Pelonite

Pel'onite (Heb. with the art. hap-Peloni', הִפּלוֹנַי, as if from a place or man Pelon. otherwise unknown; Sept. n ὁ Φελωνί v. r. ὁ Φαλλωνί, 1Ch 11:27; ὁ Φελλωνί, 1Ch 11:36; ὁ ἐκ Φαλλοῦς, 1Ch 27:10; Vulg. Phalonites, Phelonites, Phallonites). Two of David's mighty men, Helez and Ahijah, are called Pelonites (1Ch 11:27,36). From 1Ch 27:10 it appears that the former was of the tribe of Ephraim, and "Pelonite" would therefore be an appellation derived from his place of birth or residence. But in the Targum of rabbi Joseph it is evidently regarded as a patronymic, and is rendered in the last-mentioned passage "of the seed of Pelan." In the list of 2 Samuel 23 Helez is called (ver. 26) "the Paltite," that is, as Bertheau (on 1 Chronicles 11) conjectures, of Beth-Palet, or Beth-Phelet, in the south of Judah. But it seems probable that "Pelonite" is the correct reading. SEE PALTITE. "Ahijah the Pelonite" appears in 2Sa 23:34 as "Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite," of which the former is a corruption; "Ahijah" forming the first part of "Ahithophel," annd "Pelonite" and "Gilonite" differing only by פ and ג - If we follow the Sept. of 1 Chronicles 27, the place from which Helez took his name would be of the form Phallu, but there is no trace of it elsewhere, and the Sept. must have had a differently pointed text. In Heb. פּלנַי, peloni, as an appellative, corresponds to the Greek ὁ δεῖνα, "such a one:" it still exists in Arabic and in the Spanish Don Fulano, Mr. So-and-so.