ash´ur ( אשׁחוּר , ashḥūr , the King James Version Ashur ): The "father of Tekoa" (1 Chronicles 2:24; 1 Chronicles 4:5 ), probably the founder of the village. The original meaning of the name is the "man of Horus," Ashurites (האשׁורי , hā -'ashūrı̄ ). This name occurs in the list of Ish-bosheth's subjects (2 Samuel 2:9 ). The Syriac, Arabic, and Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 ad) versions read הגּשׁוּרי , ha -geshūrı̄ , "the Geshurites," designating the small kingdom to the South or Southeast of Damascus. This reading, though adopted by Ewald, Thenius and Wellhausen, is untenable, for during the reign of Ish-bosheth Geshur was ruled by its own king Talmai, whose daughter was married to David (2 Samuel 3:3; 2 Samuel 13:37 ). Furthermore Geshur was too far away from the rest of Ishbosheth's territory. A more consistent reading is האשׁרי , hā -'āshērı̄ , as given in the Targum of Jonathan and accepted by Köhler, Klost, Kirkpatrick and Budde, "those of the house of Asher" (compare Judges 1:32 ). The term would, then, denote the country to the West of Jordan above Jezreel.
The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) was edited by James Orr, John Nuelsen, Edgar Mullins, Morris Evans, and Melvin Grove Kyle and was published complete in 1939. This web site includes the complete text.
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