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AARON

Moses' brother and Israel's first high priest. In the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, Aaron was Moses' spokesman and assistant during the Israelites' Exodus from Egypt. Aaron was three years older than Moses and was 83 when they first confronted the pharaoh (Ex 7:7). Their sister, Miriam (Nm 26:59), must have been the eldest child, old enough to carry messages when the infant Moses was found by the pharaoh's daughter (Ex 2:1-9). Aaron's mother was Jochebed and his father was Amram, a descendant of the Kohath family of Levi's tribe (Ex 6:18-20).

Aaron and his wife, Elisheba, had four sons (Ex 6:23), who were to follow him in the priesthood (Lv 1:5). Two of them, Nadab and Abihu, violated God's instructions by performing a sacrilegious act while burning incense and were burned to death as a result (Lv 10:1-5). The priesthood was then passed on through the other two sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, who also sometimes failed to carry out God's instructions precisely (10:6-20).

Aaron's prominence in the events of the Exodus arose partly from the fact that he was Moses' brother. When Moses tried to avoid becoming Israel's leader on the grounds of having a speech impediment, Aaron's ability as a speaker was recognized and used by God (Ex 4:10-16).

Events of Aaron's Life

The Hebrew people were slaves in Egypt at the beginning of Aaron's life. Raised as an Egyptian by one of the pharaoh's daughters, Moses had fled into the Midian Desert after killing a cruel Egyptian taskmaster (Ex 1-2). When God sent Moses back as a liberator (chs 3-4), he also sent Aaron out to meet Moses in the desert (4:27). Moses was a stranger to his people after so many years of exile, so Aaron made contact with Israel's elders for him (4:29-31). When Moses and Aaron went to see the pharaoh, God told the Egyptian monarch through the two of them to let the Israelites go (Ex 5:1). When the pharaoh made life even more miserable for the Hebrew slaves, God began to show his power to the Egyptian ruler through a series of miracles (chs 5-12). God performed the first three miracles through Aaron, using a rod (probably a shepherd's staff). The pharaoh had his palace sorcerers do similar tricks. After God brought a plague of gnats (KJV "lice") over all Egypt, the Egyptian magicians admitted defeat and said, "This is the finger of God!" (Ex 8:19, NLT). Then God brought on more plagues through Moses, culminating in the deaths of all the Egyptians' firstborn sons. Aaron was with Moses (12:1-28) when God revealed how he would "pass over" the properly marked homes of the Israelites, sparing their children on the night the Egyptian children died. That event was the origin of the Passover feast still observed by Jews today (13:1-16).

After God led the Israelites to safety and destroyed the pursuing Egyptians, Aaron participated with Moses in governing the people on their long wilderness journey to the Promised Land (Ex 16:1-6). Later, battling against Amalek's army, Aaron helped hold up Moses' weary arms in prayer to maintain God's blessing (17:8-16). Although always subordinate to Moses, Aaron seems to have been recognized as an important leader (18:12). God summoned him to be with Moses when God gave the law on Mt Sinai (19:24). Aaron was among the representatives of the people who ratified God's statutes in the Book of the Covenant (24:1-8). Aaron went with those leaders partway up the holy mountain and saw the vision of the God of Israel (24:9-10). With Hur, he was left in charge when Moses was with God on the mountaintop (vv 13-14).

Moses was gone for over a month, and in a moment of weakness, Aaron gave in to the people's request for an idol to worship. He melted down their gold ornaments to make a golden image of a calf (Ex 32:1-4). (The Israelites had probably been influenced in Egypt by the cult of Apis, a fertility god in the form of a bull.) At first, Aaron seemed to think he might be doing something acceptable to God (v 5), but things got out of hand and a drunken sex orgy took place around the idol (v 6). God was angry enough to destroy the people, but Moses interceded, reminding God of his promise to multiply Abraham's descendants (Ex 32:7-14). Moses furiously confronted Aaron about the immorality and idolatry, which Aaron blamed on the people without admitting any guilt of his own (vv 21-24). Although the idolators were punished by death (Ex 32:25-28) and the whole camp by a plague (v 35), Aaron was evidently not punished. In a retelling of the events, Moses said that Aaron was in great danger but was spared because he had prayed for him (Dt 9:20).

