Adams, "William, a Methodist Episcopal minis- ter, was born in Fairfax Co.,Va., June 29, 1785. Ed~ ucated in a pious household, he was converted at an early age, and commenced preaching in 1813, in Ken- tucky, whither his family had removed. His mind, naturally vigorous, was cultivated by assiduous study, and he became one of the most acceptable and useful preachers of the Kentucky Conference, of which he was a member from 1814 to the time of his death. For many years he was secretary of the Conference. He died in 1836. — Minutes of Conferences, ii, 406.
Adamson, Patrick, archbishop of St. Andrews, and one of the most learned writers of the 16th cen- tury, was born at Perth, in 1543. At the age of 23 he went abroad as private tutor, and narrowly escaped death at Bourges at the time of the massacre of Paris. He lived in concealment seven months, during which time he translated into Latin verse the Book of Job, and wrote the tragedy of Herod, also in Latin verse. In 1573 he returned to Scotland, became minister of Paislej-, and was soon raised to the archbishopric of St. Andrews, the accepting of which brought him into continual discredit and affliction till his death, in great poverty, in 1591. His Works were printed at Lon- don in 1619.
A'dar, the name of a month and also of a place. See also Addah.
1. (Heb. and Chald. Adar', ITS;, large; Esth. iii, 7, 13; viii, 12; ix, 1, 15, 17; xix/21; Ezra vi, 15; Sept. 'Acap.) The sixth month of the civil and the twelfth of the ecclesiastical year of the Jews (comp. 1 Mace, vii, 43); from the new moon of March to that of April ; or, according to the rabbins, from the new moon of February to that of March. Tho name was first introduced after the captivity, being the Macedonian Dystrus iAvrrrpoc). (Sec Michaelis, Gram. Arab. p. 2">; Suppl. p. 25; Golius, in Lex. ad Mfrg. p. 17, 34; Hyde, Be rel. ret. Pers, p. 63.) The following are the chief days in it which are set apart for commemoration: The 7th is a fast for the death of Moses ( Deut. xxxiv, 5, 6). There is somo difference, however, in the date assigned to his death by some ancient authorities. Josephus {Ant, iv, 8, 49) states that he died on tho first of this month ; which
ADARCONIM
U
ADDO
also agrees with Midrash Megillath Esther, cited by Beland (Antiq. Hebr. iv, 10) ; whereas the Talmudical tracts Kiddushim and Sotah give the seventh as the day. It is at least certain that the latter was the day on which the fast was observed. On the 9th there was a fast in memory of the contention or open rupture of the celebrated schools of Hillel and Shammai, which happened but a few j'ears before the birth of Christ. The cause of the dispute is obscure (Wolf's Biblioth. Hebr. ii, 826). The loth is the so-called " Fast of Esther." Iken observes {Antiq. Hebr. p. 150) that this was not an actual fast, but merel}' a commemora- tion of Esther's fast of three days (Esth. iv, 10), and a preparation for the ensuing festival. Nevertheless, as Esther appears, from the date of Hainan's edict, and from the course of the narrative, to have fasted in Nisan, Buxtorf adduces from the rabbins the follow- ing account of the name of this fast, and of the foun- dation of its observance in Adar {Synag. Jud. p. 554) ; that the Jews assembled together on the 13th, in the time of Esther, and that, after the example of Hoses, who fasted when the Israelites were about to engage in battle with the Amalekites, they devoted that day to fasting and prayer, in preparation for the perilous trial which awaited them on the morrow. In this sense, this fast would stand in the most direct relation to the feast of Purim. The 13th was also, " by a com- mon decree," appointed as a festival in memory of the death of Nicanor (2 Mace, xv, 30). The 14th and 15th were devoted to the feast of Purim (Esth. ix, 21 ). See Purim. In case the year was an intercalary one, when the month of Adar occurred twice, this feast was first moderately observed in the intercalary Adar, and then celebrated with full splendor in the ensuing Adar. See Ve-adAb. The former of these two celebrations was then called the lesser, and the latter the great Purim. llorne has erroneously stated {Introduction, iii, 177) that these designations apply to the two days of the festival in an ordinary year. For the Scripture les- sons of this month, see Otho, Lex. Eabb. p. 8. — Kit- to, s. v. See Calendar ; Month.
2. (Heb. Addar', ^THX, splendor, otherwise thresh- ing-floor; Sept. 'AcSapa, apparently mistaking the ap- pended n local for a part of the word ; Vulg. Addar) a contracted form (Josh, xv, 3) of the name elsewhere (Num. xxxiv, 4) written Hazar-addar (q. v.). See also Ataroth-adar.
Adarconim. Sec Daric.
Adargazerin. See Treasurer.
Ad'asa (AcW«), a village of Judsea, where Ju- das the Maccabee slew the Assyrian general Nicanor (1 Mace, vii, 40, 45), and where he was himself after- ward slain by the generals of Antiochus (Joseph us, War, iii, G). It was situated, according to Josephus {Ant. xii, 10, 5), 30 stadia from Bethhoron, and, ac- cording to Jerome {Onomast. s. v.). not far from Goph- na, but was hardly the Hadashah (q. v.) of the tribe of Judah (Josh, xv, 37). See Laish.