of the Jews, and the seventh of their civil year. Exod. xiii. 4; xxiii. 15; Deut. xvi. 1. It began, some critics say, with the new moon of our March; others say, with the new moon of our April. The name was changed, after the captivity, into Nisan. ABIDA, â-bľ ́-dâ, son of Midian, and grandson of Abraham, Gen. xxv. 4.

ABIDAN, ab ́-è-dân, son of Gideoni, of the tribe of Benjamin, and prince of that tribe when the tabernacle was erected in the wilderness, Numb. i. 11. His offering was similar to that of the chiefs of the other tribes, Numb. vii. 60.

ABIEL, à ́-bè-èl, father of Kish and Ner, and grandfather of king Saul, 1 Sam. ix. 1; also the son of Zeror, 1 Sam. ix. 1, called Abialbon in 2 Sam. xxiii. 31, a gallant warrior in David's army. 1 Chron. xi. 32. ABIEZER, â-bè-è'-zûr, the grandson of Manasseh, and founder of the family who took from him the name of Abiezrites, and to whom Gideon belonged, Judg. vi. 11, 34. Also one of the thirty gallant men of David's army, 2 Sam. xxiii. 27; 1 Chron. xi. 28. ABI-GABEON, â-bè-gâb ́-è-ủn, father of Abdon and Kish, ancestor of Saul, and the husband of Maachah, 1 Chron. viii. 29.

ABIGAIL, áb ́-è-gal, sister of David, and mother of Amasa, 1 Chron. ii. 15-17.

ABIGAIL, ab ́-è-gal, the wife of an avaricious, petulant, and arrogant individual of great wealth named Nabal, whose residence was at Carmel-not the Carmel on the Mediterranean, but a place so called in the territory of Judah not far from Hebron. When David was in the wilderness of Maon, keenly pursued by Saul, and reduced to great distress, he sent messengers to Nabal, requesting in the most courteous terms that he would supply him with provisions. Mr. Matthew Henry, in his well-known Exposition of the Books of the Old Testament, thus explains David's message in the modern way-"Tell Nabal, I sent you to present my service to him, and to inquire how he does and his family?" But he afterwards censures David for what he considers his too great condescension. "David, methinks," continues Mr. Henry, "passed too high a compliment upon Nabal when he called him 'the man that liveth.' David knew better things-that in God's favour is life, not in the world's smiles." Nabal returned a rude insulting answer, from which it appears that he was a supporter of Saul's party-"Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse?" Mr. Henry's remark on this contemptuous reply is as freely expressed:"By Nabal's rough answer David was well enough served for the too smooth address to such a muckworm." It appears also that Nabal's conduct was not more civil towards the messengers, whom he accused of being a set of idle banditti, who had come to prey upon his substance. When David was informed of Nabal's irritating refusal, he declared that he would exterminate him and all his house, and ordered four hundred men to arm themselves for that purpose. This resolution was communicated to

Abigail, a woman of great beauty and address, who immediately proceeded to David's camp with an ample supply of provisions, and succeeded by her mild and prudent conduct in calming his resentment against her husband. David was so pleased with Abigail, that after the death of Nabal, which occurred shortly afterwards, he sent messengers to her, informing her that he intended to make her his wife. She at first excused herself on the ground that it was too great an honour, but she afterwards consented, and David married her the year that Samuel died. The author of the French work entitled "Histoire du Peuple de Dieu," concludes a very eccentric account of this affair, which he gives with all the ease of a modern story, in this manner-"She caused five maidens who had been long in her service to attend her, then mounting her ass, she arrived soon after David's envoys in the desert of Paran. The nuptials were there celebrated with less magnificence than suited the dignity of the husband, but with an abundance of celestial blessings infinitely preferable to the transient pomp of kings."

ABIHAIL, âb-è-håle', son of Huri, and father of Michael and other sons, 1 Chron. v. 13, 14; also father of Zuriel, of the family of Merari, Numb. iii. 35; also daughter of Eliab, David's brother, and the wife of Rehoboam, king of Judah, 2 Chron. xi. 18; also the father of Esther, and uncle of Mordecai, Esther iii. 15.

