ELDAD BEN MAHLI

eldad ben mahli, also surnamed had-dani, abu-dani, david-had-dani, or the danite, jewish traveller, was the supposed author of a jewish travel-narrative of the 9th century a.d., which enjoyed great authority in the middle ages, especially on the question of the lost ten tribes. eldad first set out to visit his hebrew brethren in africa and asia. his vessel was wrecked, and he fell into the hands of cannibals; but he was saved by his leanness, and by the opportune invasion of a neighbouring tribe. after spending four years with his new captors, he was ransomed by a fellow-countryman, a merchant of the tribe of issachar. he then (according to his highly fabulous narrative) visited the territory of issachar, in the mountains of media and persia; he also describes the abodes of zabulon, on the "other side" of the paran mountains, extending to armenia and the euphrates; of reuben, on another side of the same mountains; of ephraim and half manasseh, in arabia, not far from mecca; and of simeon and the other half of manasseh, in chorazin, six months' journey from jerusalem. dan, he declares, sooner than join in jeroboam's scheme of an israelite war against judah, had migrated to cush, and finally, with the help of naphthali, asher and gad, had founded an independent jewish kingdom in the gold land of havila, beyond abyssinia. the tribe of levi had also been miraculously guided, from near babylon, to havila, where they were enclosed and protected by the mystic river sambation or sabbation, which on the sabbath, though calm, was veiled in impenetrable mist, while on other days it ran with a fierce untraversable current of stones and sand. apart from these tales, we have the genuine eldad, a celebrated jewish traveller and philologist; who flourished c. a.d. 830-890; to whom the work above noticed is ascribed; who was a native either of s. arabia, palestine or media; who journeyed in egypt, mesopotamia, north africa, and spain; who spent several years at kairawan in tunis; who died on a visit to cordova, and whose authority, as to the lost tribes, is supported by a great hebrew doctor of his own time, zemah gaon, the rector of the academy at sura (a.d. 889-898). it is possible that a certain relationship exists (as suggested by epstein and supported by d.h. muller) between the famous apocryphal _letter of prester john_ (of c. a.d. 1165) and the narrative of eldad; but the affinity is not close. eldad is quoted as an authority on linguistic difficulties by the leading medieval jewish grammarians and lexicographers. the work ascribed to eldad is in hebrew, divided into six chapters, probably abbreviated from the original text. the first edition appeared at mantua about 1480; the second at constantinople in 1516; this was reprinted at venice in 1544 and 1605, and at jessnitz in 1722. a latin version by gilb. genebrard was published at paris in 1563, under the title of _eldad danius ... de judaeis clausis eorumque in aethiopia ... imperio_, and was afterwards incorporated in the translator's _chronologia hebraeorum_ of 1584; a german version appeared at prague in 1695, and another at jessnitz in 1723. in 1838 e. carmoly edited and translated a fuller recension which he had found in a ms. from the library of eliezer ben hasan, forwarded to him by david zabach of morocco (see _relation d'eldad le danite_, paris, 1838). both forms are printed by dr jellinek in his _bet-ha-midrasch_, vols. ii. p. 102, &c., and iii. p. 6, &c. (leipzig, 1853-1855). see also bartolocci, _bibliotheca magna rabbinica_, i. 101-130; furst, _bibliotheca judaica_, i. 30, &c.; hirsch graetz, _geschichte der juden_ (3rd ed., leipzig, 1895), v. 239-244; rossi, _dizionario degli ebrei_; steinschneider, _cat. librorum hebraeorum in bibliotheca bodleiana_, cols. 923-925; kitto's _biblical cyclopaedia_ (3rd edition, _sub nomine_); abr. epstein, _eldad ha-dani_ (pressburg, 1891); d.h. muller, "die recensionen und versionen des eldad had-dani," in _denkschriften d. wiener akad._ (phil.-hist. cl.), vol. xli. (1892), pp. 1-80. elder (gr. [greek: presbuteros]), the name given at different times to a ruler or officer in certain political and ecclesiastical systems of government. 1. the office of elder is in its origin political and is a relic of the old patriarchal system. the unit of primitive society is always the family; the only tie that binds men together is that of kinship. "the eldest male parent," to quote sir henry maine,[1] "is absolutely supreme in his household. his dominion extends to life and death and is as unqualified over his children and their houses as over his slaves." the tribe, which is a later development, is always an aggregate of families or clans, not a collection of individuals. "the union of several clans for common political action," as robertson smith says, "was produced by the pressure of practical necessity, and always tended towards dissolution when this practical pressure was withdrawn. the only organization for common action was that the leading men of the clans consulted together in time of need, and their influence led the masses with them. out of these conferences arose the senates of elders found in the ancient states of semitic and aryan antiquity alike."[2] with the development of civilization there came a time when age ceased to be an indispensable condition of leadership. the old title was, however, generally retained, e.g. the [greek: gerontes] so often mentioned in homer, the [greek: gerousia] of the dorian states, the _senatus_ and the _patres conscripti_ of rome, the sheikh or elder of arabia, the alderman of an english borough, the seigneur (lat. _senior_) of feudal france. 2. it was through the influence of judaism that the originally political office of elder passed over into the christian church and became ecclesiastical. the israelites inherited the office from their semitic ancestors (just as did the moabites and the midianites, of whose elders we read in numbers xxii. 7), and traces of it are found throughout their history. mention is made in judges viii. 14 of the elders of succoth whom "gideon taught with thorns of the wilderness and with briers." it was to the elders of israel in egypt that moses communicated the plan of yahweh for the redemption of the people (exodus iii. 16). during the sojourn in the wilderness the elders were the intermediaries between moses and the people, and it was out of the ranks of these elders that moses chose a council of seventy "to bear with him the burden of the people" (numbers xi. 16). the elders were the governors of the people and the administrators of justice. there are frequent references to their work in the latter capacity in the book of deuteronomy, especially in relation to the following crimes--the disobedience of sons; slander against a wife; the refusal of levirate marriage; manslaughter; and blood-revenge. their powers were gradually curtailed by (a) the development of the monarchy, to which of course they were in subjection, and which became the court of appeal in questions of law;[3] (b) the appointment of special judges, probably chosen from amongst the elders themselves, though their appointment meant the loss of privilege to the general body; (c) the rise of the priestly orders, which usurped many of the prerogatives that originally belonged to the elders. but in spite of the rise of new authorities, the elders still retained a large amount of influence. we hear of them frequently in the persian, greek and roman periods. in the new testament the members of the sanhedrin in jerusalem are very frequently termed "elders" or [greek: presbyteroi], and from them the name was taken over by the church. 