ABEL

and elevations, commanding extensive views of the country west of the river. From one of the highest of these, called Mount Nebo, Moses surveyed the Promised Land before he died. From the manner in which the names Abarim, Nebo. and Pisgah are connected (Deut. xxxii. 49, 'Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto Mount Nebo; and xxxiv. 1, Unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah'), it would seem that Nebo was a mountain of the Abarim chain, and that Pisgah was the highest and most commanding peak of that mountain. The loftiest mounain of the neighbourhood is Mount Attarus, about ten miles north of the Arnon; and travellers have been disposed to identify it with Mount Nebo. It is represented as barren, its summit being marked by a wild pistachio-tree overshadowing a heap of stones.

AB'BA is the Hebrew word Ab, father, under a form peculiar to the Chaldee idiom (Mark xiv. 36; Rom. viii. 15; Gal. iv. 6).

1. AB'DON (a servant), the son of Hillel, of the tribe of Ephraim, and tenth judge of Israel. He succeeded Elon, and judged Israel eight years. Nothing is recorded of him but that he had forty sons and thirty nephews, who rode on young asses-a mark of their consequence (Judg. xii. 13-15). Abdon died B.c. 1112.

There were three other persons of this name, which appears to have been rather common. They are mentioned in 1 Chron. viii. 23; ix. 36; and 2 Chron. xxxiv. 20.

2. ABDON, a city of the tribe of Asher, which was given to the Levites of Gershom's family (Josh. xxi. 30; 1 Chron. vi. 74).

ABED NEGO (servant of Nego, i. e. Nebo), the Chaldee name imposed by the king of Babylon's officer upon Azariah, one of the three companions of Daniel. With his two friends, Shadrach and Meshach, he was miraculously delivered from the burning furnace, into which they were cast for refusing to worship the golden statue which Nebuchadnezzar had caused to be set up (Dan. iii.).

A'BEL, properly HEBEL, the second son of Adam, who was slain by Cain, his elder brother (Gen. iv. 1-16). The circumstances of that mysterious transaction are considered elsewhere [CAIN]. To the name Abel a twofold interpretation has been given. Its primary signification is weakness or vanity. By another rendering it signifies grief or lamentation, both meanings being justified by the Scripture narrative. CAIN (a possession) was so named to indicate both the joy of his mother and his right to the inheritance of the first-born: Abel received a name indicative of his weakness and poverty when compared with the supposed glory of his brother's destiny, and prophetically of the pain and sorrow which were to be inflicted on him and his parents.

ABEL, a name of several villages in Israel, with additions in the case of the more important, to distinguish them from one another. It appears to mean fresh grass; and the places so named may be conceived to have been in peculiarly verdant situations.

ABEL, ABEL-BETH-MAACAI, or ABEL-MAIM, a city in the north of Palestine, which seems to have been of considerable strength from its history, and of importance from its being called 'a

ABIATHAR

mother in Israel' (2 Sam. xx. 19). The identity of the city under these different names will be seen by a comparison of 2 Sam. xx. 14, 15, 18; 1 Kings xv. 20; 2 Chron. xvi. 4. The addition of Maacah' marks it as belonging to, or being near to, the region Maacah, which lay eastward of the Jordan under Mount Lebanon. This is the town in which Sheba posted himself when he rebelled against David. Eighty years afterwards it was taken and sacked by Benhadad, king of Syria; and 200 years subsequently by Tiglath-pileser, who sent away the inhabitants captives into Assyria (2 Kings xv. 29).

A'BEL-BETH-MAA'CAH, that is, Abel near the house or city of Maacah: the same as Abel. A'BEL-CARMA'IM (place of the vineyards), a village of the Ammonites, about six miles from Philadelphia, or Rabbath Ammon, according to Eusebius, in whose time the place was still rich in vineyards (Judg. xi. 53).

A'BEL-MA'IM. The same as ABEL. A'BEL-MEHO'LAH, or ABEL-MEA (place of the dance), a town supposed to have stood near the Jordan, and some miles (Eusebius says ten) to the south of Bethshan or Scythopolis (1 Kings iv. 12). It is remarkable in connection with Gideon's victory over the Midianites (Judg. vii. 22), and as the birth-place of Elisha (1 Kings xix. 16).

