Difference between revisions of "Abijah"

<span> 1 [[Samuel]] 8:2-5).2 </span> <span> 1 Kings 14:1-18).3 </span> <span> 1 Kings 15:1 </span> <span> 2 [[Chronicles]] 11:22 </span> <span> 1 Kings 15:3 </span> <span> 2 Chronicles 13:10 </span> <span> 2 Chronicles 13:15-20 </span> <span> 2 Chronicles 13:21 </span> <span> [[Matthew]] 1:7 </span> <span> 4 </span> <span> 1 Chronicles 2:24 </span> <span> 5 </span> <span> 1 Chronicles 7:8 </span> <span> 6 </span> <span> 1 Chronicles 24:10 </span> <span> 7 </span> <span> [[Nehemiah]] 10:7 </span> <span> 8 </span> <span> Nehemiah 12:4 </span> <span> Nehemiah 12:17 </span> <span> [[Luke]] 1:5 </span> <span> 9 </span> <span> 2 Chronicles 29:1 </span> <a> [[Abia]] </a> <a> [[Abiah]] </a>

<p> <span> Abi'a, Abi'ah, </span> or <span> Abi'jah. </span> <span> (my father is Jehovah). </span> </p> <p> 1. [[Son]] and successor of [[Rehoboam]] on the throne of Judah. <span> 1 Kings 4:21 </span> ; <span> 2 [[Chronicles]] 12:16 </span> . [[He]] is called <span> Abai, Abiah, </span> or <span> [[Abijah]] </span> in Chronicles, <span> [[Abijam]] </span> in Kings. He began to reign B.C. 959, and reigned three years. He endeavored to recover the kingdom of the [[Ten]] Tribes, and made war on Jeroboam. He was successful in battle, and took several of the cities of Israel. We are told that he walked in all the sins of Rehoboam. <span> 1 Kings 14:23-24 </span> . </p> <p> 2. The second son of Samuel, called Abai, Abiah, Abija, or Abia, [[Course]] of in our version. <span> [[See]] </span> <a> Abai, Abiah, Abijam, or Abia, Course of </a> <span> . </span> </p> <p> 3. Son of [[Jeroboam]] I, king of Israel; died in his childhood. <span> 1 Kings 14:1 </span> . </p> <p> 4. A descendant of Eleazar, who gave his name to the eighth of the 24 courses into which the priests were divided by David. <span> 1 Chronicles 24:10 </span> ; <span> 2 Chronicles 8:14 </span> ; <span> [[Nehemiah]] 12:4 </span> ; <span> Nehemiah 12:17 </span> . </p> <p> 5. [[One]] of the priests who entered into a covenant with Nehemiah to walk in God's law, <span> Nehemiah 10:7 </span> , unless the name is rather that of a family, and the same with the preceding. </p>

<p> <translit> a </translit> - <translit> bı̄´ja </translit> ( <span> אביּהוּ ר אביּה </span> , <i> <translit> 'ăbhı̄yāh </translit> </i> or <i> <translit> 'ăbhı̄yāhū </translit> </i> ( <span> 2 [[Chronicles]] 13:20 </span> , <span> 2 Chronicles 13:21 </span> ), "my father is Yahweh," or "Yahweh is father"): The name of six or more men and two women in the [[Old]] Testament. </p> <p> (1) The seventh son of [[Becher]] the son of [[Benjamin]] ( <span> 1 Chronicles 7:8 </span> ). </p> <p> (2) The second son of the prophet [[Samuel]] ( <span> 1 Samuel 8:2 </span> ; <span> 1 Chronicles 6:28 </span> ( <span> 1 Chronicles 6:13 </span> )). </p> <p> (3) The eighth among "the holy captains and captains of God" appointed by lot by [[David]] in connection with the priestly courses ( <span> 1 Chronicles 24:10 </span> ). [[Compare]] "Zacharias of the course of Abijah" ( <span> [[Luke]] 1:5 </span> ). </p> <p> (4) A son of [[Jeroboam]] I of [[Israel]] (1 Ki 14:1-18). The narrative describes his sickness and his mother's visit to the prophet Ahijah. [[He]] is spoken of as the one member of the house of Jeroboam in whom there was "found some good thing toward Yahweh." [[With]] his death the hope of the dynasty perished. </p> <p> (5) The son and successor of [[Rehoboam]] king of [[Judah]] ( <span> 1 Chronicles 3:10 </span> ; 2 Ch 11:20 through 14:1). [[As]] to the variant name [[Abijam]] ( <span> 1 Kings 14:31 </span> ; <span> 1 Kings 15:1 </span> , <span> 1 Kings 15:7 </span> , <span> 1 Kings 15:8 </span> ) see <a> ABIJAM </a> . </p> <p> The statements concerning Abijah's mother afford great opportunity for a person who is interested in finding discrepancies in the [[Bible]] narrative. She is said to have been [[Maacah]] the daughter of [[Absalom]] ( <span> 1 Kings 15:2 </span> ; <span> 2 Chronicles 11:20 </span> , <span> 2 Chronicles 11:21 </span> , <span> 2 Chronicles 11:22 </span> ). As more than 50 years elapsed between the adolescence of Absalom and the accession of Rehoboam, the suggestion at once emerges that she may have been Absalom's daughter in the sense of being his granddaughter. But [[Maacha]] the daughter of Absalom was the mother of Asa, Abijam's son and successor ( <span> 1 Kings 15:10 </span> , <span> 1 Kings 15:13 </span> ; <span> 2 Chronicles 15:16 </span> ). Further we are explicitly told that Absalom