OF THE PRINCIPAL PERSONS, NATIONS, COUNTRIES, AND PLACES,

MENTIONED IN THE HOLY SCRIPTURES.

This Index is compiled from the works of Calmet, Reland, Wells, Chompré, Gesenius, Schleusner, Robinson (of Andover, N. A.), Serieys, Coquerel, Macbean, Drs. Whitby, Hales, and Parish, M. Anquetil, and various other writers and commentators, who have treated on Sacred History, Biography, and Geography; and also from the Travels in Palestine and Asia Minor, of Bishop Pococke, the Rev. Dr. E. D. Clarke, Lieutenant-colonel Leake, the Hon. Capt. Keppel, Captains Irby and Mangles, the Rev. Messrs. W. Jowett, Connor, Hartley, and Arundell, Messrs. Buckingham and Carne, and of Dr. Robert Richardson, who explored various parts of the East, in company with the Rt. Hon. the Earl of Belmore, in the years 1816-1818. Those names of persons and places only are omitted which occur but seldom in the Bible, and of which nothing more is known than appears in the passages where they occur.

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the wall to Joab (2 Sam. xx. 14-22.) About eighty years after, was taken and ravaged by Benhadad king of Syria. (1 Kings xv. 20.) About two hundred years after this event, it was captured and sacked by Tiglath-pileser, who carried the inhabitants captive into Assyria. (2 Kings xv. 29.) This place was subsequently rebuilt; and, according to Josephus, became, under the name of ABILA, the capital of the district of Abilene.

3. ABEL-MEHOLAH was the native country of Elisha. (1 Kings xix. 16.) It could not be far from Scythopolis. (iv. 12.) Eusebius places it in the great plain, sixteen miles from Scythopolis, south. Not far from hence, Gideon obtained a victory over the Midianites. (Judg. vii. 22.)

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ABILA. See ABEL-BETH-MAACHAH.
ABILENE, region of, 18.

ABIMAEL, the name of a descendant of Joktan. (Gen. x. 28. 1 Chron. i. 22.) In these passages he and his brethren probably represent different Arabian tribes; though no name has yet been discovered in the Arabian writers which clearly corresponds to Abimael.

ABIMELECH, a common appellative of the Philistine kings, as 2. ABEL-KERAMIM, the place or plain of the vineyards (Judg. Pharaoh was of the Egyptian monarchs. Two of this name are xi. 33.), a village of the Ammonites, where they were discom-mentioned in the Scriptures, viz. 1. Abimelech king of Gerar, fited by Jephthah. According to Eusebius, it abounded in his the contemporary of Abraham. Struck with the beauty of Sarah, time with vineyards, and was six Roman miles from Rabbath he took her from the patriarch, who had passed her as his sister, Ammon. but restored her in consequence of a divine command. (Gen. xx.)—2. Abimelech II. supposed to be the son of the preceding. with whom Isaac entered into an alliance. (Gen. xxvi.) ABIMELECH, the son of Gideon by a concubine. After his father's death he took possession of the government; procured himself to be acknowledged king; and afterwards put to death all his brethren, except Jotham, who escaped his fury. He was himself subsequently wounded at Thebez by a woman, who hurled a piece of a mill-stone upon his head; and indignant at the idea of perishing by the hand of a woman, he commanded his armour-bearer to pierce him with his sword. (Judg. viii.) ABINADAB.-1. A Levite of Kirjath-jearim, who received the ark after it had been sent back by the Philistines. It continued in his house until David sent to conduct it thence to Jerusalem. (1 Sam. vii. 2. 2 Kings vi. 3, 4.)—2. One of Saul's sons who perished with him at the battle of Gilboa.-3. The brother of David and the son of Jesse. (1 Chron. ii. 13.)

4. ABEL-MISRAIM (the mourning of the Egyptians) was formerly called the floor of Atad. (Gen. 1. 11.) Jerome and some others after him believe this to be the place afterwards called Bethagla, at some distance from Jericho and Jordan, west.

5. ABEL-SHITTIM was a town in the plains of Moab, beyond Jordan, opposite Jericho. According to Josephus, Abel-Shittim, or Abela, as he calls it, was sixty furlongs from Jordan. Eusebius says, it was in the neighbourhood of Mount Peor. Moses encamped at Abel-Shittim before the Hebrew army passed the Jordan, under Joshua. (Num. xxxiii. 49. xxv. 1.) Here the Israelites fell into idolatry, and worshipped Baal-Peor, seduced by Balak; and here God severely punished them by the hands of the Levites. (Num. xxv. 1, 2, &c.) This city is often called Shittim only. (Antiq. lib. iv. cap. 7. and v. 1., and de Bello, lib. v. cap. 3.)