A'BEL-MIZRA'IM (the mourning of the Equptians), the name of a threshing-floor, so called on account of the great mourning' made the re for Jacob by the funeral party from Egypt (Gen. L. 11). Jerome places it between Jericho and the Jordan, where Bethagla afterwards stood.

A'BEL-SHIT TIM (place of acacias), a town in the plains of Moab, on the east of the Jordan. between which and Beth-Jesimoth was the last encampment of the Israelites on that side the river (Num. xxxiii. 49). It is more frequently called Shittim merely (Num. xxv. 1; Josh. ii. 1': Mic. vi. 5). The place is noted for the punishment which was there inflicted upon the Israelites for their worship of Baal-Peor.

ABELA. [ABILA.]

A'BI, the mother of King Hezekiah (2 Kings xviii. 2), called also Abijah (2 Chron. xxix. 1). Her father's name was Zachariah, perhaps the same who was taken by Isaiah (viii. 2) for a witness.

ABIA. [ABIJAH, 3.]

ABI'AH, or ABIJAH, one of the sons of Sa muel who were intrusted with the administration of justice, and whose misconduct afforded the ostensible ground on which the Israelites demanded that their government should be changed into a monarchy (1 Sam. viii. 1-5).

ABI-ALBON. [ABIEL, 2.]

ABI'ATHAR (father of abundance), the tenth high-priest of the Jews, and fourth in descent from Eli. When his father, the high-priest Abimelech, was slain with the priests at Nob, for suspected partiality to the fugitive David, Abiathar escaped the massacre; and bearing with him the most essential part of the priestly raiment, the ephod [PRIESTS], repaired to the son of Jesse, who was then in the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. xxii. 20-23; xxiii. 6). He was well received by David, and became the prics: of the party during its wanderings. As such he

ABIGAIL

sought and received for David responses from God. When David became king of Judah, he made Abiathar high-priest. Meanwhile Zadok had been appointed high-priest by Saul, and continued to act in this capacity while Abiathar was high-priest in Judai!. The appointment of Zadok was not only unexceptionable in itself, but was in accordance with the divine sentence of deposition which had been passed upon the house of Eli (1 Sam. ii. 30-36). When, therefore, David acquired the kingdom of Israel, he had no just ground on which Zadok could be removed, and Abiathar set in his place; and the attempt to do so would probably have been offensive to his new subjects. The king got over this difficulty by allowing both appointments to stand; and until the end of David's reign Zadok and Abiathar were joint highpriests. As high-priest Abiathar must have been perfectly aware of the divine intention that Solomon should be the successor of David: he was therefore the least excusable, in some respects, of all those who were parties in the attempt to raise Adonijah to the throne. So his conduct seems to have been viewed by Solomon, who, in deposing him from the high-priesthood, plainly told him that only his sacerdotal character, and his former services to David, preserved him from death. This deposition of Abiathar completed the doom long before denounced upon the house of Eli, who was of the line of Ithamar, the younger son of Aaron. Zadok, who remained the high-priest, was of the elder line of Eleazer (1 Kings i. 7, 19; ii. 26, 27).

A'BIB. [NISAN.]

1. AB'IEL (father of strength, i. e. strong), the father of Kish, whose son Saul was the first king of Israel, and of Ner, whose son Abner was captain of the host to his cousin Saul (1 Sam. ix. 1; xiv. 51).

2. ABIEL, one of the thirty most distinguished men of David's army (1 Chron. xi. 32). He is called Abi-albon in 2 Sam. xxiii. 31; a name which has precisely the same signification (father of strength) as the other.

