Elasa
ELASA (Eleasah, Alasa), a town north of Jerusalem near Beth-Horon. Judah *Maccabee encamped there before his last battle against *Bacchides, whose army was at *Beeroth, and was killed nearby in the fighting (I Macc. 9:5–18). Some scholars read Ḥadasha (Adasa) instead of Elasa. The town was apparently named after Eleasah, a descendant of Benjamin (I Chron. 2:39–40; 8:37; 9:43). It is identified with Khirbat al-Ishshī, southwest of al-Bīra.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
F.M. Abel, in: RB, 33 (1924), 383f.; idem, Les Livres des Maccabées (1949), 160; Avi-Yonah, Geog, 100.
Sources: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2007 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.
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