A'bel-shit'tim (Heb. Abel' hash-Shittim', portions of his great commentary have been published separately from the Rabbinical Bibles, except in detached parts, and then usually with other matter and Hebrew or Jewish dialect; but that he was perfectly translated. Aben-Ezra usually wrote in the vulgar familiar with the original Hebrew is shown by some poems and other little pieces which are found in the preface to his commentaries. The works of Aben He Ezra are thoroughly philosophical, and show a great , meadow of the acacias, Sept. Aẞeloarriv, Vulg. Abel-satim), a town in the plains of Moab, on the east of the Jordan, between which and Beth-Jesimoth was the last encampment of the Israelites on that side the river (Num. xxxiii, 49). See EXODE. The place is noted for the severe punishment which was there inflicted upon the Israelites when they were seduced into the worship of Baal-Peor, through their evil intercourse with the Moabites and Midianites. See BAAL. Eusebius (Onomast. Eurytiv) says it was situated near Mount Peor (Reland, Palæst. p. 520). In the time of Josephus it was a town embosomed in palms, still known as Abila or Abile ('Aẞíλa or 'Aẞiλn), and stood sixty stadia from the Jordan (Ant. iv, 8, 1; v, 1, 1). Rabbinical authorities assign it the same relative position (Schwarz, Palest. p. 229). It is more frequently called SHITTIM merely (Num. xxv, 1; Josh. ii, 1: Mic. vi, 5). From the above notices (which all and accomplished scholar, was born in Philadelphia in Abercrombie, James, D.D., an Episcopal divine refer to the sojourn of the Israelites there), it appears 1758, and graduated at the University of Pennsylva to have been situated nearly opposite Jericho, in the nia, 1776. He then studied theology, but, on account eastern plain of Jordan, about where Wady Seir opens of an injury to his eyes, he entered into mercantile into the Ghor. The acacia-groves on both sides of pursuits in 1783. In 1793 he was ordained, and bethe Jordan still "mark with a line of verdure the up-came associate pastor of Christ Church in 1794. From per terraces of the valley" (Stanley, Palestine, p. 292), 1810 to 1819 he was principal of the "Philadelphia and doubtless gave name to this place (Wilson, Lands Academy." In 1833 he retired on a pension, and died of the Bible, ii, 17). at Philadelphia, June 26, 1841, the oldest preacher of that Church in the city. He was distinguished as well for eloquence and liberality as for learning. He wrote Lectures on the Catechism (1807), and published a number of occasional sermons.-Sprague, Annals, v, 394. His Abendana (i. e. Son of Dana), JACOB, a Jewish rabbi, born in Spain about 1630, died in London in 1696. He was rabbi first in Amsterdam, and from 1685 till his death in London. He translated into Spanish the book of Cusari as well as the Mishna, with the commentaries of Maimonides and Bartenora. Spicilegium rerum præteritarum et intermissarum contains valuable philogical and critical notes to the celebrated Michlal Jophi (Amsterdam, 1685). A selection from his works appeared after his death, under the title Discourses of the Ecclesiastical and Civil Polity of the Jews (Lond. 1706). Abercrombie, John, M.D., author of Enquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers, published 1830, and the Philosophy of the Moral Feelings, published 1833, was born at Aberdeen, Nov. 11, 1781, and attained the highest rank as a practical and consulting physician at Edinburgh. He became Lord Rector of Marischal College, Aberdeen, 1835. Besides the works above jects (Edinb. 18mo); Harmony of Christian Faith and Character (reprint from preceding, N. Y. 1845, 18mo). He died Nov. 14, 1844.-Quart. Rer. xlv, 341. Aberdeen (Aberdonia Devana), the seat of a Scotch bishopric, formerly suffragan to the Archbishopric of St. Andrew. The bishopric was transferred to Aberdeen about the year 1130, by King David, from Murthilack, now Mortlick, which had been erected into an episcopal see by Malcolm II in the year 1010, Beancus, or Beyn, being the first bishop. ABERDEEN, BREVIARY OF. While Romanism prevailed in Scotland, the Church of Aberdeen had, like many others, its own rites. The missal, according to Palmer, has never been published; but an edition of the breviary was printed in 1509.