ab-i-e'-zer, a-bi-e'-zer ('abhi`ezer, "father of help," or "my father is help." Iezer, Iezerite (in the King James Version Jeezer, Jeezerite), is Abiezer with the letter beth omitted):

(1) A descendant of Joseph the son of Jacob, and head of one of the families of Manasseh that settled West of the Jordan (Numbers 26:30; Joshua 17:1-6; 1 Chronicles 7:14-19). As he was great uncle to Zelophehad's daughters, who brought a case before Moses (Numbers 36), he must have been an old man at the time of the conquest. He was the son of Gilead the son of Machir, in the sense of being a more remote descendant, for Machir had sons before the death of Joseph (Genesis 50:23). The Machir that possessed Gilead and Bashan because he was "a man of war" was the Manassite family of Machir, with Jair as its great general (Joshua 17:1; 13:30-31; Numbers 32:39-41; Deuteronomy 3:12-15). To Abiezer and other sons of Gilead territory was assigned West of the Jordan.

In later generations the name survived as that of the family to which Gideon belonged, and perhaps also of the region which they occupied (Judges 6:34; 8:2). They are also called Abiezrites (Judges 6:11,24; 8:32). The region was West of Shechem, with Ophrah for its principal city.

(2) One of David's mighty men, "the Anathothite" (2 Samuel 23:27; 1 Chronicles 11:28), who was also one of David s month-by-month captains, his month being the ninth (1 Chronicles 27:12).

Willis J. Beecher

From the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Edited by James Orr, published in 1939 by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

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