ABIHU, â-bi'-hù, the brother of Nadab, both sons of Aaron, who were privileged to accompany their father to Mount Sinai, and to behold the glory of Jehovah. What they then witnessed appears to have had little influence on either of them, as they were both shortly afterwards killed in a remarkable manner for putting strange fire into their censers instead of the sacred fire commanded to be used. They were struck dead in the tabernacle, and their bodies were ordered to be and honourably interred. Aaron and his two surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, were expressly forbidden to join in the lamentation which this awful catastrophe occasioned. Lev. x. 1–7.

carried out of the camp,

ABIJAH, â-b-ja, a descendant of Aaron through Eleazar. He was chief of one of the twenty-four companies of priests distributed into classes by David, 1 Chron. xxiv. 10. He was also called Abia, Luke i. 5.

ABIJAH, a-bl ́-ja, the son of Jeroboam, the first king of the ten tribes. This young prince, having been seized with a dangerous disease, his mother disguised herself, and sought out the prophet Ahijah, to inquire if he would recover. The prophet plainly told her that he would die, and that he would be the only descendant of Jeroboam who would receive funeral honours, and be lamented by the Israelites. 1 Kings xiv. 1—18.

ABIJAH, â-bl ́-ja, or ABIJAM, the son of Rehoboam, and his successor in the limited kingdom of Judah, after the revolt of the ten tribes. He began

to reign B. c. 958. We are told that, during his short reign of three years, he followed the idolatrous practices of his father, on whom the dismemberment of the kingdom left him by Solomon seems to have had little effect. Abijah, prosecuting his father's quarrel with Jeroboam, whom he denounced as an ungrateful rebel, assembled an army of 400,000 men, and marching into the kingdom of the ten tribes, encamped on the hill on which Samaria was afterwards built. Jeroboam took the field against him with 800,000 men, collected from all parts of the ten cantonments. Abijah selected a prominent position, and addressed Jeroboam's army, in the hope that the sight of him might revive their loyalty to the house of David, and induce them to return to the worship of the true God; but while he was speaking to those within reach of his voice, Jeroboam ordered a part of his troops to defile behind the surrounding eminences, and enclose the army of Judah, inferior to his own in numbers by one half. Abijah perceived the successful manœuvre when it was too late, and immediately implored the Divine assistance. The priests sounded the holy trumpets, and the troops of Jeroboam became suddenly panic-struck and powerless. In this condition they were attacked by Abijah's army with so much fury that 500,000 men fell in this disastrous assault. The king of Judah, in addition to this victory, took several cities from Jeroboam, who sustained in this campaign a most severe discomfiture accompanied by a grievous loss. Abijah is reproached for not destroying, when it was in his power to do so, the idolatrous altar which Jeroboam had erected at Bethel, and for neglecting to suppress the worship of the golden calf in that city. He was buried at Jerusalem in the sepulchres of the kings of Judah. 2 Chron. xiii. 1–22; 1 | Kings xv. 1-8.

The chief point to which it is necessary to draw the reader's attention in the short reign of Abijah is the extraordinary army, in point of numbers, which both he and Jeroboam are said to have collected, the one taking the field with 400,000, and the other with no fewer than 800,000 men. It is to be observed, that many MSS. and printed Bibles reduce the numbers of the contending armies to 40,000 and 80,000—which is certainly a more probable estimate; but the rendering in our version is supported by the Septuagint, Josephus, and some of the best Latin Bibles, both published and manuscripts. Yet the opposing statements are easily reconciled by a reference to the vast numbers which generally composed the oriental armies; and there is every reason to conclude that the estimate which reduces the armies of Abijah and Jeroboam to 40,000 and 80,000 does not refer to the gross number which both armies mustered, but only to the soldiers or actual fighting men. The kingdoms of Judah and Israel were certainly small states; they were, however, extremely populous, and it would be easy to show that the composition of Asiatic armies is such as to render

