2. A priest during the reign of Ahaz (B.C. cir. 738), whom Isaiah took as a witness to his prophecj- concern- ing Maher-shalal-hash-baz, with Zechariah, the son of Jel)erechiah (Isa. viii, 2). He is probably the same as Urijah the priest, who built the altar for Aiiaz (2 Kings xvi, 10). If this be so, the prophet summoned him as a witness probably on account of his official position, not on account of his personal qualities; though, as the incident occurred at the beginning of the reign of Ahaz. Uriah's irreligious subserviency may not yet have man- ifested itself. When Ahaz, after his deliverance from llezin and Pekah by Tiglath-pileser, went to wait upon his new master at Damascus, he saw there an altar which pleased him, and sent the pattern of it to Uriah at Jerusalem, with orders to have one made like it against the king's return. Uriah zealously executed
the idolatrous command, and when Ahaz returned, not only allowed him to offer sacrifices upon it, but basely complied with all his impious directions. The new al- tar was accordingly set in the court of the Temple, to the east of where the brazen altar used to stand ; and the daily sacrifices, and the burnt-off'erings of the king and people, were offered upon it; while the brazen al- tar, having been removed from its place and set to the north of the Syrian altar, was reserved as a private al- tar for the king to inquire by. It is likely, too, that Uriah's compliances did not end here, but that he was a consenting party to the other idolatrous and sacrile- gious acts of Ahaz (see 2 Kings xvi, 17, 18; xxiii, 5, 11, 12 ; 2 Chron. xxviii, 23-2.')).— Smith.
Uriah or Urijah was apparently the high-priest at the time, but of his parentage we know nothing positive. He probably succeeded Azariah, who was high-priest in the reign of Uzziah (or else Amariah HI, otherwise called Jothan), and was succeeded by that Azariah who was high-priest in the reign of Hezekiah. Hence it is prob- able that he was son of the former and father of the latter, it being by no means uncommon among the He- brews, as among the Greeks, for the grandchild to have the grandfather's name. Probably, too, he may have been descended from that Azariah who must have been high-priest in the reign of Asa. But he has no record in the sacerdotal genealogy (1 Chron. vi, 4-15), in which there is a great gap between Amariah in ver. 11, and Shallum, the father of Hilkiah, in ver. 13. Josephus, however, says that he was the son of Jothan and the father of Neriah (Ant. x, 8, (3). See Hkih-pkiest.
3. Urijah the son of Shemaiah of Kirjath-jearim ; he prophesied in the days of Jehoiakim concerning the land and the city, just as Jeremiah had done, and the king sought to put him to death; but he escaped, and ried into Egypt. His retreat was soon discovered : El- nathan and his men brought him up out of Egypt, and Jehoiakim slew him with the sword, and cast his body forth among the graves of the common people (Jer. xxvi, 20-23). B.C. 608. The story of Shemaiah ap- pears to be quoted by the enemies of Jeremiah as a reason for putting him to death ; and as a reply to the instance of Micah the Morasthite, which Jeremiah's friends gave as a reason why his words should be lis- tened to and his life spared. Such, at least, is the view adopted by Rashi. — Smith.
4. One of the priests (being of the family of Hakkoz, A. V. "Koz") who stood at Ezra's right hand when he read the law to the people ('• Urijah," Neh. viii, 4). B.C. 458. He is probably the same with the father of Mere- moth, one of the priests who aided Nehemiah in re- building the walls of Jerusalem (Ezra viii, 33 ; Neh. iii, 4, 21).
Uri'as (Orp/at), the Greek form of the name of Urijah the priest in Ezra's time (1 Esdr. ix, 43 ; comp. Neh. viii, 4), and of Uriah the husband of Bathsheba (Matt, i, 6).
U'riel (Heb. Uriel', bx-i-l^lX.//-^ [or llffht'] of God; Sept. Oi>pii]\), the name of three Hebrews.
1. A Kohathite Levite, son of Tahatli, and father of Uzziah (1 Chron. vi, 24 [9] ; apparently the same in Zephaniah (ver. 36). B.C. cir. 1550. See Samuel.
2. Chief of the Kohathites of the family of Korah in the reign of David, who assisted, together with one hundred and twenty of his brethren, in bringing up the ark from the house of Obed-edom (1 Chron. xv, 6, 11). B.C. 1043.
3. Uriel of Gibeah was the father of Jlaachah, or Miehaiah, the favorite wife of Rehoboam, and mother of Abijah (2 Ctiron. xiii, 2). B.C. ante 973. In xi, 20 she is called " Maachah the daughter of Absalom ;" and Josephus {Ant. viii, 10, 1) explains this by saying that her mother was Tamar, Atisalom's daughter. Rashi gives a long note to the effect that IMichaiah was called Maachah after the name of her dausrhter-in-law, the mother of Asa, who was a woman of renown, and that
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her father's name wass Uriel Abishalom. There is no indication, however, tliat Absalom, liiie Solomon, had another name, althoujfli in the Tars;;um of li. Joseph on Chronicles it is said that the fatlier of Maachali was called Uriel, tliat the name of Absalom might not be mentioned. — Smith. See Maachaii.