3. the name "elder" was probably the first title bestowed upon the officers of the christian church--since the word deacon does not occur in connexion with the appointment of the seven in acts vi. its universal adoption is due not only to its currency amongst the jews, but also to the fact that it was frequently used as the title of magistrates in the cities and villages of asia minor. for the history of the office of elder in the early church and the relation between elders and bishops see presbyter. 4. in modern times the use of the term is almost entirely confined to the presbyterian church, the officers of which are always called elders. according to the presbyterian theory of church government there are two classes of elders--"teaching elders," or those specially set apart to the pastoral office, and "ruling elders," who are laymen, chosen generally by the congregation and set apart by ordination to be associated with the pastor in the oversight and government of the church. when the word is used without any qualification it is understood to apply to the latter class alone. for an account of the duties, qualifications and powers of elders in the presbyterian church see presbyterianism. see w.r. smith, _history of the semites_; h. maine, _ancient law_; e. schurer, _the jewish people in the time of christ_; j. wellhausen, _history of israel and judah_; g.a. deissmann, _bible studies_, p. 154. footnotes: [1] _ancient law_, p. 126. [2] _religion of the semites_, p. 34. [3] there is a hint at this even in the pentateuch, "every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge themselves." elder (o. eng. _ellarn_; ger. _holunder_; fr. _sureau_), the popular designation of the deciduous shrubs and trees constituting the genus _sambucus_ of the natural order caprifoliaceae. the common elder, _s. nigra_, the bourtree of scotland, is found in europe, the north of africa, western asia, the caucasus, and southern siberia; in sheltered spots it attains a height of over 20 ft. the bark is smooth; the shoots are stout and angular, and the leaves glabrous, pinnate, with oval or elliptical leaflets. the flowers, which form dense flat-topped clusters (corymbose cymes), with five main branches, have a cream-coloured, gamopetalous, five-lobed corolla, five stamens, and three sessile stigmas; the berries are purplish-black, globular and three- or four-seeded, and ripen about september. the elder thrives best in moist, well-drained situations, but can be grown in a great diversity of soils. it grows readily from young shoots, which after a year are fit for transplantation. it is found useful for making screen-fences in bleak, exposed situations, and also as a shelter for other shrubs in the outskirts of plantations. by clipping two or three times a year, it may be made close and compact in growth. the young trees furnish a brittle wood, containing much pith; the wood of old trees is white, hard and close-grained, polishes well, and is employed for shoemakers' pegs, combs, skewers, mathematical instruments and turned articles. young elder twigs deprived of pith have from very early times been in request for making whistles, popguns and other toys. the elder was known to the ancients for its medicinal properties, and in england the inner bark was formerly administered as a cathartic. the flowers (_sambuci flores_) contain a volatile oil, and serve for the distillation of elder-flower water (_aqua sambuci_), used in confectionery, perfumes and lotions. the leaves of the elder are employed to impart a green colour to fat and oil (_unguentum sambuci foliorum_ and _oleum viride_), and the berries for making wine, a common adulterant of port. the leaves and bark emit a sickly odour, believed to be repugnant to insects. christopher gullet (_phil. trans._, 1772, lxii. p. 348) recommends that cabbages, turnips, wheat and fruit trees, to preserve them from caterpillars, flies and blight, should be whipped with twigs of young elder. according to german folklore, the hat must be doffed in the presence of the elder-tree; and in certain of the english midland counties a belief was once prevalent that the cross of christ was made from its wood, which should therefore never be used as fuel, or treated with disrespect (see _quart. rev._ cxiv. 233). it was, however, a common medieval tradition, alluded to by ben jonson, shakespeare and other writers, that the elder was the tree on which judas hanged himself; and on this account, probably, to be crowned with elder was in olden times accounted a disgrace. in cymbeline (act iv. s. 2) "the stinking elder" is mentioned as a symbol of grief. in denmark the tree is supposed by the superstitious to be under the protection of the "elder-mother": its flowers may not be gathered without her leave; its wood must not be employed for any household furniture; and a child sleeping in an elder-wood cradle would certainly be strangled by the elder-mother. several varieties are known in cultivation: _aurea_, golden elder, has golden-yellow leaves; _laciniata_, parsley-leaved elder, has the leaflets cut into fine segments; _rotundifolia_ has rounded leaflets; forms also occur with variegated white and yellow leaves, and _virescens_ is a variety having white bark and green-coloured berries. the scarlet-berried elder, _s. racemosa_, is the handsomest species of the genus. it is a native of various parts of europe, growing in britain to a height of over 15 ft., but often producing no fruit. the dwarf elder or danewort (supposed to have been introduced into britain by the danes), _s. ebulus_, a common european species, reaches a height of about 6 ft. its cyme is hairy, has three principal branches, and is smaller than that of _s. nigra_; the flowers are white tipped with pink. all parts of the plant are cathartic and emetic.