UCAL. The name of a person to whom Agur’s words are addressed (Prov. 30:1).
UEL. (Will of God ), one of the family of Bani, who during the captivity had married a foreign wife (Ezra 10:34).
ULAI. The Eulaus of the Greeks; a river of Susiana. It was probably the eastern branch of the Choasper (Kerkhan), which divided into two branches some 20 miles above the city of Susa. Hence Daniel (8:2, 16) speaks of standing “between the banks of Ulai”, i.e., between the two streams of the divided river.
ULAM. (1.) A descendant of Gilead, the grandson of Manasseh and father of Bedan (1 Chr. 7:17). (2.)The first-born of Eshek, a descendant of the house of Saul (1 Chr. 8:39, 40).
ULLA. An Asherite, head of a family in his tribe (1 Chr. 7:39).
UMMAH. Vicinity, a town of Asher (Josh. 19:30).
UNNI. Afficted. (1.) A Levite whom David appointed to take part in bringing the ark up to Jerusalem from the house of Obed-edom by playing the psaltery on that occasion (1 Chr. 15:18, 20). (2.) A Levite who returned with Zerubbabel from the Captivity (Neh. 12:9).
UPHARSIN. And they divide, one of the words written by the mysterious hand on the wall of Belshazzar’s palace (Dan. 5:25). It is a pure Chaldean word. “Peres” is only a simple form of the same word.
UPHAZ. Probably another name for Ophir (Jer. 10:9). Some, however, regard it as the name of an Indian colony in Yemen, southern Arabia; others as a place on or near the river Hyphasis (now the Ghana), the south-eastern limit of the Punjaub.
UR. (1.) Father of Eliphal, one of David’s “mighty men,” in 1 Chr. 11:35; in the parallel 2 Samuel 23:34 called “Ahasbai.” (2.) Light, or the moon city, a city “of the Chaldees,” the birthplace of Haran (Gen. 11:28, 31), the largest city of Shinar or northern Chaldea, and the principal commercial centre of the country as well as the centre of political power. It stood near the mouth of the Euphrates, on its western bank, and is represented by the mounds (of bricks cemented by bitumen) of el-Mugheir, i.e., “the bitumined,” or “the town of bitumen,” now 150 miles from the sea and some 6 miles from the Euphrates, a little above the point where it receives the Shat el-Hie, an affluent from the Tigris. It was formerly a maritime city, as the waters of the Persian Gulf reached thus far inland. Ur was the port of Babylonia, whence trade was carried on with the dwellers on the gulf, and with the distant countries of India, Ethiopia, and Egypt. It was abandoned about B.C. 500, but long continued, like Erech, to be a great sacred cemetery city, as is evident from the number of tombs found there. (See ABRAHAM.) The oldest king of Ur known to us is Ur-Ba’u (servant of the goddess Ba’u), as Hommel reads the name, or Ur-Gur, as others read it. He lived some twenty-eight hundred years B.C., and took part in building the famous temple of the moon-god Sin in Ur itself. The illustration here given represents his cuneiform inscription, written in the Sumerian language, and stamped upon every brick of the temple in Ur. It reads: “Ur-Ba’u, king of Ur, who built the temple of the moon-god.” “Ur was consecrated to the worship of Sin, the Babylonian moon-god. It shared this honour, however, with another city, and this city was Haran, or Harran. Harran was in Mesopotamia, and took its name from the highroad which led through it from the east to the west. The name is Babylonian, and bears witness to its having been founded by a Babylonian king. The same witness is still more decisively borne by the worship paid in it to the Babylonian moon-god and by its ancient temple of Sin. Indeed, the temple of the moon-god at Harran was perhaps even more famous in the Assyrian and Babylonian world than the temple of the moon-god at Ur. “Between Ur and Harran there must, consequently, have been a close connection in early times, the record of which has not yet been recovered. It may be that Harran owed its foundation to a king of Ur; at any rate the two cities were bound together by the worship of the same deity, the closest and most enduring bond of union that existed in the ancient world. That Terah should have migrated from Ur to Harran, therefore, ceases to be extraordinary. If he left Ur at all, it was the most natural place to which to go. It was like passing from one court of a temple into another. “Such a remarkable coincidence between the Biblical narrative and the evidence of archaeological research cannot be the result of chance. The narrative must be historical; no writer of late date, even if he were a Babylonian, could have invented a story so exactly in accordance with what we now know to have been the truth. For a story of the kind to have been the invention of Palestinian tradition is equally impossible. To the unprejudiced mind there is no escape from the conclusion that the history of the migration of Terah from Ur to Harran is founded on fact” (Sayce).
