Yoo-ri´uh; Heb., “Yah[weh] is light [or fire]”
1 A Hittite who was one of David’s “heroes” (2Sam 23:39; 1Chr 11:41). His house was in Jerusalem (2Sam 11:9-11). While he was on the battlefield David took Uriah’s wife, Bathsheba, ordering him to such an exposed position during the siege of Rabbath-ammon (the present Amman, capital of Jordan) that his death was inevitable (2Sam 11:12-17). 2 The chief priest in Jerusalem during the reign of King Ahaz (ca. 735–715 BCE). He built a new altar at the king’s order patterned after an Assyrian altar that Ahaz had seen in Damascus. He apparently did not object to other Assyrian-influenced innovations introduced by Ahaz (2Kgs 16:10-16; note also vv. 17–18). His name is also sometimes given as Urijah. 3 A son of Shemaiah, a prophet of Kiriath-jearim. His rebuke of King Jehoiakim (ca. 609–598 BCE) and prophecies of destruction like those of Jeremiah had necessitated his flight to Egypt, whence he was brought back, slain, and interred in a common grave (Jer 26:20-23). 4 A priest, father of Meremoth, contemporary of Nehemiah (Ezra 8:33; Neh 3:4; Neh 3:21). 5 A priest who stood beside Ezra in Jerusalem when he read the law to the returned exiles (Neh 8:4).