ABEZ, a town in the canton of the tribe of Issachar. Josh. xix. 20.

ABIAH.-1. The second son of Samuel, who intrusted to him and his brother Joel the administration of justice, which they executed so ill, that the elders of Israel came to the prophet and demanded of him a king. (1 Sam. viii. 2-5.)-2. A priest of the posterity of Aaron, and the founder of a sacerdotal family. When all the priests were divided into twenty-four classes, the eighth class was denominated from him the class of Abia. (1 Chron. xxiv. 10.) To this class belonged Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist. (Luke i. 5.)

ABIATHAR, the son of Abimelech, the tenth high-priest of the Jews. Escaping from the massacre of the priests at Nob, he joined the party of David, and continued in the pontificate until the reign of Solomon: by whom he was deprived of his office, for having embraced the faction of Adonijah.

ABIB, the name of the seventh month of the Jewish civil year, and the first of their ecclesiastical year. It was also called Nisan. For an account of the fasts or festivals occurring in this month, see p. 76.

ABIGAIL-1. The wife of Nabal, of Carmel; by her prudence and address, she averted the wrath of David against her husband, who had churlishly refused him succours during his distress in consequence of the persecutions of Saul. On the death of Nabal. she became the wife of David. (1 Sam. xxv.)-2. The sister of David. (1 Chron. ii. 16, 17.)

ABIHU, the son of Aaron and Elisheba, who was consumed, together with his brother Nadab, by a flash of fire sent from God, for offering incense with strange fire, instead of taking it from the altar of burnt-offering. (Lev. x. 1, 2.) This severity of punishment was necessary towards the first transgressors of the divine law, in order to deter others from the same offence, and to increase the reverential awe of the Divine Majesty. It would seem that Nadab and Abihu were betrayed into this act of presumption by intemperance at the feast upon the feast-offerings: for, immediately after, and in consequence of their fate, Moses prohibited the priests from drinking wine and strong drink, when they approached the sanctuary. (Mant and D'Oyly, on Lev. x.) ABIJAH, the son of Jeroboam I. king of Israel, a young prince of promising hopes, who is supposed to have shown himself averse from his father's idolatry, and died early. (1 Kings xiv.)

ABIJAH, OF ABIJAM, the son and successor of Rehoboam king of Judah. He reigned thirty-three years; a wicked prince, who imitated the impiety and misconduct of his father.

ABIJAH, the name of the wife of Ahaz, and the mother of Hezekiah king of Judah.

ABIRAM.-1. One of those who conspired with Korah and Dathan against Moses, and who perished in the same manner. (Num. xvi.)-2. The eldest son of Hiel the Bethelite, who expired as his father was laying the foundation of Jericho, which he had undertaken to rebuild (1 Kings xvi. 34.), as Joshua more than 530 years before had prophetically announced would be the case. (Josh vi.)

ABISHAG, the name of a beautiful virgin who was sent for to cherish David in his old age. Interpreters are not agreed whether she became the consort of David or was only his concubine. After David's death, she was demanded in marriage by Adonijah: but his request was rejected by Solomon; who, considering that, if it were granted, Adonijah would affect the regal power, caused him to be put to death. (1 Kings i. 3, 4. ii. 13—25.)

ABNER, the son of Ner, uncle to king Saul, and general of his forces. After the death of his sovereign, he preserved the crown for his son Ishbosheth: but, afterwards quarrelling with him, Abner joined David. He was, subsequently, slain by Joab, in revenge for the death of his brother Asahel who was slain in open battle. David honoured Abner with public obsequies. (2 Sam. iii.)

ABRAHAM, the patriarch and founder of the Israelitish nation, celebrated in the Scriptures for his probity, and for his unshaken confidence in the promises of God. He was the son of Terah, and was born at Ur, a city of Chaldæa. Called by God out of his own country, by faith he went forth into an unknown country, where he dwelt with his posterity, resting on the general promise of God for a better inheritance. Having married Sarah, he became the father of Isaac, whom by faith he offered on an altar, though in him he expected a completion of all the promises which God had made to him: but, as at first he had miraculously received a son, he concluded that God could with equal ease, after death, raise him again to life. (Heb. xi. 8-10. 17-19.) The patriarch's first name was Abram, which signifies the father of elevation, or an elevated father; but on a renewal of the divine covenant with him and of the promises made to him by God, it was changed to Abraham, the import of which is, the father of a great multitude. (Gen. xvii.) He died at the age of 175 years, and was interred, with Sarah his wife, in the field and cave at Machpelah. (xxv.)