URBANE. The Greek form of the Latin Urbanus, as it is given in the Revised Version. He was a Christian disciple who is in the long list of those whom Paul salutes in writing to Rome (Rom. 16:9).
URI. (1.) The father of Bezaleel, one of the architects of the tabernacle (Exo. 31:2; 35:30; 38:22; 1 Chr. 2:20; 2 Chr. 1:5). He was of the tribe of Judah, and grandson of Caleb ben-Hezron. (2.) The father of Geber, Solomons commissariat officer in Gilead (1 Kings 4:19). (3.) One of the gatekeepers of the temple in the time of Ezra (Ezra 10:24).
URIAH. The Lord is my light. (1.) A Hittite, the husband of Bathsheba, whom David first seduced, and then after Uriah’s death married. He was one of the band of David’s “mighty men.” The sad story of the curel wrongs inflicted upon him by David and of his mournful death are simply told in the sacred record (2 Sam. 11:2-12:26). (See BATHSHEBA; DAVID.) (2.) A priest of the house of Ahaz (Isa. 8:2). (3.) The father of Meremoth, mentioned in Ezra 8:33.
URIEL. God is my light. (1.) A Levite of the family of Kohath (1 Chr. 6:24). (2.) The chief of the Kohathites at the time when the ark was brought up to Jerusalem (1 Chr. 15:5, 11). (3.) The father of Michaiah, one of Rehoboam’s wives, and mother of Abijah (2 Chr. 13:2).
URIM. Lights (Vulg.“doctrina;” LXX. “revelation”). See THUMMIM.
USURY. The sum paid for the use of money, hence interest; not, as in the modern sense, exorbitant interest. The Jews were forbidden to exact usury (Lev. 25:36, 37), only, however, in their dealings with each other (Deut. 23:19, 20). The violation of this law was viewed as a great crime (Ps. 15:5; Prov. 28:8; Jer. 15:10). After the Return, and later, this law was much neglected (Neh. 5:7, 10).
UTHAI. (1.) A descendant of Judah, of the clan of Perez (1 Chr. 9:4) = “Athaiah” of Nehemiah 11:4. (2.) Son of Bigvai (Ezra 8:14); called “Uthi” in 1 Esdras 8:40.
UZ. Fertile land. (1.) The son of Aram, and grandson of Shem (Gen. 10:23; 1 Chr. 1:17). (2.) One of the Horite “dukes” in the land of Edom (Gen. 36:28). (3.) The eldest son of Nahor, Abraham’s brother (Gen. 22:21, R.V.).
UZ, THE LAND OF. Where Job lived (1:1; Jer. 25:20; Lam. 4:21), probably somewhere to the east or south-east of Palestine and north of Edom. It is mentioned in Scripture only in these three passages.
UZAI. Father of Palal (Neh. 3:25).
UZAL. A wanderer, a descendant of Joktan (Gen. 10:27; 1 Chr. 1:21), the founder apparently of one of the Arab tribes; the name also probably of the province they occupied and of their chief city.
