RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Ahab Ahaziah
Gelderland, then a member of the Sisterhood of the Common Life at Deventer, affiliated himself with the followers of the new teaching in that town. Heremained at Deventer probably till the year 1400, living in close association with the companions and successors of Groote, the founder of the fraternity, such as Florentius Radewyns, Brinckerink, Gerhard Zerbolt, and Thomas a Kempis. Having mastered the principles and the organization of the Brethren, and imbued with their zeal, he returned to Westphalia and in the year of his arrival founded a brotherhood at Miinster. The death of his father left him with ample means with which he erected a house for the accommodation of the Brethren. Later he ceded to them his magnificent residence and estate at Springbrunnen, which became the seat of the general chapter of the fraternity. Living without vows or written regulations, and given up to the practise of the humble Christian virtues, the Brethren, nevertheless, met with opposition from many of the clergy and laity. The former looked askance at their close intermingling of the ascetic and spiritual with the secular life, and resented the influence which they speedily began to exert in the field of education, while the citizens of Minister regarded the activity of the fraternity in the production of beautiful books, which constituted the chief source of their livelihood, as unwelcome competition. The Dominicans were the most zealous of their opponents and at the instance of one of that order, Matthseus Grabow, complaint against the Brethren was lodged with the Council of Constance. Owing to the intercession of Gerson and Pierre d'Ailly, however, they obtained a complete vindication (1418), and the persecution served only to hasten the rapid spread of their influence. Ahaus was one of the representatives sent to Constance to defend the cause of the brotherhood.
In 1416 Ahaus established at Cologne the second great house of the fraternity; and in 1428 a union was effected between the chapters of Cologne and Miinster whereby the two houses were constituted practically one body. In 1441 this union was joined by the chapter of Wesel in Cleves, which had been founded by Ahaus in 1435. To the end of his life Ahaus busied himself with the erection of new chapters and the active supervision of the established houses; and, in addition to the three great chapters mentioned, many smaller foundations were established in the dioceses of Miinster and Osnabruck. Communities of Sisters of the Common Life also were established at Emmerich, Herford, Hildesheim, and other places, aside from the mother house at Minister, with the foundation of which Ahaus was not connected. The labors of Ahaus exercised a beneficent influence upon the condition of the Church in Germany. The standard of learning among the clergy was raised, and monasticism was purified of many of its evils, while its ideals of a spiritual life received wide extension through the founding of secular communities. The Brethren were also influential in the establishment of schools, m the diffusion of literature both in manuscript and m printed form, and in the extension of the use of the vernacular for religious purposes.
L. SCHTJLZE.
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Bibliography: L. Sohulze, Heinrich von Ahaus, in ZKW, in., 1882.
AHAZ, e'haz: Eleventh king of Judah, son and successor of Jotham. He ruled, according to the older computation, 742-727 B.C.; according to Kohler, 739-724; according to Kamphausen, 734- 715; according to Hommel, 734-728. The most important political event of his reign was the subjugation of Judah to Assyria as a result of the Arameo- (Syro-) Ephraimitic war. Pekah, king of Israel, and Rezin of Damascus had conspired against Judah before the death of Jotham (II Kings xv. 37), but war was not actively carried on until after the accession of Ahaz. The latter could not maintain himself in the field and retired to the fortified Jerusalem. According to the Chronicler, he was defeated in pitched battle at some stage of the war. Rezin captured Elath on the Red Sea, which had been in possession of Judah since the days of Amaziah and Uzziah (Azariah, II Kings xiv. 7, 22), and restored it to the Edomites (xvi. 6, where the reading should be " Edomites " instead of " Syrians "), perhaps in return for help in the war (cf. II Chron. xxviii. 17). Judea was laid waste and partly depopulated (cf. Isa. i. 5-9). Ahaz in his need applied for help to Tiglath-pileser II. of Assyria, who forced the enemies of the Judean king to retire; but, as the price of this deliverance, Judah became an Assyrian vassal state, the king's treasure and the treasure of the Temple being carried to Nineveh, and a yearly tribute imposed. Few kings of Judah are represented as having so little inclination to the true Yahveh-religion as Ahaz. He sacrificed " on the hills, and under every green tree," and set up molten images of the Baalim. In a time of great distress he even offered his son to Molech in the Valley of Hinnom; and it may be inferred from II. Kings xxiii. 11-12 that, under Assyrian influence, he built altars for the worship of the heavenly bodies in the vicinity of the Temple. The religious and moral deterioration of the people under Ahaz is the frequent theme of Isaiah's prophecy. (W Lotz.)
It is now generally held that the reign of Ahaz extended from 735 to 719 B.C. The dates are important not merely as fixing the time of the accession of Hezekiah with his change of policy toward Assyria, but also their correlation with other events. Thus Ahaz is seen to have survived the fall of Samaria (722 B.C.) and the Assyrian expedition against Ashdod (720 B.C.) with its consequences to Judah (cf. Isa. xx.). J. F. M.
Bibliography: Consult the works mentioned under Ahab, and C. P. Caspari, Ueber den Syrisch-ephraimitischen Krieg unter Jotham und Ahas, Christiania, 1849.
AHAZIAH, e"ha-zai'a: 1. Eighth king of Israel, son and successor of Ahab. He reigned about two years (856-855 B.C., according to Kamphausen; for other views, see the dates given for the close of his father's reign in the article Ahab). Little is known of his reign. Doubtless he ended the war with Ben-hadad (see Ahab) by treaty. After Ahab's death, the Moabites rebelled successfully; but Ahaziah seems to have undertaken no war against them. He had the misfortune to fall from a window and received serious injury; being a
Ahijah Ailly