In their second year of nomadic wilderness life, Aaron helped Moses carry out a census (Nm 1:1-3, 17-18). Eventually, Aaron may have become jealous of Moses' position of leadership, for Miriam and Aaron began to slander their brother, even though the elderly Moses was by then more humble than any man on earth (Nm 12:1-4). God's anger toward the two was averted by Moses' prayer, although Miriam did suffer for her sin (12:5-15). Aaron again seems to have escaped punishment entirely. With Moses, Aaron opposed a rebellion at Kadesh (14:1-5). He stood with Moses against a later revolt (ch 16). After a final incident at Meribah, where the Israelites almost revolted again, God accused Moses and Aaron of having failed to take him at his word and denied them entry into the Promised Land (20:1-12). Aaron died at the age of 123 on Mt Hor, after Moses had removed his elaborate priestly garments and put them on Aaron's son Eleazar (Nm 20:23-29; 33:38-39).

See also Levi.

ABAGTHA

One of the seven eunuchs commanded by King Ahasuerus to bring Queen Vashti to his drunken party (Est 1:10).

ABDA

1. Adoniram's father. Adoniram was superintendent of public works under King Solomon (1Ki 4:6).
2. Shammua's son, who was a Levite leader in Jerusalem after the Exile (Neh 11:17). The same father and son are elsewhere identified as Shemaiah and Obadiah (1Chr 9:16).

ABDEEL

Shelemiah's father. Shelemiah was an officer sent by King Jehoiakim of Judah to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch after the king had read and burned their prophetic scroll (Jer 36:26).

ABDI

1. Member of the Merari clan of Levites. Abdi's grandson Ethan was a musician in David's time (1Chr 6:44; 15:17).
2. Levite whose son Kish served in Hezekiah's time (2Chr 29:12). This Abdi has sometimes been confused with Abdi #1.
3. Member of the Elam clan in Ezra's time. This Abdi is listed as one of the Israelites who married a foreign woman after the Exile (Ezr 10:26).

ABDIEL

Guni's son and father of Ahi (1Chr 5:15). Ahi was a clan leader in Gad's tribe during the reigns of King Jotham of Judah and King Jeroboam II of Israel (1Chr 5:15-17).

ABDON

1. Hillel's son who judged Israel for eight years (Jgs 12:13-15). Abdon was a very wealthy man, as indicated by reference to the 70 donkeys he owned.
2. Shashak's son from Benjamin's tribe who lived in Jerusalem (1Chr 8:23,28).
3. Jeiel's oldest son from Benjamin's tribe who lived in Gibeon. This Abdon is mentioned in Saul's genealogy (1Chr 8:30; 9:36).
4. Micah's son (2Chr 34:20), also called Acbor, son of Micaiah. See Acbor #2.

ABEDNEGO

One of Daniel's three friends who was sentenced to death by Nebuchadnezzar but was protected in the fiery furnace by an angel (Dn 1:7; 3:12-30). See Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego; Daniel.

ABEL

Second male child of Adam and Eve (Gn 4:2). The name is probably related to Sumerian and Akkadian words meaning "son" and was thus used as a generic term for the human race.

Abel's older brother, Cain, was engaged in agriculture, but Abel himself was a shepherd. When both brothers brought offerings, God accepted Abel's animal sacrifice but rejected Cain's vegetable offering. As a result, Cain became jealous of Abel and killed him.

The narrative indicates that Abel's character was more worthy of God's blessing; hence his offering was accepted and Cain's was not (Gn 4:7). There is no scriptural evidence that cereal or vegetable offerings were less effective as either sin offerings or fellowship meals than offerings involving the shedding of blood, since in later Mosaic law both were prescribed. In the NT Abel is regarded as the first martyr (Mt 23:35; Lk 11:51; Heb 11:4).

