Arabic
Arabic is a Central Semitic language that first emerged in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. It is named after the Arabs, a term used to describe peoples living in the area bounded by Mesopotamia in the east and the Anti-Lebanon mountains in the west, in northwestern Arabia, in the Sinai Peninsula. Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage comprising 30 modern varieties, including its standard form, Modern Standard Arabic, derived from Classical Arabic; as the modern written language, Modern Standard Arabic is taught in schools and universities, is used to varying degrees in workplaces and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, the official language of 26 states, the liturgical language of the religion of Islam, since the Quran and Hadith were written in Arabic. Modern Standard Arabic follows the grammatical standards of Classical Arabic, uses much of the same vocabulary. However, it has discarded some grammatical constructions and vocabulary that no longer have any counterpart in the spoken varieties, has adopted certain new constructions and vocabulary from the spoken varieties.
Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-classical era in modern times. Due to its grounding in Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic is removed over a millennium from everyday speech, construed as a multitude of dialects of this language; these dialects and Modern Standard Arabic are described by some scholars as not mutually comprehensible. The former are acquired in families, while the latter is taught in formal education settings. However, there have been studies reporting some degree of comprehension of stories told in the standard variety among preschool-aged children; the relation between Modern Standard Arabic and these dialects is sometimes compared to that of Latin and vernaculars in medieval and early modern Europe. This view though does not take into account the widespread use of Modern Standard Arabic as a medium of audiovisual communication in today's mass media—a function Latin has never performed. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a major vehicle of culture in Europe in science and philosophy.
As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Arabic influence in vocabulary, is seen in European languages Spanish and to a lesser extent Portuguese, Catalan, owing to both the proximity of Christian European and Muslim Arab civilizations and 800 years of Arabic culture and language in the Iberian Peninsula, referred to in Arabic as al-Andalus. Sicilian has about 500 Arabic words as result of Sicily being progressively conquered by Arabs from North Africa, from the mid-9th to mid-10th centuries. Many of these words relate to related activities; the Balkan languages, including Greek and Bulgarian, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history; some of the most influenced languages are Persian, Spanish, Kashmiri, Bosnian, Bengali, Malay, Indonesian, Punjabi, Assamese, Sindhi and Hausa, some languages in parts of Africa. Conversely, Arabic has borrowed words from other languages, including Greek and Persian in medieval times, contemporary European languages such as English and French in modern times.
Classical Arabic is the liturgical language of 1.8 billion Muslims, Modern Standard Arabic is one of six official languages of the United Nations. All varieties of Arabic combined are spoken by as many as 422 million speakers in the Arab world, making it the fifth most spoken language in the world. Arabic is written with the Arabic alphabet, an abjad script and is written from right to left, although the spoken varieties are sometimes written in ASCII Latin from left to right with no standardized orthography. Arabic is a Central Semitic language related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, various other Semitic languages of Arabia such as Dadanitic; the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include: The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense; the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense.
The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms. The development of an internal passive. There are several features which Classical Arabic, the modern Arabic varieties, as well as the Safaitic and Hismaic inscriptions share which are unattested in any other Central Semitic language variety, including the Dadanitic and Taymanitic languages of the northern Hejaz; these features are evidence of common descent from Proto-Arabic. The following features can be reconstructed with confidence for Proto-Arabic: negative particles m *mā.
Athaliah
According to the Hebrew Bible, Athaliah was queen consort of Judah as the wife of King Jehoram, a descendant of King David, queen regnant c. 841–835 BCE. Athaliah is considered the daughter of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel of Israel. Athaliah was married to Jehoram of Judah to seal a treaty between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, to secure his position Jehoram killed his six brothers. Jehoram became king of Judah in the fifth year of Jehoram of Israel's reign. Jehoram of Israel was Athaliah's brother. Jehoram of Judah reigned for eight years, his father Jehoshaphat and grandfather Asa were devout kings who worshiped the Lord and walked in his ways. However, Jehoram chose not to follow their example but rejected God and married Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab in the line of Omri. Jehoram's rule of Judah was shaky. Edom revolted, he was forced to acknowledge their independence. A raid by Philistines and Ethiopians looted the king's house, carried off all of his family except for their youngest son, Ahaziah.
After Jehoram's death, Ahaziah became king of Judah, Athaliah was queen mother. Ahaziah reigned for one year from the age of 22 and was killed during a state visit to Israel along with Jehoram of Israel. Jehu became king of Israel, he had Athaliah's entire extended family in Israel put to death. For her part, Athaliah seized the throne of Judah and ordered the execution of all possible claimants to the throne, including the remnant of her Omri dynasty. However, Ahaziah's sister, managed to rescue from the purge one of Athaliah's grandsons with Jehoram of Judah, named Jehoash, only one year old. Jehoash was raised in secret by Jehosheba's husband, a priest named Jehoiada; as queen, Athaliah used her power to establish the worship of Baal in Judah. Six years Athaliah was surprised when Jehoiada revealed that Jehoash lived and proclaimed him king of Judah, she was captured and executed. There are several scriptures that, when combined with chronological considerations, have led some scholars to hold that she was Ahab's sister, not his daughter.