credible those numbers which express their gross amount, while no accurate inference respecting the entire population can be drawn from the numbers stated as composing its armies. Of this fact the Baron du Tott gives us an instance in the case of the khan of the Crimea. "It may be presumed," says the baron, "that the rustic frugal life which these pastoral people lead favours population, while the wants and excesses of luxury among polished nations strike at its very root. In fact, it is observed, that the people are less numerous under the roofs of the Crimea and the province of Boodjak, than in the tents of the Noguais. The best calculation we can make is from a view of the military forces which the khan is able to assemble. We shall soon see this prince raising three armies at the same time—one of a hundred thousand men, which he commanded in person, another of sixty thousand men, commanded by the calga, and a third of forty thousand by the nooradin. He had the power of raising double the number without prejudice to the necessary labours of the state." But Volney's description of an Asiatic army is still more conclusive. "The Asiatic armies,' "he tells us, are mobs, their marches are ravages, their campaigns are mere inroads, and their battles are bloody frays. The strongest or the most adventurous party goes in search of the other, which not unfrequently flies without offering resistance. If they stand their ground, they engage pell-mell, discharge their carbines, break their spears, and hack each other with their sabres; for they rarely have any cannon, and, when they have, they are but of little service. A panic frequently diffuses itself without cause; one party flies, the other pursues, and shouts victory: the vanquished submits to the will of the conquerors, and the campaign often terminates without a battle."

ABILENE, áb-è-lè ́-nè, a small province round the town of Abila, 13 miles north-west of Damascus. The town is now represented by a modern village, and some interesting remains are near. Lysanias was tetrarch of this province in the reign of Tiberius, Luke iii, 1. ABIMAEL, 4-bim ́-a-él, a son of Joktan, Gen. x. 28.

ABIMELECH, â-bim'-è-lék, a king of Gerar, a district of the country of the Philistines, who was contemporary with Abraham. It is conjectured that Abimelech was a royal title of those primitive kings of Gerar, since we find the king called by the same name in the time of Isaac, and his general was designated Phicol when both father and son were in the country. The patriarch and his family being in the country, Sarah, though ninety years of age, so much attracted his notice, that he carried her off and resolved to marry her. Abraham might have prevented this transaction, if he had honestly declared himself the husband of Sarah ; but a kind of timidity influenced him, fearful that he would be murdered, and he gave out that she was his sister, persuading her at the same time to encourage the dissimulation.

His

In this he was to a certain extent stating the truth, as Sarah was indeed his sister, though by a different mother, and not, as Josephus alleges, his brother's daughter. Abimelech, believing the statement literally, was thus deceived; but he received a Divine warning of the real condition of the parties, and immediately restored Sarah to her husband. whole conduct throughout the transaction is highly honourable to him. He reproached Abraham for the danger into which his partial representation of his relationship to Sarah had almost brought him, and assured him that what he himself had done was done in the innocency and integrity of his heart. He subsequently behaved with the utmost kindness and hospitality to the patriarch, bestowed upon him some valuable presents, and told him that he was at liberty to dwell where he thought proper throughout his dominions.

This is the substance of what Moses tells us of this Abimelech, Gen. xx. The rabbins and the fathers have indulged in many fanciful and indelicate chimeras in reference to the punishment which was to be inflicted, or was inflicted, on Abimelech and his household during the time he detained Sarahı. It is evident from the whole tenor of the narrative that he and his people were at this period worshippers of the true God, and followed the same religious rites as the patriarch and his family. Josephus informs us that after Sarah was restored, Abimelech and Abraham made a covenant together-a circumstance which is not mentioned by Moses. There was indeed a covenant made between them, but it was some years afterwards, at Beersheba, Gen. xxi. 22-32. Josephus dates this covenant before Isaac's birth, whereas Moses informs us that it was not till after the expulsion of Ishmael from the patriarch's family, and this was after Isaac was weaned. These discrepancies of Josephus, who, though professing the Jewish religion, and who ostensibly believed the divine authenticity of the Old Testament writings, have provoked some severe censures against him, which are justly merited. "I declare this once for all," says Beza, "which can never be proved to be false, that if Josephus be true in a great many places, Moses and all the sacred writers have told a great many untruths. But let us rather esteem these as the true interpreters of God himself, and Josephus not only as very ignorant in religious matters, but as a careless and profane writer."