ABI-ALBON

Alternate name of Abiel in 2 Samuel 23:31. See Abiel #2.

ABIASAPH

Kohathite Levite, a descendant of Korah, Elkanah's son and the father of Assir (1Chr 6:23, 37; 9:19; Exodus 6:24). Alternate form of Ebiasaph.

ABIATHAR

One of two high priests during the reign of King David. The other high priest was Zadok, who evidently was appointed by David after his conquest of Jerusalem.

Only Abiathar escaped when the priestly families at Nob were massacred at the instigation of King Saul. The priests of Nob had given food and Goliath's sword to David during his escape from the wrath of Saul, thus earning Saul's hatred (1Sam 21-22). When Abiathar joined David he brought the ephod, which David then used in determining the will of God (1Sam 23:6 ,9-11; 30:7-8). Abiathar was one of the first persons from Saul's administration to support David. His support was formidable because he represented the priesthood of the old tribal league of the line of Eli.

During the last days of David's kingship, his sons struggled for the throne. The two major rivals were Adonijah and Solomon. Abiathar the high priest supported Adonijah's claim to the throne, probably because Adonijah was David's oldest living heir and because David's general Joab, one of the strongest men in the kingdom, supported Adonijah (1Ki 1:5-7). Zadok supported Solomon, who actually succeeded David on the throne. Having fallen out of favor with the new king, Abiathar was banished to his estate in Anathoth (1Ki 2:26-27), a village about four miles (6.4 kilometers) northeast of Jerusalem.

The relationship of Abiathar to Ahimelech is confusing. Ahimelech could have been the name of both Abiathar's father (1Sam 22:20; 23:6) and son (2Sam 8:17; 1Chr 18:16; 24:6). If each of the references was to the same Ahimelech, then the names were reversed in the later passages. In the NT, Abiathar is mentioned as the high priest when David came to Nob needing food and weapons (Mk 2:26). The OT account says that Ahimelech was the priest at that time (1Sam 21:1-2). The apparent discrepancy may have resulted from a copyist's error or from the fact that Abiathar as high priest was more prominent than Ahimelech.

ABIDA

One of Midian's sons. Midian was Abraham's son by his concubine Keturah (Gn 25:2,4; 1Chr 1:33).

ABIDAN

Gideoni's son and leader of Benjamin's tribe when the Israelites were wandering in the Sinai wilderness after their escape from Egypt (Nm 1:11; 2:22). As leader, he presented his tribe's offering at the consecration of the Tabernacle (Nm 7:60-65).

ABIEL

1. Father of Kish and Ner and grandfather of King Saul, according to 1 Samuel 9:1 and 14:51. Other genealogies in 1 Chronicles list Ner, instead of Abiel, as Kish's father and Saul's grandfather (1Chr 8:33; 9:39). This confusion is due either to a copyist's error or to the possibility that Saul had two relatives named Ner, a great-grandfather and an uncle.
2. Warrior among David's mighty men who were known as "the thirty" (1Chr 11:32), also called Abi-albon the Arbathite (2Sam 23:31).

ABIEZER

1. Descendant of Manasseh (Jos 17:1-2). Although Abiezer's father is not named, Abiezer is listed with the descendants of his mother's brother, Gilead (1Chr 7:18). In Numbers 26:30, Abiezer's name is shortened to Iezer (KJV "Jeezer"), and the family is called Iezerites (KJV "Jeezerites"). Abiezer's family, to which Gideon belonged, was the first clan to respond to Gideon's call to fight the Midianites (Jgs 6:34). Abiezer's descendants were referred to as Abiezrites (Jgs 6:11,24,34; 8:32).
2. Member of Benjamin's tribe from Anathoth and warrior among David's mighty men, known as "the thirty" (2Sam 23:27; 1Chr 11:28). This Abiezer was commander of the ninth division of the army in the rotation system established by David (1Chr 27:12).

