Bible Dictionary
Elephant
The elephant is not directly named in the ordinary biblical text, though Scripture refers to ivory and possibly to an elephant or related creature. Elephants are also mentioned in the Maccabean histories.
Definition
The elephant is not directly named in the ordinary biblical text. Scripture refers indirectly to it through words translated “ivory,” understood as elephant’s tooth, and through a Greek word meaning “of ivory.” The Maccabean histories explicitly mention elephants.
Biblical Usage
References to ivory in Kings, Chronicles, and Revelation provide the indirect biblical associations. Job’s Behemoth has also been connected in supplied notes with an elephant or possibly an extinct mammoth, while the common translation is hippopotamus.
Historical Background
Elephants occur in the supplied accounts of the Maccabean wars and military history.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Not found in Scripture except indirectly in the original Greek word (elephantinos) translated “of ivory” in Rev. 18:12, and in the Hebrew word (shenhabim, meaning “elephant’s tooth”) rendered “ivory” in 1 Kings 10:22 and 2 Chr. 9:21.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>el'-e-fant</p><p>(Job 40:15 the King James Version margin, the American Revised Version, margin "hippopotamus," the Revised Version (British and American) "ivory"); 1Ki 10:22 the King James Version margin; 2Ch 9:21 the King James Version; /APC 1Macc 3:34; 6:28 ff; 8:6 Possibly in Job it is the extinct mammoth.</p><p>See BEHEMOTH; IVORY.</p>