learned that God would not allow the learned that the wife of Jeroboam was work of the priesthood to be interfered at his house near the door of the apartwith by a want of ability to perform its ment, having come to ask of him a duties because of inebriacy. But this question concerning her son who was punishment of Abihu and his brother sick. As she was entering by the door, with death may teach us that God will to her astonishment the prophet said: not wink at uncleanliness in his minis-"Come in, thou wife of Jeroboam, why ters, or, indeed, in any of his servants, feignest thou thyself to be another? for when engaged in the performance of I am sent to thee with heavy tidings. religious duties. While the external is being performed the heart must be right. The internal principles of true worship must be exercised.

ABIHUD-[Abi'hud,] the father of praise.

ABIHUD was the son of Zerubbabel or Zorrobabel. The only important item regarding this personage that we give is, he was in the line of the Messiah-one of our Savior's ancestors according to the flesh. Matt. i: 13. He was the son of Zerubbabel and the father of Eliakim.

ABIJAH, 1-[Ab-i'-jah,] the will of the Lord.

ABIJAH was the son of Jeroboam, the first king of the ten tribes of Israel. He died when very young. We have an account of him, his sickness, death, and burial, in the 14th chapter of 1st Kings. When he was taken sick Jeroboam bade his wife disguise herself as the wife of the king and go to Shiloh and inquire of the aged prophet, Ahijah, whether or not the sickness cf the child should result in his death. It was natural for Jeroboam, in his anxiety about his son, and desiring to consult a prophet, to apply to this prophet, for it was Ahijah that told him he should be a king over the people.

He then informed her of the purpose of God regarding the kingdom and the house of Jeroboam, because of his sin in refusing to honor the God who had promoted him; and then the prophet assured her that the sickness of the child was unto death, and his death would take place upon her entering the city to bear intelligence to Jeroboam from him.

She returned home, we may suppose, with a heavy heart, and when she came to the threshold of the door the child died, and was honored with a prince's burial a few hours afterward. Abijah was the purest and best of the house.of Jeroboam.

ABIJAH, 2-The will of the Lord.

ABIJAH, the son of Rehoboam, king of Judah, succeeded his father to the throne. He was the son of Maachalı, the daughter of Absalom. She was loved by Rehoboam more than all his wives, and this love that he had for her led him to make Abijah, though he was not his first-born, the chief of his brethren, and his own successor on the throne of Judah. In making this preference the king seems to have violated that law that God gave to govern his people, regarding the first-born. The law to which I refer is in substance as follows: If a man have two wives-one less loved The wife of the king disguised her than the other-and the son of the woself and went, in accordance with the man less loved be the first-born, then, command, to Shiloh, and entered the when he maketh his sons to inherit, he house of the prophet, who, she found, may not make the son of the beloved was very aged and blind, for his eyes to inherit before the son of the wowere set by reason of his age. It may man less loved, for the latter is indeed be she thought, as she looked upon the the first-born. Deut. xxi: 15-17. But blind prophet, the king need not have then Rehoboam had a precedent set by demanded me to disguise myself that I David, in his preference shown to Solobe not known as his wife, for this pro-mon, the son of Bathsheba, when he phet has not eyes to look upon the robes made him king. of royalty. He can not distinguish a queen mother from the humblest woman in Israel. But in this she was mistaken, for that prophet, though shrouded in constant night, was in communion with God, and by revelation he

Abijah, upon ascending the throne of Judah, opened a war upon Jeroboam, the king of Israel, his army consisting of four hundred thousand effective men, while the army of Jeroboam was double that number. Abijah made an appeal

to the king of Israel, and to all the people, in which he attempted to show that the govenment of Jeroboam was founded on injustice, and had been carried on in injustice. He rebukes them for their wickedness in rebellion, and for their gross idolatry-asserts the right of the Lord God of his fathers to rule over them, and their obligations to observe the religion that had been instituted for the descendants of Israel, the son of Isaac. Then he declares, while they have the golden calves that they worship as gods, these whom he represented as the kingdom of Judah had the living God with them, and worshiped him. He declared in his appeal, before entering upon the battle, his faith in God, and assured the enemy that God not only dwelt with him and his people, but was their captain, and the priests of the Lord were with them to sound the trumpet and cry the alarm against them.

have in 2d Chron. xxiv: 21. For had she been the daughter of that Zechariah, she would have been near ninety years of age when Ahaz married her, and had by her a child. 2d Chron. xxix: 1. În 2d Kings, xviii: 2, she is called Abi, the daughter of Zechariah, and the mother of Hezekiah.