ABIGAIL

1. Nabal's wife, who later became the wife of David (1Sam 25:2-42). Nabal was a wealthy sheep owner whose holdings had been protected by David's men. When David requested provisions in return for that protection, Nabal refused. Enraged, David set out with 400 armed men to destroy Nabal and his house. Abigail had been informed of her husband's behavior and met David with many provisions, taking the blame for her foolish husband. David thanked God for using Abigail to restrain his anger.

   When Nabal woke from a drunken stupor the next morning and learned what had happened, he had a stroke from which he died 10 days later. Abigail then married David and shared his adventurous life among the Philistines (1Sam 27:3). She was captured by the Amalekites and rescued by David (1Sam 30:1-19). Abigail went with David to Hebron when he became king of Judah (2Sam 2:2), and she bore his second son, Chileab (2Sam 3:3), also called Daniel (1Chr 3:1).

2. David's sister, who married Jether and gave birth to Amasa (1Chr 2:16-17). There appears to be confusion as to the ancestry of this Abigail. In 1 Chronicles 2:13-17 she is listed as a daughter of Jesse. However, in 2 Samuel 17:25, her father is identified as Nahash. The discrepancy could be due to scribal error, or Nahash may be another name for Jesse, or the widow of Nahash could have married Jesse.

ABIHAIL

Name used for both men and women in the OT.

1. Zuriel's father and a leader of the Merari family of Levites in Israel's wilderness community (Nm 3:35).
2. Abishur's wife, and mother of Ahban and Molid (1Chr 2:29).
3. Huri's son, a descendant of Gad, living in Gilead and Bashan (1Chr 5:14).
4. Woman named in 2 Chronicles 11:18 whose relationship to King Rehoboam is not clear from the Hebrew text. In some translations, Abihail seems to be the second wife of Rehoboam. However, only one wife is mentioned at first, so Abihail was probably the mother of Rehoboam's first wife, Mahalath. This Abihail was thus a daughter of Eliab, David's eldest brother. She married her cousin Jerimoth, one of David's sons.
5. Esther's father, and uncle of Mordecai (Est 2:15; 9:29).

ABIHU

Second son of Aaron and Elisheba (Ex 6:23; Nm 26:60; 1Chr 6:3). Abihu and his brother Nadab joined Moses, Aaron, and the 70 elders of Israel in worshiping the glory of God on Mt Sinai (Ex 24:1-11). The four sons of Aaron were made priests along with their father (Ex 28:1), but later Abihu and Nadab were burned to death for offering "the wrong kind of fire" before the Lord (Lv 10:1, NLT; see also Nm 3:2-4; 26:61; 1Chr 24:1-2).

ABIHUD

One of Bela's nine sons (1Chr 8:3). Abihud should not be confused with the Abiud of Matthew's genealogy of Christ in the NT.

ABIJAH

1. Samuel's second son who, with his older brother, Joel, was a corrupt judge in Beersheba. Because of the corruption, Israel's leaders demanded to be ruled instead by a king (1Sam 8:2; 1Chr 6:28).
2. Son of Jeroboam I of the northern kingdom of Israel. The boy's illness impelled his family to seek guidance from the prophet Ahijah at Shiloh (1 Kgs; 14:1-2);
3. Alternate name for Abijam, king of Judah, in 2 Chronicles 12:16-14:1 and Matthew 1:7. See Abijam.
4. Ahaz's wife, and mother of King Hezekiah (2Ki 18:2, short form "Abi"; 2Chr 29:1). This Abijah was Zechariah's daughter.
5. Becher's son from Benjamin's tribe (1Chr 7:8).
6. Levite who headed the eighth of 24 priestly divisions established in David's time (1Chr 24:10; Lk 1:5).
7. Head of a priestly family who signed Ezra's covenant of faithfulness to God with Nehemiah and others after the Exile (Neh 10:7).
8. Head of a priestly family who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel after the Exile (Neh 12:4). Perhaps of the same family as #7.

