AHITUB

AHITUB.— 1. Son of Phinehas and grandson of Ell, the father of Ahimeleoh or Ahijah, the priest who was put to death by Saul (1 S 14s 22»- «»). 2. Ace. to 2 S 8" ( = 1 Ch 1818) the father, ace. to 1 Ch 9>', Neh 11" the grandfather, of Zadok the priest who was eon- temporary with David and Solomon. It is very doubtful, however, whether the name Ahitub here is not due to a copyist's error. The text of 2 S 8" should probably run: 'and Zadok and Abiathar the son of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub.' 3. Even more doubt attaches to another Ahitub, father of another Zadok (1 Ch 6"- «; cf. 1 Es S\ 2 Es !•). 4. An ancestor of Judith, Jth 8'.

AHLAB.— A city of Asher (Jg 1»). The site has been identified with the later Gush Halab or Giscala, now el-Jish in Upper Galilee; but this is, of course, uncertain.

AHLAI.— 1. The daughter (?) of Sheshan (1 Ch 2", cf. v.M). 2. The father of Zabad, one of David's mighty men (1 Ch 11").

AHOAH.— Son of Bela, a Benjamite (1 Ch 8'). See Ahijah (6) . The patronymic Ahohite occurs in 2 S 23".

AHOLAH, AHOUAB, AHOUBAH, ABOLIBAMAH. — The forms in AV of the correct RV Oholah, Oholiab, Oholibah, Oholibamah (wh. see).

AHUMAI.— A descendant of Judah (1 Ch i').

AHUZZAM.— A man of Judah (1 Ch 4=).

AHUZZATH.— 'The friend' of Ahimelech, the Philis-tine of Gerar, mentioned on the occasion when the latter made a league with Isaac at Beersheba (Gn 26^). The position of 'king's friend' may possibly have been an official one, and the title a technical one (cf. 1 K 4^, 1 Ch 27^) . The rendering of the LXX gives a different concep-tion, that of 'pronubus,' or friend of the bridegroom.

AHZAI.— A priest (Neh lli')=Jahzerah (1 Ch 9'').

AI. — 1. A place between which and Bethel Abraham was stationed before (Gn 12') and after (13') his sojourn in Egypt. The repulse of the Israelite attempt on the city (Jos 7'-') led to the exposure of the crime of Achan; when that was expiated, the city was captured and destroyed (8'-^') by a ruse. It never reappears in history, though it continued to be inhabited: it is the Aiath in Isaiah's description of the march of the Assyrian (lOM), and the Afja of Neh ll". In 1 Ch 7^' 'Azzah. enumerated among the cities of Ephraim, is in many MSS 'Ayyah, which is another form of the name. This, however, cannot in any case be the same place, which was within the tribe of Benjamin (Jos 18^', where Awim is possibly a corruption for the name of this city). After the Exile, Ai and Bethel between them supplied a contingent of 223 to the number that returned (Ezr 228), and the city was once more settled by Benja-mites (Neh 11"). That the city was insignificant is definitely stated in Jos T, and indicated by the fact that in the list of captured cities it is almost the only one of which the situation is specified (Jos 12'). Its capture, however, made a deep impression on the Canaanltes (Jos 9' 10'). As to its identification, the only indication to guide us is its proximity to Bethel (agreed by all to be Beitin), on the east of that place (as follows from Gn 128). Various sites have been proposed — Turmus 'Aya (which contains an element resembling the name, but the situation is impossible) ; Khurbet Hayan (which also has a similar name, but the antiquities of the place are not known to be old enough); Deir Diwan (which is in the right place, but also possibly not an old enough site); and et-Tell (a mound whose name has the same meaning as the word Ai 1' heap ']. Possibly this last is the most likely site.

2. A wholly distinct place, mentioned in a prophecy against the Ammonites, Jer 49' (perh. a clerical error for Ar). R. A. S. Macalistbk.

ATAIT —1 Son of Zibeon (Gn ZB'*, 1 Ch 1"). 2. Father of Rizpah, Saul's concubine (2 S 3' 21«- "■ ").