-Palmer, Orig. Liturg. i, 188, who cites Zaccaria, Biblioth. Ritualis, tom. i; A. Butler, Lives of Saints, i, 113. Aben-Ezra (otherwise ABEN-ESDRA, or IBN-named, he wrote Essays and Tracts on Christian SubESRA, properly, ABRAHAM BEN-MEIR), a celebrated Spanish rabbi, called by the Jews the Sage, the Great, etc., was born at Toledo in 1092. Little is known of the facts of his life; but he was a great traveller and student, and was at once philosopher, mathematician, and theologian. His fame for varied and accurate learning was very great in his own day, and has survived, worthily, to the present age. He died at Rome, Jan. 23, 1167. De Rossi, in his Hist. Dict. of Hebrew Writers (Parma, 1802), gives a catalogue of the writings attributed to him. Many of them still exist only in MS. A list of those that have been published, with the various editions and translations, is given by Fürst in his Bibliotheca Judaica (Lpz. 1849, i, 251 sq.). A work on astronomy, entitled an 1987 (the Beginning of Wisdom), parttranslated from the Arabic and partly compiled by himself, greatly contributed to establishing his reputation (a Latin translation of it is given in Wolf, Bibliotheca Hebraica, t. iii). He also wrote a "Commentary on the Talmud," and another work on the importance of the Talmud, entitled (the Basis of Instruction), several times printed (in German, F. ad M. 1840). His most important work consists of "Commentaries on the Old Testament" (g, in several parts), a work full of erudition. Bomberg, Buxtorf, and Moses Frankfurter included it in their editions of Hebrew texts and annotations of the BiHe (Venice, 1526; Basil, 1618-19; Amst. 1724-7). His "Commentary on the Pentateuch" (in) very rare in its original form (fol. Naples, 1488; Constantinople, 1514), but it has often been reprinted combined with other matter, overlayed by later annotations, or in fragmentary form. None of the other Abernethy, JOHN, an eminent Presbyterian divine, educated at the University of Glasgow, and afterward at Edinburgh. Born at Coleraine, in Ireland, 1680; became minister at Antrim in 1708, and labored zealously for twenty years, especially in behalf of the Roman Catholics. The subscription controversy, which was raised in England by Hoadley, the famous the flames of party strife in Ireland also, having led Bishop of Bangor, and the agitation of which kindled to the rupture of the Presbytery of Antrim from the General Synod in 1726, Abernethy, who was a warm supporter of the liberal principals of Hoadley, lost a large number of his people; and these having formed a new congregation, he felt his usefulness so greatly contracted that, on his services being solicited by a church in Wood Street, Dublin, he determined to accept their invitation. Applying himself with redoubled energy to his ministerial work, he soon col lected a numerous congregation. His constitution | departed hence, I will send to you one of my disciples, who will cure you of the disease of which you complain, and give life to you and to those that are with you." According to Moses of Chorene (died 470), the reply was written by the Apostle Thomas. failed under his excessive labors, and he died suddenly in December, 1740. His discourses on the being and attributes of God have always been held in much esteem. His works are: 1. Discourses on the Being and Perfections of God (Lond. 1743, 2 vols. 8vo); 2. Sermons on various Subjects (Lond. 1748-'51, 4 vols. Bvo); 3. Tracts and Sermons (Lond. 1751, 8vo). Aběsar. See ABEZ. Abesta. See AVESTA. Abeyance signifies expectancy, probably from the French bayer, to gape after. Lands, dwelling-houses, or goods, are said to be in abeyance when they are only in expectation, or the intendment of the law, and not actually possessed. In the Church of England, when a living has become vacant, between such time and the institution of the next incumbent, it is in abeyance. It belongs to no parson, but is kept suspended, as it were, in the purpose, as yet undeclared, of the patron. A ́bez (Heb. E'bets, 7, in pause 7, A'bets, lustre, and hence, perhaps, tin; Sept. 'Acués, Vulg. Abes), a town in the tribe of Issachar, apparently near the border, mentioned between Kishion and Remeth (Josh. xix, 20). It is probably the Abesar (Aẞécapos) mentioned by Josephus (Ant. vi, 13, 8) as the native city of the wife whom David had married prior to Abigail and after his deprival of Michal; possibly referring to Ahinoam the Jezreelitess (1 Sam. xxv, 43), as if she had been so called as having resided in some town of the valley of Esdraelon. According to Schwarz (Palest. p. 167), "it is probably the village of Kunebiz, called also Karm en-Abiz, which lies three English miles west-south-west from Iksal;" meaning the Khuneifis or Ukhneifis of Robinson (Researches, iii, 167, 218), which is in the general locality indicated by the associated names. Eusebius further states that, after the ascension of Christ, the Apostle Thomas sent Thaddæus, one of the seventy, to