Abimelech

For other uses, see Abimelech (disambiguation).
Two pictures by Wenceslaus Hollar
Abraham
Abimelech rebuking Abraham
Isaac
Isaac and Abimelech

Abimelech (also spelled Abimelek or Avimelech; Hebrew: אֲבִימֶלֶךְ / אֲבִימָלֶךְ, Modern Avimélekh / Avimálekh Tiberian ʼĂḇîméleḵ / ʼĂḇîmāleḵ ; "father/leader of a king; my father/leader, a king") was the name of multiple Philistine kings mentioned in the Hebrew Bible.

Etymology

Abimelech's name is thought to mean my father is king, and could be simply a generic title given to a crown prince. However, it appears it could also refer to a ruling king, as described in the Haggada when "Benmelech" ("son of the king"), son of Abimelech, changes his own name to Abimelech when he becomes king.

At the time of the Amarna tablets (mid-14th century BC), there was an Egyptian governor of Tyre similarly named Abimilki, who is sometimes speculated to be connected with one or more of the biblical Abimelechs.

Abimelech of Gerar

Abimelech was most prominently the name of a polytheistic[1][2] king of Gerar who is mentioned in two of the three wife-sister narratives in Genesis, in connection with both Abraham (chap. 20) and Isaac (chap. 26). The Haggada identifies them as references to separate people, the second being the first Abimelech's son, and that his original name was Benmelech ("son of the King") but changed his name to his father's.

King Abimelech of Gerar also appears in an extra-biblical tradition recounted in texts such as the Kitab al-Magall, the Cave of Treasures and the Conflict of Adam and Eve with Satan, as one of 12 regional kings in Abraham's time said to have built the city of Jerusalem for Melchizedek.

Other people with this name

Apart from the king (or kings) of Gerar, the Bible also records this name for:

Other literary references include:

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Abimelech.
  1. Benamozegh, Elia; Maxwell Luria (1995). Israel and Humanity. Paulist Press International. p. 104. ISBN 978-0809135417.
  2. Hamilton, Victor P. (2012). Exodus: An Exegetical Commentary. Baker Academic. ISBN 978-0801031830.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Easton, Matthew George (1897). "Abimelech". Easton's Bible Dictionary (New and revised ed.). T. Nelson and Sons. 

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