Uriah
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- For the town in Alabama, United States, see Uriah, Alabama.
Uriah or Urijah (Hebrew: אוּרִיָּה, Standard Uriyya Tiberian ʾÛriyyāh ; "(My) light/flame of/is the Lord") was the name of several men in the Hebrew Bible. The word, which means the Lord is my light (Hebrew: Uriyahu), also appears in an abbreviated form as Uriah (Hebrew: Uriyah)
- In the Books of Samuel, Uriah the Hittite is a soldier in King David's army. David has him killed after David's apparent adultery with his wife Bathsheba. He was a descendant of Canaan's second son Heth.[1]
- In 2 Kings 16:10-16, Uriah is a priest under Ahaz who builds a pagan altar and places it in the Temple of Jerusalem.
- In Jeremiah 26:20-23 Uriah is a prophet who is murdered by Jehoiakim because his message is so offensive to him.
- In Ezra 8:33 and Nehemiah 3:4,21 Uriah is a priest and the father of Meremoth. Possibly this is the same Uriah who stands by Ezra as he reads the law in Nehemiah 8:4.
- In Isaiah 8:2 Uriah is a priest whom God offers to call as a witness.
[edit] Notes
- This entry incorporates text from the public domain Easton's Bible Dictionary, originally published in 1897.
- ^ The Talmud states that David never sinned. The apparent adultery actually took place after a writ of divorce was written for Bathsheba, as was for all wives of soldiers prior to leaving for battle, lest they become MIA and the wives would be unable to remarry, in case their husband did not perish.