Abgar, who cured him of leprosy, and converted him, together with his subjects. The docu ments from which this narrative is drawn were found by Eusebius in the archives of Edessa. Moses of Chorene relates further that Abgarus; after his conversion, wrote letters in defence of Christianity to the Emperor Tiberius and to the king of Persia. He is also the first who mentions that Christ sent to Abgarus, together with a reply, a handkerchief impressed with his portrait. The letter of Christ to Abgarus was declared apocryphal by the Council of Rome, A.D. 494, but in the Greek Church many continued to believe in its authenticity, and the people of Edessa believed that their city was made unconquerable by the possession of this palladium. The original is said to have later been brought to Constantinople. In modern times, the correspondence of Abgarus, as well as the portrait of Christ, are generally regarded as forgeries; Yet the authenticity of the letters is defended by Tillemont, Memoires pour Servir à l'Hist. Eccles. i, p. 362, 615; by Welte, Tübing. Quartalschrift, 1842, p. Sylvester's at Rome, and a church of Genoa, profess 335 et seq., and several others. Two churches, St. each to have the original of the portrait. A beautiful copy of the portrait in Rome is given in W. Grimm, Die Suge vom Ursprung der Christusbilder (Berlin, 1843). The authenticity of the portrait in Genoa is defended by the Mechitarist, M. Samuelian. Hefele puts its origin in the fifteenth century, but believes it on this subject, in Latin, by Frauendorff (Lips. 1693), to be the copy of an older portrait. See the treatises Albinus (Viteb. 1694), E. Dalhuse (Hafn. 1699). Abgărus (ABAGARUS, AGBARUS; sometimes de- Schulze (Regiom. 1706); Semler (Hal. 1759), Heine rived from the Arabic Akbar, "greater," but better (Hal. 1768); Zeller (Frnkf. ad O. 1798); in German, from the Armenian Avag, "great," and air, "man;' by Hartmann (Jena, 1796), Rink (in the Morgenblatt, see Ersch und Gruber, s. v. Abgar), the common name 1819, No. 110, and in Ilgen's Zeitschr. 1843, ii, 3-26); of the petty princes (or Toparchs) who ruled at Edes- and comp. Bayer, Hist. Edessana, p. 104 sq., 358 sq. sa in Mesopotamia, of one of whom there is an East-See, also, Neander, Ch. Hist. i, 80: Mosheim, Comm. ern tradition, recorded by Eusebius (Eccl. Hist. i, 13), i, 95; Lardner, Works, vi, 596; Stud. u. Krit. 1860, iii ; that he wrote a letter to Christ, who transmitted a re- and the articles CHRIST, IMAGES OF; JESUS. ply. Eusebius gives copies of both letters, as follows: 46 A'bi (Heb. Abi', "EN, my father, or rather father Abi-(, an old construct form of , father, as is evident from its use in Hebrew and all the cognate languages), forms the first part of several Hebrew proper names (Bib. Repos. 1846, p. 760); e. g. those following. See AB-. Abgarus, Prince of Edessa, to Jesus, the merciful Saviour, who has appeared in the country of Jerusa- of [see ABI-]; Sept. 'Ací, Vulg. Abi), a shortened lem, greeting. I have been informed of the prodigies form (comp. 2 Chron. xxix, 1) of ABIJAH (q. v.), the and cures wrought by you without the use of herbs or name of the mother of King Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii, medicines, and by the efficacy only of your words. I 2, where the full form is also read in some MSS.). am told that you enable cripples to walk; that you force devils from the bodies possessed; that there is no disease, however incurable, which you do not heal, and that you restore the dead to life. These wonders persuade me that you are some god descended from heaven, or that you are the Son of God. For this reason I have taken the liberty of writing this letter to you, beseeching you to come and see me, and to cure me of the indisposition under which I have so long labored. I understand that the Jews persecute you, murmur at your miracles, and seek your destruction. I have here a beautiful and agreeable city which, though it be not very large, will be sufficient to supply you with every thing that is necessary." To this letter it is said Jesus Christ returned him an answer in the following terms: "You are happy, Abagarus, thus to have believed in me without having scen me; for it is written of me, that they who shall see me will not believe in me, and that they who have never seen me shall believe and be saved. As to the desire you express in receiving a visit from me, I must tell you that all things for which I am come must be fulfilled in the country where I am; when this is done, I must return to him who sent me. And when I am Abi'a ('Aẞtú), a Græcized form of the name ABIJAH (Matt. i, 7; Luke i, 5). It also occurs (1 Chron. iii, 10) instead of ABIAH (q. v.). Abi'ah, a less correct mode (1 Sam. viii, 2; 1 Chron. ii, 4; vi, 28; vii, 8) of Anglicizing the name ABIJAH (q. v.). A ́bi-al ́bon (Heb. Abi'-Albon", ", faA3 Apv, Vulg. Abialbon), one of David's bodyther of strength, i. e. valiant; Sept. 