ABIMELECH, 1-[Ab-im-me-lek,]
My father is king.

ABIMELECH was a king of the Philistines, who dwelt in the country of Gerer. He is referred to in Gen. xx, from which we learn that he was captivated with the beauty of Sarah, the wife of Abraham; and as Abraham had informed him that she was his sister, he took Sarah into his palace, intending to make her his wife. But the God of Abraham interfered, with a dream or vision, in which he threatened Abimelech with death if he did not restore the woman to her husband. God said Jeroboam heeded not the king of to him in a dream, "Behold, thou art Judah, but managed his vast army but a dead man for the woman which against Abijah until the peril of Judah thou hast taken; for she is a man's seemed to be very great, for with an wife." He immediately restored her, ambushment their enemy was attacking and excused himself before the Althem behind as well as before. In this mighty on the ground of Abraham's their extremity-true to the declaration pretense that Sarah was only his sister; of Abijah-God's presence among them and he complained to the patriarch for was manifested, for, as the priests soun- imposing on him. And he in turn jusded with the trumpets, the men of Ju- tified himself before Abimelech by say. dah shouted, i. e., they gave evidence of their trust in the word of the God of their fathers, and Jeroboam and all Israel were smitten before them, and Abijah obtained a great victory, in the destruction of five hundred thousand chosen men of the enemy. Jeroboam never fully recovered the loss he sustained in his position as king. 1st Kings, xv; 2d Chron. xiii.

The Jewish Rabbins have reproached king Abijah because he did not destroy, after his conquest, the profane altar and break up fully the worship of the golden calves. And by many this is supposed be the only blemish in his character. He was succeeded to the throne of Judah by Asa, his son.

to

ABIJAH, 3—The will of the Lord.

ABIJAH, the wife of Ahaz, was the mother of King Hezekiah. In 2d Chron. xxix: 1, she was said to be the daughter of Zechariah, but not of the high priest who was slain by King Joash, the account of which murder we

ing that Sarah was his sister as well as his wife, being the daughter of the same father, though not of the same mother.

Abimelech then gave Abraham several presents, and offered him a house in his kingdom if he desired to remain there, and believing him to be a great and good man he asked his prayers to God in his behalf, and in the behalf of his family, and it is quite likely the good man complied heartily with his request. But he made Sarah a present also, it is supposed. Addressing her he said: "Behold I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver; behold he is to thee a covering of the eyes, and unto all that are with thee." It is thought by some that this present was to purchase or procure a vail for her that she might cover her face and not subject others to the inconvenience that he had endured, and the peril he had passed through, by being carried away with her beauty. Sarah must have been a very handsome woman, for she was now

ninety years old, and yet her counte- | ABIMELECH, 3—My father is king. nance was so pleasant and comely that a king of another nation fell in love with her.

ABIMELECH was the name of one of the sons of Gideon, who became a judge of Israel. But he was the son of a concubine of Gideon's that lived in Shechem, . e., the son of a secondary wife. The children of such wives could not inherit. His name imports: "My father hath reigned. Shortly after Gideon died, he went to Shechem and communed with his mother's brethren, and with all the house of his mother's father.

Abraham prayed for Abimelech's family and they were converted. We have an account in Gen. xxi: 22, of Abimelech coming to Abraham several years after, in company with Phichol his chief captain, and begging him to enter into a covenant of friendship with him. He probably saw that Abraham's posterity and power were increasing greatly,They listened to him, and influenced by hence he wanted to form an alliance with him. Abraham readily granted his request.

ABIMELECH, 2-My father is king.

ABIMELECH was also a king of Gerar the son and successor of the former king. He was about to be imposed upon by Isaac in the same way that Abraham imposed upon his father. But from his window one day he saw evidences of familiarity between Isaac and Rebecca, that led him to conclude she was Isaac's wife and not his sister, as they both pretended. Abimelech at once sent for Isaac and told him what his convictions were, that this woman was his wife; he acknowledged that she was, and the only reason he had to give for deceiving him was that he feared they would kill him if they learned that she sustained the relation of wife to him, and take possession of her themselves.

his arguments, concluded that he, of all his father's sons should reign over them. And they furnished him money with which he hired wicked persons to assist him in perfecting his plans, and effecting his ends in securing the government. At the head of the hired company of "vain and light persons," he went to his father's house at Ophrah and slew all the seventy sons of Gideon, save Jotham the youngest, who hid himself. Thus by a cunning management of wicked men this revolution was effected, and the government founded in which Abimelech reigned.

