of the whole line of Persian kings from Astyages to Artaxerxes Longimanus, with the exception of Cyrus and Smerdis. In Ezra iv. 6. the order of time would strictly require the name to be understood of Cambyses; nor is there any violence or improbability in supposing, that this monarch had assumed this appellation (i. e. lion king, see below) along with his other titles. Or, on the supposition that Ahasuerus was Xerxes, we have only to suppose that the sacred writer, having in v. 5. spoken of the efforts of the enemies all the days of Cyrus and unto the reign of Darius Hystaspes, goes on to mention the continuance of their efforts in general in the days of his successor, Xerxes; while in v. 7. he goes back to describe their one great and successful effort in the days of Artaxerxes, who is here Smerdis.

One great difficulty in the way of settling this point, seems to have been an impression on the minds of the learned men who have endeavored to investigate the subject, that every event and circumstance mentioned in the sacred narrative, must also be found in, or made out from, the pages of profane history. Thus we have seen above, that Usher builds his supposition of Darius Hystaspes chiefly on the fact, that the imposition of a tribute mentioned Esther x. 1. is also mentioned by Herodotus, and ascribed to Darius. But Strabo, as we have seen, mentions a similar fact, and in connection with another monarch. Now, was the imposition of a tax by a Persian monarch a thing of such rare occurrence, that we must expect to find it recorded in every historian, and especially in every Greek historian? We ought rather to assume-and all that we know of the Persian monarchy leads us to assume that such levies were not unfrequent; and we surely have no right to suppose, that Greek historians, writing about the affairs of a foreign and distant empire, would necessarily mention every arrangement of its internal policy. Just so, too, in regard to Esther. Interpret ers have sought to identify her with various wives of the three Persian monarchs mentioned above by Calmet. In this they have as yet been unsuccessful; nor does this course seem necessary. The Jews were then a conquered, captive, and despised people. That an oriental monarch, who looked only to beauty, should make a selection from among his female slaves, and in this way take a wife from this degraded nation, has in itself nothing unusual or of high importance. But that we must necessarily expect Greek historians, when treating of the external affairs of Persia, to describe particularly, or even allude to, this occurrence in the monarch's private life, would seem to be unnecessary, and contrary to sound critical judgment. They might be led by circumstances to mention other wives of the monarch, who were to them of more importance; while they might either know nothing of Esther, or have heard of her only as a female slave who had been chosen, like hundreds of others, for her beauty, and who had for them no further interest.

The objections, therefore, above made to the supposition that Xerxes is the Ahasuerus of Scripture, would seem to fall away. On the other hand, we may remark, that both Darius Hystaspes and Artaxerxes Longimanus are mentioned in Scripture by their usual names, (Ezra iv. 5. 24; v. 6 etc. vii. 1 etc. Neh. ii. 1 etc.) and there is therefore less probability that they would also be mentioned under another name; while Xerxes is apparently no where spoken of, or alluded to, unless it be under the appellation of Ahasuerus. To this we may add, that the

character of Xerxes, as portrayed by Herodotus,-a monarch not more cruel than he was imbecile and vain,-corresponds entirely to the description of Ahasuerus in the book of Esther.-The statements of Josephus, in respect to the ancient history of his nation, are often so legendary, as to render here his testimony in favor of Artaxerxes Longimanus less authoritative than it otherwise would be.

This supposition receives also a strong support in the etymology of the name Xerxes, as recently ascertained by the labors of Grotefend and Champollion. The former, in deciphering a cuneiform Persepolitan inscription, found the name of Xerxes to be there written Khsh-her-she, or Khsh-ver-she; (Heeren Ideen, ed. 4. i. 2. p. 348.) and this was confirmed by the latter from an Egyptian inscription in hieroglyphics and in Persian. (Précis du Systéme hieroglyphique, p. 24.) The meaning of this word is the lion king. For the initial sound, the Greeks substituted their similar letter X, and gave the word their usual termination, making Xerxes. The Hebrews, by prefixing their not unfrequent prosthetic Aleph, formed the name Akhashverosh, or Akashverosh,

ens, which we represent by Ahasuerus, combining the Hebrew and the Greek 'Aoogos. See Gesenius, Thes. Heb. p. 74, 75.

