all his substance" (Gen. 24, 2), faithful to him, whom Abraham sent into Mesopotamia to take a wife for his son Isaac (Gen. 24, 3-66). 2. Second son of Moses by Zipporah (Ex. 18, 4; I Par. 23, 15). He remained with Jethro his grandfather until Moses came up from Egypt as head of Israel (Ex. 18, 1-7). His descendants are described in I Par. 23, 17; 26, 25-27. 3. A Benjaminite (I Par. 7, 8). 4. One of the priests who, at the sound of the trumpets, followed the transport of the ark from the house of Obededom to Jerusalem (I Par. 15, 24). 5. The head of the tribe of Reuben, in the time of David (I Par. 27, 16). 6. Jewish prophet, son of Dodavah, from Mareshah; he reproached Jehoshaphat for the alliance with Ahaziah (ca. 854 B.C.), for a fleet for trade with Ophir, foretelling the ruin of the enterprise (II Par. 20, 35-37). Jehoshaphat therefore refused to repeat the attempt, as Ahaziah proposed (I Reg. 22, 50). 7. One of the Jewish leaders, charged by Ezra with recruiting servants for the Temple, from a Jewish colony in Babylon (Eid. 8, 16-20). 8 and 9. A priest and a Levite, who repudiated the foreign wives they had taken, after the return from exile (Eid. 10, 18, 23). 10. Son of Herem, ancestor of Jesus (Eid. 10, 31; Lc. 3, 29).
BIRL.: M. Sales, La S. Bibbia, I, Turin 1918, pp. 121, 147-53, 221, 250, 310; III, ibid. 1924, pp. 124, 288 ff., 314, 375; A. Vaccari, La S. Bibbia, I, Florence 1943, p. 107; III, ibid. 1948, pp. 129 ff., 194.
Francesco Spadafora