When three years had passed away God sent an evil spirit amongst them, or permitted jealousies to take place, which produced among the men of Shechem, factions, contentions, insurrections and civil war. They had no regard for Abimelech as their king longer, but cursed him while they committed their depredations in the land. It may be the very same wicked men that he hired to go with him and slay the seventy sons of his father, and thus in iniquity elevate him to the high position of ruler in the land, now turned against him, and had posted themselves along the

Abimelech reproved Isaac for taking this course; but he immediately issued orders that none of his subjects should touch or injure either Isaac or Rebecca under pain of death. As Abraham had prospered in that country, so Isaac pros-road between Shechem, where he lived, pered, until the subjects of the king be- and Ophrah, where Gideon had lived, gan to be afraid and envy him. Abim- and where his sons had been slain, for elech then asked Isaac to leave his ter- they intended to assassinate him. A ritory, giving as a reason for the request, large part of the people of Shechem set he was becoming mightier than they. themselves in array against Abimelech, And soon after this-remembering the and he fought with them and conquered course that his father took with Abra- the city. Afterward he destroyed those ham-he took the same course and en- who had fled to the "hold of the house tered into a league with Isaac. He of the God Berith," or who had gone took with him Ahuzzath his friend, to the precincts of the idol temple for and Phichol his chief captain. Isaac safety. He set the hold on fire and so received him at Beersheba and enter-burned a thousand men and women in tained him with a feast, after which it. He then went to Thebez, an imthey entered into a solemn covenant portant city, and took it, and as the men that each of them ever remembered and women of the city had fled to the and continued faithful to. Gen. 26. tower and shut themselves up in it, he

ABIRAM, 2—A high father.

ABIRAM was the eldest son of Hiel, the Bethelite. He lost his life while his father was rebuilding the walls of Jericho. His death was in accordance with the prophecy of Joshua, the son of Nun. 1st Kings, xvi: 34-Josh.

opened a siege upon the tower that he up with their substance by the earth might find an entrance and destroy opening and receiving them, then closthose who had fled thither. He was ing in on them. The account of their about to succeed by burning the door sin and destruction is given in Numdown, when a certain woman cast a bers, xvi: piece of millstone upon his head, which is supposed to have broken or fractured his skull. Then he called upon his armor-bearer to slay him at once, lest the disgrace of being killed by a woman be affixed to his memory and his death. Then the young man, his armor-bearer, thrust him through with his sword and he died. Thus we behold the sins of vi: 26. the men of Shechem visited upon them in being destroyed by the man they ABISHAG-[Ab-be-shag,] ignorance unjustly exalted; and the sins of Ab- of the father. imelech visited upon him by being betrayed in his own government, and finally killed in the manner we have narrated. Jud. ix.

ABISHAG was the young woman that was selected as the last wife of David, the king of Israel. It was under the advise of his physician that he married ABIMAEL-[Ab-be-may-el] a father her when he was nearly seventy years sent from God.

ABIMAEL was the son of Joktan, and the grandson of Eber, and is referred to in the posterity of Shem. Genesis

x: 28.

ABINADAB-[Ab-in-na-dab,] my father a willing prince.

ABINADAB was the son of Jesse and the brother of David. 1st Chron. ii: 13. He was the second son of Jesse, and is probably the one who is referred to in 1st Kings, iv: 11, as being the father of one of the officers who were appointed by Solomon to provide victuals for the king's household, and who was married to Taphath, the daughter of Solomon.

ABINOAM-[Ab-in'-no-am.] father of beauty.

ABINOAM was the father of Barak, the general of Deborah's army, which army fought against Jabin, king of Canaan. Jud. iv: 6.

of age. Though not as old, probably, as many of his day, yet from constitutional debility and an enfeebled state occasioned by the exposures and hardships through which he had passed, he was almost helpless-premature old age seems to have been upon him.

She was selected that she might minister unto him, and make the latter part of his evening of life as pleasant as it could possibly be made. Abishag had charge of David probably one year. when he slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David."