had three sons and one daughter ( <span> 2 Samuel 14:27 </span> ). It is inferred that the three sons died young, inasmuch as Absalom before his death built him a monument because he had no son ( <span> 2 Samuel 18:18 </span> ). The daughter was distinguished for her beauty, but her name was Tamar, not Maacah. Finally, the narrative tells us that the name of Abijah's mother was "Micaiah the daughter of [[Uriel]] of Gibeah" ( <span> 2 Chronicles 13:2 </span> ). </p> <p> It is less difficult to combine all these statements into a consistent account than it would be to combine some pairs of them if taken by themselves. When all put together they make a luminous narrative, needing no help from conjectural theories of discrepant sources or textual errors. It is natural to understand that [[Tamar]] the daughter of Absalom married Uriel of Gibeah; that their daughter was Maacah, named for her great-grandmother ( <span> 2 Samuel 3:3 </span> ; <span> 1 Chronicles 3:2 </span> ); that [[Micaiah]] is a variant of Maacah, as [[Abijah]] is of Abijam. Maacah married Rehoboam, the parties being second cousins on the father's side; if they had been first cousins perhaps they would not have married. [[Very]] likely Solomon, through the marriage, hoped to conciliate an influential party in Israel which still held the name of Absalom in esteem; perhaps also he hoped to supplement the moderate abilities of Rehoboam by the great abilities of his wife. She was a brilliant woman, and Rehoboam's favorite ( <span> 2 Chronicles 11:21 </span> ). [[On]] Abijah's accession she held at court the influential position of king's mother; and she was so strong that she continued to hold it, when, after a brief reign, Abijah was succeeded by Asa; though it was a position from which [[Asa]] had the authority to depose her ( <span> 1 Kings 15:13 </span> ; <span> 2 Chronicles 15:16 </span> ). </p> <p> The account in Chronicles deals mainly with a decisive victory which, it says, Abijah gained over northern Israel (2 Ch 13), he having 400,000 men and Jeroboam 800,000, of whom 500,000 were slain. It is clear that these numbers are artificial, and were so intended, whatever may be the key to their meaning. Abijah's speech before the battle presents the same view of the religious situation which is presented in Kings and [[Amos]] and Hosea, though with fuller priestly details. The orthodoxy of Abijah on this one occasion is not in conflict with the representation in Kings that he followed mainly the evil ways of his father Rehoboam. [[In]] Chronicles coarse luxury and the multiplying of wives are attributed to both father and son. </p> <p> (6) A priest of Nehemiah's time, who sealed the covenant ( <span> [[Nehemiah]] 10:7 </span> ). [[Conjecturally]] the same with the one mentioned in <span> Nehemiah 12:4 </span> , <span> Nehemiah 12:17 </span> . </p> <p> (7) The wife of Judah's grandson Hezron, to whom was traced the origin of [[Tekoa]] ( <span> 1 Chronicles 2:24 </span> ). </p> <p> (8) The mother of [[King]] [[Hezekiah]] ( <span> 2 Chronicles 29:1 </span> ), called [[Abi]] in 2 Ki. [[See]] <links> ABI </links> . </p>

<p> (Heb. Abiyah', <span> אֲבַיָּה </span> <span> father </span> [i.e. <span> possessor or worshipper </span> ] <span> of Jehovah; </span> also in the equivalent protracted form Abiya'hu, <span> אֲבַיָּהוּ </span> , <span> 2 [[Chronicles]] 13:20-21 </span> ; Sept. and N.T. <span> ‘Αβιά </span> but <span> ‘Αβία </span> in <span> 1 Kings 14:1 </span> ; <span> [[Nehemiah]] 10:7 </span> ; <span> ‘Αβίας </span> in <span> 1 Chronicles 24:10 </span> ; <span> Nehemiah 12:4 </span> ; <span> Nehemiah 12:17 </span> ; <span> ‘Αβιού </span> v. r. <span> ‘Αβιούδ </span> , in <span> 1 Chronicles 7:8 </span> ; Josephus, <span> ‘Αβίας </span> , <span> Ant. </span> 7:10, 3; Auth. Vers. <span> ‘ </span> "Abiah" in <span> 1 [[Samuel]] 8:2 </span> ; <span> 1 Chronicles 2:24 </span> ; <span> 1 Chronicles 6:28 </span> ; <span> 1 Chronicles 7:8 </span> ; "Abia" in <span> 1 Chronicles 3:10 </span> ; <span> [[Matthew]] 1:7 </span> ; <span> [[Luke]] 1:5 </span> ), the name of six men and two women. <span> 1. </span> A son of Becher, one of the sons of [[Benjamin]] ( <span> 1 Chronicles 7:8 </span> ). B.C. post 1856. </p> <p> <span> 2. </span> The daughter of Machir, who bore to [[Hezron]] a posthumous son, [[Ashur]] ( <span> 1 Chronicles 2:24 </span> ). B.C. cir. 1612. </p> <p> <span> 3. </span> The second son of Samuel ( <span> 1 Samuel 8:2 </span> ; <span> 1 Chronicles 6:28 </span> ). 