Zabdiel
1:
ZABDIEL (PERSON) [Heb zabdı̂˒el (זַבְדִּיאֶל)]. The name of three different persons mentioned in the OT. Zabdiel is derived from “God” (Heb ˒ēl) and “gift” (Heb zābād), and means “my gift is God” (BDB, 256; cf. TPNAH, 132–33).
1. The name of a father of one of David’s officers, Jashobeam, son of Zabdiel (1 Chr 27:2). The family was descended from Perez of the tribe of Judah.
2. The overseer of a group of priests in Jerusalem according to Neh 11:14. Zabdiel is described as the “son of the great ones” (Heb haggĕdôlı̂m). This term may be a title or it may represent a personal name. The confusion over the term “great ones” may be seen in the texts of the LXX which either translate the term “son of Haggedolim” or omit it altogether.
3. The Arab who decapitated the Seleucid king Alexander Balas and sent the head to the Egyptian Ptolemy VII (1 Macc 11:17). Alexander Balas had been defeated by Ptolemy in Cilicia on the S coast of Asia Minor and had then fled to the country E of Damascus (KlPauly 1: 483) into the hands of Zabdiel the Arab, who presented Ptolemy with the head of his foe. Josephus, knowing the account in 1 Maccabees 11, records that the Arab Zabeilus was responsible for the death of Alexander (Ant 13.4.8 §118). Diodorus Siculus (32), however, states that Alexander Balas fled to Arabia and sought refuge with Diocles, a local sheikh, and was killed there by two of his own officers, Heliades and Casius. The accounts in 1 Maccabees and Josephus can be made to agree with that of Diodorus if we posit that the Arabic name of the sheikh was Zabdiel. Diodorus would thus have recorded only the Greek name Diocles (meaning “glory of Zeus”), which was probably not the original name of an Arab sheikh. Evidence does exist for the use of the name “Zabdila” among Arabs in Palmyra (Cooke 1903: 272). Livy (Ep. 52) contradicts the accounts of 1 Maccabees, Josephus, and Diodorus by stating that Alexander died in battle with Demetrius, his contender for the Seleucid throne.
Bibliography
Cooke, G. A. 1903. A Text-Book of North-Semitic Inscriptions. Oxford.
Michael E. Hardwick
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (6:1031). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Zabdiel — gift of God. (1.) The father of Jashobeam, who was one of David’s officers (1 Chr. 27:2).
(2.) An overseer of the priests after the Captivity (Neh. 11:14).
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3:
ZABDIEL
1. Father of Jashobeam, the commander of the first division of David’s army (1 Chr 27:2).
2. Priest and overseer of 128 “mighty men of valor” (rsv, Neh 11:14). The notation that he was a “son of Haggedolim” might indicate that he was a “son of the mighty men.”
3. Arab who beheaded Alexander (Balas) Epiphanes and sent the head to Ptolemy (1 Macc 11:17).
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (1318). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
4:
ZAB´DIEL (zabʹdi-el; cf. Arab. “El has given”).
1. The father of Jashobeam the commander of the first division of David’s army (1 Chron. 27:2), about 960 b.c.
2. The “son of Haggedolim” (i.e., “valiant warriors”; KJV, “mighty men of valour”), who was overseer of 128 of the captives returned from the captivity (Neh. 11:14, see marg.), 445 b.c.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
5:
Zabdiel (zabʹdee-el). 1 The father of Jashobeam, one of David’s officers (1 Chron. 27:2). 2 An overseer of priests in the time of Nehemiah and the son of Haggedolim (Neh. 11:14). 3 An Arabian who killed Alexander Balas, a contender for the Syrian throne ca. 150 b.c., and sent the head to the Egyptian king Ptolemy VI (1 Macc. 11:17). See also Alexander.
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (1154). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
6:
Zabdiel (Heb. zaḇdɩ̂˒ēl; Gk. Sabdiḗl)
1. A Judahite; the father of Jashobeam, commander of David’s first army division (1 Chr. 27:2).
2. The son of Haggedolim; overseer of Jerusalem priests after the Exile (Neh. 11:14).
3. An Arab who decapitated Alexander Balas when he sought refuge in Arabia from the Egyptian king Ptolemy VI Philometor. Zabdiel then sent the head to Ptolemy (1 Macc. 11:17).
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (1405). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
