XJrghier, in Thibetan mythology, is one of the su- preme deities of the Lamaites, generated from a flower.
Urgiaffa, in Norse mythology, was one of the nine giant maidens who were mothers of Heimdal.
U'ri (Heb. Uri', ''~}^^, fiery [comp. <I>wTu'oe]), the name of three Israelites.
1. (Sept. Ol'pi or OiipiaQ.) The father of Bezaleel, one of the architects of the tabernacle (Exod. xxxi, 2 ; XXXV, 30; xxxviii, 22; 1 Chron. ii, 20; 2 Chron. i, 5). B.C. ante 1657. He was of the tribe of Judah, and grandson of Caleb ben-Hezron, his father being Hur, who, according to tradition, was the husband of Miriam.
2. (Sept. 'ASat.) The father of Geber, Solomon's commissariat oflicer in Gilead (1 Kings iv, 19). B.C. ante 1010.
3. (Sept. 'Qdov^ V. r. 'QSovf.) One of the gate-keep- ers of the Temple, who divorced his wife after the exLle (Ezra X, 24). B.C. 458.
Uri'ah (Heb. Uriyah', n^llX, light [orfre] of Je- hovah ; occasionally [in Jer. only] in the prolonged form Uriya'hu, IIT'^'IX; Sept. usually Ovpiag, and so the New Test, and Josephus; A. V. in some cases " Urijah" [q. v.]), the name of several Hebrews.
1. The last named of the principal thirty warriors of David's army (1 Chron. xi. 41 ; 2 Sam. xxiii, 39). Like others of David's officers (Ittai of Gath ; Ishbosheth the Canaanite, 2 Sam. xxiii, 8, Sept.; Zelek the Ammonite, 2 Sam. xxiii, 37), he was a foreigner — a Hittite. His name, however, and his manner of speech (xi, 11) indi- cate that he had adopted the Jewish religion. He mar- ried Bathsheba, a woman of extraordinary beauty, the daughter of Eliam — possibly the same as the son of Ahithophel, and one of his brother officers (xxiii, 34) ; and hence, perhaps, as professor Blunt conjectures (Cuin- cidences, II, x), Uriah's first acquaintance with Bath- sheba. It may be inferred from Nathan's parable (2
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Sam. xii,3) that he was passionately devoted to his wife, and that their union was celebrated in Jerusalem as one of peculiar tenderness. He had a house at Jerusalem underneath the palace (xi, 2). In the first war with Ammon (B.C. 1035) he followed Joab to the siege, and with liim remained encamped in the open field (ver. 11). He returned to Jerusalem, at an order from the king, on the pretext of asking news of the war — really in the hope that his return to his wife might cover the shame of David's crime. The king met with an unexpected obstacle in the austere, soldier-like spirit which guided all Uriah's conduct, and which gives us a high notion of the character and discipline of David's officers. He steadily refused to go home, or partake of any of the indulgences of domestic life, while the ark and the host were in booths and his comrades lying in the open air. He partook of the royal hospitality, but slept always at the gate of the palace till the last night, when the king at a feast vainly endeavored to entrap him by in- toxication. The soldier was overcome by the debauch, but still retained his sense of duty sufHcientlv to insist on sleeping at the palace. On the morning of the third day, David sent him back to the camp with a letter (as in the story of Bellerophon) containing the command to Joab to cause his destruction in the battle. Josephus (Anf. vii, 7, 1) adds that he gave as a reason an imag- inary offence of Uriah. None such appears in the act- ual letter. Probably to an unscrupulous soldier like Joab the absolute will of the king was sufficient. The device of Joab was to observe the part of the wall of Kabbath- Ammon where the greatest force of the be- sieged was congregated, and thither, as a kind of forlorn- hope, to send Uriah. A sally took place. Uriah and the officers with him advanced as far as the gate of tlie city, and were there shot down by the archers on the wall. It seems as if it had been an established maxim of Israelitish warfare not to approach the wall of a besieged city; and one instance of the fatal result was always quoted, as if proverbially, against it — the sudden and ignominious death of Abimelech at Thebez, which cut short the hopes of the then rising monarchy. This appears from the fact (as given in the Sept.) that Joab exactly anticipates what the king will saj"^ when he hears of the disaster. Just as Joab had forewarned the messenger, the khig broke into a furious passion on liearing of the loss, and cited, almost in the very words which Joab had predicted, the case of Abimelech. (The only variation is the omission of the name of the grand- father of Abimelech, which, in the Sept., is Ner instead of Joash.) The messenger, as instructed by Joab, calm- ly continued, and ended the story with the words "Thy servant also, Uriah the Hittite, is dead." In a moment Daviil's anger is appeased. He sends an encouraging message to Joab on the unavoidable chances of war, and urges him to continue the siege. It is one of the touching parts of the story that Uriah falls unconscious of his wife's dishonor. She hears of her husband's death. The narrative gives no hint as to her shame or re- morse. She " mourned" with the usual signs of grief as a widow, and then became the wife of David (2 Sam. xi, 27). — Smith. See David.