ABIJAH

also spelled Abia, Hebrew Abiyyah, or Abiyyahu ("Yahweh Is My Father"), any of nine different persons mentioned in the Bible, of whom the most noteworthy are the following: (1) The son and successor of Rehoboam, king of Judah (II Chronicles 12:16, 13), who reigned about two years ( c. 915-913 BC). (2) The second son of Samuel (I Samuel 8:2; I Chronicles 6:28), who, with his brother Joel, served as a judge at Beersheba. The elders of Israel made the pair's misconduct a pretext for demanding a king (I Samuel 8:4). (3) A son of Jeroboam I, king of Israel; he died young (I Kings 14). (4) Head of the eighth order of priests (I Chronicles 24:10), the order to which Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, belonged (Luke 1:5).