ABU;
ABIHAIL
have been passed over in silence in the earlier his- tory liad it ever occurred. The Chronicler, on the other hand, provides an explanation of another stumbling - block — the dual hiL;h priesthood of Zadok and A. in David's reign — \iy the statement with which 1 Ch 24 opens, that 'Eleazar and Ithamar executed the priests' otlice.' This seems an excellent precedent for a dual priesthood, but labours under two difficulties : first, that it is quite unsupported by the Pent, and Josh., in which Eleazar alone is high priest after Aaron's death ; and, secondly, that although Zadok's name alwaj-8 comes first when the two are mentioned togetlier, yet A. was the chief until the reign of Solomon, when Zadok was promoted to his place (1 K 2**). It is remarkable, too, that the priests who serve in Ezekiel's ideal temple are always styled 'the sons of Zadok' (40*" 43" 44" 48"), as if they could claim no higher antiquity.
A. is mentioned in 1 K 4'' as still joint priest ■with Zadok ; but this is probably a mistake, or may refer to the beginning of Solomon's reign, just as, in 2 S 23, Asaliel and Uriah are enumerated among David's mighty men. There is a difficulty connected with the mention of A. in Mk 2^ R v, where Christ is made to say that David ate the shewbread ' when A. was high priest,' ^Tri 'A^iidap dpxKp^'ot, B, H, Vulg. {' sub A. principe sacer- dotum '). The words are omitted by D and some Old Latin MSS, while A, C, 1, 33 insert toD before dpxiipe'^f, ' in the days of A. the high priest,' i.e. in his lifetime, but not necessarily during bis high priesthood. N. J. D. WHITE.
ABIB (3'3^n, always with art., mV tui' ytwv, mensis novorum or novarum frugum, Ex 13^ 23" 34'«, Dt 16'). See Time.
ABIDA (yTjN 'my father had knowledge'). — A son of iMidia'n (Gn 25* AV Abidah, 1 Ch l*").
ABIDAN (n'5!< ' father is judge ') is a name that occurs only in P. According to this document, Abidan, son of Gideoni, of the tribe of Benjamin, was one of the twelve ' princes ' who represented their respective tribes at the census and on certain other occaaions, Nu 1" a** T**-" lO".
G. B. Gray.
ABIDE. — In AV wid RV 'abide' U used both transitively and intransitively. 1. As a trans, verb in two senses : (a) to await, be in store for, as Ac 2u^ ' Bonds and afilictions abide me'; cf. Ps 37» (Pr. Bk.) 'They that patiently abide the Lord.' (b) To withstand, endure, as Jer 10"" ' The nations shall not be able to abide His indignation ' ; Mai 3^ ' But who may abide the day of His coming ! ' Cf. ' They cannot abide to hear of altering,' Pref. to AV 1611 ; ' Nature cannot abide that any place should be empty,' H. Smith (1593), Serm. 97. 2. As an intrans. verb in three senses : (a) to continue in the place or in the state in which one now is, as Ac 27" ' Except these abide in the ship ' j Jn 12^ ' Ex- cept a corn of wheat fall into the ground, and die, it abideth alone ' ; 1 Co 7" ' She is happier if she so abide ' ; 2 Mac 7" ' abide a while, and behold his great power.' (6) To dwell, reside, as Lk 8" ' And wore no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs'; Ps 61* 'I will abide (KV 'dwell') in Thy tabernacle for ever'; Jn 8" ' And the bond-servant abideth not in the house for ever : the son abideth for ever' ; Jn 15" ' Ho that abideth in Me, and I in him.' (c) To last, endure (esp. in the face of trial, cf. 1 (6), above), as 1 Co 3'* 'If any man's work abide'; Ps 119" ' Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth.' Abiding, as an adj., is used by KV, He lU** 'a better possession and an a. one,' and 13" ' an a.
city ' ; as a noun it is found 1 Es 8" ' they have given us a sure a. in Jewry.' J. Hastings.
ABIEL (Sn'jk 'father is God'). — 1. Son of Zeror, of the tribe of Benj., was father of Kish and Ner, and consequently grandfather of Saul and Abner, 1 S 9' 14". According to 1 Ch 8" = 9^ Ner was father of Kish ; in this case Abiel would Lave been great-grandfather of Saul. But the statement in Ch is an error, very possibly due to transcrip- tional causes ; vid. Bertheau on 1 Ch %^. 2. The name of one of David's 'thirty men' (2 S23") = 1 Ch 11^'. The form (Abi-albon) under which this man's name now appears in the Heb. text of Samuel is due to textual corruption ; Wellhausen (on 2 S 23") supposes the original form to have been Abibaal ; but there seems no sufficient reason to doubt the form (Abiel) preserved in Chron. ; cf. Driver on 2 S 23". G. B. Gray.
ABIEZER (i;i;'3H 'father is help'). — 1. The name of a clan (nnjij'O Jos 17" (P or R) ; i^y Jg 6") belonging to the tribe of Manasseh (Jg 6"*). Consequently, in genealogical descriptions of the tribal relations, Abiezer appears as a son or descendant of Manasseh, Jos 17', 1 Ch 7", Nu 26** (P ; in this last passage the name is written lezer, ijj;'!?, LXX 'Ax'^fep). The most distinguished member of the clan was Gideon, who describes it (cf., however, Moore [Intern. Critical Comment- ary] on Jg 6") as ' the poorest in Manasseh,' Jg 6", cf. 8'. In the time of Gideon the clan was settled at Ophrah of the Abiezrites (Jg 6", cf. v."), which perhaps lay near Shechem. In any case it would be unsafe, from P's statement that Abiezer was a son of Gilead (Nu 26™ ; cf. 1 Ch 7'*, but cf. Jos 17*), to infer that the clan was ever settled on the E. of Jordan ; cf. Dillmann on Nu 26™. 2. Abiezer the Anathothite, i.e. man of Anathoth in Benjamin (1 Ch 27"; cf. Jer 1'). was one of David's heroes, 2 S 235' = 1 Ch 11=«. According to 1 Ch 27" he was the acting military officer of David's army in the 9th month. Abiezrite is the gentilic form. G. B. Gray.