ABSALOM, the son of king David by Maahah. He rebelled against his father, and was slain by Joab, about 1020 years B. C. (2 Sam. xiii.-xviii.)

ABSTINENCE, vows of, 130.
Aссно. See PTOLEMAIS.

ACELDAMA, a place without the south wall of Jerusalem. beyond the pool of Siloam. It was called the Potter's Field (Matt. xxvii. 7. 10.), because they dug thence the earth of which they made their pots: and the Fuller's Field, because they dried their cloth there; but being afterwards bought with that money

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A D by which the high-priest and rulers of the Jews purchased the blood of the holy Jesus, it was by the providence of God so ordering it, called Aceldama, that is, the field of blood. (Acts i. 19. Matt. xxvii. 7, 8.) The place, which in modern times has been shown to travellers as Aceldama, is described by Bishop Pococke as an oblong square cavern about twenty-six paces long, twenty broad, and apparently about twenty feet deep. It is enclosed on every side, either with the rock or by a wall, and covered over. There are six holes in the top, by which a person may look down into it; and through these holes the dead bodies are thrown in. Several sepulchral grottoes are to be seen in the vicinity of this spot.

and the remnant of Adama. (Isa. xv. ult.) Apw To σTEμ Μωαβ, και Αριήλ, και το καταλο στον "Αδεμα.

ADAR, the twelfth month of the ecclesiastical Jewish year, and the sixth of the civil year. For a notice of the festivals, &c. during this month, see pp. 75, 76.

ACHAIA, in the largest sense, comprehends Greece properly so called. It is bounded on the west by Epirus, on the east by the Ægean Sea, on the north by Macedonia, on the south by Peloponnesus. This seems to be the region intended when Saint Paul, according to the Roman acceptation, mentions all the regions of Achaia, and directs his second Epistle to all the saints in Achaia. (2 Cor. xi. 10.) Thus, what is Achaia, in Acts xix. 21. is Hellas, that is, Greece. (Acts xx. 2.) Achaia, strictly so called, is the northern region of Peloponnesus, bounded on the north by the Gulf of Corinth, on the south by Arcadia, on the east by Sicyonia, and on the west by the Ionian Sea. Of this region CORINTH was the capital.

ACHAN, the son of Charmi, of the tribe of Judah; who, contrary to the express command of God, had appropriated some valuable articles out of the spoils of Jericho: for which he, together with all his family, was stoned, and all his effects were consumed with fire. (Josh. vii. 22.)

АCHISH, a king of Gath, in whose court David took refuge from Saul; but, his life being endangered, he feigned madness before the king. When war broke out between Saul and the Philistines, David marched with his army: but the lords of the Philistines, being apprehensive lest he should turn against them in battle, desired Achish to dismiss him, which accordingly he did, with commendations for his fidelity. (1 Sam. xxi.—xxix.) ACHMETHA. See ECHATANA.

ACHOR, a valley in the territory of Jericho, and in the canton of the tribe of Benjamin, where Achan was stoned. (Josh. vii. 24.)

ACHSAH, the daughter of Caleb, who promised her in marriage to him who should conquer Kirjath-sepher from the Philistines. Othniel took the place, and married Achsah. (Josh. xv. 16, 17.) ACKSHAPH, a city belonging to the tribe of Asher. The king of Ackshaph was conquered by Joshua. (xii. 20.) Some writers are of opinion, that Ackshaph is the same as Ecdippa, on the Mediterranean, between Tyre and Ptolemais; others, that Ecdippa is described in Josh. xix. 20. under the name of Achzib. The Arabs call a place, three hours north from Ptolemais, Zib, which is the place where formerly stood Ecdippa. It is probable that Ackshaph and Achzib are but different names for the same town. Mr. Buckingham, who visited this place in January, 1816, found it a small town situated on a hill near the sea, and having a few palm trees rearing themselves above its dwellings.

ACQUITTAL, in criminal cases, forms of, 56.
ACTIONS, civil and criminal, how determined among the Jews.
See pp. 55-57.

ADADA, a city in the southern part of the canton belonging to the tribe of Judah, not far from the boundaries of Idumæa or Edom. (Josh. xv. 27.)

