ABIJAH

ABIJAH (Heb. אֲבִיָּה; "yhw(h) is my father"), king of Judah c. 914–912 b.c.e.; son of *Rehoboam (on the identity of his mother, see *Asa). In Kings, where he is referred to throughout as Abijam, it is stated only that he followed the sinful ways of his father, and that he was at war with *Jeroboam, king of Israel, throughout his reign. The Book of Chronicles, however, for its own theological reasons, unhistorically depicts him as a pious king who succeeded in wresting a sizable slice of territory from Jeroboam (ii Chron. 13:19). According to i Kings 15:19, it is likely that a political alliance existed between Abijah and *Ben-Hadadi, king of Aram-Damascus. Abijah had 14 wives, who bore 22 sons and 16 daughters (ii Chron. 13:21). One source of information for the Chronicler on the reign of Abijah was the Midrash of the prophet Iddo (ibid. 13:22).

bibliography:

S. Japhet, i & ii Chronicles (1993), 697–700.

Abi (Jap.; Skt. avīci). The lowest part of Buddhist hell, a place of such pain that no one cries out, and anguished silence prevails. However, as with all Buddhist hells, it is not a place of everlasting torment, since there is nothing permanent in the Buddhist perspective.

ABI Abbrev. for application binary interface. Definition of the binary-level interface between application programs and the operating system, including the format of executable files. Compiled binary applications can be ported between systems with the same ABI.

ABI Computing application binary interface
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