AHIO

xv. 24-37; xvii. 15-21). As may be inferred from his being chosen for this service, Ahimaaz was swift of foot. Of this we have a notable example soon after, when, on the defeat and death of Absalom, he prevailed on Joab to allow him to carry the tidings to David. Another messenger, Cushi, had previously been despatched, but Ahimaaz outstripped him, and first came in with the news. He was known afar off by the manner of his running, and the king said,

2. AHIAH, one of the two secretaries of Solomon (1 Kings iv. 3). Two other persons of this name occur in 1 Sam. xiv. 3; 1 Chron. viii. 7.

AHI'AM, one of David's thirty heroes (2 Sam. xxiii. 33).

AHIE'ZER (brother of help), the hereditary chief or prince of the tribe of Dan at the time that the Israelites quitted Egypt (Num. i. 12).

AHI HUD (brother, i. e. friend of the Jews), the prince of the tribe of Asher, who, with the other chiefs of tribes, acted with Joshua and Eleazer in dividing the Promised Land (Num. χχχίν. 27).

AHI JAH (same name as AHIAH), a prophet residing in Shiloh in the times of Solomon and Jeroboam. He appears to have put on record some of the transactions of the former reign (2 Chron. ix. 29). It devolved on him to announce and sanction the separation of the ten tribes from the house of David, as well as the foundation (1 Kings xi. 29-39), and, after many years, the subversion of the dynasty of Jeroboam (1 Kings xiv. 7-11) [JEROBOAM].

AHI KAM (brother of the enemy), one of the four persons of distinction whom Josiah sent to consult Huldah, the prophetess (2 Kings xxii. 12-14). Ahikam and his family are honourably distinguished for their protection of the prophet Jeremiah (Jer. xxvi. 24; xxxix. 14).

AHIM'AAZ (brother of anger, i. e. irascible), son and successor of Zadok, who was joint highpriest in the reign of David, and sole high-priest in that of Solomon. His history belongs to the time of David, to whom he rendered an important service during the revolt of Absalom. David having refused to allow the ark of God to be taken from Jerusalem when he fled thence, the high-priests, Zadok and Abiathar, necessarily remained in attendance upon it; but their sons, Ahimaaz and Jonathan, concealed themselves outside the city, to be in readiness to bear off to David any important information, respecting the movements and designs of Absalom, which they might receive from within. Accordingly, Hushai having communicated to the priests the result of the council of war, in which his own advice was preferred to that of Ahithophel [ABSALOM], they instantly sent a girl (probably to avoid suspicion) to direct Ahimaaz and Jonathan to speed away with the intelligence. The transaction was, however, witnessed and betrayed by a lad, and the messengers were so hotly pursued that they took refuge in a dry cistern, over which the woman of the house placed a covering, and spread thereon parched corn. She told the pursuers that the messengers had passed on in haste; and when all was safe, she released them, on which they made their way to David (2 Sam.

ings; and this favourable character is justified by the delicacy with which he waived that part of his intelligence concerning the death of Absalom, which he knew would greatly distress so fond a father as David (2 Sam. xviii. 19-33).

AHIM'AN (brother of a gift), one of three famous giants, of the race of Anak, who dwelt at Hebron when the Hebrew spies explored the land (Num. xiii. 22).

AHIM'ELECH (brother of the king, i. e. the king's friend); he was son of Ahitub, and brother of Ahiah, who was most probably his predecessor in the high-priesthood [AHIAH]. When David fled from Saul, he went to Nob, a city of the priests in Benjamin, where the tabernacle then was; and by representing himself as on pressing business from the king, he obtained from Ahimelech, who had no other, some of the sacred bread which had been removed from the presence-table. He was also furnished with the sword which he had himself taken from Goliah. and which had been laid up as a trophy in the tabernacle (1 Sam. xxi. 1-9). These circumstances were witnessed by Doeg, an Edomite in the service of Saul, and were so reported by him to the jealous king as to appear acts of connivance at, and support to, David's imagined disloyal designs. Saul immediately sent fo Ahimelech and the other priests then at Nob, and laid this crime to their charge, which they repelled by declaring their ignorance of any hostile designs on the part of David towards Saul or his kingdom. This, however, availed them not; for the king commanded his guard to slay them. Their refusal to fall upon persons invested with so sacred a character might have brought even Saul to reason; but he repeated the order to Doeg himself, and was too readily obeyed by that malignant person, who, with the men under his orders, not only slew the priests then present, eighty-six in number, but marched to Nob, and put to the sword every living creature it contained. The only one of the priests that escaped was Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, who fled to David, and afterwards became high priest (1 Sam. xxii.) [ABIATHAR],

AHIN'ADAB (liberal, or, noble brother), one of the twelve officers who, in as many districts into which the country was divided, raised supplies of provisions in monthly rotation for the royal household. Ahinadab's district was the southern half of the region beyond the Jordan (1 Kings iv. 14).