'Aßì 'A7Búv v. r. guard (2 Sam. xxiii, 31); called in the parallel passage (1 Chron. xi, 32) by the equivalent name ABIEL (q. v.). Abi'asaph (Heb. Abiasaph', "EN, father of gathering, i. e. gatherer; Sept. 'Aßiúoao, Vulg. Abiasaph), the youngest of the three sons of Korah the Levite (Exod. vi, 24); B.C. post 1740. He is different from the Ebiasaph of 1 Chron. vi, 23, 37; ix, 19. See SAMUEL. sage of Mark, rather than the acting priest Ahimelech, may have arisen from the greater prominence of the former in the history of David's reign, and he appears even at that time to have been with his father, and to have had some part in the pontifical duties. In additional explanation of the other difficulty above referred to, it may be suggested as not unlikely that Ahimelech may have been the name of one of Abiathar's sons likewise associated with him, as well as that of his father, and that copyists have confounded these names together. Abi'athar (Heb. Ebgathar',, father of abundance, i. e. liberal; Sept. 'Aẞuútap or 'Apiadap, N. T. Adap, Josephus 'Aiábapor), the thirteenth high-priest of the Jews, being the son of Ahimelech, and the third in descent from Eli; B.C. 1060-1012. When his father was slain with the priests of Nob, for suspected partiality to David, Abiathar escaped; and bearing with him the most essential part of the priestly raiment [see EPHOD], repaired to the son of Jesse, who was then in the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. xxii, 20-23; xxiii, 6). He was well received by David, and became the priest of the party during its exile and wan- A'bib (Heb. Abib', 7, from an obsolete root derings, receiving for David responses from God (1, to fructify), properly, a head or ear of grain (Lev. Sam. xxx, 7; comp. 2 Sam. ii, 1; v, 19). The cause ii, 14, "green cars;" Exod. xiii, 31, "ear"); hence, of this strong attachment on the part of the monarch the month of newly-ripe grain (Exod. xiii, 4; xxiii, was the feeling that he had been unintentionally the 15; xxxiv, 18; Deut. xvi, 1), the first of the Jewish vid became king of Judah he appointed Abiathar high- (q. v.).. It began with the new moon of March, accordyear, afterward (Neh. ii, 1) called NISAN cause of the death of Abiathar's kindred. When Da ecclesiastical See AHIMELECH. priest (see 1 Chron. xv, 11; 1 Kings ii, 26), and a member of his cabinet (1 Chron. xxvii, 34). Mean- ing to the Rabbins (Buxtorf, Lex. Talm. col. 3), or rathwhile Zadok had been made high-priest by Saul-an sibus Hebræor., comp. his Commentat. Bremæ, 1769, p. er of April, according to Michaelis (Comment, de Menappointment not only unexceptionable in itself, but in 16 sq.); at which time the first grain ripens in Palesaccordance with the divine sentence of deposition tine (Robinson's Researches, ii, 99, 100). See MONTH. which had been passed, through Samuel, upon the Hence it is hardly to be regarded as a strict name house of Eli (1 Sam. ii, 30-36). When, therefore, of a month, but rather as a designation of the seaDavid acquired the kingdom of Israel, he had no just ground on which Zadok could be removed, and Abia-son; as the Sept., Vulg., and Saadias have well rendered, in Exod. xiii, 4, "the month of the new grain ;" thar set in his place; and the attempt would prob- less correctly the Syriac, "the month of flowers" ably have been offensive to his new subjects, who (comp. Bochart, Hieroz. i, 557). Others (as A. Mulhad been accustomed to the ministration of Zadok, ler, Gloss. Sacra, p. 2) regard the name as derived and whose good feeling he was auxious to cultivate. from the eleventh Egyptian month, Epep (¿oí, Plut. The king appears to have got over this difficulty by al- de Iside, p. 372); but this corresponds neither to March lowing both appointments to stand; and until the end of David's reign Zadok and Abiathar were joint high- Jablonsky, Opusc. ed. Water, i, 65 sq.). See TEL-ABIB. or April, but to July (Fabricii Menologium, p. 22-27; priests (1 Kings iv, 4). As a high-priest, Abiathar was the least excusable, in some respects, of all those who were parties in the attempt to raise Adonijah to the throne (1 Kings i, 19); and Solomon, in deposing him from the high-priesthood, plainly told him that only his sacerdotal character, and his former services to David, preserved him from capital