Ahijah the Shilonite

In 1 Kings 14:6–16, Ahijah's prophecy, delivered to the wife of Jeroboam, foretold the death of the king's son, the destruction of the House of Jeroboam, and the fall and captivity of Israel "beyond the River", a stock expression for the land east of the Euphrates.

Rabbinic tradition credits Ahijah with having lived a very long life, linking his life-span with that of antediluvian patriarchs such as Methuselah and Adam.

[5] Ahijah, the prophet of Shiloh, instigated Jeroboam's secession and predicted the downfall of his kingdom.

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.

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.

); (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.

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.

The reason why Ahijah was regarded as having attained so unusual an age seems to be that, according to II Chron.

Simon ben Yoḥai is reported to have said: "The world must have thirty righteous men to serve as its pillars.

Ahijah signed this document, believing firmly that Jeroboam would not belie his trust.

Moreover, as he excelled all the rest of the pupils, he had been initiated by Ahijah into the innermost secrets of the Law (Sanh.

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.

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 [see B.