On the whole, then, we may conclude with a good degree of probability, that the Ahasuerus of the book of Esther was no other than the Xerxes of profane history, who succeeded his father Darius about B. C. 485, and was succeeded by his son Artaxerxes Longimanus, about B. C. 464. He was the second son of Darius Hystaspes; and is chiefly known in history by the vast preparations which he made for the invasion of Greece, against which he marched at the head of an army (according to the Greek historians) of more than five millions of men. His progress was first checked at Thermopyla by the devoted valor of Leonidas and his three hundred Spartans; and although he succeeded in burning the deserted city of Athens, he was nevertheless soon compelled to return disgracefully to his own dominions, where he was, not long after, assassinated. The only trait of moral feeling or humanity recorded of him, is the circumstance mentioned by Herodotus, (lib. vii.) that, while reviewing his vast army and fleet from an eminence on the shores of Abydos, he suddenly burst into tears; and on being asked the reason of this by Artabanes his uncle, he replied, that he wept at the thought of the shortness of human life, since, of all the vast multitudes before him, not one would be alive at the end of a hundred years! *R.

The description given of Ahasuerus's palace, in our translation of the first chapter of Esther, is any thing but satisfactory, and most of the commentators have been embarrassed in their attempts to make out its sense :-"The king made a feast to all the people that were present at Shushan, the palace; both unto great and small, seven days, in the court of the garden of the king's palace; where were white, green, and blue hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen, and purple, to silver rings and pillars of marble; the beds were of gold, and silver, upon a pavement of red, and blue, and white, and black marble." What are we to understand by all this?Hangings fastened to silver rings-to pillars of marble ?-cords made of fine linen?-beds of gold and silver-laid on the pavement? &c.

The following remarks are by Taylor, Fragment 679.

the commandment of the Lord, and for this purpose set out for Jezreel with a party of horsemen. Joram and Ahaziah, ignorant of his intentions, went to meet him. Jehu, after reproaching Joram with the wickedness of his family, pierced him through the heart with an arrow. Ahaziah fled; but Jehu's people overtook him near Ibleam, and mortally wounded him. He had sufficient strength, however, to reach Megiddo, where he died, (2 Kings ix. 21, &c.) or, as it would seem from 2 Chron. xxii. 8, 9. was sought out and put to death, by the command of Jehu. The text of the book of Chronicles imports that Ahaziah was forty-two years of age when he began to reign, in which it differs from that of the Kings. This difficulty, however, may be removed, by reading with the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, twenty-two instead of forty-two; on the supposition that the reading in Chronicles arose in transcribing, by the substitution of 2, 42, for 22, 22.

AHIAH, son and successor to the high-priest Ahitub, 1 Sam. xiv. 3. His son Ahimelech was put to death by Saul, 1 Sam. xxii. 18. There are several other persons of this name mentioned in the Scripture history, but none of any importance.

AHIEZER, son of Ammishaddai, and chief of the tribe of Dan, who came out of Egypt at the head of 72,000 men of his tribe. His offering was the same as that of his fellow-chiefs, Numb. vii. 66, 67.

I. AHIJAH, a prophet of the Lord, who dwelt at Shilo, and is conjectured by some to be the person who spoke twice to Solomon from God, 1 Kings vi. 11; xi. 11. Ahijah wrote the history of this prince's life, 2 Chron. ix. 29. Jeroboam, going one day out of Jerusalem, was met by the prophet Ahijah, (1 Kings xi. 29.) who took a new mantle, in which he had wrapped himself, (see VEIL,) from off his shoulders, and, tearing it in twelve pieces, gave ten of them to Jeroboam, and declared that God would thus rend the kingdom, after the death of Solomon, and give ten of the tribes to himself. See 1 Kings xii. 2, seq.

Jeroboam's son having fallen sick, his wife went in disguise to Ahijah, to inquire whether he would recover. Notwithstanding the disguise of the queen and his own blindness, however, the prophet discovered her, and foretold the death of her son, and the entire extirpation of the house of Jeroboam, 1 Kings xiv. The event was answerable to the prediction. Ahijah, in all probability, did not long survive.

covered by a young lad, who informed Absalom, he sent orders to pursue them. Ahimaaz and Jonathan, fearing to be taken, retired to a man's house at Baharim, in whose court-yard was a well, in the sides of which they concealed themselves. Upon the mouth of this well the woman of the house spread a covering, and on the covering, corn ground, or rather parched. When Absalom's people came, and inquired after them, the woman answered, "They have passed over the little brook of water." Deceived by this answer, the pursuers passed over a brook at no great distance, but not finding them, returned to Jerusalem, and Ahimaaz and Jonathan continued their journey to David. After the battle in which Absalom was slain, Ahimaaz was the first who arrived with the fatal intelligence to the king. Some years afterwards, Ahimaaz succeeded his father in the high-priesthood, and was himself succeeded by Azariah his son, 1 Chron. vi. 9.