AIATH, Is 10^8; AUA, Neh 11".— See Ai, No. 1.

ALAMOTH

AUALON.— 1. A city allotted to, but not occupied by, Dan (Jos 19«, Jg 188). We find it in the hands of Rehoboam (2 Ch ll"); later the Philistines took it (2 Ch 28'8). It may be the modern Yaio, 3 miles N.E. of Latmn, 14 miles from Jerusalem. 2. An unknown town in Zebulun (Jg 12'!). W. Ewing.

AIJELETH HASH-SHAHAR, Ps 22 (title).— See Psalms.

AIN. — 1. A town in the neighbourhood of Riblah (Nu 34"), probably the modern el-'Ain near the source of the Orontes. 2. A town in Judah (Jos IS''), or Simeon (Jos 19'), where Ain and Rimmon should be taken together. It is probably Umm, er-Ramamln, to the N. of Beersheba. W. Ewing.

AIN. — The sixteenth letter of the Heb. alphabet, and so used to introduce the sixteenth part of Ps. 119.

AKAN. — A descendant of Esau (Gn 36"); called in 1 Ch 1" Jakan.

AKATAN (1 Es 8").— Father of Joannes, who returned with Ezra; called Hakkatan in Ezr 8''.

AKELDAMA (AV Aceldama).— The name of the 'potter's field' (Ac 1"), purchased for the burial of strangers with the blood-money returned by Judas (Mt 27'). The traditional site is at the E. side of the Wady er-Rababi (the so-called 'Valley of Hinnom') on the S. side of the valley. It is still known as Hakk ed-Dumm (' field of blood'), which represents the old name in sound and meaning. The identification fias not been traced earlier than the Crusaders, who erected here a charnel- house, the ruins of which still remain — a vault about 70 feet long and 20 feet wide (internal dimensions) erected over and covering the entrance to some of the ancient rock-cut tombs which abound in the valley. The skulls and bones which once thickly strewed the fioor of this charnel-house have all been removed to a modern Greek monastery adjacent. There is no evidence recoverable connecting this site with the work of potters. R. A. S. Macalistee.

AKKAD (ACGAD), AKKADIASS. —Akkadiu) is the Semitic equivalent of the Sumerian Agadd, the capital of the founder of the first Semitic empire. It was probably in consequence of this that it gave its name to Northern Babylonia, the Semitic language of which came to be known as Akkadu or 'Akkadian.' In the early days of cuneiform decipherment 'Akkadian' was the name usually applied tothe non-Semitic language of primitive Babylonia, but some cuneiform texts published by Bezold in 1889 (ZA p. 434) showed that this was called by the Babylonians themselves 'the language of Sumer' or Southern Babylonia, while a text recently published by Messerschmidt (.Orient. Ltztg. 1905, p. 268) states that Akkadu was the name of the Semitic 'translation.' When Babylonia became a united monarchy, its rulers took the title of 'kings of Sumer and Akkad' in Semitic, 'Kengl and Uri' in Sumerian, where Uri seems to have signified ' the upper region.' In Gn 10'° Accad is the city, not the country to which it gave its name. A. H. Sayce.

AEEOS (AV Accoz), 1 Es 5'8.— See Hakkoz.

AKKUB.— 1. A son of Elioenai (1 Ch 32*). 2. A Levite, one of the porters at the E. gate of the Temple; the eponym of a family that returned from the Exile (1 Ch 9", Ezr 2«, Neh 7« ii" 12»); called in 1 Es S" Dacubi. 3. The name of a family of Nethinim (Ezr 2«) ; called in 1 Es 5" Acud. 4. A Levite who helped to ex-pound the Law (Neh 8') ; called in 1 Es 9" Jacubus.

AKRABATTINE (1 Mac 5').— The region in Idumsea near Akrabbim.

AKRABBIM (less correctly Acrabbim Jos 15' AV, 'Scorpion Pass'). — The name given to an ascent on the south side of the Dead Sea, a very barren region.

ALABASTER. — See Jewels and PRECions Stones.

ALAMOTH, Ps 46 (title), 1 Ch 15™.— See Psalms.

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