The relevant scriptural texts that can be cited to support the brother-sister relationship are the following: 2 Kings 8:26, its parallel passage 2 Chronicles 22:2, say that Jehoram of Judah married a "daughter" of Omri, Ahab's father. The Hebrew word "daughter" can mean daughter, granddaughter, or any female descendant, in the same way that ben can mean son, grandson, or any male descendant; some modern versions translate that Athaliah was a "granddaughter" of Omri. But the books of Kings and Chronicles give far more attention to Ahab than to Omri, so it is notable that in these verses it is not Athaliah's relationship to Ahab, stressed, but her relationship to Omri; this would be reasonable. The following verses discuss Ahab, again raising the question of why her relationship to Omri is mentioned, instead of to Ahab. 2 Kings 8:27 says that Jehoram of Judah, Athaliah's husband, was related by marriage to the house of Ahab. The word hatan is used to specify a father-in-law or son-in-law relationship.
If Jehoram was Ahab's son-in-law, the expression that would be expected here would be "son-in-law" to Ahab, not to "the house of Ahab." If Athaliah was Ahab's sister, not his daughter there is an explanation for the additional phrase "house of."The support for Athaliah being Ahab's daughter comes from two verses, 2 Kings 8:18 and its parallel 2 Chronicles 21:6. These verses say that Jehoram of Judah did wickedly "because he married a daughter of Ahab." This would seem to settle the question in favor of the daughter relationship, with one precaution: the Syriac version of the 2 Chronicles 21:6 says "sister of Ahab" instead of daughter. This textual support for Athaliah being the sister of Ahab is regarded as weak enough to justify translating bath in 2 Kings 8:26 and 2 Chronicles 22:2 as "granddaughter," thus bringing the various passages about Athaliah into harmony: she is presented as Omri's granddaughter and Ahab's daughter; the chronological considerations brought forth by scholars who advocate the sister-theory have to do with determining the earliest age at which Athaliah could have been born, showing that this is too late for Athaliah to be Ahab's daughter, but not too late if she was his sister.
This brings up the question of. It is assumed that her mother was Jezebel, the only wife named for Ahab in scripture. There appears to be no evidence that she was the daughter of Jezebel. Athaliah might have been the daughter of another of Ahab's wives, such as Ben-hadad indicated Ahab had; the argument is made that the Ahab/Jezebel marriage was an affair of state that would only have occurred after Omri, Ahab's father, was in control of his kingdom, Ithobaal, Jezebel's father, was in control of Tyre and Sidon. Omri and Ithobaal were both usurpers. According to F. M. Cross's chronology of Tyrian kings, as calculated from the alleged second century BCE records of Menander of Ephesus, Ithobaal killed Phelles and became king of Tyre in 878 BCE, two years after Omri became undisputed king of Israel. If the marriage had taken place in the first year of Ithobaal's reign assuming their first-born was
Jehoash of Israel
Jehoash, whose name means “Yahweh has given,” was a king of the ancient northern Kingdom of Israel and the son of Jehoahaz. He reigned for 16 years. William F. Albright has dated his reign to 801 BC – 786 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 798 BC – 782 BC; when he ascended the throne, the Kingdom of Israel was suffering from the predations of the Arameans, whose king Hazael was reducing the amount of land controlled by Israel. According to the second book of Kings, Jehoash was sinful and did evil in the eyes of Yahweh for tolerating the worship of the golden calves, yet outwardly at least he worshiped Yahweh, he reigned as king of Israel for 16 years and led the Israelites through some decisive battles, including a war with the kingdom of Judah. Jehoash went to visit the prophet Elisha, sick with the illness that would lead to his death, he held the prophet Elisha in honor, wept by his bedside while he was dying. Jehoash pleased Elisha, addressing him in the words Elisha himself had used when Elijah was carried up into heaven: "O my father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof."