punishment (1 Kings ii, 26, 27). This completed the doom upon the house of Eli, and restored the pontifical succession-Zadok, who remained the high-priest, being of the elder line of Aaron's sons. See ELBAZAR. Abības, a martyr of Edessa, burned in 322, under the Emperor Licinius. He is commemorated in the Greek Church, as a saint, on 15th November. Abida, see ABILA. Ab'ida [many Abi'da] (Heb. Abida', *7′′78, father of knowledge, i. e. knowing; 1 Chron. i, 33, Sept. Aida; Gen. xxv, 4, 'Aẞaca, Auth. Vers. "Abidah"), the fourth of the five sons of Midian, the son of Abraham by Keturah (Gen. xxv, 1; 1 Chron. i, 33), and apparently the head of a tribe in the peninsula of Arabia, B.C. post 2000. See ARABIA. Josephus (Ant. In Mark ii, 26, a circumstance is described as occur-i, 15, 1) calls him Ebidas (Eẞicaç). For the city ring in the days of Abiathar, the high-priest" (Tì Adrizap Too doxepiwc-a phrase that is susceptible of the rendering, in [the time] of Abiathar, [the son} of the high-priest), which appears, from 1 Sam. xxi, 1, to have really occurred when his father Ahimelech was the high-priest. The most probable solution of this difficulty (but see Alford's Comment. in loc.) is that which interprets the reference thus: "in the days of Abiathar, who was afterward the high-priest" (Middleton, Greek Article, p. 188-190). But this leaves open another difficulty, which arises from the precisely opposite reference (in 2 Sam. viii, 17; 1 Chron. { Ab'idah [many Abi'dah], a less correct mode of Anglicizing (Gen. xxv, 4) the name ABIDA (q. v.). Ab'idan (Heb. Abidan', 78, father of judg ment, i. e. judge; Sept. 'Aẞidár), the son of Gideoni, and phylarch of the tribe of Benjamin at the exode (Num. i, 11; ii, 22; x, 24). At the erection of the Tabernacle he made a contribution on the ninth day, similar to the other chiefs (Num. vii, 60, 65), B.C. 1657. A ́biël (Heb. Abiel', b, lit. father [i. e. pos xviii, 16; xxiv, 3, 6, 31) to Ahimelech [or Abime-sessor] of God, i. e. pious, or perhaps father of strength, sonage as Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech. Another father. See NER. In 1 Sam. ix, 1 he is 2. An Arbathite, one of David's distinguished warriors (1 Chron. xi, 32). B.C. 1053. In the parallel passage he is called ABI-ALBON (2 Sam. xxiii, 31), See DAVID. lech] the son of Abiathar," as the person who was i. e. strong; Sept. 'ABA), the name of two men. high-priest along with Zadok, and who was deposed father of Ner (1 Sam. xiv, 51), which last was the 1. The son of Zeror, a Benjamite (1 Sam. ix, 1), and by Solomon; whereas the history describes that per-grandfather of Saul, the first king of Israel (1 Chron. B.C. 1093. viii, 33; ix, 39). explanation is, that both father and son bore the two called the "father" (q. v.) of Kish, meaning grandnames of Ahimelech and Abiathar, and might be, and were, called by either (J. C. Leuschner, De Achimelecho binomini, Hirschb. 1750). But although it was not unusual for the Jews to have two names, it was not usual for both father and son to have the same two names. Others suppose a second Abiathar, the father of Ahimelech, and some even a son of the same name; but none of these suppositions are warranted by the text, nor allowable in the list of highpriests. See HIGH-PRIEST. The names have probably become transposed by copyists, for the Syriac and Arabic versions have "Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech. The mention of A'i thr in the above pas Abië'zer (Heb. id., 18, father of help, i. e. helpful; Sept. 'Ao), the name of two men. 1. The second of the three sons of Hammoleketh, sister of Gilead, grandson of Manasseh (1 Chron. vii, 18). B.C. cir. 1618. He became the founder of a family that settled beyond the Jordan [sec OPHRAU], from which Gideon sprang (Josh. vii, 2), and which bore this name as a patronymic (Judg. vi, 34), a circumstance that is beautifully alluded to in Gideon's delicate reply to the jealous Ephraimites (Judg. viii, 2). See ABIEZRITE. He is elsewhere called JEEZER, and his descendants Jeezerites (Num. xxvi, 30). 2. A native of Anathoth, one of David's thirty chief warriors (2 Sam. xxiii, 27; 1 Chron. xi, 28); B.C. 1053. He was afterward appointed captain of the ninth contingent of troops from the Benjamites (1 Chron. xxvii, 12), B.C. 1014. of two women. See DAVID. of Esther, and uncle of Mordecai (Esther ii, 15; ix, 29; comp. ii, 7). B.C. ante 479. 