ABIEZER (father of help, Josh. xvii. 2), a son of Gilead, the grandson of Manasseh (Num. xxvi. 30), and founder of the family to which Gideon belonged, and which bore his name as a patronymic-Abiezrites (Judg. vi. 34; viii. 2). ABIGAIL (father of joy), the wife of a prosperous sheep-master, called Nabal, who dwelt in the district of Carmel, west of the Dead Sea. She is known chiefly for the promptitude and discretion of her conduct in taking measures to avert the wrath of David, which had been violently excited by the insulting treatment which his messengers had received from her husband [NABAL]. She hastily prepared a liberal supply of provisions, of which David's troop stood in much need, and went forth to meet him. Her beauty and prudence made such an impression upon David on this occasion, that when, not long after, he heard of Nabal's death, he sent for her, and she became his wife (1 Sam. xxv. 14-42). It is usually stated that he had by her two sons, Chileab and Daniel; but it is more likely that the Chileab of 2 Sam. iii. 3, is the same as the Daniel of 1 Chron. iii. 1; the son of Abigail being known by both these names.

ABIJAH

1. ABIHA'IL (father of light or splendour,, the wife of Rehoboam, king of Judah. She is called the daughter of Eliab, David's elder brother (2 Chron. xi. 18); but was doubtless only his descendant.

2. ABIHAIL (father of might, i. e. mighty). This name should be written ABICHAIL. It was borne by several persons: 1. ABICHAIL, the son of Huri, one of the family-chiefs of the tribe of Gad, who settled in Bashan (1 Chron. v. 14). 2. ABICHAIL, the father of Zuriel, who was the father of the Levitical tribes of Merari (Num. iii. 35). 3. ABICHAIL, the father of Queen Esther, and brother of Mordecai (Esth. ii. 15).

ABI'HU (father of him), the second of the sons of Aaron, who, with his brothers Nadab, Eleazer, and Ithamar, was set apart and consecrated for the priesthood (Exod. xxviii. 1). He and his brother Nadab having presumed to offer incense in censers filled with strange' or common fire, they were instantly struck dead by lightning, and were taken away and buried in their clothes without the camp. As immediately after the record of this transaction comes a prohibition of wine or strong drink to the priests on duty at the tabernacle, it is not unfairly surmised that they were intoxicated when they committed this serious error in their ministrations (Lev. x. 1-71).

1. ABI'JAH (see signif. in ABIAH, 2 Chron. xiii. 1). He is also called Abijam (1 Kings xv.). Abijah was the second king of the separate kingdom of Judah, being the son of Rehoboam, and grandson of Solomon. He began to reign B.C. 957, in the eighteenth year of Jeroboam, king of Israel; and he reigned three years. At the commencement of his reign Abijah made a vigorous attempt to bring back the ten tribes to their allegiance. In this he failed; although a signal victory over Jeroboam, who had double his force and much greater experience, enabled him to take several cities which had been held by Israel. The numbers reputed to have been present in this action are 800,000 on the side of Jeroboam, 400,000 on the side of Abijah, and 500,000 left dead on the field. The book of Chronicles mentions nothing concerning Abijah adverse to the favourable impressions which we receive from his conduct on this occasion; but in Kings we are told that he walked in all the sins of his father' (1 Kings xv. 3). He had fourteen wives, by whom he left twenty-two sons and sixteen daughters. Asa succeeded him.

2. ABIJAH, son of Jeroboam I., king of Israel. His severe and threatening illness induced Jeroboam to send his wife with a present, suited to the disguise in which she went, to consult the prophet Ahijah respecting his recovery. This prophet was the same who had, in the days of Solomon, foretold to Jeroboam his elevation to the throne of Israel. Though blind with age, he knew the disguised wife of Jeroboam, and was authorized, by the prophetic impulse that came upon him, to reveal to her that, because there was found in Abijah only, of all the house of Jeroboam, some good thing towards the Lord,' he only, of all that house, should come to his grave in peace, and be mourned in Israel. Accordingly, when the mother returned home, the youth died as she crossed the threshold of

:ne door. And they buried him, and all Israel mourned for him' (1 Kings xiv. 1-18).

3. ABIJAH, one of the descendants of Eleazer, the son of Aaron, and chief of one of the twentyfour courses or orders into which the whole body of the priesthood was divided by David (1 Chron. xxiv. 10; Luke i. 5). Of these the course of Abijah was the eighth.