When Jehoash failed to obey Elisha’s instructions, Elisha predicted that Jehoash would only defeat the Arameans three times rather than five or six times, which may have been enough to end the Syrian threat. In three signal and successive victories Jehoash overcame the Syrians, retook from them the towns which Hazael had captured from Israel. In his reign, Jehoash led the men of Kingdom of Israel in the defeat of King Amaziah of Judah. Amaziah had begun to worship some of the idols he had taken from the Edomites, which the author of Chronicles believes led to his ruin and his defeat by Jehoash, whom he had challenged to battle. Jehoash had warned Amaziah, saying: “A thistle in Lebanon sent a message to a cedar in Lebanon,'Give your daughter to my son in marriage.' A wild beast in Lebanon came along and trampled the thistle underfoot. You have indeed defeated Edom and now you are arrogant. Glory in your victory, but stay at home! Why ask for trouble and cause your own downfall and that of Judah also?"Jehoash utterly defeated Amaziah at Beth-shemesh, on the borders of Dan and Philistia.
Jehoash advanced on Jerusalem, broke down a portion of the wall, carried away the treasures of the Temple and the palace. Jehoash took Amaziah as a prisoner. Amaziah's defeat was followed by a conspiracy. Jehoash took hostages to assure good conduct. After the battle he soon was buried in Samaria. List of biblical figures identified in extra-biblical sources
Kings of Israel and Judah
This article is an overview of the kings of the United Kingdom of Israel as well as those of its successor states and classical period kingdoms ruled by the Hasmonean dynasty and Herodian dynasty. In contemporary scholarship, the united monarchy is debated, due to a lack of archaeological evidence for it, it is accepted that a "House of David" existed, but many believe that David could have only been the king or chieftain of Judah, small, that the northern kingdom was a separate development. There are some dissenters including those who support the traditional narrative; the Bible describes a succession of kings of a united kingdom, of divided kingdoms. Abimelech – the son of Gideon, was the first man declared a king in Israel. According to the Bible, the Tribes of Israel lived as a confederation under ad hoc charismatic leaders called judges. In around 1020 BCE, under extreme threat from foreign peoples, the tribes united to form the first United Kingdom of Israel. Samuel anointed Saul from the Tribe of Benjamin as the first king.
Saul Ish-bosheth David – made Jerusalem the capital of Israel. Solomon Rehoboam After Rehoboam reigned three years, the United Kingdom of Israel was divided in two – the northern Kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam, with its capital, first in Shechem Penuel and Samaria, ruled by a series of dynasties beginning with Jeroboam. Under Hezekiah rule in the Kingdom of Judah, the Neo-Assyrian Empire conquered and destroyed the northern kingdom 722 BCE leaving only the southern kingdom of Judah. Jeroboam Nadab Baasha Elah Zimri Omri Ahab Ahaziah Jehoram Jehu Jehoahaz Jehoash Jeroboam II Zechariah Shallum Menahem Pekahiah Pekah Hoshea Abijah Asa Jehoshaphat Jehoram Ahaziah Athaliah Jehoash Amaziah Uzziah Jotham Ahaz Hezekiah Manasseh Amon Josiah Jehoahaz Jehoiakim Jeconiah Zedekiah Aristobulus I Alexander Jannaeus Salome Alexandra Aristobulus II Hyrcanus II Antigonus II Mattathias Herod the Great Table on the Kings History of ancient Israel and Judah List of Hasmonean and Herodian rulers List of Jewish leaders in the Land of Israel Lists of ancient kings King at the Jewish Encyclopedia Kings of the Jews at Project MUSE Kings of the Jews: Israel, Hasmoneans & Herodians at The Algemeiner
Zimri (king)
Zimri, was a king of Israel for seven days. William F. Albright has dated his reign to 876 BCE, while E. R. Thiele offers the date 885 BCE, his story is told in 1 Kings, Chapter 16. He was the chariot commander who murdered king Elah and all his family members at Tirzah, as Elah was drinking in the house of Arza, his steward. Zimri succeeded Elah as king. However, Zimri reigned only seven days, because the army elected Omri as king, with their support laid siege to Tirzah. Finding his position untenable, Zimri set fire to the palace. Omri became king only after four years of war with another claimant to the throne of Israel; the name Zimri made out with his wife his master. When Jehu led a bloody military revolt to seize the throne of Israel, killed both Jehoram king of Israel and Ahaziah king of Judah, entered the citadel of Jezreel to execute Queen Jezebel, she greeted him with the words: "Is it peace, you murderer of your master?". In John Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel, the character of Zimri stands for the Duke of Buckingham
Zechariah of Israel
Zechariah was a king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel, son of Jeroboam II. Zechariah became king of Israel in Samaria in the thirty-eighth year of king of Judah. William F. Albright has dated his reign to 746 BC – 745 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 753 BC – 752 BC; the account of his reign is told in 2 Kings. According to the Bible, Zechariah did what was evil in the Lord's sight, as the previous kings of Israel since Jeroboam ben Nebat had done. Zechariah ruled Israel for only six months before Shallum, a captain from his own army, murdered him and took the throne; this ended the dynasty of Jehu after four generations of his descendants, fulfilling the prophecy in 2 Kings 10:30
Ahab
Ahab was the seventh king of Israel since Jeroboam I, the son and successor of Omri, the husband of Jezebel of Sidon, according to the Hebrew Scriptures. The Hebrew Bible presents Ahab as a wicked king, he is criticised for following the ways of his wife Jezebel, killing his subject Naboth, leading the nation of Israel into idolatry. The existence of Ahab is supported outside the Bible. Shalmaneser III documented 853 BC that he defeated an alliance of a dozen kings in the Battle of Qarqar. Ahab became king of Israel in the thirty-eighth year of Asa, king of Judah, reigned for twenty-two years, according to 1 Kings. William F. Albright dated his reign to 869–850 BC, while E. R. Thiele offered the dates 874–853 BC. Most Michael D. Coogan has dated Ahab's reign to 871–852 BC. Omri seems to have been a successful military leader. During Ahab's reign, conquered by his father, remained tributary. Ahab was allied by marriage with Jehoshaphat, king of Judah. Only with Aram Damascus is he believed to have had strained relations.