1, 9). When, at the first establishment of the ceremonial worship, the victims offered on the great brazen altar were consumed by fire from heaven, it was directed that this fire should always be kept up, and that the daily incense should be burnt in censers fillBut one day Nadab and Abihu presumed to neglect ed with it from the great altar (see Lev. vi, 9 sq.). this regulation, and offered incense in censers filled with Abi'hu (Heb. Abihu', E, lit. father [i. e. worshipper] of Him, sc. God; Sept. 'Aßloud, Josephus Aẞove, Vulg. Abiu), the second of the sons of 60; 1 Chron. vi, 3; xxiv, 1), who, with his brothers Aaron by Elisheba (Exod. vi, 23; Num. iii, 2; xxvi, Nadab, Eleazar, and Ithamar, was set apart and consecrated for the priesthood (Exod. xxviii, 1). With his father and elder brother, he accompanied the sev Abiëz'rite (Heb. Abi' ha-Ezri", ", fa- enty elders partly up the mount which Moses ascendther of the Ezrite; Sept. Tarno Tov 'Ezoi, Vulg. patered to receive the divine communication (Exod. xxiv, familie Ezri; but in Judg. viii, 32, 'Aẞi 'Eloí, de familia Ezri), a patronymic designation of the descendants of ABIEZER (Judg. vi, 2, 24; viii, 32). Ab'igail (Heb. Abiga ́yil, b, father [i. e. source] of joy, or perh. i. q. leader of the dance, once contracted Abigal',, 2 Sam. xvii, 25; Sept. 'Aßıyaïλ v. r. 'Aẞıyaía, Josephus 'Aẞıyaia), the name 1. The daughter of Nahash (? Jesse), sister of Da-"strange" or common fire, B.C. 1657. For this they were instantly struck dead by lightning, and were takvid, and wife of Jether or Ithra (q. v.), an Ishmaelite, en away and buried in their clothes without the camp by whom she had Amasa (1 Chron. ii, 16, 17; 2 Sam. (Lev. x, 1-11; comp. Num. iii, 4; xxvi, 61; 1 Chron. xvii, 25). B.C. 1068. xxiv, 2). See AARON. There can be no doubt that 2. The wife of Nabal, a prosperous but churlish this severe example had the intended effect of ensheep-master in the district of Carmel, west of the forcing becoming attention to the most minute observDead Sea (1 Sam. xxv, 3). B.C. 1060. Her promptiances of the ritual service. As immediately after the tude and discretion averted the wrath of David, which, record of this transaction, and in apparent reference as she justly apprehended, had been violently excited to it, comes a prohibition of wine or strong drink to by the insulting treatment which his messengers had the priests whose turn it might be to enter the taberreceived from her husband (comp. Josephus, Ant. vi, nacle, it is not unfairly surmised that Nadab and Abi13, 6-8). See NABAL. She hastily prepared a lib-hu were intoxicated when they committed this serious eral supply of provisions, of which David's troop error in their ministrations. See NADAB. stood in much need, and went forth to meet him, attended by only one servant, without the knowledge of her husband. When they met, he was marching to exterminate Nabal and all that belonged to him; and not only was his rage mollified by her prudent remonstrances and delicate management, but he became sensible that the vengeance which he had purposed was not warranted by the circumstances, and was thankful that he had been prevented from shedding innocent blood (1 Sam. xxv, 14-35). The beauty and prudence of Abigail (see H. Hughes, Female Characters, ii, 250 sq.) made such an impression upon David on this occasion, that when, not long after, he heard of Nabal's death, he sent for her, and she became his wife (1 Sam. xxv, 39-42). She accompanied him in all his future fortunes (1 Sam. xxvii, 3; xxx, 5; 2 Sam. ii, 2). See DAVID. By her he had one son, Chileab (2 Sam. iii, 3), who is probably the same elsewhere called Daniel (1 Chron. iii, 1). Abiha’ïl (Heb. Abicha'yil,, father of [i. c. endowed with] might, or perhaps leader of the song), the name of three men and two women. 1. (Sept. 'Aẞixail.) The father of Zuriel, which latter was the chief of the Levitical family of Merari at the exode (Num. iii, 35). B.C. ante 1657. 2. (Sept. 'Aßiyaia v. r. 'Aẞıyaia.) The wife of Abishur (of the family of Jerahmeel), and mother of Ahban and Molid (1 Chron. ii, 29, where the name in some MSS. is Abiha yil,, apparently by error). B.C. considerably post 1612. 3. (Sept. 'Aßixaía.) The son of Huri, and one of the family chiefs of the tribe of Gad, who settled in Bashan (1 Chron. v, 14), B.C. between 1093 and 782. 4. (Sept. 'Aßiaïá v. r. 'Aßiaia and 'Aẞixaia.) The second wife of king Rehoboam, to whom she or the previous wife bore several sons (2 Chron. xi, 18). B.C. 972. She is there called the " 'daughter" of Eliab, the son of Jesse, which must mean descendant [see FATHER], since David, the youngest of his father's sons, was thirty years old when he began to reign, eighty years before her marriage. Abi'hud (Heb. Abihud',, father [i. e. pos sessor] of renown, q. d. Hárporλog; Sept. and N. T. 