Abihud

Saint Abihud, also called Abiud, is an ancestor of the Savior according to the flesh, of the house of King David, named in the genealogy of the Lord in the Gospel of Matthew. He was the son of Zerubbabel and the father of Eliakim. The Orthodox Church honours him among the saints of the Old Testament on the Sunday of the Forefathers, before the Nativity of the Lord.

The name

The name Abihud means "the Father is glory", that is, God is glory. In Holy Scripture there is another person of the same name, one of the sons of Bela, the son of Benjamin, also called Ahihud (1 Chronicles 8:3 and 7). He is not the ancestor of the Lord. The name is also written Abioud in Greek and 'Abiyhud in Hebrew.

In the genealogy of the Savior

In the genealogy of the Lord, the Gospel of Matthew (1:13) shows Abiud as the son of Zerubbabel and the father of Eliakim. By one count he stands as the seventeenth descendant of David, though by the exact reckoning he is the twenty-⁠first. He may be the same person as Obadiah, a descendant of Zerubbabel named in 1 Chronicles 3:21. It is not known whether he was Zerubbabel's son or grandson.

From Abihud descend, in the male line, Eliakim, Azor, Zadok, Achim, Eliud, Eleazar, Matthan, Jacob and Joseph, the betrothed of the Virgin Mary, down to Jesus Christ, born of the Virgin. Through this line the Church sees God's faithfulness to the promise given to David.

Holy Scripture says nothing about the life and deeds of Abihud, giving only his name in the list of ancestors. He is commemorated with the other forefathers of the Lord on the Sunday of the Forefathers.