Abi
From CreationWiki, the encyclopedia of creation science
Abi or Abijah (Hebrew, my father is YHWH) was the mother of King Hezekiah of the Southern Kingdom of Israel. Her father was Zechariah, who presumably was a priest during the reigns of Kings Jotham and Ahaz.
An eleven-year-old husband
The simple arithmetic of the dates-of-reign and ages-at-beginning-of-reign of Kings Jotham and Ahaz indicate that King Ahaz, the father of Hezekiah, was not more than eleven years old at the time that he became a father. Abi's age is not given in the two surviving accounts.II_Kings 18:2-3 II_Chronicles 29:1-2
However, it was common in the neighboring countries of that era for the crown prince to be given a wife by arranged marriage at an extremely young age - the youngest known example, King Tutankamen of Egypt, being nine years old. In these cases the first wife was usually a few years older than the king and from a noble family. The apparent purpose of these child weddings was to produce a firstborn heir from a noble mother before the young prince started collecting a harem of less noble women.
For a full discussion of the circumstances around the marriage of Ahaz and Abi, see the article about Ahaz.
Raising a king
The Bible is silent on the circumstances under which the young Hezekiah was reared. But it does offer these salient clues:
- Ahaz did evil in the sight of God and closed the Temple.
- Hezekiah did right in the sight of God, and indeed became the Southern Kingdom's most renowned reformer.
- Ahaz sacrificed one of his sons to pagan gods (probably Molech or Baal Melquart).
The above facts suggest that Hezekiah was greatly influenced by his mother and his grandfather Zechariah, the high priest, and may have been placed in his charge. Nor would this be the first time that a priest or Levite took personal charge of the upbringing of a king, for this happened also to King Joash.
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Categories: Bible | Biblical person | Old Testament | Biography | Israel | History
