Aba
T}.
.V«(Jif (fiiiiUf II,
Iv.
xxvl.
and
p. ICT: Isaac
Halevy,
/>>ri)«
ha-
1S8. LMl-L'U. I'reshuiv. IWC; Ilai)op<irt, IJihkun- Uit-'llliin.. ai .( w<(. ; Kiirst, Liltniliiihlall il. Ori<ii(*. xll. :ii:!: SMns<liiii>liliT. Cut. /*"». N". ««'; Ji'lliiirk, Isuiiliiii /i(i-.U(i(;i;i</. p. -II. Vienna. l.'<7.'<; !-. Mi'mlilsiilin, In JiiiiY", .x.x.vli. .Vi iL'. Kf r. j^
Uinhcitim. pp.
M.
q
AHA B. SHILA TEMARTA
.V
OF KEFAR
lia^'^'adist
of
TAMBATA
tin- .scnjiul
or iimoniic
('oininciiliiiL: (in Estli. (.tiilmy). writtiii iu tlif bonk of llii' chioiiick'S before the king.'" be is lepoiteil to liave poiuteil out therein a le.s.sou of encoiimgcnient to the God(lliiul
j;iiiiiiitiiiii ii. 'i'S,
"Ami
fearing.
it
was
If the ehronieles written
by mortals assure
rewards for good deeds, how iniuh more ought we to be assured that the i)ious will be duly rewarded, wlien the Holy One blessed be He! shall jiroduee His book, coneerning whieh it is .said (.Mai. iii. l(i). "And the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book
—
—
of remembranee to
ii.
'iA:
was written before him" (Esther
eonijiare
AHA
Meg.
S.
16/()-
TA^LIFA
H.
>I.
Babylonian amora of the B. fourth and lillh ({iiluries; disciple of Haba. friend of Aha b. Ika, and .senior colleague of Habina II. S. M. (Sanh. '24/(. 'Er. (Yi<i, Git. 73</). B. 'TJLLA: liabylonian ainora. who flourished'in the fourth century; disciple of llisda (Sliab. 544, 60" ). lie emigrated to Palestine, where R. .lonah gave him tithes, saying, "Xot because Aha is of priestly descent, but because he is assiduous in the study of the Torah," (luoting II Cliron. ...i. 4 in support of this action. Aha himself represents King David as faithfully discharging the duty of tithegiving, quoting Ps. .. 9. implying that David took care that nothing which was not duly tithed should enter his body. The enforcement of this resolution was. according to Aha. David's object in ajiixiinting .lonathan, son of U/ziah, "over the store houses in the fields, in the cities, and in the villages, and in the castles" (I Chron. xxvii. 2.5; Pesik. §9,986; Tan.,
AHA
Reeh 14). For another Aha b. Amor." iii. 6'yl ft xtq.
AHA
B.
ZEIRA.
'Ulla, see Bacber,
See Aii. .ii
"Ag. Pal. S. M.
(.ii.v.ii)
n.
ZKrii-.
AHAB, — Biblical
rael, S7.')-.S53
n.c.
