Lesley.] 4U [May, 



After the crown of Soloniou had descended to the Shemite Rehoboam 

 (whose mother was Naamah the Ammonite), the Pharaoh Sheshonk 

 (Shishak) looted Jerusalem, in the cause of his (Shishak's) protege, Jero- 

 boam of Israel. 



Jeroboam's wife Maacliah carried an Egyptian name ; she was the 

 daughter of Abishalom (father of peace), a Shemite, who had probably 

 married an Egyptian girl, perhaps one of those bred at Solomon's court. 



AbijaJi, Jeroboam's son and successor, had a pure Shemite name, if the 

 priestly Judean chronicler (2 Chron. xiii, 1) spells it rightly ; for it means 

 "My father Jah." It has a variant, Abijahu, meaning "whose father is 

 Jah." 



The Judean historian of 1 Kings (xv. : 1, &c.), always spells it Abijam, 

 which should mean in Hebrew " My father the sea ; " but Gesenius trans- 

 lates it ' ' Father of the sea ; vir marUimus ; ' ' the sailor. 



Without the points these two forms read simply ABIE (LXX 'a^id')^ 

 and ABIM (LXX d/^cou). The first form is anticipated in Abiah ABIE, 

 (LXX. again diSid) one of the sons of Samuel {pater JcJiovce, mr divinus, e. g. 

 ish elohim, G-es. !) — and again in Abihu, ABIEUA, (LXX d(3i6ud) second 

 son of Aaron. The absurd and only (Hebrew) etymology suggested for 

 this name is "Father of him," " to whom He (God) is father." Nothing 

 can be more forced and improbable. 



It is very significant that, of tlie four sons assigned to Aaron, viz., Nadab, 

 Abihu, Eleazor and Itharaar, two of them, Nadab and this Abihu, were 

 struck dead "for offering strange fire," that is, for worshiping Jehovah ac- 

 cording to some foreign rites, doubtless Egyptian. f The Kin (HUA) final 

 in Abihu's name is so strongly pronounced that it must have some signal 

 significance, and it suggests the a/u sphynx god of the horizon. If Abijah 

 be My father Jah, Abihua is FatJier Axu. 



Moses' name is acknowledged to be pure Egyptian. Aaron's name is 

 as positively Egyptian as evidence can make it ; for ARN is the most 

 sacred name for the ark, box, ship of Isis, sarcophagus, &c. And there is 

 no good reason to be urged against an Egyptian etymology of the name of 

 Aaron's tenth descendent, the high priest Abiathar, ABITliR (LXX 

 ^a^idhap) from the goddess AtJior, or Hathor, "the habitation of Horus, '' 

 meaning the temple, or shrine. Abiathar would then mean simply the 

 "father," or " guardian of the shrine." 



*This Is a mere confession of etymological desperation ; and casts discredit on 

 the whole series of names beginning with Ab and Abi. One might just as well 

 propose to derive the Hebrew word njVJi* Abijo'iah, "desire, appetite, lust," 

 also " the berry of the caper bush " (thought to be provocative of lust) from Abi 

 and Jonah=" Father of Jonah," or " whose father is Jonah." So, some have 

 asserted that Abihud (I Ch. 8 : 3) must have meant "whose father isJudah;" 

 Abigail "whose father is joy," Abidan (Num. 1:11), "father of the judge," 

 although he was himself a judge; &c. Only when a name is clearly written out 

 (like AUezer ^^^;^^^^Z'^, "father of help," i. e., the beneficent), can these etymolo- 

 gies be considered probable. 



t Compare the Apis rebellion conducted by Aaron, for which he also perished. 



