Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 01.djvu/66

ABIGAIL. captured Abigail during a raid (I. Kings xxx: 5), but David recovered her (I. Samuel xxx: 18), and she bore him a son, Chileab (II. Samuel iii: 3), or Daniel (I. Chronicles iii: I). Another Abigail was a sister of David, and became the mother of Amasa (II. Samuel xvii:25). In modern usage Abigail is employed as a general name for a waiting-maid or a lady's-maid.

ABI'JAH (Heb., Yahweh is father), or ABI'JAM. The name of several Bible characters.

1. King of Judah, a sou of Rehoboam and Maacah, the daughter of Abishalom (I. Kings XV:2). He succeeded his father and reigned about three years ( 93C-934? B.C. I, during which time there was war between him and Jeroboam I. ( I. Kings XV: 7 ) . Abijah probably gained a vic- tory over Jeroboam near Zenuiraim (II. Chroni- cles xiii), but the number of combatants, 1,200,- 000, is greatly exaggerated.

2. A son of Jeroboam I. of Israel (937-915? B.C.), who died in his childhood (I. Kings xiv: 1-18). The Greek version brings in the story of his illness and his mother's visit to the prophet Ahijah immediately after the death of Solomon, consequently before Jeroboam ascended the throne.

ABILDGAARD,;i'bi!d-gard. (1743-1809). A Danish historical painter. He was born at Copenhagen, and first studied at the Academy there. He went to Rome in 1772, was appointed a professor in 1777 and in 1789 a director of the Academy. His most important work, a series of ten pictures in the castle of Christiansborg, was burned with the castle in 1794. He also painted scenes from Shakespeare and Ossian, and four from the Andria of Terence. He was one of Thorvaldsen's early instructors.

AB'ILE'NE. A district referred to in Luke iii: 1 ("Lysanias being tetrarch of Abilene"). It was a fragment of the earlier kingdom of Iturea, the capital of which was Chalcis in the plain of Massyas, between the Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon mountains. When the Romans took possession of this region the Iturean kingdom became broken up into four tetrarchies, of which Abilene was one. This took place, probably, between 30 and 23 B.C. The Lysanias referred to by Luke was the second of that name, the first Lysanias having been ruler of the still undivided territory. The district of Abilene was so named from its chief town, Abila, on the Abana or Barada. the stream on which Damascus is situated. Abila was on the eastern slope of the Anti-Lebanon range, just where the Abana breaks through the mountains. Near its site are an old cemetery and the ruins of a small temple, both belonging to Roman times. In 37 A.D., Caligula gave Abilene to Agrippa I., who died in 44. In 53 it was given by Claudius to Agrippa II. (mentioned in Acts xxv), who ruled it until his death in 100, when it became a part of the Roman province of Syria. Consult Schürer, History of the Jewish People, I. ii. 325-344.

ABILENE, abl-len. A city and county seat of Dickinson Co., Kan., 163 miles west of Kansas City, on the Smoky Hill River, and on the Union Pacific, the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific, and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe railroads (Map: Kansas, E 3). It is primarily a residential and commercial place, contains Mount Saint Joseph Academy, manufactures merry-go-rounds, creamery products, etc. The water supply is obtained from near-by sand springs. Settled about 1860, Abilene was incorporated in 1869, the charter of that date being still in operation, and providing for an annually elected mayor and a municipal council. Pop., 1890, 3547; 1900, 3507.

ABILENE. A city and county seat of Taylor Co., Tex., 160 miles west by south of Fort Worth, on the Texas and Pacific Railroad (Map: Texas, E 3). It is in a region devoted principally to agriculture and stock-raising, and has a grain elevator, flour, grist, and planing mills, cotton gins, etc. Pop., 1890, 3194; 1900, 3411.

ABIMELECH, a-bim'e-lek (Heb. my father is king, or Moloch). The name of four persons in the Old Testament, two of whom appear promi- nently in the narratives.

1. A son of Gideon (Judges viii: 31), c.1200 B.C., and reckoned as one of the judges by the narrative in Judges x:I. Upon the death of his father, who refused to take the title of king either for himself or children. Abimelech set out to claim the sovereignty, slew seventy of his brothers, and was declared king (.fudges ix: 1-0). Three years afterward the Shechemites under the leadership of Gaal made an unsuc- cessful attempt to throw off his rule (Judges xxii: 41). After capturing Shecheni and burn- ing the temple of El-berith, Abimelech went against Thebez. and here, while besieging the place, he was struck on the head by a piece of millstone thrown from the wall by a woman. To avoid an ignominious death, he ordered his armor-bearer to run him through (Judges ib. 43- 57). His reign is the first attempt to establish a monarchy in Israel.

2. A king of Gerar mentioned both in the biblical narrative about Abraham (Genesis xx and xxi: 22-32). and about Isaac (Genesis xxvi: 7-11: 20-33). The story in both cases is pretty much alike. Abimelech takes Sarah into his harem, after Abraham, for fear that he should be killed, declared Sarah to be his sister. In a dream, the true relation between Abraham and Sarah is revealed to Abimelech. who forth- with returns .Sarah to her husband and loads the latter with presents of cattle and servants. Similarly Isaac declares to the men of Gerar, among whom he has settled, that Rebekah is his sister. Abimelech, however, discovers the true relationship, and reproaches Isaac for having almost been the cause of bringing a "great sin" upon Abimelech and the men of Gerar. In view of this similarity, it is generally supposed by modern critics that the two stories are but dif- ferent versions of one and the same tale.

3. A king of Gath. according to the title of Psalm xxxiv, though here it is possible that Abimelech has by an error been introduced for Achish (1. Samuel xxi: 20).

4. A priest according to 1. Chronicles xviii: 16, where, however, the reading must be corrected to Abimelech. as we find the name writteTi in II. Samuel viii: 17 and elsewhere in Samuel. See Ahimelech.

AB'INGDON. A city in Knox County, Ill., incorporated in 1857, on the line of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy and the Iowa Central railroads; 10 miles from Galesburg, and 85 miles northeast of Quincy (Map: Illinois, B 3). It is the seat of Hedding College (Methodist Episcopal) and of the Abingdon Normal College. Abingdon has wagon works, an animal-trap factory, said to be the largest in the world, and other manu-