Elidad (אֱלִידָד) means "beloved of God" or "God has loved," combining eli (my God) and dad (beloved, love). The name appears once in Numbers 34:21 as the name of the leader from the tribe of Benjamin appointed to help divide the land of Canaan among the tribes of Israel.
Elidad was appointed to a task of enormous consequence: the just distribution of the Promised Land. That one chosen for such sacred responsibility bore a name meaning "beloved of God" speaks to a biblical pattern: those entrusted with administering God's inheritance must first know they are beloved. The land division was not bureaucratic — it was covenant fulfillment, the inheritance of Abraham taking physical shape. Those who know they are loved by God are freed from self-interest in their stewardship of others. The New Testament echoes this: "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Stewards of God's gifts — land, resources, community — are most trustworthy when they know their identity is rooted in divine love.