280
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
Shila b. Zeira
Ahabah
Data: King of northern IsHe was the .son and successor
of Omri. the founder of Samaria, and the tirst king of the Ten Tribes who was alih' to maintain a strong and stable government. Ahab inherited his father's military virtues and defended his country a,!rainst the powerful Arameau (Syrian) kingdom of DamasThough often hard jiressed by the Syrian.s, he cus. defeated them in .several battles and forced them to concede trading privileges in the great cmiiorium of Damascus (8.>i B.C.), It was toward the end of his reign that his foreign relations became most trying. At this period, when hard pressed by Damascus, he lost the suzerainty over .Moal), with the possession of valuable territory in the northern portion of that kingdom, all of which had been ac(|uired by Omri. This expulsion of Israel is recorded by Mesii.v. the contemporary king of Moab, on the famous Mo.uITE Stone now in the I.ouvrc in Paris. Ahab was the first king of Israel who came into conflict with Assyria, and he is also the first whose name is recorded on the Assyrian monuments (see Schrader, " K. A. T.). It w-as in 8.'>4 n.c. that a combination was formed by eleven of the princes of the Jlediteiranean coastland against Shalmancser II., who made sevend invasions into the west country during his long and warlike career. In this alliance the king of Israel found himself for once lighting by the side of the king of Damascus (Benhadad II.). Shalmancser, who tells of the affair iu three
distinct inscriptions, gives a list of the kings in the Belongest account (on his monolith inscription). sides Israel and Damascus, it is stated that Hamath, Amnion, and .Vrabia .sent contingents. Ahab jmt The 2,011(1 chariots and 10,000 .soldiers into the field. confederacy was soondi,ssolvcd by the battle of Karkar, where the Assyrians were victorious, though Shalmaneser could not follow up his sviceess. The As-syiian invasions of the lands bordering on Palestine were repeated, but it was long before either northern or southern Israel was directly attacked. In the next year (H'Vi n.c.) the war with Damascus was renewed. .hab secured the help of .leboshajihiit. king of .ludah. and the two kings fought side by side at Uanioth in Gilead. In this battle .Vhab disguised liimself as a common soldier so as not to become a mark for the enemy, but an arrow, "shot at a venture," mortally wounded him, and be died at the close of the day. Besides the aliove mentioned wars, certain events
of great importance marked the reign of Ahab, One of these was the establishment of close relations between the kingdoms of Israel and .ludah, a iiolicy which jiut an end to the rivalry that had existed between them since tli(! days of the great schism. Another was the encoum.irenient afforded by Ahab and his ipieen, .Iezebki., to the woi-ship of the Phe.lezebel was a daughter of Elhbaal, nician Baal. king of Tyre, and the family alliance thus cemented, w liile it was of ]iiilitieal and commercial advantage to Israel, resulted in great moral an<l religious injury through this idolatrous and sensual cult. A third noteworthy event was Ahab's cruel and o|>pressive dealing with X.both of Jezreel whose property the king wished to secure, and who, upon Ins refu.sid to sell it, was put to death by false accusation at the instigation of .lezebel. For thisoutra.sre uiioii the rights of a freeholder, the prophet Ei.i.t.Mi luedicted a violent death for .hal) an<l .lezeNoticebel and the destruction of their dynasty. able also is the increase of lu.xury in Israel, in consequence of foreign trade and the ambition of the king and nobles. .lial)"s palace of ivory (I Kings, xxii. 39»is an indication of the fashions of the time. Finally there was inaugurated in the reign of Ahab the regime of the iireaching prophets, of whom Elijah was the first and greatest example (see 1 Kings, xvii.-xxii.). .1. F. >IcC.
In Rabbinical Literature: One of the three or four wicked kings of Israil singled out by tradition as being excluded from the future world of bliss (Sanh. X. 2: Toscf. Sanh, xii, 11). Midrash Konen places him in the fi fth department of Gehenna, as having the heathen under his charge. Though held up as a warning to sinners, .Vhab is also described as displaying noble traits of character (Sanh. lOiA; Yer. Sanh. xi. 29//). Talmudic literature represents him as an enthusiastic idolater who left no hilltop in Palestine without an idol before which he bowed, and to whieh he or his wife, .lezebel, brought his weight in gold as a daily offering. So defiant in his aposta.sy was he that he had inscribed on all the doors of the city of Samaria the words, "Ahab hath abjured the living God of Israel." Xevcrtheless, he iiai(I great respect to the representatives of learning," to the Torah ,
given in twenty-two letters, " for which rea.son he was permitted to rei.gn for twenty-two successive years. He generously supported the students of the Law out of his royal treasury, in conseqtience of which half his sins were forgiven him. type of worldliness (Ber. 01//), the C'riesus of his time, he was, according to ancient tradition (Meg. 11"). nder over the whole world. Two hundred and thirty subject
A