AHIN'OAM (brother of pleasantness), a woman of Jezreel, one of the wives of David, and mother of Amnon. She was taken captive by the Amalekites when they plundered Ziklag, but was recovered by David (1 Sam. xxv. 43; xxvii. 3. Xxx. 5; 2 Sam. ii. 2; iii. 2).

AHIO (brotherly), one of the sons of Abin

AHITUB

adab, who, with his brother Uzzah, drove the new cart on which the ark was placed when David first attempted to remove it to Jerusalem. Ahio went before to guide the oxen, while Uzzah walked by the cart (2 Sam. vi. 3, 4) [UZZAH]. AHIRA (brother of evil), chief of the tribe of Naphtali when the Israelites quitted Egypt (Num. i. 15).

AHI'SHAR (brother of the dawn), the officer who was over the household' of King Solomon 1 Kings iv. 6). This has always been a place of high importance and great influence in the East.

AHITH'OPHEL (brother of foolishness), the very singular name of a man who, in the time of David, was renowned throughout all Israel for his worldly wisdom. He is, in fact, the only nan mentioned in the Scriptures as having acquired a reputation for political sagacity among the Jews; and they regarded his counsels as oracles (2 Sam. xvi. 23). He was of the council of David; but was at Giloh, his native place, at he time of Absalom's revolt, whence he was ummoned to Jerusalem; and it shows the strength of Absalom's cause in Israel that a man so capable of foreseeing results, and of estimating he probabilities of success, took his side in so laring an attempt (2 Sam. xv. 12). The news of this defection appears to have occasioned David more alarm than any other single inident in the rebellion. He earnestly prayed God to turn the sage counsel of Ahithophel to foolishness' (probably alluding to his name); and being immediately after joined by his old friend Hushai, he induced him to go over to Absalom with the express view that he might be instrumental in defeating the counsels of this langerous person (xv. 31-37). Psalm lv. is supposed to contain (12-14) a further expression of David's feelings at this treachery of one whom he had so completely trusted, and whom he calls, My companion, my guide, and my familiar friend.' The detestable advice which Ahithophel gave Absalom to appropriate his father's harem, committed him absolutely to the cause of the young prince, since after that he could hope for no reconcilement with David 2 Sam. xvi. 20-23). His proposal as to the conduct of the war undoubtedly indicated the best course that could have been taken under the circumstances; and so it seemed to the council, until Hushai interposed with his plausible advice, the object of which was to gain time to enable David to collect his resources [ABSALOM]. When Ahithophel saw that his counsel was rejected for that of Hushai, the far-seeing man gave up the cause of Absalom for lost; and he forthwith saddled his ass, returned to his home at Giloh, deliberately settled his affairs, and then hanged himself, and was buried in the sepulchre of his fathers, B.C. 1023 (ch. xvii.). This is the only case of suicide which the Old Testament records, unless the last acts of Samson and Saul may be regarded as such.

1. AHITUB (brother of goodness), son of Phinehas, and grandson of the high-priest Eli. His father Phinchas having been slain when the ark of God was taken by the Philistines, he succeeded his grandfather Eli B.C. 1141, and was himself succeeded by his son Ahiab about B.C. 1093.

2. AHITUB was also the name of the father of Zadok, who was made high-priest by Saul after the death of Ahimelech (2 Sam. viii. 17; 1 Chron. vi. 8). There is not the slightest ground for the notion that this Ahitub was ever high-priest himself-indeed, it is historically impossible.

AHO'LAH (her tent) and AHOLIBAH (my tent is in her), two fictitious or symbolical names adopted by Ezekiel (xxiii. 4) to denote the two kingdoms of Samaria (Israel) and Judah. They are both symbolically described as lewd women, adulteresses, prostituting themselves to the Egyptians and the Assyrians, in imitating their abominations and idolatries; wherefore Jehovah abandoned them to those very people for whom they showed such inordinate and impure af fection. They were carried into captivity, and reduced to the severest servitude. The allegory is an epitome of the history of the Jewish church.