ABIMELECH, â-bim'-è-lêk, the king of Gerar in the time of Isaac. He was the successor and probably the son, of the preceding, as upwards of ninety years had elapsed between the transaction in reference to Sarah and that of Rebekah. Isaac was driven by famine into Gerar. It is likely, as he had heard of the kindness of the former Abimelech to his father, that he would make himself known to his successor; and as he was jealous of the effect of Rebekah's beauty, and alarmed for his own safety, he employed Abraham's artifice, and induced her to pass for his

sister. Abimelech believed this dissimulating assertion, which had not the basis of truth on which the statement of Abraham was founded, and he probably would have attempted to secure the fair Hebrew for his harem, but he discovered, in a particular manner, their real relationship, and sending for Isaac, he reproved him for his dissimulation, pointing out the consequences which might have ensued. This prince, like his predecessor, appears in a very amiable light, and he prohibited all his subjects, under the penalty of death, from doing any injury to Isaac and Rebekahı, The growing prosperity of the patriarch, however, lost him the king's friendship, and he was very unceremoniously ordered to leave the country. He obeyed; but as his affairs still flourished, notwithstanding the molestations he experienced from the Philistines in several places on account of some wells dug by his servants, Abimelech again desired to make a treaty with him, to which the patriarch consented. The conduct of Abimelech and his people, in reference to Isaac and Rebekah, intimates that the Philistines at this period held marriage in the utmost veneration, although, as in the case of Dinahı, Jacob's daughter, unmarried women appear to have been thought the transient property of any man who happened to address them, Gen. xxvi. 1-33.

ABIMELECH, â-bim ́-è-lék, a son of Gideon by a concubine whose name, according to Josephus, was Druma, Judg. viii. 30, 31. After the death of his father he went to Shechem, the native place of his mother; and his relations, to aid his ambitious views of royalty, gave him a sum of money, which enabled him to hire a band of desperate and unprincipled adventurers, and to put himself at their head. Attended by them he returned to his father's residence, where he put to death seventy of Gideon's legitimate sons by several wives. His design was to cut off all Gideon's descendants, that he might encounter no rival opposition to his schemes; but Jotham, the youngest son, contrived to conceal himself, and escaped. Abimelech now usurped sovereign power, and conducted himself in the most tyrannical manner. Some time afterwards Jotham, having heard that the Shechemites were assembled near Mount Gerizim, proceeded thither, and addressed them from an elevated part of the mountain. In his speech he reproached them for their ingratitude, employing for that purpose the parable of the trees-one of the most ancient allegories on record-who, being desirous to elect a king to rule over them, applied to the olive-tree, the fig-tree, and the vine for that purpose, but these indignantly refused, and at length they spoke to the bramble, which accepted the offer, and consented to cover them with its shade. The Shechemites heard this speech in deep silence, and Jotham concluded it by wishing that, if God did not sanction their choice, a fire might go out from heaven and devour Abimelech; while Abimelech retaliated by wishing that a fire might devour the inhabitants of Shechem and the house of Millo.

This prayer for vengeance on the Shechemites was remarkably fulfilled by Abimelech himself three years afterwards. The Shechemites, weary of his cruelties, and bitterly repenting the murder of Gideon's sons, expelled him from their city, and placed themselves under the protection of a chief named Gaal, to be secure from his resentments. Nevertheless Abimelech, at the head of a band of followers, marched against Gaal, defeated his army, put all the inhabitants of Shechem to the sword, and completely destroyed the city, sowing the ground on which it stood with salt. He also burnt a tower belonging to the Shechemites, and the temple of their idol Berith, in which upwards of a thousand persons of both sexes were consumed. He next invested a city named Thebez; but when about to set fire to a tower in which a number of people had taken refuge, a woman threw a piece of millstone at him, which mortally wounded him in the head. To avoid the reproach of having fallen by a woman, which, in ancient times, and especially in the oriental countries, was reckoned a most disgraceful and humiliating death, he ordered his armour-bearer to thrust his sword through him, and he immediately expired, Judg. ix.

