A H I 
Ahaziah, king of Judah, the fon of Jehoram and 
Athaliah, fucceeded his father in the kingdom of Judah 
in the year of the world 3119. He walked in the ways of 
Ahab’s houfe, to which he was allied, his,,mother being 
of that family. He reigned only one year, being (lain by 
Jehu the fon of Nimflii. 
AHEAD, adv. [from a and head .] Farther onward thair 
another. Headlong; precipitantly : ufed of animals, and 
figuratively of men.-—It is mightily the fault of parents, 
guardians, tutors, and governors, that fo many men mif- 
carry. They fuffer them at fil'd to run ahead , and', when 
perverfe inclinations are advanced into habits, there is no 
dealing with them. L'EJlrange. 
Ahead, in fea-language, fignifies further onward than 
the (hip, or at any difiance before her, lying immediately 
on that point of the compafs to which her (tern is direct¬ 
ed. It is ufed in oppofition to ajlem, which exprelfes the 
lituation of any objeCt behind the (hip. 
AHEIGHT, adv. [from a and height.'] Aloft; on high : 
s—From the dread fummit of this chalky bourne! 
Look up aheig/n, the lhrill-gorg’d lark fo far 
Cannot be feen or heard. Sftakefpeare . 
AHICCYATLI.yi in zoology, the Indian name of a 
ferpent refembling the rattlesnake, only it wants the rat¬ 
tles. It is as fatal in the efteCt of its poifon as any known 
fpecies of ferpent. 
AHIJAH, the prophet of Shilo. Fie is tliought to be 
the perfon who (poke twice to Solomon from God, once 
while he was building the temple, 1 Kings vi. n. at which 
time he promifed him his protection ; and at another 
time after his falling into all his irregularities, when God 
exprefled his indignation with great threatenings and re¬ 
proaches. Ahijah was one of thofe who wrote the annals 
or hiltory of this prince, 2 Chron. ix. 29. The fame pro¬ 
phet declared to Jeroboam that he would ufurp the king¬ 
dom, 1 Kings xi. 29, &c. and that two heifers fhould alien¬ 
ate him from the Lord, meaning the golden calves ereCted 
by Jeroboam, one at Dan, the other at Bethel. About 
the end of Jeroboam’s reign, toward the year of the 
world 3046, Abijah the fon of that prince fell lick ; upon 
which Jeroboam fent his wife to this prophet to enquire 
what would become of the child. The queen therefore 
went to Ahijah’s houfe in Shilo, difguifed; but the pro¬ 
phet, on hearing the found of her feet, faid, “ Come in, 
thou wife of Jeroboam ; why feigned thou thyfelf to be 
another? for I am fent to thee with heavy tidings.” Then 
he commanded her to go and tell Jeroboam all the evil 
that the Lord had declared he would bring upon his houfe 
for his impieties; that fo foon as (lie (hould enter into the 
city her fon Abijah (hould die, and (hould be the only one 
of Jeroboam’s houfe that fhould receive the honours of a 
burial. 
AHITOPHEL, a native of Gillo, was for fome time 
the counfellor of king David, whom he defected, by join¬ 
ing in the rebellion of Abfalom. This prince, upon his af- 
fuming the crown of Ifrael, fent for Ahitophel from Gil¬ 
lo, to aflift him with his advice; for at that time Ahitophel’s 
counfels were confidered as the oracles of God. Nothing 
gave David more uneafinefs than this event; and when 
Hufhai his friend came to wait on him and attend him in 
his flight, he intreated him to return rather to Jerufalem, 
and endeavour to frullrate the men Cures which (hould be 
propofed by Ahitophel. When Abfalom was come to Je¬ 
rufalem, he delired Ahitophel to deliberate with his other 
counfellors upon the meafures which were proper for him 
to take. Ahitophel adviled him in the firfl place to abufe 
his father’s concubines; fo that, when his party (hould un- 
derftand that he had di'lhonoured his father in this manner, 
they might conclude that there were no hopes of a recon¬ 
ciliation, and therefore efpoufe his interefl more refolute- 
Jy. A tent, therefore, being prepared for this purpofe 
upon the terrace of the king’s palace, Abfalom, in the 
fight of all Ifrael, lay with his father’s concubines. The 
next thing Ahitophel propofed was in the-terms foliow- 
Vol. I. No. 14. 