ABIJAM. [ABIJAH, 1.]

non.'

ABILA, capital of the Abilene of Lysanias Luke iii. 1); and distinguished from other places of the same name as the Abila of Lysahias, and (by Josephus) as the Abila of LebaAbila has been supposed to be the same as Abel-beth-Maacah, but without foundation, for that was a city of Naphtali, which Abila was not. About eighteen miles north-west of Damascus is Souk Wady Barrada, where an inscription was found by Mr. Bankes, which, beyond doubt, identifies that place with the Abila of Lysanias. Burckhardt states that there are here two villages, built on the opposite sides of the Barrada.

ABILE'NE (Luke iii. 1), the small district or territory which took its name from the chief, town, Abila. Its situation is in some degree determined by that of the town; but its precise limits and extent remain unknown. Northward it must have reached beyond the Upper Barrada, in order to include Abila; and it is probable that its southern border may have extended to Mount Hermon (Jebel es-Sheikh). It seems to have included the eastern declivities of AntiLibanus, and the fine valleys between its base and the hills which front the castern plains.

This territory had been governed as a tetrarchate by Lysanias, son of Ptolemy and grandson of Mennæus, but he was put to death, B.C. 33, through the intrigues of Cleopatra, who then took possession of the province. After her death it fell to Augustus, who rented it out to one Zenodorus; but as he did not keep it clear of robbers, it was taken from him, and given to Herod the Great. At his death a part (the outhern, doubtless) of the territory was added to Trachonitis and Ituræa to form a tetrarchy for his son Philip; but by far the larger portion, including the city of Abila, was then, or shortly afterwards, bestowed on another Lysanias, mentioned by Luke (iii. 1), who is supposed to have been a descendant of the former Lysanias, but who is nowhere mentioned by Josephus. About ten years after the time referred to by Luke, the emperor Caligula gave Abilene to Agrippa I. as the tetrarchy of Lysanias,' to whom it was afterwards confirmed by Claudius. At his death, it was included in that part of his possessions which went to his son Agrippa II.

1. ABIM'ELECH (father of the king, or perhaps royal father), the name of the Philistine king of Gerar in the time of Abraham (Gen. xx. 1, sqq.: B.C. 1898; Hales, B.C. 2054); but, from its recurrence, it was probably less a proper name than a titular distinction, like PHARAOH for the kings of Egypt, or AUGUSTUS for the emperors of Rome. Abraham removed into his territory after the destruction of Sodom; and fearing that the beauty of Sarah might bring him into difficulties, he declared her to be his sister. The conduct of Abimelech in taking Sarah into his harem shows tha: kings even then

claimed the right of taking to themselves the unmarried females not only of their natural subjects, but of those who sojourned in their dominions. But, Abimelech, obedient to a divinc warning, restored her to her husband. As a mark of his respect he added valuable gifts, and offered the patriarch a settlement in any part of the country; but he nevertheless did not forbear to visit with a gentle rebuke the deception which had been practised upon him (Gen. xx.). Nothing further is recorded of King Abimelech, except that a few years after he repaired to the camp of Abraham, who had removed southward beyond his borders, accompanied by Phichol, the chief captain of his host,' to invite the patriarch to contract with him a league of peace and friendship. Abraham consented; and this first league on record [ALLIANCE] was confirmed by a mutual oath, made at a well which had been digged by Abraham, but which the herdsmen of Abimelech had seized without their lord's knowledge. It was restored to the rightfui owner, on which Abraham named it BEERSHEBA (the Well of the Oath), and consecrated the spot to the worship of Jehovah (Gen. xxi. 22-34 \.

