Elam

Elam is one of the oldest names in the Bible, appearing in Genesis 14 with “Chedorlaomer king of Elam”, who joins three other kings in a war against five. It is also a family name. Ezra 2:7 counts the children of Elam among those who returned from exile, and Ezra 8:7 and Nehemiah 10:14 list sons and leaders of the same name. Then Acts 2:9 includes Elamites among the crowd at Pentecost, hearing the apostles in their own languages. One name carries a thread from kings to returning families to the early church. Begin with Genesis 14 and finish at Acts 2.

7 verses

Genesis

Genesis 14:1

And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;

Genesis 14:9

With Chedorlaomer the king of Elam, and with Tidal king of nations, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings with five.

Ezra

Ezra 2:7

The children of Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four.

Ezra 2:31

The children of the other Elam, a thousand two hundred fifty and four.

Ezra 8:7

And of the sons of Elam; Jeshaiah the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy males.

Nehemiah

Nehemiah 10:14

The chief of the people; Parosh, Pahathmoab, Elam, Zatthu, Bani,

Acts

Acts 2:9

Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

Highland, the son of Shem (Gen. 10:22), and the name of the country inhabited by his descendants (14:1, 9; Isa. 11:11; 21:2, etc.) lying to the east of Babylonia, and extending to the shore of the Mediterranean, a distance in a direct line of about 1,000 miles. The name Elam is an Assyrian word meaning “high.”

“The inhabitants of Elam, or ‘the Highlands,’ to the east of Babylon, were called Elamites. They were divided into several branches, speaking different dialects of the same agglutinative language. The race to which they belonged was brachycephalic, or short-headed, like the pre-Semitic Sumerians of Babylonia.

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“The earliest Elamite kingdom seems to have been that of Anzan, the exact site of which is uncertain; but in the time of Abraham, Shushan or Susa appears to have already become the capital of the country. Babylonia was frequently invaded by the Elamite kings, who at times asserted their supremacy over it (as in the case of Chedorlaomer, the Kudur-Lagamar, or ‘servant of the goddess Lagamar,’ of the cuneiform texts).

“The later Assyrian monarchs made several campaigns against Elam, and finally Assur-bani-pal (about B.C. 650) succeeded in conquering the country, which was ravaged with fire and sword. On the fall of the Assyrian Empire, Elam passed into the hands of the Persians” (A.H. Sayce).

This country was called by the Greeks Cissia or Susiana.

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(eternity).

(1.) This seems to have been originally the name of a man, the son of Shem. (Genesis 10:22; 1 Chronicles 1:17) Commonly, however, it is used as the appellation of a country. (Genesis 14:1,9; Isaiah 11:11; 21:2) The Elam of Scripture appears to be the province lying south of Assyria and east of Persia proper, to which Herodotus gives the name of Cissia (iii. 91, v. 49, etc.), and which is termed Susis or Susiana by the geographers. Its capital was Susa. This country was originally people by descendants of Shem. By the time of Abraham a very important power had been built up in the same region. It is plain that at this early time the predominant power in lower Mesopotamia was Elam, which for a while held the place possessed earlier by Babylon, (Genesis 10:10) and later by either Babylon or Assyria.

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(2.) A Korhite Levite in the time of King David. (1 Chronicles 26:3) (B.C. 1014.)

(3.) A chief man of the tribe of Benjamin. (1 Chronicles 8:24)

(4.) "Children of Elam," to the number of 1254, returned with Zerubbabel from Babylon. (Ezra 2:7; Nehemiah 7:12) 1Esd. 5:12. (B.C. 536 or before.) Elam occurs amongst the names of the chief of the people who signed the covenant with Nehemiah. (Nehemiah 10:14)

(5.) In the same lists is a second Elam, whose sons, to the same number as in the former case, returned with Zerubbabel, (Ezra 2:31; Nehemiah 7:34) and which for the sake of distinction is called "the other Elam."

(6.) One of the priests who accompanied Nehemiah at the dedication of the new wall of Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 12:42)