The reflections of Matthew Henry on the character and career of this ruthless individual are eccentric and curious. "Of this meteor," he says, "this ignis fatuus of a prince, who was not a protector, but a plague to his country, we may say as was once said of a great tyrant, that he came in like a fox, ruled like a lion, and died like a dog. We are here (in the book of Judges) told by what arts Abimelech got into the saddle, and made himself great. None would have dreamt of making such a fellow as him king, if he had not dreamt of it himself, and see how he wheedled them into the choice. How unfit was he to reign over Israel, because unlikely to defend them, who, instead of restraining and punishing idolatry, thus early made himself a pensioner to idols!" Our plain-speaking annotator next describes Abimelech's followers. "What soldiers," he asks, "did he enlist? He hired into his service vain and light persons, the scum and scoundrels of the country-men of broken fortunes, giddy heads, and profligate lives. None but such would own him, and they were the fittest to serve his purpose. Like leaders, like followers." He then pays a handsome and polite compliment to Jotham, whose speech, he assures us, "shows him to be a man of such ingenuity and wisdom, and really such an accomplished gentleman, that we cannot but the more lament the fall of Gideon's sons."

Mr. Henry's observations on the conduct of the Shechemites are no less eccentric. "The Shrechemites," he says, "who set Abimelech up, were the first that deserted him, and endeavoured to kick him off. The Shechemites did eat, and drink, and curse Abimelech, and not only said all the ill they could of him in their table talk and in the songs of their drunkards, but wished all the ill they could of him. They drank healths to his confusion, and with as

loud huzzas as ever they had drank these to his prosperity. Well! Gaal's interest in Shechem is soon at an end, and he who had talked of removing Abimelech is himself removed, nor do we ever hear of him any more. Exit Gaal!" "Three circumstances," he continues, "are observable in the death of Abimelech-1. That he was slain with a stone, as he had slain his brethren, all upon one stone: 2. That he had his skull broken-vengeance aimed at that guilty head which had worn the usurped crown: 3. That the stone was cast upon him by a woman. first his foolish pride in laying so much to heart this little circumstance of his disgrace. There was no care about his precious soul; no prayer to God for his mercy; but very solicitous he is to patch up his shattered credit, when there is no patching his shattered skull!"

See

ABINADAB, â-bin'-A-dáb, the son of Jesse and brother of David, 1 Chron. ii. 13; 1 Sam. xvi. 8; also a son of Saul, slain at the battle of Gilboa, 1 Sam. xxxi. 2; also a Levite of Kirjathjearim, 1 Sam. vii. 1; also one of the household officers of Solomon, 1 Kings iv. 11.

ABINOAM, 4-bin'-d-am, father of Barak, Judg. iv. 6.

ABIRAM, á-bl'-râm, the eldest son of Hiel, the Bethelite, 1 Kings xvi. 34; also a seditious Levite who confederated with Korah and Dathan against Moses and Aaron, and who shared their awful fate in the wilderness at the encampment of Kadesh-Barnea, Numb. xvi.

ABISHAG, ab ́-e-slag, a young and beautiful Shunammite virgin, who was chosen to attend and warm or "heat," as it is rendered in the Scriptures, King David in his old age. Josephus thus relates the incident :-"This king being oppressed with the weight of years, his body was so benumbed that, though ever so many bed-clothes were laid upon him, he could not get any warmth. His physicians were consulted, and they unanimously recommended that the most beautiful virgin in all the country should be sought for, and put into the king's bed to cherish and warm him." "The king," writes a modern author, "consented to the proposal, first observing the several precautions which his prudence and religion suggested. All Israel was searched for a proper person, and the choice fell on a Shunammite, Abishag by name, a young, beautiful, and virtuous woman. He made her his wife, and she was with him both night and day; but though he had married her, they always lived together in a state of continence. Thus assisted, the infirm monarch continued to live; but was not capable to act in person, nor even went out of the palace." Mr. Henry gives us his opinion on the affair:-"They ordered him (David) a young bed-fellow. A foolish project it was to prescribe nuptials to one that should have been preparing for his funeral; but they knew what would gratify their own corruptions, and perhaps were too willing to gratify him under colour of consulting his health.