2. ABIMELECH, another king of Gerar, in the time of Isaac (about B.c. 1804; Hales, 1960), who is supposed to have been the son of the preceding. Isaac sought refuge in his territory during a famine; and having the same fear respecting his fair Mesopotamian wife, Rebekah, as his father had entertained respecting Sarah, he reported her to be his sister. This brought upon him the rebuke of Abimelech, when he accidentally discovered the truth. In those times, as Low, wells of water were of so much importance for agricultural as well as pastoral purposes, that they gave a proprietary right to the soil, not previously appropriated, in which they were dug. Abraham had digged wells during his sojourn in the country; and, to bar the claim which resulted from them, the Philistines had afterwards filled them up; but they were now cleared out by Isaac, who proceeded to cultivate the ground to which they gave him a right. The virgin soil yielded him a hundredfold; and his other possessions, his flocks and herds, also received such prodigious increase that the jealousy of the Philistines could not be suppressed; and Abimelech desired him to seek more distant quarters, in larguage which gives a high notion of the wealth of the patriarchal chiefs, and the extent of their establishments:Depart from us: for thou art more and mightier than we. Isaac complied, and went out into the open country, and digged wells for his cattle. But the shepherds of the Philistines were not inclined to allow the claim to exclusive pasturage in these districts to be thus established; and their opposition induced the quiet patriarch to make successive removals, until he reached such a distance that his operations were no longer disputed. Afterwards, when he was at Beersheba, he received a visit from Abimelech, who was attended by Ahuzzath, his friend, and Phichol, the chief captain of his army. The king having explained that it was his wish to renew, with one so manifestly blessed of God, the covenant of peace which had been contacted, between their fathers, Isaac willingly consented, and the desired covenant was, with due cere

an

3. ABIMELECH, a son of Gideon, by a conbine-wife, a native of Shechem, where her family had considerable influence. Through that influence Abimelech was proclaimed king after the death of his father, who had himself refused that honour, when tendered to him, both for himself and his children (Judg. viii. 22-24). In a short time, a considerable part of Israel seems to have recognised his rule. One of the first acts of his reign was to destroy his brothers, seventy in number, being the first example of a system of barbarous state policy of which there have been frequent instances in the East. Only one, the youngest, named Jotham, escaped; and he had the boldness to make his appearance on Mount Gerizim, where the Shechemites were assembled for some public purpose, and rebuke them in his famous parable of the trees choosing a king [JOTHAM; PARABLE]. In three years the Shechemites found ample cause to repent of what they had done. They eventually revolted during Abimelech's absence, and caused ambuscade to be laid in the mountains, with the design of destroying him on his return. But Zebul, his governor in Shechem, contrived to apprise him of these circumstances, so that he was enabled to avoid the snare laid for him; and, having hastily assembled some troops, appeared unexpectedly before Shechem. The people of that place had meanwhile secured the assistance of one Gaal and his followers [GAAL], who marched out to give Abimelech battle. He was defeated, and returned into the town; and his inefficiency and misconduct in the action had been so manifest, that the people were induced by Zebul to expel him and his followers. The people still ventured out to the labours of the field; which being told Abimelech, who was at Arumah, he laid an ambuscade in four bodies in the neighbourhood; and when, the men came forth in the morning, two of the ambushed parties rose against them, while the other two seized the city gates to prevent their return. Afterwards the whole force united against the city, which, being now deprived of its most efficient inhabitants, was easily taken, and completely destroyed by the exasperated victor. The fortress, however, still remained; but the occupants, deeming it untenable, withdrew to the temple of Baal-Berith, which stood in a more commanding situation. This building Abimelech set on fire and destroyed, with the thousand men who were in it. Afterwards Abimelech went to reduce Thebez, which had also revolted. The town was taken with little difficulty, and the people withdrew into the citadel. Here Abimelech resorted to his favourite operation, and while heading a party to burn down the gate, he was struck on the head by a large stone cast down by a woman from the wall above. Perceiving that he had received a death-blow, he directed his armour-bearer to thrust him through with his sword, lest it should be said that he fell by a woman's hand (Judg. ix.). Vainly did Abimelech seek to avoid this disgrace; for the fact of his death by the hand of a woman was long after associated with his memory (2 Sam. xi. 21).

ABIN'ADAB (Jather of nobleness, or noble

all of whom are also called AMINADAB-the letters band m being very frequently interchanged in Hebrew.