A I 213 
ing: “ Let me now choofe out 12,000 mefl, and I will 
arife and purfue after David this night, and I will come 
upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and I will 
make him afraid, and all the people that are with him 
(hall flee, and I will finite the king only ; and I will bring 
back all the people unto thee; th£ man whom thou feek- 
eft is as if all returned ; fo all the people fhall be in peace.’* 
This advice was very agreeable to Abfalom. However, 
Abfalom deiired Hufhai to be called, to give his opinion. 
Flufhai being come, and hearing what advice Ahitophel 
had given, faid, “ The counfel which Ahitophel has giv¬ 
en is not good at this time; what, for the prefent, in my 
opinion, may do_better, is this : Let all Ilrael be gathered 
unto thee, from Dan even to Beerfheba, as the fand that 
is by the fea for multitude, and put thyfelf in the midlt 
of them; that wherever David is, we may fall upon him, 
and overwhelm him with our numbers, as the dew fall— 
eth upon the ground.” This laft advice, being more 
agreeable to Abfalom, was preferred; upon which Ahi¬ 
tophel faddled his afs, went to his houfe at Gillo, hanged 
himfelf, and was buried in the fepulchre of his fathers. 
AHMELLA.y! in botany. See Bidens. 
AHOLIBAH and Aholah, are two feigned names 
made ufe of by Ezekiel, xxiii. 4. to denote the two king¬ 
doms of Judah and Samaria. Aholah and Aholibah are 
reprefented as two lifters of Egyptian extraction. Aho¬ 
lah (lands for Samaria, and Aholibah for Jerufalem. The 
firfl fignifies a tent ; and the fecond, my tent is in her. They 
both proftituted themfelves to the Egyptians and Aflyri- 
ans, in imitating their abominations and idolatries: for 
which reafon they were abandoned to thofe very people 
for whom they had (hewn fo paflionate and fo impure an 
affection ; they were carried into captivity, and reduced 
to the fevered fervitude. 
AHOUAI,/! in botany, the trivial name of a fpecies of 
the Cerbera. 
A-HULL, adv. in fea-language, the fituation of a (hip 
when all her fails are furled on account of the violence of 
the dorm, and when, having laftied her helm on the lee- 
fide, (he lies nearly with her fide to the wind and fea, her 
head being fomew hat inclined to the direction of the wind. 
AHUN, a town in France, in the Upper Marche and 
generality of Moulins, and is a yoyal jurifdiCtion. It is 
Seated on the river Creufe, eight miles fouth-eaft of Gue- 
ret, thirty north-eart of Lomages, and thirty-five fouth- 
eaft of Moulines. Lat. 49. 5. N. Ion. 2. 8. E. 
AHUYS, a town of Sweden. It is (mall, but very 
ftrong by its fituation, and has a good port. It is in the 
principality of Gothland, in the territory of Bleckingy, 
near the Baltic Sea, about eighteen miles from Chriftian- 
ftadt. Lat. 56. 20. N. Ion. 14. 10. E. 
AI, anciently a town in Judea, to the north of Jericho, 
called Aiva. by Jofephus, and the inhabitants Ainatoe. Jo- 
fhua having fent a detachment of 3000 men againft: Ai, 
God permitted them to be repulfed on account of Achan’s 
fin, who had violated the anathema pronounced againft; 
the city of Jericho. But after the expiation of this of¬ 
fence, God commanded Joftiua to march with the -whole 
army of the Ifraelites againft Ai, and treat this city and 
the kingdom thereof as he had treated Jericho, with this 
difference, that he gave the plunder of the town to the 
people. Joftnia lent by night 30,000 men to lie in ambufh 
behind Ai; having firfl well infiruCted thofe who had the 
command of them in what they were to do; and the next 
day, early in the morning, he marched againft the city with 
the remainder of his army. The king of Ai, perceiving 
them, fallied haftily out of the town with all his people, 
and fell upon the forces of the Ifraelites, who upon the 
firfl onfet fled, as if they had beer, under fome great tef- 
ror. As foon as Joftnia law the enemy all out of the gates, 
lie raifed his Afield upon the top of a pike, which was the 
(ignal given to the ambufeade; whereupon they immedi¬ 
ately entered the place, which they found without de¬ 
fence, and fet fire to it. The people of Ai, perceiving the 
fmoke afeending, were w lling to return, but discovered 
31 thofe 