ADAM, the first man, and the father of the human race, was created out of the dust of the earth, by God himself, who animated him with a reasonable soul, and formed him after his moral image, in righteousness and true holiness. Having transgressed the single command imposed on him by God, in token of his dependence upon Him as lord paramount of the creation, Adam forfeited the state of happiness in which he had been created, and entailed a curse on himself and his posterity, had not God made a promise of a future Saviour. (Gen. i. ii. iii.) He died, aged 930 years.

ADONI-BEZEK (the Lord of Bezek) was the first Canaanitish king conquered by the Israelites after the death of Joshua. He was taken to Jerusalem, where he died, after his toes and thumbs had been cut off, which he owned to be a just retribution of divine providence, in retaliation of what he had himself inflicted upon others. (Judg. i. 7.)

ADONIJAH, the fourth son of king David by Haggith. He aspired to the kingdom before his father's death, but was disappointed of his hopes by the command of David, who ordered Solomon to be proclaimed king. He afterwards desired Abishag, the Shunemite, to wife; this request was not only rejected, but he was ordered to be put to death, as one guilty of treason. (1 Kings ii. 13-25.)

ADONI-ZEDEK (i. e. Lord of Zedek) was king of Zedek, or Jerusalem, and one of the five Canaanitish kings shut up in the cave of Makkedah, whither they fled after their defeat by Joshua; by whose command they were taken out and put to death, and their bodies hung on five trees. (Josh. x.)

ADOPTION, ceremony of, and its effects. 164, 165. ADORAIM, a town in the southern part of the tribe of Judah, which was fortified by Rehoboam. (2 Chron. xi. 9. 11.)

ADORAM, the chief treasurer of Rehoboam, who was sent by that prince, in the commencement of his reign, to the rebellious tribes, to endeavour to reduce them to their allegiance; and perished, the victim of an infuriated populace. (1 Kings xii. 13.) It is uncertain whether this Adoram was the same as Adoniram, who had filled the same office under Solomon. (1 Kings iv. 6.) He might be his son, and one of the young men who gave evil counsels to Rehoboam. However this may be, it was the height of imprudence to send him to the revolted tribes who had complained of the burden of taxes: and hence some expositors have imagined, that Rehoboam sacrificed his chief treasurer in the vain hope that his death would calm the effervescence of popular fury.

ADRAMMELECH, and SHAREZER, sons of Sennacherib, were probably the children of slaves who had no right to the Assyrian throne, and who assassinated their father on his return from his unsuccessful expedition against Hezekiah, at Nineveh, while worshipping in the temple of Nisroch his god: after which they fled into Armenia.

ADRAMMELECH, an idol (probably the sun), worshipped by the inhabitants of Sepharvaim, who caused their children to pass through the fire to it.

ADRAMYTTIUM, a maritime town of Mysia in Asia Minor, over-against the island of Lesbos, situated at the foot of Mount Ida. (Acts xxvii. 1, 2.) It was a colony of the Athenians.

ADRIA is mentioned in Acts xxvii. 27., where, it is to be observed, that when Saint Paul says, that they were tossed in Adria, he does not say in the Adriatic Gulf, which ends with the Illyrian Sea, but in the Adriatic Sea, which, according to Hesychius, is the same with the Ionian Sea; and therefore to the question, How Saint Paul's ship, which was near to Malta, and so, either in the Lybian or Sicilian Sea, could be in the Adriatic? It is well answered, That not only the Ionian, but even the Sicilian Sea, and part of that which washes Crete, was called the Adriatic. Thus, Ptolemy says, that Sicily was bounded on the east by the Adriatic; and that Crete was compassed on the west by the Adriatic Sea; and Strabo says, that the Ionian Gulf is a part of that which, in his time, was called the Adriatic Sea. (Whitby.)

ADRIEL, the son of Barzillai, married Merab, the daughter of Saul (who had first been promised to David, 1 Sam. xviii. 19.), by whom he had five sons, who were given up to the Gibeonites, to be put to death in revenge of Saul's cruelty to them. In 2 Sam. xxi. 8. they are called the sons of Michal; she having adopted them, or else the name of Michal is by mistake put for Merab.

ADAMA, OF ADMAH, one of the five cities destroyed by fire from heaven, on account of the profligate wickedness of their inhabitants, and afterwards overwhelmed by the waters of the ADULLAM, a city in the south part of the canton of the tribe Dead Sea. (Gen. xix. 24.) It was the most easterly of those of Judah towards the Dead Sea. (Josh. xv. 35.) The king of which were swallowed up; and there is some probability, either this place was killed by Joshua. (xii. 15.) In a cave in its vithat it was not entirely sunk under the waters, or that the subse-cinity David was concealed. (1 Sam. xxii. 1.) Rehoboam rebuilt quent inhabitants of the country built a city of the same name and fortified this place. (2 Chron. xi. 7.) In the fourth century on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea; for Isaiah, according to it was a considerable town, but it has long since been reduced the LXX. says, God will destroy the Moabites, the city of Ar, to ruins.

