Abaddon (Hastings' Dictionary)

This word is found in the OT only in the Wisdom Literature. When it first appears, the old view of Sheol as a place where the family, national, and social distinctions of the world above are reproduced, had been partially displaced ; and in some measure the higher concep- tion had gained acceptance, which held that in Sheol at all events moral distinctions were paramount, and that men were treated there according to tlieir deserts.

In Job 31" Abaddon (I";k) bears the general meaning of ' ruin,' ' destruction.' (But see Dillm. and Dav. in loc. ) In the other instances of its occurrence, however, it is specialised, and designates the place of the lost in Sheol. Thus in Job 26', Pr 15" 27* (■■n^K, in Ker6 fi^iV,) it occurs in conjunction with 'Sheol' (^iwe), and in Pa 88" with 'grave' (■>3p). Again, in Job 28" a further development is to be observed.

In this passage it is linked witli death (nm), and personified in the same way as we find K.'P^* in Dn 4" and Hades in Kev 6', and D'OP and Dipo in the Talmud. The word is found once more in the Bible in Rev 9". In this passage it is u.sed as the proper name of a prince of tlie infernal regions, and explained by the word 'AiroX- Xi;ui'= ' Destroyer.' In the LXX in3K is alM;^'^ rendered by diriJX«o, except in Joh 31" where L.X^.X implies a ditrerent text. The first two meiiiiiii;.'

a above given are found in the Aram, and later Ihl). Finally, in the latter in the 'Emek Hamraelech, f. 15. 3, Ahaddon becomes the lowest place of (Jehenna. K. H. ClIAHI.E.S. ABADIAS CApaSlat), 1 Es 8"».— Son of .lezelus, of the sons of Joah, returned with Ezra from captivity Called Obadiah. son of Jehiel, Ezr 8". H. St. J. Thackerat. ABAUTHA ABDA ABAGTHA (kd^Jk, Est l'"), one of the seven cluiinburlaina or eunuchs sent by Ahasuerua (Xerxes) to fetch the queen, Vashti, to his banquet.

The name, whica is apparently Persian, is probably akin to the names Bigtha (1'°) and Bigthan (2^). For the derivation, bagddna = ' God's gift,' has been suggested, but cannot be regarded as certain. In the LXX the names of the chamber- lains are quite different from the Hebrew. H. A. White. ABANAH (njjg, Ker6 .ijck, AV Abana ; AVm Aniana, UVm Ama'nah ; 2 K 5"). This ; river of Damascus.'the Chrysorrhoas of theGreeks,is identi- fied with the Barada, to whose waters Damascus owes her life.

Kising in the uplands near Baalbec, it drains tlie hollow in the bosom of Anti-Lebanon. 'Ain el Barada, in the plain of ZebedAny, swells the stream, wliich then plunges down the deep picturesque gorge of Wady Barada. About 14 miles N. W. of Damascus, in a beautiful romantic spot in the heart of the hills, rises the mighty fountain el Fijeh (Or. inrff), a spring) ; a river bom in a moment, which, after a orief, foaming course, joins the Barada, more than doubling its volume.

It then flows along the bottom of a deep winding valley, shaded by beautiful and fruitful trees ; bare, yellow rocks towering high on either hand above the green. About half the water is led captive along the eastern bank towards the city, the Beyrout road passing between the streams.

Just where the precipitous clill's advance as if to close the gorge, it escapes from the mountains, and, throwing itself out fanlike in many branches, waters the i)lain, supplies tlie city, and drains off into the northern two of the marshy lakes eastward. One branch is called Nahr Banuis, a reminiscence of tlie ancient name. W. Ewing.