ABIGAIL and (2 S 17» RV) Ablgal (Heb. gener- ally VvJV, 3 times Si'jx, once each ^'.yix, S:3;n 'father is joy,' or, perhaps, if the ' be not original, 'has rejoiced.' — 1. The discreet and beautiful wife of Nabal the Carmelite. Hearing of her husband's dismissal of David's messengers, and refusal of their request, unknown to her husband she went to meet David with provisions for him and his men, and in this way so gained David's favour that he abandoned his intended raid on Nabal. Some ten days after, Nabal died, and subsequently Abigail became David's wife: this was after David's former wife, Michal, had been given to Palti, but apparently at about the same time that he also married Ahinoam the Jezreelitess. Together with Ahinoam, Abigail shared David's life at Gath, sufl'ered captivity (from Ziklag) by the Amalekites, and wa-s speedily rescued ; later she lived with David at Hebron, and there bore a son, — Chileab (2 S 3') or Daniel (1 Ch 3') by name,— 1 S 25 ; also 27' 3(J»- " 2 S 2* 3». 1 Ch 3'.
2. A sister of Zeruiah — and according to I Ch 2" also of David — who through her union with Ithra the Ishmaelite (see art. Itiira) became mother of Ama.sa. The words in 2 S 17* (vni na), which assert that she was a daughter of Nahash, are probably an intrusion from v." (rm 13 = the son of Nahash) ; cf. Wellhausen, t.;. Q. B. GRAY.
ABIHAIL (Heb. S:o'5lj 'father U might').— According to the Massora the name is re^ V.T3ii (with n, not n) in 1 Ch 2» 2 Ch 11"; but this u probably the result of a pre-Mossoretio tran-
ABIHU
ABILENE
Bcriptional error. 1. Mentioned only in Nu 3" (P) in the phrase ' Ziiriel, son of Abihail ' (see ZUEIEL). 2. ' Wife ' of Abishur, 1 Ch 25». 3. Daughter of Eliab, eon of Jesse, and consequently a niece of David's. The onlv passage (2 Cn 11'*) where she is mentioned is slightly corrupt ; but, according to the most probable emendation, Abihail was the mother of Kuhoboam's wife Mahalath. According to another interpretation, Abihail was wife of Rehoboam ; but this is not the natural sense of the Ueb. text, and is out of harmony with the context ; vv."- ^" imply that only one wife has been mentioned. i. In this case the name occurs only in 1 Ch 5'* in a Gadite genealogy ; this Abihail was apparently a clan resident in Gilead. S. Father of Esther, and uncle of Mordecai (Est 2" 9^). For the curious variant of LXX, which gives the regular LXX equivalent of Abinadab, it is difficult to account.
G. B. Gray. ABIHO (Ki.r;!< 'he is father'), second son of Aaron by Elisheba (Ex 6^3, Nu 3' 2U», 1 Ch 6» 24') : accompanied Moses to the to|j of Sinai (Ex 24'-»): admitted to the priest's office (Ex 28'): slain for ollering strange lire (Lv )0'- *, Nu 3* 26^^ 1 Ch 24^). W. 0. Allen.
ABIHDD (i).t;« 'ray father is majesty'). — A Benjamite, son of Bela (1 Ch 8'). See Genealogy.
ABIJAM (.T3K 'Jah is my father'). — 1. King of Jndah (m'Sk, 2 Ch IS-"-"'). He is called Abijam (Vulg. Abiam), 1 K W^ 151.7.8. Nestle explains this as equivalent to cviit ' father of the people ' ; but since Abijah is read by thirteen of Kennicott's and de Rossi's MSS, supported by the LXX 'A/3(oi), Abijam is probably a mistake. As being the eldest son of Maacah, the favourite wife of Rehoboam, his father appointed him ' to be chief, even the prince among his brethren ; for he was minded to make him king ' (2 Ch 1 1^). His mother's name is variously given as Maacali the daughter of Abishalom (1 K 15=) (Absalom, 2 Ch 11^-*'), or Micaiah the daughter of Uriel of Gibeah (2 Ch 13'). See Maacah. He reigned about two years, from the eighteenth to the twentieth year of Jeroboam. There is probably no reign the accounts of which in Kings and Chronicles are so discrepant as that of Abijah. In Kings there is nothing related of him except that ' he walked in all the sins of his father,' and that ' there was war between Abijam and Jeroboam ' ; and, in the history of Asa, an incidental allusion to ' things that Abijah had dedicated' for the temple. In fact, as in the case of Jehoram (2 K 8'*), he was spared by God merely on account of the divine promise to David. But in Chronicles not only is there much additional historical matter, but Abijah seems to be a great and good man, and he is made the utterer of a sort of manifesto of the theocratic princijiles of Judah. The desultory warfare implied in Kings becomes in Chronicles one decisive pitched battle fought in the territory of Ephraira, in which Abijah's army of 400,000 slay 500,000 out of the 800,000 mar- shalled by Jeroboam. The battle is preceded by an oration spoken on Mt. Zemaraim by Abijah. After strongly aflirming the divine ri^ht of the Davidic line, lie dwells on the preWous impiety of Jeroboam's rebellion against Rehoboam when the latter ' was voung and tender-hearted, and could not withstand them ; and now ye think to %vithstand the kingdom of the Lord in the hands of the sons of David. ' The gods and priests of J udah and Israel are sharply contra-sted : 'Whosoever cometh to conse- crate himself with a young bullock and seven rams, the same may be apnest of them that are no gods.' The ceremonial of the daily worship at Jeru.salem is minutely described, and the loyalty of Judah to J' is twice altirmed. The battle which follows