ABIJAM

Rehoboam's son and successor as king of Judah, 913-910 BC (1Chr 3:10; alternately called "Abijah" in 2Chr 11:18-22; 12:16; 13:1-22; 14:1). A major focus of Abijam's reign was his war with King Jeroboam I of Israel (2Chr 13:1-3). Before a decisive battle, Abijam stood on Mt Zemaraim and shouted condemnation of Jeroboam's political divisiveness and religious idolatry (2Chr 13:4-12). Abijam and his army then prayed for God's help in their precarious military position. Against two-to-one odds, they fought their way out of an ambush and won a stunning victory over Jeroboam (2Chr 13:13-19). Abijam's reign in the southern kingdom of Judah was summed up rather unfavorably in 1Ki 15:1-8: "He committed the same sins as his father before him, and he was not faithful to the Lord his God, as the heart of his ancestor David had been" (v 3, NLT). But God had promised to keep David's descendants on the throne in Jerusalem (1Ki 11:36), so Abijam's son Asa succeeded him. Being of David's line, Abijam was an ancestor of Jesus, the Christ (Mt 1:7, "Abijah").

ABIMAEL

One of the many sons or descendants of Joktan, and thus a descendant of Shem (Gn 10:28; 1Chr 1:22).

ABIMELECH

Royal title for Philistine rulers, similar to the designation "pharaoh" among the Egyptians and "agag" among the Amalekites.

1. King of Gerar in Abraham's time. At Gerar, a city a few miles south of Gaza, Abraham presented his wife as his sister out of fear for his life (Gn 20:1-18), as he had once done in Egypt (Gn 12:10-20). Because of this, Sarah was taken into Abimelech's harem. But Abimelech was warned by God in a dream not to come near her on pain of death because she was a married woman, so she was restored to her husband. The same Abimelech and Abraham later entered into a treaty to clarify water rights in the Negev Desert at Beersheba (Gn 21:22-34).
2. King of Gerar in Isaac's time. Isaac, too, passed off his wife, Rebekah, as his sister at Gerar. Abimelech, perhaps remembering the near judgment on his predecessor, acted decisively to protect Rebekah's integrity. He proclaimed a death penalty on any who touched her or her husband (Gn 26:1-11). Abimelech asked Isaac to leave Philistine territory because of overcrowding and continuing dispute over water (Gn 26:12-22). Eventually, at Beersheba, Isaac and Abimelech ended their hostility by renewing the treaty made by Abraham and the earlier Abimelech (Gn 26:26-33).
3. Gideon's son by a concubine in Shechem (Jgs 8:31). After his father's death, Abimelech conspired with his mother's family to assassinate his 70 half brothers. Only one of them, Jotham, escaped (Jgs 9:1-5). In Abimelech's third year of rule, he cruelly suppressed a rebellion (Jgs 9:22-49). Eventually his skull was crushed by a millstone thrown down by a woman on a tower. Abimelech ordered his armor bearer to kill him with a sword so that no one could say he had been killed by a woman (Jgs 9:53-57).
4. Achish, king of the Philistine city of Gath (Ps 34:title; 1Sam 21:10-15).
5. Abiathar's son, a priest associated with Zadok in David's time (1Chr 18:16).

ABINADAB

1. Resident of Kiriath-jearim to whose home the Ark of God was brought on its return by the Philistines (1Sam 6:21-7:2).
2. Jesse's second son, and brother of David (1Sam 16:8; 17:13; 1Chr 2:13). This Abinadab served in Saul's army for part of the Philistine war.
3. One of Saul's sons (1Chr 8:33; 10:2).
4. KJV form of Ben-abinadab, one of King Solomon's administrative officers in 1Ki 4:11. See Ben-abinadab.

ABINOAM

Barak's father. Barak was the companion of Deborah, an Israelite judge, in the war against the Canaanites (Jgs 4:6, 12; 5:1, 12).