1. ABINADAB, one of the eight sons of Jesse, and one of the three who followed Saul to the war with the Philistines (1 Sam. xvi. 8).

2. ABINADAB, one of Saul's sons, who was slain at the battle of Gilboa (1 Sam. xxxi. 2). 3. ABINADAB, the Levite of Kirjath-jearim, in whose house, which was on a hill, the Ark of the Covenant was deposited, after being brought back from the land of the Philistines. It was committed to the special charge of his son Eleazer; and remained there seventy years, until it was removed by David (1 Sam. vii. 1, 2; 1 Chron. xiii. 7) [ARK].

1. ABIRAM (father of altitude, i. e. high). one of the family-chiefs of the tribe of Reuben, who, with Dathan and On of the same tribe, joined Korah, of the tribe of Levi, in a conspiracy against Aaron and Moses (Num. xvi.) [AARON].

2. ABIRAM, eldest son of Hiel the Bethelite (1 Kings xvi. 34) [HIEL; JERICHO].

ABISHAG (father of error), a beautiful young woman of Shunam, in the tribe of Issachar, who was chosen by the servants of David to be introduced into the royal harem, for the special purpose of ministering to him, and cherishing him in his old age. She became his wife; but the marriage was never consummated. Some time after the death of David, Adonijah, his eldest son, persuaded Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, to entreat the king that Abishag might be given to him in marriage. But as rights and privileges peculiarly regal were associated with the control and possession of the harem of the deceased kings, Solomon detected in this application a fresh aspiration to the throne, which he visited with death (1 Kings i. 1-4; ii. 13-25) [ADONIJAH].

ABISHA'I (father of gifts), a nephew of David by his sister Zeruiah, and brother of Joab and Asahel. The three brothers devoted themselves zealously to the interests of their uncle during his wanderings. Though David had more reliance upon the talents of Joab, he appears to have given more of his private confidence to Abishai, whom we find near his person on several critical occasions. He alone accompanied David to the camp of Saul (1 Sam. xxvi. 5-9). He fled with him beyond the Jordan from Absalom, and commanded one of three divisions of the army which crushed that rebellion (2 Sam. xviii. 2). He rescued David when in imminent peril of his life from a giant named Ishbi-benob (2 Sam. xxi. 15-17), and was also the chief of the three mighties,' who performed the chivalrous exploit of breaking through the host of the Philistines to procure David a draught of water from the well of his native Bethlehem (2 Sam. xxiii. 14-17). Among the exploits of this hero it is mentioned that he withstood 300 men and slew them with his spear: but the occasion of this adventure, and the time and manner of his death, are equally unknown.

ABISHU'A (father of safety), the son of Phinehas, and fourth high-priest of the Jews (1 Chron. vi. 50). The commencement and

ABNER

duration of his pontificate are uncertain, but the latter is inferred, from circumstances, to have included the period in which Ehud was judge, and probably the preceding period of servitude to Eglon of Moab. He is called Abiezer by Josephus (Antiq. v. 11. 5).

ABLUTION, the ceremonial washing, whereby, as a symbol of purification from uncleanness, a person was considered-1. to be cleansed from the taint of an inferior and less pure condition, and initiated into a higher and purer state (Lev. viii. 6); 2. to be cleansed from the soil of common life, and fitted for special acts of religious service (Exod. xxx. 17-21); 3. to be cleansed from defilements contracted by particular acts or circumstances, and restored to the privileges of ordinary life (Lev. xii.-xv.); 4. as absolving or purifying himself, or declaring himself absolved and purified, from the guilt of a particular act (Deut. xxi. 1-9). We do not meet with any such ablutions in patriarchal times: but under the Mosaical dispensation they all occur.