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 <a> SAMUEL </a> ). </p> <p> <span> 4. </span> [[One]] of the descendants of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, and chief of one of the twenty-four courses or orders into which the whole body of the priesthood was divided by [[David]] ( <span> 1 Chronicles 24:10 </span> ), B.C. 1014. [[Of]] these the course of [[Abijah]] was the eighth. Only four of the courses returned from the captivity, of which that of Abijah was not one ( <span> [[Ezra]] 2:36-39 </span> ; <span> Nehemiah 7:39-42 </span> ; <span> Nehemiah 12:1 </span> ). 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 ( <span> Luke 1:5 </span> ). (See <a> PRIEST </a> ). </p> <p> <span> 5. </span> The second king of the separate kingdom of Judah, being the son of Rehoboam, and grandson of [[Solomon]] ( <span> 1 Chronicles 3:10 </span> ). [[He]] is also called ( <span> 1 Kings 14:31 </span> ; <span> 1 Kings 15:1-8 </span> ) ABIJAMI (See <a> ABIJAMI </a> ) (q.v.). He began to reign B.C. 956, in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel, and he reigned three years ( <span> 2 Chronicles 12:16 </span> ; <span> 2 Chronicles 13:1-2 </span> ). 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 ( <span> 2 Chronicles 13:3-19 </span> ). [[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 Abice et Jerob. Lips. 1760). The speech which Abijah addressed to the opposing army before the battle has been much admired (C. Simeon, Works, 4:96). It was well suited to its object, and exhibits correct notions of the theocratical institutions (Keil, Apolog. d. Chron. p. 336). [[His]] view of the political position of the ten tribes with respect to the house of David is, however, obviously erroneous, although such as a king of [[Judah]] was likely to take. The numbers reputed to have been present in this action are 800,000 on the side of Jeroboam, 400,000 on the side of Abijah, and 500,000 left dead on the field. Hales and others regard these extraordinary numbers as corruptions, and propose to reduce them to 80,000, 40,000, and 50,000 respectively, as in the [[Latin]] [[Vulgate]] of [[Sixtus]] V, and many earlier editions, and in the old Latin translation of Josephus; 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, 1:533; 2:201 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" ( <span> 1 Kings 15:3 </span> ). He had fourteen wives, by whom he left twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters ( <span> 2 Chronicles 13:20-22 </span> ). [[Asa]] succeeded him ( <span> 2 Chronicles 14:1 </span> ; <span> Matthew 1:7 </span> ). (See <a> JUDAH </a> ). </p> <p> There is a difficulty connected with the maternity of Abijah. In <span> 1 Kings 15:2 </span> , we read, "His mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Abishalom" (comp. <span> 2 Chronicles 11:20 </span> ; <span> 2 Chronicles 11:22 </span> ); but in <span> 2 Chronicles 13:2 </span> , "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 ( <span> בִּת </span> ) 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]] ( <span> 2 Samuel 14:27 </span> ), and by her had Maachah, who was thus the daughter of Uriel and granddaughter of Absalom. (See <a> MAACHAH </a> ). </p> <p> <span> 6. </span> A son of [[Jeroboam]] 1, king of Israel. His severe and threatening illness induced Jeroboam to send his wife with a present [ (See <a> GIFT </a> ) ] 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 only, of all that house, should come to his grave in peace, and be mourned in Israel (see S. C. Wilkes, [[Family]] Sermons, 12; C. Simeon, Works, 3, 385; T. Gataker, Sermons, pt. 2:291). 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" ( <span> 1 Kings 14:1-18 </span> ), B.C. cir. 782. (See <a> JEROBOAM </a> ). </p> <p> <span> 7. </span> The daughter of Zechariah, and mother of [[King]] [[Hezekiah]] ( <span> 2 Chronicles 29:1 </span> ), 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 (See <a> ABI </a> ) ( <span> 2 Kings 18:2 </span> ). 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" ( <span> Isaiah 8:2 </span> ; comp. <span> 2 Chronicles 26:5 </span> ). </p> <p> <span> 8. </span> One of those (apparently priests) who affixed their signatures to the covenant made by Nehemiah ( <span> Nehemiah 10:7 </span> ), B.C. 410. He is probably the same (notwithstanding the great age this implies) who returned from [[Babylon]] with [[Zerubbabel]] ( <span> Nehemiah 12:4 </span> ), B.C. 536, and who had a son named [[Zichri]] ( <span> Nehemiah 12:17 </span> ). </p>