Aho'ah (Heb. Acho'ach, IjlHN, brotherly; Sept. Ayid v. r. AynjA), one of the sons of Bela, the son of Benjamin (1 Chron. viii, 4) ; called also Ahiah (ver. 7), and perhaps Iri (1 Chron. vii, 7). B.C. post 1856. It is probably he whose descendants are called Aiiohites (2 Sam. xxiii, 9, 28).
Aho'hite (Heb. AchocW ', "TTinN ; Sept. irapa- StXtpog, 'AywiV/7c [v. r. 'AuAthq], 'Aywy/', 'Aywp [v. r. 'Aywi'i'], 'Audi [v. r. Xwy, 'Lvwy]), an epithet ap- plied to Dodo or Dodai, one of the captains under Sol- omon (1 Chron. xxvii, 4), and his son Eleazar, one of David's three chief warriors (2 Sam. xxiii, 9; 1 Chron. xi, 12), as well as to Zalmon or Ilai, another of his body-guard (2 Sam. xxiii, 28 ; 1 Chron. xi, 29) ; doubtless from their descent from Ahoah (1 Chron. viii, 4) the Benjamite (comp. 1 Chron. xi, 26).
Aho'lah (Heb. Oholah' , f&nx, i. q. ^^?' she has her own tent, i. e. tabernacle, for lascivious rites ; Sept. 'OoXci v. r. 'OXXo, 'OoXAd ; Vulg. Oolla), the name of an imaginary harlot, used by Ezekiel (xxiii, 4, 5, 36, 44) as a symbol of the idolatry of the northern kingdom, the apostate branch of Judah being desig- nated, by a paronomasia, Aholibah (q. v.). These terms indicate respectively that, while the worship at Samaria had been self-invented, and never sanctioned by Jehovah, that at Jerusalem was divinely instituted and approved, so long as pure, but now degraded and abandoned for foreign alliances (Henderson, Comment. in loc). They are both graphically described as sis- ters who became lewd women, adulteresses, prostitut- ing themselves to the Egyptians and the Assyrians, in imitating their abominations and idolatries ; where- fore Jehovah abandoned them to those very people for whom they showed such inordinate and impure affec- tion. The}' were carried into captivity, and reduced to the severest servitude. But the crime of Aholibah was greater than that of Aholah, for she possessed more distinguished privileges, and refused to be in- structed by the awful example of her sister's ruin. The allegory is an epitome of the history of the Jew- ish Church. — Kitto, s. v. See Idolatry.
Aho'liab (Heb. Oholiab' , 2X^nX, tent of his father; Sept. EXio/S), the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, one of the two artificers in the precious metals and other materials, appointed to superintend the preparation of such articles for the tabernacle (Exod. xxxi. 6 ; xxxv, 34 ; xxxvi, 1, 2 ; xxxviii, 23), B.C. 1657. See Bezaleel.
Ahol'ibah (Heb. Oholibah' , rta^hK, for ^t» rT3, my tent, is in her; Sept. 'OoXijia v. r. "OXtjSd; Vulg. Ooliba), a symbolical name given to Jerusalem (Ezek. xxiii, 4, 11, 22, 36, 44) under the figure of an adulterous harlot, as having once contained the true
AHOLIBAMAH
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worship of Jehovah, hut having prostituted herself to foreign idolatries (Havernik, Comment, in loc). See Aholah.
Aholiba'mah [many Aholib'amah~] (Heb. Oholi- bamah', H^^bnX, tent of the height), the name, ap- parently, of a woman (Sept. 'OXtfit^ta), and of a man or district (Sept. 'E\t/3a/«i(.-) named after her, in connec- tion with the family and lineage of Esau (q. v.). She was the granddaughter of Zibeon (q. v.) the Hivite (of the family of Seir the Horite) by his son Anah (q. v.), and became one (probably the second) wife of Esau (Gen. xxxvi, 2, 25). B.C. 1964. It is doubtless through this connection of Esau with the original inhabitants of Mount Seir that we are to trace the subsequent oc- cupation of that territory by him and his descendants, and it is remarkable that each of his three sons by this wife is himself the head of a tribe, while all the tribes of the Edomites sprung from his other two wives are founded by his grandsons (Gen. xxxvi, 15-19). In the earlier narrative (Gen. xxvi, 34) Aholibamah is called Judith (q. v.), daughter of Beeri (q. v.) the Hittite (q. v.). 1 he explanation of the change in the name of the woman seems to be that her proper per- sonal name was Judith, and that Aholibamah was the name which she received as the wife of Esau and foundress of three tribes of his descendants ; she is, therefore, in the narrative called by the first name, while in the genealogical table of the Edomites she appears under the second. This explanation is con- firmed by the recurrence of the name Aholibamah in the concluding list of the genealogical table (Gen. xxxvi, 40-43), which, with Hengstenberg (Die Au- thentie d. Pent, ii, 279; Eng. transl. ii, 228), Tuch (Comm. vh. d. Gen. p. 493), Knobel {Genes, p. 258), and others, we must therefore regard as a list of names of places, and not of mere persons, as, indeed, is express- ly said at the close of it : "These are the chiefs (heads of tribes) of Esau, according to their settlements in the land of their possession." The district which re- ceived the name of Esau's wife, or, perhaps, rather from which she received her married name, was no doubt (as the name itself indicates) situated in the heights of the mountains of Edom, probably, there- fore, in the neighborhood of Mount Hor and Petra, though Knobel places it south of Petra, having been misled by Burckhardt's name Hesma, which, however, according to Robinson (Resea?-ches, ii, 552), is " a sandy tract with mountains around it . . . but not it- self a mountain, as reported by Burckhardt." It seems not unlikely that the three tribes descended from Aholibamah, or, at least, two of them, possessed this district, since there are enumerated only eleven districts, whereas the number of tribes is thirteen, ex- clusive of that of Korah, whose name occurs twice, and which we may further conjecture emigrated (in part at least) from the district of Aholibamah, and became associated with that of Eliphaz. — Smith. See Edom.