ABI-EZER

(Aʹbi-eʹzer) [father of help; helpful].

1. One of the “sons of Gilead” the grandson of Manasseh, Joseph’s firstborn. A comparison of the accounts at Numbers 26:28-30 and Joshua 17:1, 2 shows that he is also called Iezer (Jeezer, AV), which is a shortened form of Abi-ezer, the prefix “Ab” (father) being removed.

Abi-ezer was a family head and an ancestor of Judge Gideon. (Judg. 6:11, 24, 34; 8:2) It appears that after the division of land among the tribes of Israel, Abi-ezer’s family either originally or at a later time settled in the area of Ophrah, in the territory of Manasseh W of the Jordan.

The name is also used to stand for the “house of Abi-ezer” in a collective sense.—Judg. 8:2.

2. A son of Hammolecheth, who was sister of Manasseh’s grandson Gilead. (1 Chron. 7:18) Some commentators view this Abi-ezer as being the same as No. 1 above.

3. A Benjamite from Anathoth, one of King David’s thirty-seven most valiant fighters. (2 Sam. 23:27, 39) He was head of a paternal house, and divisional head over a force of 24,000 fellow tribesmen, serving the king during the ninth month of each year. (1 Chron. 11:28; 27:1, 12) Along with other Benjamites, by his valor in war he fulfilled the prophecy at Genesis 49:27. His town of Anathoth lay a few miles NE of Jerusalem, within the territory of Benjamin.—1 Chron. 6:60.