Ahab married the daughter of the King of Tyre. 1 Kings 16–22 tells the story of Ahab and Jezebel, indicates that Jezebel was a dominant influence on Ahab, inciting him to abandon Yahweh and worship and institute the religion of Baal in Israel. Ahab lived in Samaria, the royal capital established by Omri, built a temple and altar to Baal there, he was succeeded by Ahaziah and Jehoram, who reigned over Israel until Jehu's revolt of 842 BC. The Battle of Qarqar is mentioned in extra-biblical records, was at Apamea, where Shalmaneser III of Assyria fought a great confederation of princes from Cilicia, Northern Syria, Israel and the tribes of the Syrian desert, including Ahab the Israelite and Hadadezer. Ahab's contribution was estimated at 10,000 men. In reality, the number of chariots in Ahab's forces was closer to a number in the hundreds. If, the numbers are referring to allies it could include forces from Tyre, Judah and Moab; the Assyrian king claimed a victory, but his immediate return and subsequent expeditions in 849 BC and 846 BC against a similar but unspecified coalition seem to show that he met with no lasting success.
According to the Tanakh, Ahab with 7,000 troops had overthrown Ben-hadad and his thirty-two kings, who had come to lay siege to Samaria, in the following year obtained a decisive victory over him at Aphek in the plain of Sharon at Antipatris. A treaty was made whereby Ben-hadad restored the cities which his father had taken from Ahab's father, trading facilities between Damascus and Samaria were granted. Jezreel has been identified as Ahab's fortified cavalry base. In the Biblical text, Ahab has five important encounters with prophets: The first encounter is with Elijah, whom Ahab refers to as "the troubler of Israel", in which Elijah predicts a drought; this encounter ends with Elijah victorious over the official Baal prophets of Israel in a contest held for the sake of the Israelites and their king, Ahab. The contest ends when Elijah's God consumes the offering which the Baal worshipers could not induce their god to touch, after which Elijah slaughters the Baal prophets; the second encounter is between Ahab and an unnamed prophet in 1 Kings 20:22.
The third is again between Ahab and an unnamed prophet who condemns Ahab for his actions in a battle that had just taken place. The fourth is when Elijah confronts Ahab over Ahab's and Jezebel's execution of Naboth and usurpation of the latter's ancestral vineyard. Upon the prophet's remonstration, Ahab displayed sincere remorse; the fifth encounter is with Micaiah, the prophet who, when asked for advice on a military campaign, first assures Ahab he will be successful and gives Ahab a glimpse into God's plan for Ahab to die in battle. Three years war broke out east of the Jordan River, Ahab with Jehoshaphat of Judah went to recover Ramoth-Gilead from the Arameans. During this battle, Ahab disguised himself; the Hebrew Bible says. But the Septuagint adds that pigs licked his blood, symbolically making him unclean to the Israelites, who abstained from pork. Ahab was succeeded by his sons and Jehoram. Jezebel's death, was more dramatic than Ahab's; as recorded in 2 Kings 9:30-34, Jezebel was confronted by Jehu who had her servants throw her out the window, causing her death.
1 Kings 16:29 through 22:40 contains the story of Ahab's reign. This reign is one which faces opposition from several prophets of Yahweh throughout as well as various consequences because of his marriage to Jezebel, because of his worship of Baal, disobedience to prophetic warnings and words, because of the murder of Naboth; the murder of Naboth, an act of royal encroachment, stirred up popular resentment just as the new cult aroused the opposition of the Israelite prophets, including Elijah and Micaiah. Indeed, he is referred to, for this and other things, as