AHIMAN, a giant of the race of Anak, who dwelt at Hebron, when the spies visited the land of Canaan, Numb. xiii. 22. He was driven from Hebron with his brethren, Sheshai and Talmai, when Caleb took that city, Josh. xv. 14.

I. AHIMĚLECH, son of Ahitub, and brother of Ahiah, whom he succeeded in the high-priesthood. David, flying from Saul, (1 Sam. xxi. 1.) went to Nob, where Ahimelech, with other priests, then dwelt, and representing to the high-priest that he was on pressing business from the king, obtained the shew-bread, and also the sword which he had won from Goliah. Doeg, the Edomite, who was then at Nob, related what had passed to Saul, who immediately sent for Ahimelech and the other priests, and, after accusing them of having conspired with David, commanded his guards to slay them. These having refused to execute the sanguinary mandate, the king commanded Doeg to execute the deed, which he immediately did, and massacred fourscore and five persons. He went afterwards to Nob, with a party of soldiers, and put men, women, children, and cattle, to the sword. One of Ahimelech's sons, (Abiathar,) however, escaped the carnage, and retired to David, 1 Sam. xxi. xxii. Probably Ahimelech himself also bore the name of Abiathar. See ABIATHAR, and ABIMELECH IV.

II. AHIMELECH, or, as he is also called, ABIMELECH, probably the same as ABIATHar, which see, 1 Chron. xxiv. 3. 6. 31 ; 2 Sam. viii. 17. Comp. 1 Chron. xviii. 16.

AHINADAB, son of Iddo, governor of the district of Mahanaim, beyond Jordan, under Solomon, Kings iv. 14.

I. AHINOAM, daughter of Ahimaaz, and wife of Saul, 1 Sam. xiv. 50.

II. AHINOAM, David's second wife, and mother of Amnon, was a native of Jezreel. She was taken by the Amalekites when they plundered Ziklag, but was recovered by David, 1 Sam. xxx. 5.

AHIO, with his brother Uzzah, conducted the ark from the house of Abinadab to Jerusalem, 1 Chron. xiii. 7. See UZZAH.

AHIRA, son of Enan, chief of Naphtali, (Numb. ii. 29.) came out of Egypt at the head of 53,400

men.

the bitterest enemies to his sovereign. Upon hearing of Ahithophel's position in the party of Absalom, David became extremely uneasy, and after praying that the Lord would turn his counsel into foolishness, he despatched Hushai, who had accompanied him in his flight, to Jerusalem, for the purpose of endeavoring to counteract the effects of Ahitophel's expected advice. The anticipations of David, as to the counsel of this eminent statesman, were not without foundation, for the measures he recommended were of a description the most calculated to extinguish all the authority and power of the king, and secure the success of the usurper's designs. Ahithophel advised, in the first place, that Absalom should publicly abuse his father's concubines; for the purpose, no doubt, of impressing the public mind with an idea, that the breach with his father was irreconcilable, and also of inducing Absalom, under the impression that all probability of pardon was past, to follow up his plans with determination and vigor. In addition to this, he proposed that David should be immediately pursued by twelve thousand chosen men, who might come up with him while he was weary, and fall upon him while off his guard. The advice was approved by Absalom and his chiefs, but was defeated by the prompt and skilful interposition of Hushai, who foresaw its consequences upon David. (See HUSHAI.) Ahithophel, foreseeing that the plan proposed by Hushai would most probably issue in the defeat of Absalom, and the return of the king, returned to Gillo, where he hanged himself, and thus averted that ignominious punishment which he justly apprehended as the reward of his perfidy, 2 Sam. xv. 12; xvi. 15, seq. xvii. Ahithophel seems to have been the grandfather of Bathsheba, 2 Sam. xxiii. 34. compared with xi. 3.

I. AHITUB, the son of Phinehas, and grandson and successor of Eli, the high-priest, 1 Sam. xiv. 3.

II. AHITUB, son of Amariah, and father of Zadok, the high-priest, 1 Chron. vi. 8. It is uncertain whether he ever sustained the sacerdotal character himself. See AMARIAH I.

AHIHUD, the son of Shelomi, of Asher, and one of the commissioners appointed by Moses to divide the land of Canaan, Num. xxxiv. 27.

