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61 SO far as to declare that their sole offense consisted in the fact that, unlike their father, they did not travel about the cnuntry in order to ascertain its condition, but estublislied theinselves in one place, surrounded thenisi'lves liy a royal court, and left the peolile to be exploited by ollieials (Sliab. oGc). (Jthers. a^ain, assert that Joel and Abiali were originally wicked, but tiait they improved to such a degree that they were fouiul worthy of prophecy On the other hand. I'seudo(Kulh K. on ii. 1). Jeroine, in his "Commentary on Chronicles" (vi. 14). undoubtedly following Jewisli tradit inn. declares that Abiah. llie judge, was the only sinner, but that his brother was blaineworlhy because he had not endeavored to turn Abiah to better ways. See Joel,

Son of

S.v.MiKi..

Ein Latcinlfehcr Kommentar zu CImmik, pp. 2i>-31, TlKirn, ISW. L. G.

BiDLlofiR.vPMV: Ralimer.

tdn UUclicni

tier

—

2. Biblical Data Son of Jeroboam I., king of northeni Israel, whose story is told in I Kings.

.iv. 1-18. He having fallen sick, his mother went in disguise to the jirophet Ahijah In ini|uireasto Ahijuh. recogthe i)rnspects of her son's recovery.

nizing hi'r. informed her that the child wnuld die. and at the sami' time. ])redicted the calamities that were to befall the kingdom. The narrative in the te.xl associates all national disasters with the religious a|io.stasy of Jeroboam. The Se])tuagint (Vatican and Lucian) has a briefer narrative; and critics have jiointed out that this simpler, and presiiinal)ly earlier, form of the story d<'als with a stage in Jerolxiam's life antecedent to his |uiblic career, to which it makes no reference whatever (.see H. Winekler. " Alltestameutliche Uutersuchungcu," J. P. McU. pp. netm/.).

accepted

In Kabbinical Literature Kings, xiv.

The



passage, I

which ihere is a reference to thing (I'cuuid in him] towaril the Lord in

i:i.

"some gorid God of Israi'l."

is interpreted (.M. K. '2^/,) as an allusion to Abijah's eiiiirageous and pious act in renifiving the sentinels placed by his father on the frontier

between

Israel

and Judah

to prevent pilgrimages to

Jerusjilem. Some assert that he himself undertook L. G. a pilgrimage.

3.— Biblical Data: The scm

Abihall Abilene

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

61

cil

second king of Judah. His reign lasted three years(i!.c. Erom the account in 1 Kings, .v. 1-S is called Abijamt, it wmdd appear that

Kehoboam.

i)lH-!)l.5).

(where lie he was a wicked

ruler, "who walked in ail the sins of his father." and that it was only for the sake of David, his ancestor, that the royal line was continued in him. "God gave him a lamp in Jerusalem to set up his son after him. and to establish Jertisalem: lircausc |)avid did that which was right in the sight of the Lord anil turned not aside from anything that he connnanded him all the <lays of his life, save oi;ly in the nuitter of I'riah the HitThe only other matter Ihiic tonched upam. I5ut in II Chron. xiii. > she is calleil ".Mi chaiah. the dauirliter of I'riel of Gibeah " (see Targ. Chron. for tli rabbinical view). The clironicler leiords an address by Ahijah to Jeroboam before a

battle with that monarch, congratulating the people of Judah upon their devotion to and dealing minutely with the matters of worship and ritual in which they were superior to the people of the Ten Tril)es, against whom the judgment of YIIWH is invoked (II Chron. .xiii. -4-12). The chnjidcler also gives a detailed account of tliis battle, in which Jiulah was victorious. are warned by the case of Uzziali (Azariah) not to hastily infer from the silence of the IJook of Kings with regard to events narrated in ChroidcUs that such events are unhisThere was doid)tless a continuation under torical. .Vbijah of the state «{ feud that had prevailed from the begimnng of the schism: and the tradition of a signal victory gained by Abijah over Jerolioam must have had a well-groiuided basis. But theiletails given in Chronicles are impossible. The number of men enga.ixed in battle is greater than the whole adult male po|ndation of the kingdoms at any epoch, and nnicli greater than that of any arndes that ever faced one another during the world's history. As a result of his defeat, .leroboam is said to have lost Bethel and two other districts with This was at best but a temporary their towns. gain for Judah. The chronicler adds that Abijah waxed ndghty and married fourteen wives, and i)egat twenty and two sons and sixteen daughters (II Chron. .xiii. 21). The context implies that thisocciui'cd after Abijah's accession and during his reign of tlu'ce years. Theaccount is closed with the statement that these and other facts are to be found in the Midrash of the prophet Iddo. J. F. JIcC.

YHWH,

We

In Rabbinical Literature



Although Abijah

took up (Jiid's cause against Jeroboam, the idolatrous king of Israel, he was not piUMiutted to enjoy the fruits of his victory over the latter for any consiilerable time, dying as he did shortly after his campaign (Josephus, "Ant." viii. 11, s; 3). The rabbis recount many tiiinsgressions committed by .Vbijah n.i;ainsl his fellow men. which resulted in <lrawing God's vengeance u])on him more speedily than upon Jeroboam's idolatries. Thus it is stated that he nuitilated the corpses of Jeroboam's .soldiers, and even would not permit them to be interred until they had arrived at a .state of putrefaction. Xor did Abijah show himself zealous in God's cause after all; for when, by the ccmijuest of Bethel (II Chron, xiii, ID), the golden calves came into his possession, he dill not destroy them as the law (Deut, vii. 25) enjoined. The rabbis also point out that it was improper for Abijah to accuse the whole of Israel of idolatry and to judclaim the appointment of Jeroboam lis king to have been the work of "vain men, the children of Belial" (II Chron. xiii. 7). since in point of fact it was the projdiet Ahijah, the ShiloKings, xi, liT). For these nite, who maiK' him king( reasons Abijah's reign was a short one. I

SciUr •nUim H. xvt.: Ver. Yeb. xvl. 1.V Buu.ici(u,vi'iiv /.'. Ixv. ^.li; L,v. Ii. xx.xlil. >; Yalh. II. SO.



Gtii.

L. G.

4,— Biblical Data: Mother f

Hezekiah, king

1,

In Rabbinical Literature .bi sjived the life of her son llezekiah. whom her godless husband. Ahaz. had designed as an olTering to .Moloch. Hy anointing him with the blood of llie salamander, she iiiabled him to pass through the lire of Moloch unL. G. M-athed (Siinh, fi:!/'). •



ABILA.

See Alui.ENE.

ABILENE

.V small district of Syria on the eastern ^lopl of , ti Libaniis. It was so called from the town of Abila, on the nortlnrii diilivii of Ml,