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•ASH (Hebrews o’ren, “tremulous”), mentioned only Isaiah 44:14 (R.V., “fir tree”). It is rendered “pine tree” both in the LXX. and Vulgate versions. There is a tree called by the Arabs aran, found still in the valleys of Arabia Petraea, whose leaf resembles that of the mountain ash. This may be the tree meant. Our ash tree is not known in Syria.
•ASHDOD stronghold, a Philistine city (Joshua 15:47), about midway between Gaza and Joppa, and 3 miles from the Mediterranean. It was one of the chief seats of the worship of Dagon (1 Samuel 5:5). It belonged to the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:47), but it never came into their actual possession. It was an important city, as it stood on the highroad from Egypt to Palestine, and hence was strongly fortified (2 Chronicles 26:6; Isaiah 20:1). Uzziah took it, but fifty years after his death it was taken by the Assyrians (B.C. 758). According to Sargon’s record, it was captured by him in B.C. 711. The only reference to it in the New Testament, where it is called Azotus, is in the account of Philip’s return from Gaza (Acts 8:40). It is now called Eshdud.
•ASHER happy, Jacob’s eigth son; his mother was Zilpah, Leah’s handmaid (Genesis 30:13). Of the tribe founded by him nothing is recorded beyond its holding a place in the list of the tribes (35:26; 46:17; Exodus 1:4, etc.) It increased in numbers twenty-nine percent, during the thirty-eight years’ wanderings. The place of this tribe during the march