AHOLAH, and AHOLIBAH, two fictitious or symbolical names, adopted by Ezekiel, (chap. xxiii. 4.) to denote the two kingdoms of Judah and Samaria. They are represented as sisters, and of Egyptian extraction. Aholah stands for Samaria, and Aholibah for Jerusalem. The first signifies a tent, (i. e. she has a tent or tabernacle of her own-her religion and worship is a human invention;) the second, my tent is with her, (i. e. I, the Lord, have given to her a tabernacle and religious service.) They both prostituted themselves to the Egyptians and Assyrians, in imitating their abominations and idolatries; wherefore the Lord abandoned them to the power of those very people, for whom they showed such excessive and impure affection. They were carried into captivity, and reduced to the severest servitude.

AHOLIAB, son of Ahisamach, of Dan, appointed with Bezaleel to construct the tabernacle, Exod. xxxv. 34.

AHUZZATH, the friend of Abimelech, king of Gerar, who accompanied him with Phicol, a general in his army, when he visited Isaac at Beer-sheba, to make an alliance with him, Gen. xxvi. 26.

I. AI, a city near Bethel, eastward, Josh. vii. 2.

The LXX call it Fui, Ayyai, and Josephus, Aina ; others Aiah and Aiath. Joshua having detached 3000 men against Ai, God permitted them to be repulsed, on account of the sin of Achan, who had violated the anathema pronounced against Jericho, by appropriating some of the spoil. (See ACHAN.) After the expiation of this offence, Joshua sent by night 30,000 men to lie in ambush behind the city, and, early the next morning, marched upon it with the remainder of his army. The king of Ai sallied hastily out of the town with his troops, and attacked the Israelites, who fled, as if under great terror, and by this feint drew the enemy into the plain. When Joshua saw the whole of them out of the gates, he elevated his spear, as a signal to the ambuscade, which immediately entered the place, now without defence, and set it on fire. The people of Ai, perceiving the rising smoke, endeavored to return, but found those who had set fire to the city in their rear, while Joshua and his army, advancing in front, destroyed them all. The king was taken alive, brought to Joshua, and afterwards hanged, Josh. viii. Ai was afterwards rebuilt, and is mentioned under the name of Aiath, Is. x. 28. After the exile, its former inhabitants, Benjamites, returned again to their former home, Ezra ii. 28; Neh. vii. 32; xi. 31. In the time of Eusebius and Jerome, its ruins only were visible. Euseb. Onomast, under 'Ayyuí.

A difficulty has been felt in reconciling the relations in ch. viii. ver. 3 and 12. In the former verse, the writer says, that Joshua chose out 30,000 men, and sent them away by night, to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai; whereas the latter states that he chose 5000 men the next morning, whom he sent to lie in ambush also between Bethel and Ai. Masius allows 5000 men for the ambuscade, and 25,000 for the attack of the city, being persuaded, that an army of 600,000 men could only create confusion on this occasion. without either necessity for, or advantage in, such numbers. The generality of interpreters, however. acknowledge two bodies to be placed in ambuscade. both between Bethel and Ai, one of 25,000, the other of 5000 men. Let it be stated thus: Joshua at first sent 30,000 men, who marched by night, and, to avoid discovery, went behind the eminences of Bethel. These posted themselves at the place appointed for the ambuscade. The officer at the head of them then detached 5000 men, who lay hid as near as possible to the town, in order to throw them selves into it on the first opportunity.-Interpreter are divided in opinion, as to the nature of the signa used by Joshua upon this occasion. Some suppose that the instrument he employed was a shield ele vated on the point of a spear, and others that it was a javelin; the rabbins believe it to have been a staf belonging to some of their colors.

II. AI, in Jer. xlix. 3. seems to have been a city in the land of the Ammonites, not far from Rab bah.

AIAH, mother of Rizpah, who was Saul's concu bine. David delivered her children to the Gibeon ites, to be hanged before the Lord, 2 Sam. xxi. 8.

AJALON, (from a deer, properly deer-field, the name of at least three cities in Israel.

1. AJALON in Dan, assigned to the Levites of Ko hath's family, Josh. xix. 42; xxi. 24. It lay in o near a valley, not far from the valley of Gibcon, be twecen Bethshemesh and Timnath, (2 Chron. xxvii 18.) and is the place in which Joshua commande the light of the moon to be stayed, Josh. x. 12. is probably the place mentioned by Jerome as bein