—
king and stipulating that, if he were elected, he set up a golden calf at Dan and Heth-El. Ahijah signed thisdiKunient, believing tirndy thatJerohoani «(ndil Herein hi' was mistaken in his not belie his trust. liupil. Jeriibiiani had shown great wisdom and learning, and api)eared to Ahijali "as i)ure as the new garment " he wore when Ahijah sjiw him coming Moreover, as ovit of Jerusidem (I Kings, xi. 29). he exeelled all the rest of the Jiupils, he had been initiated liy Ahijah into the innermost secrets of the .lust as the words said of Ijiw (..Sanli. U)lh cl i«(/.). Isjiac, "his eyes were dim, so that he could not see" (Gen. x.wii. 1), are tiikeii to refer to spiritual blindness, because he favored his wicked son Esau, so the words. " Ahijah could not see. for Iiis eyes were set by reason of his age" (I Kings, xiv. 4). imply spiritual l]lindn(S.s on the Jiart of Ahijah, who favored a jiupil and set him uji as rider (Gen. K. Ixv.). was. however, only .leroboani's son Ahijah, and his friends, who, starting the rebellion against Helioboam. followed Ahijah and called themselves " the children of Belial" (II Chron. xiii. 7), as if Ahijah were IMial. For this reason Ahijah was stricken with the plague (Gen. H. lxv.,Yer. Ycb. xvi. '>c and
wicked It
paridlels).
Maimonides, in his introduction to kah." says, rather inaccurately:
"
Yad ha-Haza-
l/>vlte. a dlsolple of Moses, one of those who tribe cit I.«'vl not belnft Included In the death In the wlhlerness [si'e It. li. l:iW<l, and al»p a dlsilpie of David ( Abnihain U-n David uf IVisiiuieres. in his niites, riirreit.s thi.s. and sa.vs Instead, "a nienilH-rot Davhl's court (if Jastlce"]; and llnally tie Iwame the teacher of Elijah before his death."
" Abljali wail a
went out
iif
EiOT'—'he
dlUlie decree
cit
K.
AHIJAH, AHIAH, AHIJAHU (in'nK. H'nN): Etymology of
the
name
uncertain.
1.
Youngest
son of .lendimeel or it is ])os,sible to take the name as that of his lirst wife; Atarah. the second, being 2. A Hen given in the next verse (I Chron. ii. 25). 3. I'riesI at Shiloh. janiite chief (I Chron. viii. 7). son of Ahituli. and gn'rtt -grandson of Kli; was with Suul at Gibeah in the battle with the Philistines (I Sam. xiv. 8. 18); he had charge of the Ark of the Lord. 4. The Pelonite. one of the "thirty " of David (I Chron. xi. 36). S. A L<'vili'. who "was over the treasures of the liou.se- of Go<l and over the treasures of the dedicated things" (I Chron. xxvi. 20). The text here is corrupt and the Septuagint reading, "the Levites their brethren." is jinfendile.
— Biblical Data
Son of Shisha. scribe for Solllisbriiiher Elihoreiih held a similar iiosition G. B. L. Kings, iv :ti
6.
omon, (I
Ahaziah
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
287
killed him,
Aljijfar
and reigned in his place (I Kings, xv. He was of the tribe of Issachar.
27, 33; xxi. 22).
One of the men who sealed the eovenant with Nehemiah (Neh. x. 26).
8.