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ADULTERY, trial of a woman suspected of, 56.
ANUMMIM, a town and mountain belonging to the tribe of
Benjamin. (Josh. xv. 9. xviii. 17.)

ENON, OF ENON, signifies the place of springs, where John baptized. (John iii. 23.) It is uncertain where it was situated, whether in Galilee, Judæa, or Samaria.

ERAS, OF ERAS (Jewish), account of, 77.

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consideration, to enter into Absalom's conspiracy? The pride of overturning a throne, of which he was the support, and the hope of reigning himself under the name of Absalom, will, perhaps, account for the conspiracy, but not for the incest which he advised Absalom to commit. Ahithophel was the father of Eliam the father of Bathsheba (2 Sam. xxxiii. 34. xi. 3. 1 Chron. iii. 5.) and there is every reason to think, that he wished to revenge AGABUS, a prophet, who foretold a famine which took place his grand-daughter; particularly when we consider the infamous in the land of Judæa, in the fourth year of the reign of Claudius, advice which he gave, his eagerness for pursuing David, and the A. D. 44. (Acts xi. 28.) This famine is mentioned by Suetonius desire he expressed to smite the king himself. (2 Sam. xvi. 21. and other profane writers. Agabus also foretold the imprison-xvii. 1, 2.) His suicide was as deliberate as his hatred : he was ment of Paul by the Jews, and his being sent bound to the Gentiles; all which literally came to pass.

AGAG was probably a common appellative for the kings of the Amalekites. One, of this name, was conquered and taken prisoner; and, though condemned according to the law of the interdict, he was spared by Saul. He was put to death at Gilgal by order of Samuel. The fate of Agag has called forth the verbose pity of infidels; who, while they have affected to deplore his fate, have forgotten only one thing, viz. that he had been a cruel and sanguinary tyrant; and that Samuel reproached him for his cruelty before he commanded him to be put to death. (1 Sam. xv.)

AGED PERSONS, laws concerning, 82.

one of those men who are as useful friends as they are dangerous enemies, equally able in good and evil, who employ their talents in the service of their passions, do nothing by halves, and are models of guilt or of virtue.

АHOLAH and АHOLI BAH, two fictitious names, employed by the prophet Ezekiel (xxiii. 4.) to denote the two kingdoms of Judah and Samaria. Aholah and Aholibah are represented as two sisters of Egyptian extraction; the former, standing for Jerusalem, the latter for Samaria. Both prostituted themselves to the Egyptians and Assyrians, in imitating their abominations and idolatries; for which reason the LORD abandoned them to those very people, for whom they had evinced so improper an attachment, being carried into captivity, and reduced to the seve

AGRICULTURE of the Jews, 176-178. Agricultural allu- rest servitude by them. sions, 180.

AGUR, a wise man to whom the thirtieth chapter of the book of Proverbs is ascribed, otherwise unknown. As the appellative Agura, in Syriac, signifies one who applies himself to the study of wisdom, Gesenius thinks it possible, that the name may be significant and allegorical.

АHAB, a king of Israel, who reigned 22 years, and surpassed all his predecessors in impiety. He was entirely under the influence of his idolatrous wife Jezebel. He died, B. c. 897, of the wounds which he had received in battle with the Syrians, according to the prediction of Micaiah the son of Imlah. (1 Kings xvi.-xxii.)

AHAD, or ACHAD, a Syrian idol, notice of, 137. AHASUERUS, or ARTAXERXES LONGIMANUS, king of Persia, who married Esther. See p. 226, note.

AHAVA, a river of Babylonia, or of Assyria, where Ezra assembled those captives whom he afterwards brought into Judæa. (Ezra viii. 15.) It is supposed to be that which ran along the regions of Adiabene, where a river Diava, or Adiava, is mentioned, on which Ptolemy places the city Abane or Aavane. This is probably the country called Ava (2 Kings xvii. 24. xviii. 34. xix. 13.), whence the kings of Assyria translated the people called Avites into Palestine; and where, likewise, in their room they settled some of the captive Israelites. Ezra intending to collect as many Israelites as he could, to return with him to Judæa, halted in the country of Ava, or Ahava, whence he sent agents into the Caspian mountains, to invite such Jews as were willing to join him. (Ezra viii. 17.)