AHOʻLIAB (tent of his father), of the tribe of Dan, a skilful artificer appointed along with Bezaleel to construct the Tabernacle (Exod. Xxxv. 34).

AHUZ ZATH (possession), the 'friend' of Abimelech II., king of Gerar, who attended him on his visit to Isaac (Gen. xxvi. 26). In him occurs the first instance of that unofficial but important personage in ancient Oriental courts, called the king's friend,' or favourite.

AI (Josh. vii. 2; Gen. xii. 8; Neh. xi. 31; Isa. x. 28), a royal city of the Canaanites, which lay east of Bethel. It existed in the time of Abraham, who pitched his tent between the two cities (Gen. xii. 8; xiii. 3); but it is chiefly noted for its capture and destruction by Joshua (vii. 2-5; viii. Î-29). This, as a military transaction, is noticed elsewhere [AMBUSCADE]. At a later period Ai was rebuilt, and is mentioned by Isaiah (x. 28), and also after the Captivity. The site was known, and some scanty ruins still existed in the time of Eusebius and Jerome, but Dr. Robinson was unable to discover any certain traces of either.

AIR, the atmosphere, as opposed to the ether, or higher and purer region (Acts xxii. 24; 1 Thess. iv. 17; Rev. ii. 2; xvi. 17). The phrase to speak into the air (1 Cor. xiv. 9) is a proverbial expression to denote speaking in vain, and to beat the air (1 Cor. ix. 26), denotes acting in vain, and is a proverbial allusion to an abortive stroke into the air in pugilistic contests The later Jews, in common with the Gentiles. especially the Pythagoreans, believed the air to be peopled with spirits, under the government of a chief, who there held his seat of empire These spirits were supposed to be powerful, bu malignant, and to incite men to evil. The early Christian fathers entertained the same belief. which has indeed come down to our own times.

AJ'ALON, a town and valley in the tribe of Dan (Josh. xix. 42), which was given to the Levites (Josh. xxi. 24; 1 Chron. vi. 69). It wa: not far from Bethshemesh (2 Chron. xxviii. 18): it was one of the places which Rehoboam fortified (2 Chron. xi. 10), and among the strongholds which the Philistines took from Ahaz (2 Chron. xxviii. 18). But the town, or rathe the valley to which the town gave name, derive its chief renown from the circumstance tha

E

when Joshua, in pursuit of the five kings, arrived | at some point near Upper Beth-horon, looking back upon Gibeon and down upon the noble valley before him, he uttered the celebrated command: Sun, stand thou still on Gibeon, and thou moon, in the valley of Ajalon' (Josh. x. 12). The site of the town has been identified with the small village of Yâlo near Beit Ur (Beth-horon), and a broad wady to the north of it appears to be the valley of the same name.

AKRAB'BIM (Scorpion-height), an ascent, hill, or chain of hills, which, from the name, would appear to have been much infested by scorpions and serpents, as some districts in that quarter certainly were (Deut. viii. 15). It was one of the points which are only mentioned in describing the frontier-line of the Promised Land southward (Judg. i. 36), and has been conjectured to be the same with the mountains of Akabah, which bound the great valley of Arabah on the

east.

ALABASTER. This word occurs in the New Testament only in the notice of the alabaster box,' or rather vessel, of ointment of spikenard, very precious,' which a woman broke, and with its valuable contents anointed the head of Jesus, as he sat at supper in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper (Matt. xxvi. 7; Mark xiv. 3). At Alabastron, in Egypt, there was a manufactory of small pots and vessels for holding perfumes, which were made from a stone found in the neighbouring mountains. Greeks gave to these vessels the name of the

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The

city from which they came. This name was eventually extended to the stone of which they were formed; and at length it was applied without distinction to all perfume vessels, of whatever materials they consisted. It does not, therefore, by any means follow that the alabastron which the woman used at Bethany was really of alabaster: but a probability that it was such arises from the fact, that vessels made of this stone were deemed peculiarly suitable for the most costly and powerful perfumes.

ALEXANDER THE GREAT. This mighty king is named in the opening of the first book of Maccabees, and is alluded to in the prophecies of

ALEXANDER

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nius of the Macedonian hero, however, determined the form and the suddenness of the conquest; and, in spite of his premature death, the policy which he pursued seems to have left some permanent effects.