We may suppose from the account given of her that she was one of the most beautiful women in Israel, for she was selected of all the fair young damsels for this position. But there is another reason why we suppose she was very beautiful, and that is: Adonijah, the brother of Absalom, when he failed to ascend the throne of Israel, desired to take her as his wife, and so anxious was he, enamoured of her beauty, that he asked Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, to intercede with the king in his behalf, that Abishag might be given him to wife. Solomon, in all probability, mistook the motive of Adonijah, ABIRAM was the son of Eliab, the and looked upon his request as treason Reubenite. He with Korah and his against his government, and determined brother Dathan, conspired against that he should die; hence he was slain Moses and Aaron, and sought to divest at the command of his brother Solomon them of the powers conferred on them by the hand of Benaiah. 1st Kings, by God. On account of his wickedness i: 2. She was a native of Shunam, he and his whole family were swallowed hence called a Shunamite.

ABIRAM, 1—[Ab-i'-ram,] a high father.

ABISHAI-[Ab-bi-sha'-i,] the father | the head of the king's household troops of sacrifice. that pursued Sheba, the son of Bichri,

ABISHAI was the son of Zeruiah, when he made insurrection against David's sister, hence he was the king's David. 2d Samuel, xx: 6. And when nephew, as was also Joab his brother. Shimei cursed David, Abishai desired Abishai was a valiant warrior, and when to go to him and take off his head, but serving in David's army was one of his the king would not allow him to do it, principal generals. When David was giving as the reason: "The Lord hath camped in the wilderness of Ziph, and permitted him to curse me, why shall F Saul went out to destroy him with a complain?" David then added, "what large company of warriors compared to is the cursing of Shimei compared David's handful of men, Abishai was with the rebellion of Absalom? My with him. David asked when night son, which came forth of my bowels, came on, "who will go with me by night seeketh my life; how much more may into the camp of Saul?" for he had this Benjaminite do? let him curse, for learned where Saul had pitched his the Lord hath bidden him." He served tent. Abishai answered that he would David long and faithfully, and died with go, and the two together went, and as the honors of an honorable and successthey passed the sleeping guard, and fal warrior encircling his brow. were approaching Saul, who was also

sleeping with Abner, the son of Ner, ABISHALOM-[Ab-bi-sha'-lom,] the the captain of his host near him, Abi- father of peace.

shai asked David for the privilege of ABISHALOM was the father of Maacslaying Saul at once, and so rid him hah, who was the mother of Abijah forever of his enemy. But David would king of Judah. 1st Kings, xv: 2. not allow it. Abishai thought it very

strange that he would allow his enemy ABISHUA-[Ab-bi-shu-ah] the fa this second time to escape, for he had ther of salvation. been in his power thus once before. ABISHUA was the son of Phinehas The reason David allowed Saul to es- and the fourth high priest of the Jews. cape before was the same reason that He succeeded his father in that importallowed him to escape now, viz: he ant office. Ist Chron. vi: 50. would not injure the Lord's annointed. Abishai served David in his war with ABISHUR-[Ab-be-shur,] the father Ishbosheth, Saul's son. He also served in the war with the Edomites, and cut ABISHUR was the son of Shammai, off eighteen thousand of them in the and is referred to in the posterity of Valley of Salt. 1st Chron. xviii: 12. Judah. 1st Chron. ii: 28. "Moreover Abishai, the son of Zeruiah,

of righteousness.

dew.

slew of the Edomites in the Valley ABITAL-[Ab ́-be-tal,] father of the of Salt, eighteen thousand." When David was engaged in a war with the ABITAL was one of the wives of Syrians and Ammonites, Abishai com- David. In 1st Chron. iii: 3, she is manded that part of the army which numbered as the sixth wife of the king, routed the Ammonites, as recorded in and Shephetiah was her son, born while 2d Samuel, x: 14: "When the chil- David was in Hebron. dren of Ammon saw the Syrians were fled, then fled they also before Abi-ABNER-[Ab ́ner,] the father of light. shai."

In the war with the Philistines, he killed the noted giant Ishbibenob, who was about to destroy the life of David, as recorded in 2d Samuel, xxi: 16. At another time Abishai showed himself a man of great bravery in attacking and killing three hundred men alone. 2d Samuel, xviii: 2. And in the account we have of Absalom's rebellion, we learn that Abishai commanded a third part of the king's army; and he was at

ABNER, the son of Ner, was uncle to King Saul, and the commander of his army. He was Saul's first aid, and the prominent person of his body-guard when he was camped at Hachilah, and David was in the wilderness of Ziph.

When David and Abishai entered the camp of Saul by night, Abner was sleeping at Saul's side and did not perceive the intruders, and he was, no doubt, greatly astonished to hear the man whose life they were bunting, call