'Aẞtov), the name of two men. 1. One of the sons of Bela, the son of Benjamin (1 Chron. viii, 3); apparently the same elsewhere called AншUD (ver. 7). B.C. post 1856. See JACOB. 2. The great-great-grandson of Zerubbabel, and father of Eliakim, among the paternal ancestry of Jesus (Matt. i, 13, where the name is Anglicized “Abiud"); apparently the same with the JUDA, son of Joanna and father of Joseph in the maternal line (Luke iii, 26); and also with OBADIAH, Son of Arnan and father of Shechaniah in the O. T. (1 Chron. iii, 21). B.C. ante 410. (See Strong's Harmony and Expos. of the Gosp. p. 16.) Comp. HODAIAH, Abi'jah (Heb. Abiyah', . father [i. e. posses8or or worshipper] of Jehovah; also in the equivalent protracted form Abiyahu, 2, 2 Chron. xiii, 20, 21; Sept. and N. T. 'Aẞia, but Asia in 1 Kings xiv, 1; Neh. x, 7; 'Aẞiaç in 1 Chron. xxiv, 10; Neh. xii, 4, 17; 'Aẞtoú v. r. 'Aẞtovo in 1 Chron. vii, 8; Josephus, 'Aẞiac, Ant. vii, 10, 3; Auth. Vers. .. Abiah" in 1 Sam. viii, 2; 1 Chron. ii, 24; vi, 28; vii, 8; "Abia" in 1 Chron. iii, 10; Matt. i, 7; Luke i, 5), the name of six men and two women. 1. A son of Becher, one of the sons of Benjamin (1 Chron. vii, 8). B.C. post 1856. 2. The daughter of Machir, who bore to Hezron a posthumous son, Ashur (1 Chron. ii, 24). B.C. cir. 1612. 3. The second son of Samuel (1 Sam. viii, 2; 1Chron. vi, 28). Being appointed by his father a judge in Beersheba, in connection with his brother, their corrupt administration induced such popular discontent as to provoke the elders to demand a royal form of government for Israel, B.C. 1093. See SAMUEL. 4. One of the descendants of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, and chief of one of the twenty-four courses of orders into which the whole body of the priesthood was divided by David (1 Chron. xxiv, 10), B.C. 1014. Of these the course of Abijah was the eighth. Only 5. (Sept. 'Auvacáß v. r. 'Aßıxaïa.) The father four of the courses returned from the captivity, of peace, and be mourned in Israel (see S. C. Wilkes, Family Sermons, 12; C. Simeon, Works, iii, 385; T. Gataker, Sermons, pt. ii, 291). Accordingly, when the mother returned home, the youth died as she crossed the threshold of the door. "And they buried him, and all Israel mourned for him" (1 Kings xiv, 1-18), B.C. cir. 782. See JEROBOAM. which that of Abijah was not one (Ezra ii, 36-39; | only, of all that house, should come to his grave in Neh. vii, 39–42; xii, 1). But the four were divided into the original number of twenty-four, with the original names; and it hence happens that Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, is described as belonging to the course of Abijah (Luke i, 5). See PRIEST. 5. The second king of the separate kingdom of Judah, being the son of Rehoboam, and grandson of Solomon (1 Chron. iii, 10). He is also called (1 Kings xiv, 31; xv, 1-8) ABIJAM (q. v.). He began to reign B.C. 956, in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, and he reigned three years (2 Chron. xii, 16; xiii, 1, 2). At the commencement of his reign, looking on the well-founded separation of the ten tribes from the house of David as rebellion, Abijah made a vigorous attempt to bring them back to their allegiance (2 Chron. xiii, 3-19). In this he failed; although a signal victory over Jeroboam, who had double his force and much greater experience, enabled him to take several cities which had been held by Israel (see J. F. Bahrdt, De bello Abiæ et Jerob. Lips. 1760). The speech which Abijah addressed to the opposing army before the battle has been much admired (C. Simeon, Works, iv, 96). It was well suited to its object, and exhibits correct notions of the theo 7. The daughter of Zechariah, and mother of King Hezekiah (2 Chron. xxix, 1), and, consequently, the wife of Ahaz, whom she survived, and whom, if we may judge from the piety of her son, she excelled in moral character. She is elsewhere called by the shorter form of the name, ABI (2 Kings xviii, 2). B.C. 726. Her father, may have been the same with the Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah, whom Isaiah took as a witness of his marriage with "the prophetess" (Isa. viii, 2; comp. 2 Chron. xxvi, 5). 8. One of those (apparently priests) who affixed their signatures to the covenant made by Nehemiah (Neh. x, 7), B.C. 410. He is probably the same (notwithstanding the great age this implies) who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel (Nch. xii, 4), B.C. 536, and who had a son named Zichri (Neh. xii, 17). Abila (rà "Aẞıλa and ǹ 'Aßiλn, Polyb. v, 71, 2; Ptol. v, 18), the name of at least two places. Abi'jam (Heb. Abiyam', □228, father of the sea, cratical institutions (Keil, Apolog. d. Chron. p. 336). i. q. seaman; Sept. 