His respectful behaviour to the Jewish highpriest has been much dwelt on by Josephus (Antiq, xi. 8. 4-6), a writer whose trustworthiness has been much overrated. The story has been questioned on several grounds. Some of the results, however, can hardly be erroneous, such as, that Alexander guaranteed to the Jews, not in Judæa only, but in Babylonia and Media, the free observance of their hereditary laws, and on this ground exempted them from tribute every seventh (or sabbatical) year. It is then far from improbable that the politic invader affected to have seen and heard the high-priest in a dream (as Josephus relates), and showed him great reverence, as to one who had declared that he would go before him and give the empire of Persia into his hand.'

Immediately after, Alexander invaded and conquered Egypt, and showed to its gods the same respect as to those of Greece. Almost without a pause he founded the celebrated city of Alexandria (B.C. 332), an event which, perhaps more than any other cause, permanently altered the state of the East, and brought about a direct interchange of mind between Greece, Egypt, and Judæa [ALEXANDRIA].

The great founder of Alexandria died in his thirty-second year, B.C. 323. The empire which he then left to be quarrelled for by his generals comprised the whole dominions of Persia, with the homage and obedience of Greece superadded. But on the final settlement which took place after the battle of Ipsus (B.c. 301), Seleucus, the

ALEXANDER

Greek representative of Persian majesty, reigned over a less extended district than the last Darius. Not only were Egypt and Cyprus severed from the Eastern empire, but Palestine and Colosyria also fell to their ruler, placing Jerusalem for nearly a century beneath an Egyptian monarch. On this subject, see further under ANTIOCHUS.

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2. ALEXANDER, surnamed BALAS, from his mother Bala, a personage who figures in the history of the Maccabees and in Josephus. His extraction is doubtful; but he professed to be the natural son of Antiochus Epiphanes, and in that capacity, out of opposition to Demetrius Soter, he was recognised as king of Syria by the king of Egypt, by the Romans, and eventually by Jonathan Maccabæus, on the part of the Jews (1 Macc. x. 18). Demetrius was not long after slain in battle, and Balas obtained possession of the kingdom. He then sought to strengthen himself by a marriage with the king of Egypt's daughter. Prosperity ruined Alexander; his voluptuousness, debauchery, and misgovernment rendered his reign odious, and encouraged Demetrius Nicator, the eldest son of the late Demetrius Soter, to appear in arms, and claim his father's crown. Alexander took the field against him; but the defection of his father-in-law Ptolemy proved fatal to his cause; he was defeated in a pitched battle, and fled with 500 cavalry to Abæ in Arabia, and sought refuge with the emir Zabdiel. This Arabian murdered his confiding guest in the fifth year of his reign or er Syria, and sent his head to Ptolemy, who himself died the same year, B.C. 145. Balas left a young son, who was eventually made king of Syria by Tryphon, under the name of Antiochus Theos.

3. ALEXANDER JANNEUS, the first prince of the Maccabean dynasty who assumed the name of king [MACCABEES].

4. ALEXANDER, son of Herod the Great and Mariamne [HERODIAN FAMILY].

5. ALEXANDER, a Jew of Ephesus, known only from the part he took in the uproar about Diana, which was raised there by the preaching of Paul. As the inhabitants confounded the Jews and Jewish Christians, the former put forward Alexander to speak on their behalf, but he was unable in the tumult to obtain a hearing (Acts xix. 33).

6. ALEXANDER, a coppersmith or brazier (mentioned in 1 Tim. i. 20; 2 Tim. iv. 14), who with Hymenæus and others broached certain heresies touching the resurrection, for which they were excommunicated by St. Paul. These per

sons, and especially Alexander, appear to have maligned the faith they had forsaken, as well as the character of the apostle.

ALEXANDRIA (Acts vi. 9; xviii. 24; xxvii. 6), the chief maritime city and long the metropolis of Lower Egypt. It is situated on the Mediterranean, twelve miles west of the Canopic mouth of the Nile, in 31° 13' N. lat. and 25° 53' E. long. It owes its origin to the comprehensive policy of Alexander, who perceived that the usual channels of commerce might be advantageously altered; and that a city occupying this site could not fail to become the common emporium for the traffic of the eastern and western worlds, by means of the river Nile, and the two adjacent seas, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean: and the high prosperity which, as such, Alexandria very rapidly attained, proved the soundness of his judgment, and exceeded any expectations which even he could have entertained. For a long period Alexandria was the greatest of known cities; for Nineveh and Babylon had fallen, and Rome had not yet risen to pre-eminence: and even when Rome became the mistress of the world, and Alexandria only the metropolis of a province, the latter was second only to the former in wealth, extent, and importance; and was honoured with the magnificent titles of the second metropolis of the world, the city of cities, the queen of the East, a second Rome.