ABIRAM

1. One of Eliab's two sons. Abiram and his brother Dathan joined in an uprising against Moses and Aaron. At Moses' word, the ground split open beneath the two rebellious brothers and everything associated with them was swallowed up in a massive earthquake (Nm 16:1-33).
2. Hiel's oldest son, who died prematurely when his father presumptuously rebuilt Jericho (1Ki 16:34). Joshua's prophetic curse was thereby fulfilled (Jos 6:26).

ABISHAG

Beautiful young woman from Shunem who was appointed to care for David during his last days (1Ki 1:1-4). After David's death, Adonijah asked permission from his half brother King Solomon to marry Abishag. In the ancient Near East, to claim the concubine of a deceased king was to claim the throne. Enraged, Solomon ordered Adonijah to be killed (1Ki 2:13-25).

ABISHAI

David's nephew, son of Zeruiah (by an unnamed father) and brother of Joab and Asahel (1Chr 2:16). Abishai volunteered to accompany David to Saul's camp one night and would have killed the sleeping Saul if David had not restrained him (1Sam 26:6-12). He also helped Joab kill Abner, Saul's general, in revenge for the death of another brother (2Sam 3:30). Later Abishai won a victory over the Edomites (1Chr 18:12-13) and was second in command in a decisive battle against the Ammonites (1Chr 19:10-15). Often vengeful and cruel, Abishai wanted to behead the spiteful Shimei during Absalom's rebellion, but again David intervened (2Sam 16:5-12; 19:21-23). When King David fled beyond the Jordan, Abishai was given command of one of David's three divisions that crushed the rebellion (2Sam 18:1-15).

In a later battle with the Philistines, Abishai saved David's life by killing the giant Ishbi-benob (2Sam 21:15-17). He ranked among David's bravest warriors (2Sam 23:18-19; 1Chr 11:20-21).

ABISHUA

1. Aaron's great-grandson, son of Phinehas and ancestor of Ezra (1Chr 6:4-5,50; Ezr 7:5). Abishua's name also appears in the apocryphal genealogy of Ezra (1Esd 8:2; 2Esd 1:2).
2. Bela's son, and grandson of Benjamin (1Chr 8:4).

ABISHUR

Shammai's son and the father of Ahban and Molid from Judah's tribe. Abishur's wife was Abihail (1Chr 2:28-29).

ABITAL

Mother of King David's fifth son, Shephatiah (2Sam 3:4; 1Chr 3:3).

ABITUB

Son of Shaharaim and Hushim from Benjamin's tribe (1Chr 8:11).

ABIUD

Individual listed in Matthew's genealogy of Christ in the NT as Eliakim's father (Mt 1:13).

ABNER

Ner's son and Saul's cousin. Abner was commander of Saul's army (1Sam 14:50; 17:55). Highly respected by Saul, he even ate at the king's table together with David and Jonathan (1Sam 20:25).

Five years after Saul's death, Abner made Ishbosheth, Saul's son, king over Israel (2Sam 2:8-9). War between Ishbosheth and David, who then was king over Judah, lasted for two years. Abner was in command of Ish-bosheth's army, Joab of David's, in a series of skirmishes. David's position was generally stronger, but Abner became a powerful figure among Saul's followers.

Although only the king had a right to sexual relationships with the previous king's concubines, Abner slept with Saul's concubine Rizpah, perhaps planning to take over the kingdom himself at the first opportunity. When Ishbosheth rebuked him, Abner became so angry that he broke with Ishbosheth and came to terms with David. David showed him great respect, and in return, Abner promised to bring the whole of Israel over to David. Joab, however, feared Abner's influence with the king and killed him, claiming revenge for the death of his brother at Abner's hand in battle. Abner was honored with a public funeral and mourning, an honor given only to a ruler or great leader. King David wept aloud at the tomb, and even the people wept with him (2Sam 3:7-34). David condemned Joab for murdering Abner.

See also David.