'Aẞia v. r. Apiou, Vulg. Abiam), His view of the political position of the ten tribes with the name always given in the book of Kings (1 Kings respect to the house of David is, however, obviously xiv, 31; xv, 1, 7, 8) to the king of Judah (1 Kings erroneous, although such as a king of Judah was like-xiv, 1, refers to another person), elsewhere (1 Chron. ly to take. The numbers reputed to have been pres-iii, 10; 2 Chron. xiii, 1-22) called ABIJAH (q. v.). ent in this action are 800,000 on the side of Jeroboam, Lightfoot (Harm. O. T. in loc.) thinks that the writer 400,000 on the side of Abijah, and 500,000 left dead in Chronicles, not describing his reign as wicked, adon the field. Hales and others regard these extraor-mits the sacred JAH into his name; but which the book dinary numbers as corruptions, and propose to reduce of Kings, charging him with following the evil ways them to 80,000, 40,000, and 50,000 respectively, as in of his father, changes into JAM. This may be fanci the Latin Vulgate of Sixtus V, and many earlier edi- ful; but such changes of name were not unusual tions, and in the old Latin translation of Josephus ; (comp. BETHAVEN; SYCHAR). and probably also in his original Greek text, as is collected by De Vignoles from Abarbanel's charge against the historian of having made Jeroboam's loss no more than 50,000 men, contrary to the Hebrew text (Kennicott's Dissertations, i, 533; ii, 201 sq., 564). See NUMBER. The book of Chronicles mentions nothing concerning Abijah adverse to the impressions which we receive from his conduct on this occasion; but in Kings we are told that "he walked in all the sins of his father" (1 Kings xv, 3). He had fourteen wives, by whom he left twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters (2 Chron. xiii, 20-22). Asa succeeded him (2 Chron. xiv, 1; Matt. i, 7). See JUDAH. There is a difficulty connected with the maternity of Abijah. In 1 Kings xv, 2, we read, "His mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom" (comp. 2 Chron. xi, 20, 22); but in 2 Chron. xiii, 2, His mother's name was Michaiah, the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah." Maachah and Michaiah are variations of the same name; and Abishalom is in all likelihood Absalom, the son of David. The word (2) rendered daughter" (q. v.), is applied in the Bible not only to a man's child, but to his niece, granddaughter, or great-granddaughter. It is therefore possible that Uriel of Gibeah married Tamar, the beautiful daughter of Absalom (2 Sam. xiv, 27), and by her had Maachah, who was thus the daughter of 1. The capital of the "Abilene" of Lysanias (Luke iii, 1), and distinguished (by Josephus, Ant. xix, 5, 1) from other places of the same name as the "ABILA OP LYSANIAS" ("Aßiλa ǹ Avoaviov). The word is evidently of Hebrew origin, signifying a grassy plain. See ABEL-. This place, however, is not to be confounded with any of the Biblical localities of the O. T. having this prefix, since it was situated beyond the bounds of Palestine in Cœle-Syria (Antonin. Itin. p. 197, ed. Wessel), being the same with the "Abila of Lebanon" (Abila ad Libanum), between Damascus and Baalbek or Heliopolis (Reland, Palæst. p. 317, 458). Josephus (see Hudson's ed. p. 864, note) and others also write the name Abella (“Àßeλλa), Abela (Aßiλa), and even Anbilla ("Avẞıλa), assigning it to Phoenicia (Reland, ib. p. 527-529). A medal is extant, bearing a bunch of grapes, with the inscription, "Abila Leucas," EBACT Coin of Abila-Leucas. shown to have a later date (Eckhel, iii, 337, 345); for there is another medal of the same place, which bears a half figure of the river-god, with the inscription Chrysoroas Claudiaion," a title which, although fix Uriel and granddaughter of Absalom. See MAACHAH. which Belleye (in the Transactions of the Acad. of 6. A son of Jeroboam I, king of Israel. His se- Belles Lettres) refers to this city; but it has been vere and threatening illness induced Jeroboam to send his wife with a present [see GIFT] suited to the disguise in which she went, to consult the prophet Ahijah respecting his recovery. This prophet was the same who had, in the days of Solomon, foretold to Jeroboam his elevation to the throne of Israel. Though blind with age, he knew the disguised wife of Jeroboam, and was authorized, by the prophetic impulse that came upon him, to reveal to her that, because there was found in Abijah only, of all the house of Jeroboam, some good thing toward the Lord," he! 66 EY KAR Coin of Abila-Claudiopolis. |