Ayah

איה


Genesis 36:24 has Ayah as the brother of Anah (עֲנָה), whose daughter Ahali-Vamah married Esav (Esau); their father was Tsiv'on ha Chori/Chivi (the Horite or Hivite; both are given in this chapter).

2 Samuel 3:7 says that Sha'ul had a concubine named Ritspah bat Ayah, by whom he had two sons (2 Samuel 21:8) Armoni and Mephi-Boshet; however 2 Samuel 9 regards Mephi-Boshet as Sha'ul's grandson, one of the sons of Yehonatan (Jonathan). This may be a confusion with Ish-Boshet, who appears in 2 Samuel 2:10, but elsewhere is called Ish-Ba'al, and who became the king of Yisra-El after the death of Sha'ul, only to become the object of a coup by Av-Ner, when he complained that Av-Ner had taken Ritspah bat Ayah as his concubine. King David later gave Mephi-Boshet as one of the hostages to settle a feud with the Beney Giv-On (Gibeonites).

The word AYAH is linked etymologically to hawk, vulture, falcon, and is probably the kite; all unclean birds according to Leviticus 11:14 and Deuteronomy 14:13, but also very much the royal bird, and sacred to the sun-god. Job 28:7 claims that it had remarkable acuteness of sight.

Not to be confused with Ai, the royal city of the Beney Kena'an, which Yehoshu'a destroyed.


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