AHAZ, king of Judah, son of Jotham, who died, B. c. 726; for his iniquities he was denied a place in the sepulchres of the kings his predecessors. (2 Chron. xxviii.)

AHAZIAH, the son and successor of Ahab, king of Israel: he was as distinguished for his horrid impiety as his father was. He reigned only one year after his father's death. (1 Kings xxii. 52.).

AHAZIAH, king of Judah, the son and successor of Jehoram, by Athaliah; he reigned one year, and received his mortal wound by command of Jehu, and died at Megiddo. (2 Kings viii. 2 Chron. xxiii.)

A1, or HAI, a city of ancient Canaan, near Bethel, which was taken by military stratagem, by the Israelites under Joshua. (Josh. vii.)

AJALON, a city in the canton of the tribe of Dan, assigned to the Levites of Kohath's family. It was situated between Timnath and Beth-Shemesh, and is probably the city alluded to in Josh. x. 12. There were three other cities of this name; one in the canton of Benjamin, another in that of Ephraim, not far from Schechem; and the third in the canton of Zebulon; the situation of which is not known.

AJALON, valley of, notice of, 31.

ALEXANDER.-1. A man whose father Simon was compelled to bear the cross of Jesus Christ. (Mark xv. 21.)—2. Another. who had been high-priest, and who was present at the interrogation of the apostles Peter and John, concerning the healing of the man who had been lame from his birth. (Acts iv. 6.) Some have imagined, that he was the brother of Philo, the celebrated Jewish writer, who flourished in the reign of Caligula.—3. A Jew of Ephesus. At the time of the sedition raised in that city by Demetrius against Paul, the populace in their blind fury seem to have confounded the Christians with the Jews: and the latter being desirous that the mob should direct their vengeance against the believers in Jesus Christ, commissioned Alexander to harangue the Ephesians and to plead their cause, but in vain. The Ephesians, as soon as they knew that he was a Jew, refused to listen to him. Beza and Bolten have conjectured that this was the Alexander taxes (the worker in metals, or smith), who did the apostle "much evil.” (1 Tim. iv. 14.) As every male Jew was obliged to learn some trade, this is not improbable. Coquerel, however, thinks that he was one of those venal orators, whose eloquence was always at the command of any that would employ them.-4. A brazier or smith, who made shipwreck concerning the faith (1 Tim. i. 19, 20.), and whom Saint Paul delivered unto Satan; that is, expelled him from the communion of the Christian church, to be no longer considered as a Christian, but as a subject of Satan's kingdom.

ALEXANDRIA, 2 celebrated city of Egypt, built by Alexander the Great, A. м. 3673, в. c. 331, and situated between the Mediterranean Sea and the Lake Moeris. Alexandria at present exhibits no vestiges of its former magnificence, except the ruins that surround it, and which are of very remote antiquity. Under the Arabian dynasty, its splendour gradually declined with its commerce. From the neglect of the canals, which anciently AHIMELECH, a priest of Nob, to whom David went, and whom diffused fertility through the surrounding country, and the enSaul commanded to be put to death with other priests for assist-croachments of the sand, the city is now insulated in a desert, ing him. Also a priest, in the reign of David, the son of Abiathar; who is likewise called Abimelech.

АнIJAH, a prophet in the reign of Jeroboam I., who dwelt at Shiloh, and foretold the death of his son Abijah.

AHITHOPHEL, an eminent counsellor in the reign of David, so distinguished for his prudence and wisdom, that his advice equally obtained the confidence of the people and the monarch. He joined the conspiracy of the rebel Absalom against David: but, finding his profligate but crafty counsel disregarded, he went to his house at Gillo, hanged himself, and was buried in the sepulchre of his fathers. It has been asked, What motive could induce a privy counsellor of David, who was held in such high

and exhibits no vestiges of those delightful gardens and cultivated fields, which subsisted even to the time of the Arabian conquest. The commerce of ancient Alexandria was very extensive, especially in corn (Egypt being considered the granary of Rome), which was exported in vessels of considerable burden; so that the centurion could easily meet with a ship of Alexandria, laden with corn, sailing into Italy. (Acts xxvii. 6.) Alexandria was the native place of Apollos. (Acts xviii. 24.)

ALPHEUS, the father of James the Less (Matt. x. 3. Mark iii. 18. Luke vi. 15. Acts i. 13.), and the husband of Mary, the sister of