G. B. L.
AHIJAH
A leader among the Babylonian .Tews of the second century, perhaps a re^/i i/nlnln (exilarch). He was the chief ally of Hananiah, the nephew of .loshua ben Hananiah, in his endeavor to emancipate the .Jews of Babylonia from the intellecThe followtual domination of those of Palestine. ing words of the mcs.sengers sent by the Palestinian jialriarch Simon ben Gamaliel from Palestine to Babylon, to dissuade the leaders there from their intention of introducing a calendar independent of that of Palestine, refer to this activity of Ahijah " If ye persist in your intention, seek for yourselves another hill, where Ahijah can build you another temple, where Hananiah can play the harp for you [he was of the Levites who were the musicians of the Temple], and confess openly that ye have no Since Ahijah more share in Israel 's God " (Ber. 63'/ figures here as the sjircastically proposed builder of an illegal tenijile, and Hananiah as the priest in the same, it would seem that the former was considered as representing political rather than spiritual power. Geiger's suggestion (" I'rschrift." p. ir)4), based upon Yer. Ned. vi. 40(/, and Y'er. Sanh. i. 19(/, where the name is read Neliunian, that this is a reference to Oiiias, the builder of the well known temple bearing his name, does not seein to be well founded (see ll.NA.M.ii, iK'phew of .Joshua). A. Kroclmial's
).
p. 8, Lemberg, 1881). that this Ahijah was the father of the celebrated tauua K. Nathan, also lacks foundation. BiBLiOGRAPliv: fieiper, L'rxchrift.pp. M rt i>rq.;GTiU,Ge»cli.
suggestion("Seholia,"
,1.
Juileii,
Iv.
MB,
4rfi;
Baeher. Au- Tan.
1.
3S0.
L. G.
AHIKAM
Son of Shaphan. the scribe, and He was sent by King.Iosiah to father of Gedaliah.
consult Hiildah. the propjietess. about the liook of Later, in the reign of .lehoiakim. he prothe Law. tected .Jeremiah from the handsof the enraged people (.Jer. xxvi. 24; II Chron. xxxiv. 20; II Kings, xxii. G. B. L. 12, 14, and xxv. 22).
ATTTT^ATt
Hero of a wide-spread
le.ccnd,
supposed author of a number of proverbs.
and His
variously distorted, but proliably wa.s originally np»nxni5'"'nX or li^'TlS A v"ii;"'C: com-
name has been
pare Ip', the .lews today
name of a tosjitist. which survivesamong the name Np'S. in the Babylonian Tal-
In Rabbinical Literature: Concerning the deaths of Ahiali and his brolher Elilioiepli. the two
mud, is probably an ablireviation of The earliest mention of Al.iikar is
Solomon, the Ilaggadah relates that Solomon once met the Angel of Death, who was very sad. Being asked for the nason of his sadness, the nngel replied that he had been commanded to lake the lives of his (Solomon's) two Klhiopians (Ahijah and his
Tobit (i. 21 <f *<-7.. ii. 10. xi. 18. xiv. lOcf*^.). According to these pas,sages. Al.iikar was a relative the texts vary as to the precise relationship— and friend of Tobi't. and at the same time was lord chancellor of the Assyrian empire under Semiaiherib. Mention is also iniide there i>f a certain Nadab whom .liikar adopted, and who sought to repay the hitter's kindness by burying him alive " Imt God made good Ids dishonor in His sight and Al.iikar returned to the light, but Nadab went into darkness
scribes of
As soon as Solomon heard this he dispalchid the brothel's to Liiz, where the Angel of Death was supposed to have no power (see Lt'z). Ahijali and his liiother were, however, overtaken by The angel dealh when just at the gates of the town. nflerwarils explained to Solomon that it had been a to iinlucc the kiiii: to ruse on his (the angel's) part send the brothers o Luz; it having been destined that they should meet their death at its gales, and To this ex that there only he could fultil his task. brother).
I
planation Solomon replied his fate:
him'"
wherever he
is
"The
f<'et
of
man
lire
wanted, thither do they lead
(Silk..'A/). L." G. 7. Father of lioasba, who conspired against Nadab,
ill.
in the
Book of
everlasting" (Tobit. xiv. 10. 11, acconling to the Codex Sinaiticus). Ahil<ar is not unknown in the literature of tlic Greek Literature. Greeks. Clement makes ihestatement ("Stromata."i. ITi; ed. Migne. p. 772) whether correcllv or not is immaterial here that Di'mocrittis obtained his wisdom in part from the Babylonian Akikarus. Proliably identical with this Akikarus is the Achiakarus who. according to Strabo
Mentioned in
—
