Ahijah the Shilonite ( ''ʾĂḥīyā'' meaning "

Yah Yah may refer to: * Jah, shortened form of Yahweh, the Hebrew name for God * YAH, The IATA code for La Grande-4 Airport in northern Quebec, Canada * Yazgulyam language, by ISO 639 code * "Yah" (song), by Kendrick Lamar from his album ''Damn'' * a ...

is my brother") was a

Levite Levites (or Levi) (, he, ''Lǝvīyyīm'') are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew de ...

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the ...

of Shiloh in the days of

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

, as mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' First Books of Kings. Ahijah foretold to

Jeroboam Jeroboam I (; Hebrew: ''Yārŏḇə‘ām''; el, Ἱεροβοάμ, Hieroboám) was the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel. The Hebrew Bible describes the reign of Jeroboam to have commenced following a revolt of the ten northern ...

that he would become king (). The

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
'' United Kingdom of Israel The United Monarchy () in the Hebrew Bible refers to Israel and Judah under the reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon. It is traditionally dated to have lasted between and . According to the biblical account, on the succession of Solomon's son R ...

, forming the Northern Kingdom. In , Ahijah's prophecy, delivered to the

wife of Jeroboam Jeroboam's wife is a character in the Hebrew Bible. She is unnamed in the Masoretic Text, but according to the Septuagint, she was an Egyptian princess called Ano: :''And Sousakim gave to Jeroboam Ano the eldest sister of Thekemina his wife, t ...

, foretold the death of the king's son, the destruction of the House of Jeroboam, and the fall and

captivity Captivity, or being held captive, is a state wherein humans or other animals are confined to a particular space and prevented from leaving or moving freely. An example in humans is imprisonment. Prisoners of war are usually held in captivity by a ...

of Israel "beyond the River", a stock expression for the land east of the

Euphrates The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Tigris–Euphrates river system, Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers'') ...

. According to the

Second Book of Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( he, דִּבְרֵי־הַיָּמִים ) is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third sect ...

, Ahijah also authored a book, described as the "Prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite," which contained information about Solomon's reign. This text, however, has not survived and is one of the

non-canonical books referenced in the Bible The non-canonical books referenced in the Bible includes non-Biblical cultures, and lost works of known or unknown status. By the "Bible" is meant those books recognised by most Christians and Jews as being part of Old Testament (or Tanakh) as well ...

. In it is referred to as the

Acts of Solomon :''The similarly named Biblical book is located at Song of Solomon.'' The ook of theActs of Solomon is a lost text referred to in , which reads: :''And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written i ...

. Rabbinic

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

credits Ahijah with having lived a very long life, linking his life-span with that of

antediluvian The antediluvian (alternatively pre-diluvian or pre-flood) period is the time period chronicled in the Bible between the fall of man and the Genesis flood narrative in biblical cosmology. The term was coined by Thomas Browne. The narrative tak ...

patriarch The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in c ...

s such as Methuselah and

Adam Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as " ...

.Babylonian Talmud,

Bava Batra Bava Batra (also Baba Batra; Talmudic Aramaic: בָּבָא בַּתְרָא "The Last Gate") is the third of the three Talmudic tractates in the Talmud in the order Nezikin; it deals with a person's responsibilities and rights as the owner of p ...

121b

Rabbinic Literature

Ahijah, the prophet of Shiloh, instigated Jeroboam's secession and predicted the downfall of his kingdom. The Midrash, basing itself on the fact that, according to II Chron. ix. 29, Ahijah is described as extremely aged in Jeroboam's time (I Kings, xiv. 4), and with no pedigree, identified him with Ahiah, son of Ahitub, the oracle-giving priest at Shiloh in King Saul's time (I Sam. xiv. 3). He is accordingly singled out by rabbinical tradition as one of the seven long-lived saints whose successive lives extend over the whole history of mankind; each having transmitted the sacred lore from his predecessor to the one succeeding him, while shielding the generations of his time by means of his piety. These saints are: (1) Adam; (2) Methuselah; (3) Shem (Tanna debe Eliyahu R. xxiv.); (4) Jacob (Gen. R. xciv.); (5) Serah, the daughter of Asher, or, as others have it, Amram, the father of Moses; (6) Ahijah of Shiloh; (7) Elijah the prophet, who lives until the coming of the Messiah (Ab. R. N. version B. xxxviii., Seder 'Olam R. i., and B. B. 121b). For the underlying idea, see Ḥag. 12b, and Yoma, 38b, with reference to Prov. x. 25, Heb., "The righteous is the foundation of the world," and Prov. ix. 1, "Wisdom hath hewn seven pillars." According to this tradition Ahijah lived over six hundred years, having received his "wisdom" from either Amram, the father of Moses (see Amram), or from Serah, the daughter of Asher (see Serah). If from Serah, his age was considerably less, since she was supposed to have lived for more than four hundred years, until the days of David (YalḲ., Sam. § 152). The reason why Ahijah was regarded as having attained so unusual an age seems to be that, according to II Chron. ix. 29, the history of Solomon's reign was written by him; and that he was supposed to be identical with Ahijah the Levite, who was placed by King David in charge of the treasures of the house of God and of the treasures of the dedicated things (I Chron. xxvi. 20; see B. B. 121b, Rashi). Simon ben Yoḥai is reported to have said: "The world must have thirty righteous men to serve as its pillars. I and my son are counted among these . . . and if Abraham would carry the past generations by his merit, I will carry the future generations until the advent of the Messiah. And if Abraham would not, I would count Ahijah of Shiloh with me, and we together would carry the world by our merits" (Gen. R. xxxv.; see Suk. 45b, in which King Jotham is given in place of Abraham and Ahijah). That Ahijah, though one of the pillars of righteousness, should have been sent to Jeroboam with a divine message inducing him to establish his idolatrous kingdom is explained by the rabbis in the following manner: They say that he was entrapped by a ruse of Jeroboam's idolatrous friends, who circulated a document requesting Jeroboam to become king and stipulating that, if he were elected, he set up a golden calf at Dan and Beth-El. Ahijah signed this document, believing firmly that Jeroboam would not belie his trust. Herein he was mistaken in his pupil. Jeroboam had shown great wisdom and learning, and appeared to Ahijah "as pure as the new garment" he wore when Ahijah saw him coming out of Jerusalem (I Kings, xi. 29). Moreover, as he excelled all the rest of the pupils, he had been initiated by Ahijah into the innermost secrets of the Law (Sanh. 101b et seq.). Just as the words said of Isaac, "his eyes were dim, so that he could not see" (Gen. xxvii. 1), are taken to refer to spiritual blindness, because he favored his wicked son Esau, so the words, "Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were set by reason of his age" (I Kings, xiv. 4), imply spiritual blindness on the part of Ahijah, who favored a wicked pupil and set him up as ruler (Gen. R. lxv.). For this reason Ahijah was stricken with the plague (Gen. R. lxv., Yer. Yeb. xvi. 15c and parallels). Maimonides, in his introduction to "Yad ha-ḤazaḲah," says: "Ahijah was a Levite, a disciple of Moses, one of those who went out of Egypt—the tribe of Levi not being included in the divine decree of death in the wilderness ee B. B. 121b and also a disciple of David braham ben David of Posquières, in his notes, corrects this, and says instead, "a member of David's court of justice" and finally he became the teacher of Elijah before his death."

References

Solomon Books of Kings people Year of birth unknown Date of death unknown 10th-century BCE Hebrew people {{Hebrew-Bible-stub