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177 Ash

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

177

when the congregation Lad subsided into silence, to complete the section himself in a melismatic solo after the manner shown on page 176. sitive verbs, and,

a.

F. L. C.

ASHAN



Town

in the

domain of Judah

(Josh,

xv. 43), but which was in the actual possession of Simeon (Josh. xix. 7; I Chron. iv. 32). Priests also had residence in Ashan (I Chron. vi. 44) though in the corresponding passage of Josh. xxi. 16, "Ain"

Ashdod

mise. In the course of a century, however, the Ash'ariya triumphed over the Motazilites. Abu Bekr al-Bakillani, as the head of the school, systematized the doctrines of the Ash'ariya, laying the foundation of the new Kalam, or scholastic theology. Bakillani taught the existence of atoms and of the

vacuum— theories which were

severely

by Maimonides ("Moreh,"

iii.

i.

72,

attacked

The Ash-

17).



(which may simply be a corruption of " Ashan ") is given instead. Chor-ashan (or, rather, Bor-ashan) of I. Sam. xxx. 30 is perhaps the same as Ashan. G. B. L.

jr.

J.

ASH- AMY A

Mohammedan

theological sect, founded at the beginning of the tenth century by Abu el-Hasan al-Ash'ari (" the Hairy "). Its aim was to combat doctrines taught by the Rationalists (Mo:

and at the same time to moderate the uncompromising rigidity of the views of the Orthodox party. The principal points of controversy between the Orthodox and the Motazilites were (1) the pre-

'ariya likewise proclaimed the real existence of the negative attributes. For instance, according to this sect, weakness is not mere absence of strength, but a positive quality (compare "Torot ha-Nefesh," iii., where Bahya concurs in this idea, basing it on the Biblical verse, " I form the light, and create dark-

ness: I

ed. Slone,







—



taken literally. In discussing the questions of the divine attributes, many Jewish philosophers were influenced by the Ash'ariya (compare Hasdai Crescas, "OrAdonai," pp. 22 etseq.), but not so in regard to the freedom of man's will, as they all strove as far as possible to reconcile the omniscience of God with man's absolute

the Ash'ariya found few adherents for while the Orthodox objected to the concessions made to the Motazilites, the more enlightened element felt dissatisfied with the meager results of the comprofirst

II.— 12





Snahrastani, pp. 98 et seq.

Abu

[Isa. xlv. 7]).

Abu

i.

673





Ibn Khallikam,

el-Festia,

Munk, Melanges,

k.

I.

Be.

ASHBEL A son of Benjamin (Gen. xlvi. 21, and

in the genealogical gentilic J.

list of I Chron. viii. 1). The name " Ashbelite " is found in Num xx vi. 38..

JK.

G. B. L.

ASHDOD (Assyrian Asdudu, Greek Azotos) The northernmost of the five royal cities of the Philistines, two to three miles from the seacoast, about half-way between Gaza and Joppa. In I Sam. vi.

mentioned first among the principal Philisand the Ark of the Lord is brought first to that place as a trophy (I Sam. v. et seq.). Amos 17

it is

tine cities;

(iii.

9)

gives

listine cities,

Ashdod as the representative of all Phibut Ashdod is placed second in the list

Amos, i. 8, and fourth in Zech. ix. 6. Judah's claim upon Ashdod (Josh. xv. 46) is to be considered as merely theoretical, as Josh. xiii. 3 proves. The capture by King Uzziah (II Chron. xxvi. 6) is usually treated by modern critics as probably unhistorical. It is not certain that the petty king Dagantakala of the El-Amarna tablets resided in Ashdod. Asdfldu led the revolt of Philistines, Judeans, Edomites, and Moabites against Assyria after expelling the king Akhimeti, whom Sargon had installed instead of his brother Azuri. Gath (Gimtu) belonged to the kingdom of Ashdod at that time. But the Assyrian general subjected Ashdod in 711 b.c. (compare Isa. xx. 6, and "C. I. 0. T." pp. 87 et seq.), and the usurper, Yawani, fled. Mitinti was king in the time of Sennacherib Akhimilki in the reign of Esarhaddon. Psammetichus of Egj'pt is reported to have besieged the great city Azotus for twenty-nine The reference to "the years (Herodotus, ii. 157). remnant of Ashdod " (Jer. xxv. 20; compare Zeph. In ii. 4) is interpreted as an allusion to this event. Neh. iv. 1, the Ashdodites seem still to represent the whole nation of the Philistines, as well as in Neh. xiii. 23, so that xiii. 24, the "speech of Ashdod" (which the younger generation of the Jews began to Winckler adopt), would be the Philistine dialect. ("Gesch. Israels," p. 224) explains the use of that in



name by the

freedom of action.

At

and create evil"

peace,

Varik, ed. Constantinople, ii pp. 324 et seq. ; Spitta, Zur Gesch. elr-Hasan al-Asltarl, pp. 26 et seq. ; Franz Delitzsch 'Ez Hayyim, pp. 302-307.

95

tazilites),

existence of the Koran, (2) predestination of human acts, and (3) the divine attributes. "While the Motazilites asserted that the Koran was created, the Orthodox held that the Koran existed before the creation of the world (compare the same view held by the Rabbis regarding the Torah Sifre, 'Ekeb. 37 Pes. 54a; Ned. 39Z>; Gen. R. i. Tan., Naso, 19; Tanna debe Eliyahu i. 31 and Pirke R. El. iii.). The Ash'arij'a, as an intermediate party, maintained that if the book, in the form in which it is transmitted, had been created, still its principles must have existed before the world. Again, while the Orthodox, taking the Koran literally, believed that human actions were determined by the will of God, as laid down in an eternal law, the Motazilites, refuting this doctrine as being contrary to the spirit of divine justice, insisted on man's perfect freedom to do either good or evil, which accordingly meets with reward or punishment hereafter. The Ash'ariya, ascribing divine authority to the word of the Koran, could not but give their adhesion to the belief of the Orthodox; but, in order to preserve a semblance of freedom for man, and of justice for God, they conceded to man the benefit of making the first efforts toward the realization of the predestined plans of God for good and evil a theory declared by Aaron ben Elijah the Karaite (" 'Ez Hayyim") to be unintelligible. In opposition to the Motazilites, the Ash'ariya asserted the existence of attributes distinct from God's essence still they differed from the Orthodox in admitting that the anthropomorphisms found in the Koran are not to be

make

Bibliography

fact that

Ashdod was nearest

to Jerusa-

lem of the Philistine cities. Yet the simplest explanation seems to remain, that Ashdod was still the leader among those cities even in Greek times. Judas Maccabseus does not seem to have conquered Azotus