AZARIAH

(Az·a·riʹah) [Jehovah Has Helped].

1. A descendant of Judah by Tamar; of the house of Ethan.​—1Ch 2:4, 6, 8.

2. A Levite through Kohath; son of Zephaniah and forefather of the prophet Samuel.​—1Ch 6:33, 36.

3. A descendant of Aaron in the line of Eleazar; son of Ahimaaz.​—1Ch 6:9.

4. One of Solomon’s princes. (1Ki 4:2) He is referred to as the son of Priest Zadok; he may be the brother of Ahimaaz.​—1Ch 6:8.

5. Son of Nathan; the prince that Solomon appointed head over the 12 food-supply deputies of the king’s household.​—1Ki 4:5, 7, 19.

6. A prophet, son of Oded, who helped arouse Asa in 963 B.C.E. to “search for Jehovah.” As a result, the king removed “the disgusting things” from all the land and brought the people into an oath-bound covenant, so that “anyone that would not search for Jehovah the God of Israel should be put to death.”​—2Ch 15:1-15.

7, 8. Two of Jehoshaphat’s seven sons, listed second and fifth. They were given many gifts and fortified cities by their father, but when their elder brother, Jehoram, became king, these sons were killed. (2Ch 21:1-4) “It seems far-fetched to suppose [as some have] that the name was used twice because the boys were only half brothers or because one had already died in infancy.” (The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, edited by G. A. Buttrick, 1962, Vol. 1, p. 325) It is unusual for two brothers to have apparently the same name, but in Hebrew there is a slight difference between the two in spelling and pronunciation, ʽAzar·yahʹ (“Jah Has Helped”) and ʽAzar·yaʹhu (“Jehovah Has Helped”).

9. Son of a certain Jehu and father of Helez; of the tribe of Judah, seven generations removed from his Egyptian forefather Jarha.​—1Ch 2:3, 34-39.

10. King of Judah, the youngest son of Jehoram and Athaliah; also called Jehoahaz and Ahaziah.​—2Ki 8:25-29; 2Ch 21:17; 22:1, 6; see AHAZIAH No. 2.

11. Son of Jeroham. One of the five chiefs of hundreds who helped overthrow usurper Athaliah and place Jehoash on the throne of Judah in 898 B.C.E.​—2Ch 23:1-15.

12. Son of Obed. One of the five chiefs of hundreds who helped enthrone Jehoash in place of usurper Athaliah, 898 B.C.E.​—2Ch 23:1-15.

13. King of Judah for 52 years (829-778 B.C.E.). Son of Amaziah and Jecoliah. (2Ki 14:21; 15:1, 2) He is called Uzziah in 2 Kings 15:13.​—See UZZIAH No. 3.

14. A high priest, son of Johanan, descendant of Aaron. (1Ch 6:1-10) When King Uzziah presumptuously attempted to offer incense in the temple, perhaps it was this Azariah who then ordered him out, and when he resisted, Jehovah struck the king with leprosy. (2Ch 26:16-21) Some three decades after Uzziah died, during the first year of Hezekiah’s reign (745 B.C.E.), Azariah, still serving as high priest (or another bearing the same name), acknowledged Jehovah’s blessing on the king’s reforms.​—2Ch 31:9, 10, 13.

15. A prince of Ephraim, son of Jehohanan. After defeating Judah in the middle of the eighth century B.C.E., Israel was leading 200,000 captives back when Azariah and other princes of Ephraim effected their release and assisted materially in their return.​—2Ch 28:5-15.

16. A descendant of Levi through Kohath whose son Joel helped cleanse the temple at the command of Hezekiah in 745 B.C.E.​—2Ch 29:1-12, 15.

17. A descendant of Levi through Merari; son of Jehallelel; one of those sharing in temple cleansing as ordered by Hezekiah.​—2Ch 29:1-12, 15.

18. Son of Meraioth; an ancestor of Ezra.​—Ezr 7:3.

19. Son of Hilkiah the high priest under Josiah and father of Seraiah (2Ki 22:3, 4; 1Ch 6:13, 14); forefather of Ezra the copyist.​—Ezr 7:1.

20. Son of Hoshaiah. (Jer 43:2) He is also called Jezaniah (Jer 40:8; 42:1) and Jaazaniah (2Ki 25:23). Azariah was one of the chiefs of the military forces who supported Gedaliah (Jer 40:7-10); one who requested Jeremiah to pray in their behalf for direction (Jer 42:1-3); and, finally, one of “the presumptuous men” who repudiated Jehovah’s answer by the mouth of Jeremiah.​—Jer 43:1-3.

21. One of the Hebrew youths taken captive to Babylon in 617 B.C.E., whose name was changed to Abednego, probably meaning “Servant of Nebo [a Babylonian god].” (Da 1:3-7) After a special three-year training course, Azariah and his companions (Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael) were found to be “ten times better than all the magic-practicing priests and the conjurers” of Babylon. (Da 1:5, 14-20) First threatened with death (Da 2:13-18), then promoted to the office of administrator (Da 2:49), Azariah’s supreme test of loyalty to Jehovah came when he was thrown into a superheated furnace for refusing to worship the image set up by Nebuchadnezzar. (Da 3:12-30) Indeed a man of faith, he is alluded to by the apostle Paul as one who “stayed the force of fire.”​—Heb 11:34.

22. One who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel in 537 B.C.E. following exile in Babylon. (Ne 7:6, 7) Called Seraiah at Ezra 2:2.

23. One of the priests who lived in Jerusalem following the exile. (1Ch 9:11) In a parallel list (Ne 11:11) the name is Seraiah. Possibly the same as No. 22 above.

24. Son of Maaseiah the son of Ananiah. Under Nehemiah’s oversight, he repaired a section of Jerusalem’s wall near his home in 455 B.C.E.​—Ne 3:23, 24.

25. One appointed by Nehemiah to walk with Ezra and others in the procession upon the rebuilt wall of Jerusalem at its inauguration; perhaps the same as No. 27.​—Ne 12:31-36.

26. One of the 13 Levites who assisted Ezra in explaining the Law as it was read to the people.​—Ne 8:7, 8.

27. A priest, or the forefather of one, who in the days of Governor Nehemiah attested by seal to the “trustworthy arrangement.”​—Ne 9:38; 10:1, 2, 8.