UZZA; UZZAH. (1.) One of those who accompanied the ark on its journey from Kiriath-jearim toward David’s citadel (2 Sam. 6:3-8, “Uzzah” = 1Chr. 13:7-11, “Uzza”). From the text of 2 Samuel 6:3-8, as generally corrected with the help of Septuagint, it is supposed that Uzzah walked by the side of the ark while Ahio (or “his brother”) went in front of it. The word which describes what happened to the oxen is variously translated; the Revised Version (British and American) has “stumbled”; others render it, “They let the oxen slip,” “The oxen shook (the ark).” Uzzah, whatever it be that took place, caught hold of the ark; something else happened, and Uzzah died on the spot. If the word translated “rashness” (Revised Version margin) in 2 Samuel 6:7 (not “error” as English Versions of the Bible) is to be kept in the text, Uzzah would be considered guilty of too little reverence for the ark; but the words “for (his) rashness” are lacking in the Septuagint (Codex Vaticanus), while 1 Chronicles 13:10 has “because he put forth his hand to the ark,” and further no such Hebrew word as we find here is known to us. The older commentators regarded the death as provoked by non-observance of the provisions about the ark as given in the Pentateuch, but it is generally believed today that these were not known in David’s time. What is clear is that Uzzah’s act led to an accident of some kind, and the event was regarded by David as inauspicious, so that the journey with the ark was discontinued. We know how the Old Testament writers represent events as due to divine intervention where we would perhaps discern natural causes. (2.) The garden of Uzza (2 Kings 21:18,26). Manasseh the king is said (2 Kings 21:18) to have been “buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza”; and Amon (2 Kings 21:26) “was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza.” It has been suggested that “Uzza”–“Uzziah” (‘uzziyah) = Azariah” (compare 2 Kings 15:1-6). The garden of Manasseh would then be identical with that of Uzziah, by whom it was originally laid out. 2 Chronicles 33:20 does not mention the garden. (3.) Son of Shimei, a Merarite (1 Chr. 6:29 (Heb. 14)), the Revised Version (British and American) “Uzzah,” the King James Version “Uzza.” (4.) A descendant of Ehud, and head of a Benjamite family (1 Chr. 8:7, “Uzza”). Hogg, JQR, 102 (1893) (see Curtis, Chron., 156-59), finds a proper name “Iglaam” in 1 Chronicles 8:6, and so reads “and Iglaam begot Uzza and Abishabar.” (5.) Head of a Nethinim family that returned from Babylon (Ezra 2:49) = “Uzza” of Nehemiah 7:51.
UZZEN-SHERAH. A town probably near Beth-horon. It derived its name from the daughter of Ephraim (1 Chr. 7:24).
UZZI. The Lord is my strength. (1.) The son of Bukki, and a descendant of Aaron (1 Chr. 6:5, 51; Ezra 7:4). (2.) A grandson of Issachar (1 Chr. 7:2, 3). (3.) A son of Bela, and grandson of Benjamin (1 Chr. 7:7). (4.) A Benjamite, a chief in the tribe (1 Chr. 9:8). (5.) A son of Bani. He had the oversight of the Levites after the return from captivity (Neh. 11:22). (6.) The head of the house of Jedaiah, one of “the chief of the priests” (Neh. 12:19). (7.) A priest who assisted in the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. 12:42).
UZZIAH. A contracted form of Azari’ah the Lord is my strength. (1.) One of Amaziah’s sons, whom the people made king of Judah in his father’s stead (2 Kings 14:21; 2 Chr. 26:1). His long reign of about fifty-two years was “the most prosperous excepting that of Jehosaphat since the time of Solomon.” He was a vigorous and able ruler, and “his name spread abroad, even to the entering in of Egypt” (2 Chr. 26:8, 14). In the earlier part of his reign, under the influence of Zechariah, he was faithful to Jehovah, and “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord” (2 Kings 15:3; 2 Chr. 26:4, 5); but toward the close of his long life “his heart was lifted up to his destruction,” and he wantonly invaded the priest’s office (2 Chr. 26:16), and entering the sanctuary proceeded to offer incense on the golden altar. Azariah the high priest saw the tendency of such a daring act on the part of the king, and with a band of eighty priests he withstood him (2 Chr. 26:17), saying, “It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense.” Uzziah was suddenly struck with leprosy while in the act of offering incense (26:19-21), and he was driven from the temple and compelled to reside in “a several house” to the day of his death (2 Kings 15:5, 27; 2 Chr. 26:3). He was buried in a separate grave “in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings” (2 Kings 15:7; 2 Chr. 26:23). “That lonely grave in the royal necropolis would eloquently testify to coming generations that all earthly monarchy must bow before the inviolable order of the divine will, and that no interference could be tolerated with that unfolding of the purposes of God, which, in the fulness of time, would reveal the Christ, the true High Priest and King for evermore” (Dr. Green’s Kingdom of Israel, etc.). (2.) The father of Jehonathan, one of David’s overseers (1 Chr. 27:25).
UZZIEL. Strength of God. (1.) One of the sons of Kohath, and uncle of Aaron (Ex. 6:18; Lev. 10:4). (2.) A Simeonite captain (1 Chr. 4:39-43). (3.) A son of Bela, and grandson of Benjamin (1 Chr. 7:7). (4.) One of the sons of Heman (1 Chr. 25:4); called also Azareel (18). (5.) A son of Jeduthan (2 Chr. 29:14). (6.) The son of Harhaiah (Neh. 3:8).
UZZIELITES. The descendants of Uzziel, and one of the four great families of the Kohathites (Num. 3:27; 1 Chr. 26:23).