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286 Ahaziah

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

after his nccossioii

lie

went

to the help of .loram,

Isnifl, iii;ainst the Syrians of Uaniasciis. Ik'iiijr related lo the kingly house of Israel llirougli liis niother Allialiali, the daughler of .le/.eliel anil

king of

Ahab, he was fully in sympathy with it. polilieally and religiously, jorani, having been wounded in Ahaziah tiattle. returned to Je/.reel to recuperate. the tield of conflict in Gilead. and. after a visit to .lerusjilein. came to Jezrcel for a conference uitli .loram. Meanwhile the great uprising under

also

left

Jehu had begiui. Joram was suri)rised by him and slain. Aha/iah tied by way of the "house of the garden," He was overtaken by Jehu's soldiers and

wounded in his chariot; but the stroke was not imAhaziah escaped southward, and mediately fatal. His body was taken to (lied on reaching Mcgiddo. Jerusaleiu and buried in the royal scpulcher there (II Kings, viii. '2'> it iter/.-, ix. 27. Si'). Such is the accoimt given in the Rook of Kings, which is more credible and consistent than the parallel narrative in H Chron, xxii. The anarchy which followed the death of Ahaziah greatly weakened the monarchy of .ludah; but it was a necessjiry step in the purgation of the kingdom from the taint of Baalworshiii.

J.

AHAZIAH, King of iif

McC,

F,

Israel Son and successor king of northern Israel. In his brief reign than two years (HoS-HoS n.c) he continued

Aliali.

of less He hoped also to inhis father's military activity. crease tlic wealth of Israel by taking part, with Jclioshaphat. king of Judah. in the lU'd Sea traflic with the land of Ophir. By hisclose relations with Phenicia he was in a position to furnish the king of Jiidah with better seamen than those that had suH'ered shipJehoshawreck at the head of the Elamitic gulf. pliat declined the partnership, and the enterprise ap])ears to have been given up (I Kings, xxii. 48, 4!l: Hebrew text. 40,50). The early death of Ahaziah was due to a fall from a window of an upper room of his palace in Samaria. In his .sickness he sought counsel of the oracle of Baalzebub in Ekron. For this imjiious and disloyal act, as it appeared to Elijah, the prophet deuovineed him three times and jiredicted his death. His readiness to resort to an alien god and his persistence in foreign cults show the traits which marked the rulers of the house of (Imri, and more than neutralized their energy and ])olitical patriotism, J, F. McC.

AHER.

AHIAM

See Herod,

He was



of Sacar."

{II Sam. " the son

G. B. L. .V

Hebrew anntial. published

in'War-

by the " Ahiasaf " Publication Society. It was founded in IHDS. and had immediate success, both literary and financial. Though an almanac in form, its chief merit rests upon the literary portion forming the bulk of the annual. The "Ahia.saf " is one of the agents at work in Russia aiming to bring about a revival of the ancient Hebrew tongue and to bviild up a modern Hebrew literature. Most of the best Hebrew writers, men like " jUiad-ha-'Am" (A. Ginzberg). Lillienblum, Brainin. and others, are among its regular contributors. M. Ra. Kiiw

AHIEZERf" Kinsman is Help"): mishaddai. chief of the tribe of



Dan

.

PROPHET

(THE

projilicl

Untn ShiloM.

vli.>

).— Biblical

fnnlipjil lo .li'ro-

boam

thai lie would become kiiigil Kings, xi. i'J). Laler he prophesied he downfall of Jeroboam's house aiidof thekiiigdomof Isniel (I Kings, xiv. 1-18), Beginning with the latter passage, the iirophet'sname is written in the Hebrew text "Ahijahu." Bothnarralives seem lobe derived from a series of "Tales of the Prophels" by various hands. It is not clear whether, in II Chron. ix, 2!l. rererence is maile to these tales or to a later work ascribed to Ahijah. J. D, P, I

In Rabbinical Literature: Aliijah.thci>roiihct of Sliiloh, instigated .broboams secession and predicted the downfall (it his kingdom. The Jlidrasli, basing itself on the fact that, according to II Chron. ix. 29, Ahijah is described as extremely aged in (I Kings, xiv, 4), and w ith no pedigree, identified him with Ahiah. son of Ahitub, the oraele-giving priest at Shiloh in King Saul's time (I Sam. xiv. 3), He is accordingly singled out by rabbinical tradition as one of the seven long-lived saints whose successive lives extend over the whole history of mankind; each having transmitted the S!tcre(l lore from his i)redeccs,sor to the one succeeding him, while shielding the generations of his time by means of his piety. These saints are: (I ) Adam; (2) Metliu,s<lali (3) Shem(Tannadebe Eliyahu H, xxiv. i; (4) Jacob (Gen. K. xciv.); (."i) Serah, the dauglit<T of Asher, or, as otiiirs have it, Amram. the father of Moses; ((i) Ahijah of Shiloh; (7) Elijah the pmiihet, who lives until the coming of the Messiah Ab. B. X. version B, xxxviii,. Seder 'Olam H. i.and B. B. 121/i). For the underlying idea, see Hag. 12//, and 'oma, 38A, with reference to Prov, x, 25, J/tli. " The righteous is

Jeroboam's time



(

,

and Prov, ix. 1, "'Wisdom hath hewn seven jiillars." According to this tradition Ahijah lived ipvcr six hundred years, having received jiis " wisdom " from either Amram. the father of Moses (see Ami!.m), or from Serah, the daughter of Asher (.see Sf.rah). If from Serah, his age was considerably less, since she was supposed to have lived for more than four hundred years, until the days of David (''alk., Sam. 152). The reason why Ahijah was regarded as having attained so iiniisual an age .seems to be that, acthe foundation of the world,"

the history of Solomon's and that he was supposed to l)c identical with Ahijah the Levitc, who was Iilaced by King David in charge of the treasures of the house of God and of the treasures of the dedicated reign

Son of Sharar the Hararite. one of the thirty mighty men of David In I Chron. xi. 3.5. he is called xxiii. 33).

AHIJAH Data

cording

See Ahltah.

A^IASAF

year after the Exodus (Num. i, 12). who brought his offering to the dedication of the Tabernacle on the tenth day (Num. vii. (>t>-Tl). 2. Chief of the men who came to David at Ziklau (I Chron. xii. 3). G. B. L.

i;

See Elisha ben Abuyah.

AHIAB. AHIAH.

286

1. Sonof Amin the second

to 11

Chron.

ix.

2i).

was written by him

thin.ss (I



Chron. xxvi.2; see B. B.

121/-.

Rashi).

Simon ben Yohai is reported to have sjiid; "The world must have thirty righteous men to serve as its pillars. I and my son are couiite<l among these and if Abraham would carry the jiast genera.

.

.

tions liy his merit. I will carry the future generations until the advent of the Messiah. And if Abraham would not, I would count Ahijah of Shiloh with

me, and we together would carry the world by our merits" (Gen. R. xxxv. sec Siik. 45'). in which King Jotham is given in place of Abraham and Ahijah). That Ahijah. though one of the pillars of righteousness, slioidd have been sent to Jeroboam with a divine message inducing him to estalilish his idolatrous kingdom is explained by the rabbis in the following manner: They say that he was entrapped by a ruse of .Jeroboam's idolatrous friends, who circulated a document requesting Jeroboam to become

•