Abil)ail
Tin: .IKWISH
Abilene Jtuliili Katzi'iu'llt'iihogpii,
and subsequently became
his assistant in the nibbinical collejic of Venice. lie participated in the controversy on the inikireh (ritual
bath) of RoviiTo. on wliieli sevend books were publislied ("Millianiot Adonai." Venice, Kitll). ancl his name is nientioncd with resiiect even by his op])oHis ilisciple. .lacol) ben Kllianan lliilprin. uenls. author of the resjionsu " Naldat Va'al^ob," I'adna. 1()23, testilies to the Id.irh standinj: of Abiirdor in His eulojry was the rabbinical world of his afre. pronounced by Leon Modena in " Midliar Yehudah." No. 71, where a copy of the inscription on his tondisi one is also to be found. UiiiLiOGRAPIiv: Michael, Or ha-Hitin/im, No. l.>. P.
ABIHAIIi ("Father is Mijrht ") 1. The father of Zuriil, 11 Levite of the faniilvof Meiari (Xuni. iii. 3.1). 2. Wife of Abisluir (I (iiroM. ii, •->!)). 3. Son of Huri. a Oadlle resilient in Gileadd Chiiin. v. 14). 4. Wife of Heholioam and daughter of Eliab. the brotherof r)avid(II Chron. .i. IS). 5. The fatherof Esther (Estli. ii. 15, i.. 2!)). In the two last-named passages the Septuagint reading gives Aminailab. G. B. L.
ABIHU
60
bond connecting them with mortal needs and passions" ("De Allegoriis Legnm,"ii. ed. Cohn and Wendland. p. KM). The reference lo nakedness is made clear by a Midmsh, which remarks that the Iran.sgression of the sons fif Aaron lay in the fact 1."),
that they iierforined their duties D'nj3 'IDinO without the prescribrd apparel of the jiriests, wliieh lliey forgot in their ecstasy. They were not necessarily naked, however, as Philo has it. Aceording to auothi'r view, the sons of Aaron were killed by lire from God: their bodies and clothes were not consumed, the marvelous fire taking only their breath fniin them (Sifra, /,'•., ed. Weiss, p. 4.Vi; Sanh. .")2(/). Eliezer b. Ilyreanus an<l Akiba find them blameworthy only in so far that thi'V ventuieil u]>on so impi>rtaut an act without consulting Moses. 1{. Ishmael holds Ihe view that they diil not bring Iheir sacrifice at the right time (Sifra. I.r.. ed. Weiss,
and Ahre, beginning: Yoma,
">;!(/; 'Er. Cti:). latter ex)danalion made its way into the Pcshito, which adds to "strange fire" (mt L"XI the words "not at the right time." Originally, ilie addition was, of course, an explanatory gloss, which
ial),
The
course of lime came to be embodied in the text. Following the rend of 1{. Elie/.er's ideas, the later Haggadah allaehes blame lo Ihe sons of Aaron because of their too great self-esteem. They remained unmarried, because they did not regard any woman as good enough for them. They even considered themselves more important than ]Ioses and Aaron, and secretly longed for the time when they should stand at the head of the iieo|ilc' (Pesik., ed. liiiber. Tan., ed. Buber, I.e., where Ihe jiarpp. 172/; <7,v<7. in
I
Father "). —Biblical Data : 1 le is mentioned in Ex. xxiv. 1. 9. where he and his brother are clas.sed with Moses and Aaron as the leaders or chiefs of the "elders" of Israel, who go up into the mount to cat the covenant meal with •
(
I
le is
Yinvii. In other passages Abihu is designated as the second son of Aaron and Elisheba (Ex. vi. 23). and with his father and brothers is consecrated to the priest liood (Ex. xxviii. 1). With Xadab he is put to death for olTering strange fire to YIIWII (Lev. x. 1 Niun. iii. 60, "(il). Elsewhere iu the Old Testament 2. 4, xxvi. he is only mentioned in I C'liron. vi. 8 and II Chron. xxiv. 1,2. G. A. B. In Rabbinical Literature The haggadic representation of the death of N:idali and .liiliii (Lev.
X. 1-U) is wholly an idealizatiun of the Biblical narrative. Despite the fact that the latter ascribes the deatli of the sons of Aaron to an ollcnse committed by them, an old ^lidrash apjilies the verse in Ecclesiastes (vii. l.'i), "There is a righteous man that perishetli in his righteousness." to Nadab and .bihu, wlio. it is .said, lirought an incense-olTering into the sjuictnary in order to honor God. anil while doing so
were consumed
^OTU; so In accordance with this, the Midrash ])laces the limeof the offering of Nadab and Abihu Vwfore the fall of the heavenly lire, and indeed to bring down the tire was the very purpose that Nadab and Aliihu had in mind (Sifra. Shemini Milluim, ed. Weiss. p.44/<; somewhat different V Ephraem Svrus; compare Gerson, in ".Monatssehrift," 1S6.S, xvii', 1U2). The words in Lev. x. 2, "they died before God," are used because the death of the children of pious parents during their lifetime affects God clo.sely (Lev. R. XX. 111). Moreover, since the death of the pious has an exjiiatory effect (/.'•.), the Hiblieal account of theirileath is read on the Day of Atoni'inent. In order that the death of Nadab and Abihu may not appear entirely unjustifiable, the Haggadah seeks lo reconcile God's justice with Die blamelessness of pious men (Tan.. Ahre, 6. ed. Buber, 7): they died in an attempt to i>ut off cori«)reality. Philo testifies to the great age of this Haggadah when, in his customary allegorization of Biblical material, he says: "Nadab and Abihu. who approached God and gave up mortal life in order to receive inunortality. were naked; that is, they broke every al.so
ENCYCLOPEDIA
Jerome,
liy tire
in his
I
(Valk. on Eecl.
commentary
nrl hie.).
/.c.
allels are
given in notes).
The enileaxor of Ihe old Haggadah lo interpret the fault of the sons of Aaron as a trivial offense had. however, an effect conti-ary to that antici])ated. When, at a subseiiuent iieriod, the varying opinions were all accepted as coriecl. the sons of Aaron, instead of being rejiresented as models of virtue, came to be invested with many miseliievous traits (see Pesik. and Tan. I.e. especially Ihe opinions of Levi and Bar Kappara. whicii are shared by the Cliureh father Ejihraem Svrus. as shown in " Monatssehrift," I.e.). I,. G.
'
Critical View Tlir death of Nadab and Abihu lirobably re]iresents the memory of some calamity to a porlion of the priesthood, which, in the contest for the establishment of the Levitical law, was a warning to all who might violate that law. G. A. B.
ABIHUD i" Father Benjamin, mentioned Chron. viii. 3.
is
in
- Majesty "): A grandson of
the genealogical list of I G. B. L.
ABIJAHorABIAH(uiicontracted,
=
ABIYAHTJ
".My f.illur is VllWlt"): Name of several Old Testament personages, of whom the following are the most notable: 1. Biblical Data: Son of Samuel, who,withhis ehh'r brother. loci, judged Israel in Beersheba. Their inellleienev and venality wi're Ihe ostensible reasons that induced the elders of Israel to jietition Samuel to ai)point a king over them (I Sam. iii. 1-")).
—
J.
In Rabbinical Literature
F.
McC.
Some
rabbis endeavor to exculpate Abiali and his brother in (lart from the charges against them referred to in I Sam. viii. 2. 3. By Akit)a and his discijdes it is maintained that the offense of the .sons of Samuel consisted in the inconsiderate and proud manner with
which they appropriated what was theirs by right, or in exacting more than was their due. Others go