The city was founded in B.c. 332, and was built under the superintendence of the same architect (Dinocrates) who had rebuilt the Temple of Diana at Ephesus. The ancient city appears to have been of seven times the extent of the modern. If we may judge from the length of the two main streets (crossing each. other at right angles) by which it was intersected, the city was about four miles long by one and a half wide: and in the time of Diodorus it contained a free population of 300,000 persons. or probably 600,000, if we double the former number, as Mannert suggests, in order to include the slaves. The port of Alexandria was secure, but difficult of access; in consequence of which, a magnificent pharos, or lighthouse, was erected upon an islet at the entrance, which was connected with the mainland by a dyke. This pharos was accounted one of the seven' wonders of the world. It was begun by Ptolemy Soter. and completed under Ptolemy Philadelphus, by Sostratus of Cnidus, B.C. 283. It was a square structure of white marble, on the top of which fires were kept constantly burning for the direction of mariners. It was erected at a cost of 800 talents, which, if Attic, would amount to 165,000l., if Alexandrian, to twice that sum. It was a wonder in those times, when such erections were almost unknown; but, in itself, the Eddystone lighthouse is, in all probability, ten times more wonderful.

The business of working out the great design of Alexander could not have devolved on a more fitting person than Ptolemy Soter. From his first arrival in Egypt, he made Alexandria his residence: and no sooner had he some respite from war, then he bent all the resources of his mind to draw to his kingdom the whole trade of the East, which the Tyrians had, up to his time, carried on by sea to Elath, and from thence, by the way of Rhinocorura, to Tyre. He built a

city on the west side of the Red Sea, whence he sent out fleets to all those countries to which the Phoenicians traded from Elath. But, observing that the Red Sea, by reason of rocks and shoals, was very dangerous towards its northern extremity, he transferred the trade to another city, which he founded at the greatest practicable disance southward. This port, which was almost on the borders of Ethiopia, he called, from his mother, Berenice; but the harbour being found inconvenient, the neighbouring city of Myos Hormos was preferred. Thither the products of the East and South were conveyed by sea; and were from thence taken on camels to Coptus, on the Nile, where they were again shipped for Alexandria, and from that city were dispersed to all the nations of the west, in exchange for merchandise which was afterwards exported to the East. By these means, the whole trade was fixed at Alexandria, which thus became the chief mart of all the traffic between the East and West, and which continued to be the greatest emporium in the world for above seventeen centuries, until the discovery of the passage by the Cape of Good Hope opened another channel for the commerce of the East.

Alexandria became not only the seat of commerce, but of learning and the liberal sciences. This distinction also it owed to Ptolemy Soter, himself a man of education, who founded an academy, or society of learned men, who devoted themselves to the study of philosophy, literature, and science. For their use he made a collection of choice books, which, by degrees, increased under his successors until it became the finest library in the world, and numbered 700,000 volumes. It sustained repeated losses, by fire and otherwise, but these losses were as repeatedly repaired; and it continued to be of great fame

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and use in those parts, until it was at length burnt by the Saracens when they made themselves masters of Alexandria in A.D. 642. Undoubtedly the Jews at Alexandria shared in the benefit of these institutions, as the Christians did afterwards; for the city was not only a seat of heathen, but of Jewish, and subsequently of Christian learning. It will be remembered that the celebrated translation of the Hebrew Scriptures into Greek [SEPTUAGINT] was made, under every encouragement from Ptolemy Philadelphus, principally for the use of the Jews in Alexandria, who knew only the Greek lauguage.

At its foundation Alexandria was peopled less by Egyptians than by colonies of Greeks, Jews. and other foreigners. The Jews, however much their religion was disliked, were valued as citizens; and every encouragement was held out by Alexander himself and by his successors in Egypt, to induce them to settle in the new city. The same privileges as those of the first class of inhabitants (the Greeks) were accorded to them, as well as the free exercise of their religion and peculiar usages: and this, with the protection and peace which a powerful state afforded against the perpetual conflicts and troubles of Palestine, and with the inclination to traffic, which had been acquired during the Captivity, gradually drew such immense numbers of Jews to Alexandria, that they eventually formed a very large portion of its vast population, and at the same time constituted a most thriving and important section of the Jewish nation. The Jewish inhabitants of Alexandria are therefore often mentioned in the later history of the nation; and their importance as a section of that nation would doubtless have been more frequently ind. cated, had not the Jews of Egypt thrown off