After the rise of the sect of the Pharisees, the practice of ablution was carried to such excess, from the affectation of excessive purity, that it is repeatedly brought under our notice in the New Testament through the severe animadversions of our Saviour on the consummate hypocrisy involved in this fastidious attention to the external types of moral purity, while the heart was left unclean. All the practices there exposed come under the head of purification from uncleandress;-the acts involving which were made so numerous that persons of the stricter sect could scarcely move without contracting some involuntary pollution. For this reason they never entered their houses without ablution, from the strong probability that they had unknowingly contracted some defilement in the streets; and they were especially careful never to eat without washing the hands (Mark vii. 1-5), because they were peculiarly liable to be defiled; and as unclean hands were held to communicate uncleanness to all food (excepting fruit) which they touched, it was deemed that, there was no security against eating unclean food but by always washing the hands ceremonially before touching any meat. The Israelites, who, like other Orientals, fed with their fingers, washed their hands before meals, for the sake of cleanliness [WASHING]. But these customary washings were distinct from the ceremonial ablutions. It was the latter which the Pharisees judged to be so necessary. When therefore some of that sect remarked that our Lord's disciples ate with unwashen hands' (Mark vii. 2), it is not to be understood literally that they did not at all wash their hands, but that they did not plunge them ceremonially according to their own practice. In at least an equal degree the Pharisees multiplied the ceremonial pollutions which required the ablution of inanimate objects-cups and pots, brazen vessels and tables;' the rules given in the law (Lev. vi. 28; xi. 32-36; xv. 23) being extended to these multiplied contaminations. Articles of earthenware which were of little value were to be broken; and those of metal and wood were to be scoured and rinsed with water.

ABNER (father of light), the cousin of Saul

|

ABOMINATION

(being the son of his uncle Ner), and the com mander-in-chief of his army. After the death of Saul (B.c. 1056), Abner's experience and character for ability and decision enabled him to uphold the interests of his family for seven years; and while David reigned in Hebron over Judah, Ishbosheth, a surviving son of Saul, was, by Abner's influence, made king over the ten tribes, and reigned in Mahanaim, beyond Jordan. A sort of desultory warfare arose between the rival monarchs, in which the advantage appears to have been always on the side of David. In an engagement fought at Gibeon, the forces of Ishbosheth were beaten. Abner, their general, fled for his life, but was closely pursued by Asahel, the brother of Joab and Abishai. Abner, dreading a blood-feud with Joab, entreated Asahel, but in vain, to desist from the pursuit; and finding that his life was in danger, he at length ran his pursuer through the body (2 Sam. ii. 8-32). This, according to the law of honour which still prevails in the East, put a strife of blood between Joab and Abner [BLOODREVENGE].

As time went on, Abner, probably rendered arrogant and presumptuous by the conviction that he was the only remaining prop of the house of Saul, took to his own harem a woman who had been a concubine-wife of Saul. This act, from the ideas connected with the harem of a deceased king, was not only a great impropriety, but was open to the suspicion of a political design, which Abner may very possibly have entertained. A mild rebuke from Ishbcsheth, however, enraged him so much, that he immediately declared his intention henceforth to abandon his cause and to devote himself to the interests of David. Accordingly after explaining his views to the elders of the tribes which still adhered to the house of Saul, he repaired to Hebron with authority to make certain overtures to David on their behalf. He was received with great attention and respect; and David even thought it prudent to promise that he should still have the chief command of the armies, when the desired union of the two kingdoms took place. Joab, David's general, happened to be absent at the time, but he returned to Hebron just as Abner had left it. He speedily understood what had passed; and his dread of the superior influence which such a man as Abner might establish with David, quickened his remembrance of the vengeance which his brother's blood required. Unknown to the king, but apparently in his name, he sent a message after Abner to call him back; and as he returned, Joab met him at the gate, and, leading him aside, as if to confer privately with him, suddenly thrust his sword into his body (B.c. 1048). The lamentations of David, the public mourning which he ordered, and the funeral honours which were paid to the remains of Abner, the king himself following the bier as chief mourner, exonerated him in public opinion from having been privy to this assassination. As for Joab, his privilege as a blood-avenger must to a great extent have justified his treacherous act in the opinion of the people; and that, together with his influence with the army, screened him from punishment (2 Sam. iii. 6-39). ABOMINATION. This word describes gene