Azariah (Hastings' Dictionary)

1. King of Judah ; see tJzziAH. 2. 2 Ch 22» for Ahaziah. 3. 2 Ch 15'"' a prophet, son of Oded, who met Asa's victorious army, on their return from defeating Zerah the Ethiopian, at Mareshah, and urged them to begin and persevere in a religious reform. His speech is a general illustration, from tlie experience of the past, of his opening words : ' Tlie Lord is ^Wth you while ye be with him ; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you ; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you.' It is conceived in the same spirit as the historical retrospects in Jg 2""^' and Neh 9. ' Now, for long seasons' (v.'), ' in those times ' (v."), refer to periods of national defection ; ' the inhabitants of the lands,' ' nation against nation ' (w."- ), are magniloquent indi- cations of the foreign oppressions, oi' the civil wars between the various tribes of Israel (cf. Gn 25"). Kamphausen renders the whole jiassage in the future ; but a prediction seems irrelevant here. In v. 'Azariah' should be read for 'Oded,' with Pesh. Vulg. A ; B has 'ASdS, but 'ilSriS in v.', wliere A has 'AddS (in 28" both have '05i)5). 4. High priest in the reign of Solomon, 1 K 4', where ne is called son of Zadok, though really of Ahimaaz (1 Ch 6^). The note in 1 Ch 6'" ' he it is that executed the priest's office in the house that Solomon built in Jerusalem,' is misplaced, and must refer to this man, and not to his grandson of the same name. S. 1 Ch 6'", Ezr 7', father of Amariah, who was high priest under Jehoshaphat. This man, therefore, must have held the office in the reign of Asa ; on this list see Amariah, Nos. 2, 3. 6. High priest in the reign of Uzziah (2 Ch 26''™), who with his attendant priests with- stood and denounced the king when he pre- sumptuously attempted to usurp the priests' onice of burning incense upon the altar. 'The wrath of Uzziah at being thus resisted, and his persistence, were at once divinely punished. An eartliquake took place (Jos. Ant. LX. x. 4 ; cf. Am 1', Zee 14") ; ' the leprosy brake forth in his forehead' ; the priests 'looked upon him' (cf. Lv 13'), and thrust Iiim out of the temple. In 2 K 15° we only read that ' the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper.' The conclusion is almost inevitable, that here, as often elsewhere, the Chronicler has supplied a justification for the afflictions of a good man. The narrative acquires additional signifi- cance when we note that m expanding 1 K 9", he omits the statement that Solomon ' burnt incense upon the altar that was before the Lord.' 7. 2 Ch 31'", high priest in the reign of Hezekiah, described as ' chief priest, of the house of Zadok,' and 'the ruler of the house of God' (v."). This last plirase is also found in 1 Ch 9", Neh 1 1", where it is uncertain whether it refers to Ahitub II. or to Azariah (Seraiah), i.e. Eliashib, as rei)resentative of that house (Rawlinson). A very similar title is api)lied in Jer 20' to Pashhur, who was not high priest.. Perhaps the office indicated is tliat of tlie 'Captain of the temple' (Ac 4' S"-""). To tliis high priest and to Hezekiah the Chronicler ascribes the building of store chambers in the temple to receive the oblations of the people. 8. In the, _. -. ^Ij^j rias, genealogy of Jehozadak, 1 Ch 6"-", and in t of Ezra, Ezr 7', Azariah (Ezerias, 1 Es 8' ; Azar AZAKIAS AZAZEL 207 2 Es 1') is son of Hilkiah, hif;h priest under Josiali, and father of Seraiah, who was killed by Neh\iihadie//ar. There is room in the history for suili u hi};h priest; but in 1 Ch 'J", Neh U'', in a list of those ijriests who dwelt in Jerusalem in the time of Neneniiah, is found an Azariah or Seraiah, whose genealofjy is traeed up to the second Ahitub, and is all but identical with that of Jehozadak and Kzra. This Azariah must be the priest clan, second in the list, Neh lU^; called Ezra (K^i;;) in the lists, Neh 12'- ", where it conies third. In Neh 12^, where both Azariah and Kzra are mentioned, perhaps the former is the same as Seraiah ; see No. 7. 9. 1 K 4", a son of Nathan, who ' was over the officers,' i.e. the twelve com- missariat otlicers (v.'). 10. 1 Ch 2", son of the Ethan whose wisdom was surpassed by that of Solomon (1 K 4")- !!• 1 Ch 2^, a man of Judah who had Egyptian blood in his veins (v.). 12. 1 Ch 0-^, a Ivohathite Levite (called Uzziah in 1 Ch 6), an ancestor of the prophet Samuel. 13, 14. 2 Ch 21', Azariah and Azariahu, two of the six sons of Jehoshaphat, to whom tlieir father gave 'great gifts' and 'fenced cities,' and who were slain by their elder brother Jehoram on his acces- sion (li om. both, but A has thcin). 15, 16. 2 Ch 23', Azariah and Azariahu, two of the five ' captains of hundreds ' who assisted Jehoiada in the restora- tion of Joa.sh. It is just possible that the second of these, ' the son of Obed,' may be the same as No. 11, who was the grandson of Obed. 17. 2 Ch 28", one of the four ' heads of the children of Ephraim,' in the reign of I'ekah, who sujiported the proiihet Oded when he rebuked the army of Israel for purposing to enslave the captives of Judah. He and his fellows treated the captives kindly, and conducted them back to Jericho. 18, 19. 2 Ch 29''^ two Levites, a Koliathite and a Merarite. The son of the former, Joel, and the latter, were among those who took a leading part in cleansing the temple in the reign of Hezekiah. 20. Nell S'", one of those who rejtaired the wall of Jerusalem, probably a priest. 21. Neh 7', called Seraiah, Ezr 2'; Zacharias, 1 Es 5; one of the twelve leaders of Israel who returned with Zerubbabel. 22. Neh 8' (LXX om. )j Azarias, 1 Es 9**, one of those who heli)ed the Levites to ' cause the people to understand the law.' 23. Jer 43', son of Hoshaiah (the Maacatliite, 40"), also called Jezaniah (4U", 42'), Jaazaniah (2 K 25''), etc. He was one of the 'captains of the forces' who joined Gedaliah at Mizpah. They warned him of his danger (Jer 40'^), and endeavoured to avenge his murder (41"). Hut, the assassin escaping, they feared lest they should be imjilicated in tlie affair, and prepared to llee into Egyjit. They then went through the fonn of consulting Jeremiah ; but when he advised them to stay in Jud.Ta, 'all the proud men' refused, and carried off the prophet to Egypt. 24. The Ileb. name of Abednego, Dn 1»- '•"•>" 2" (see Hananiah). N. J. D. WiiiTK.