Abishua ( ʾĂḇīšūaʿ, "my father is rescue") was an early High priest of Israel. Abishua is mentioned in the books 1 Chronicles (6:3-5) and Ezra (7:5) as the son of the High Priest Phinehas, son of Eleazar. As such, he is the great-grandson of Aaron, the brother of Moses, Israel's first High Priest. It is likely that Abishua was a contemporary of the Israelite judge Ehud and the Moabite king Eglon.
According to Josephus and other extrabiblical sources, he succeeded his father as High Priest (Antiquities 5.11.5; 8.1.3).
Name and namesakes The meaning of the name "Abishua" is uncertain, but may be "the (divine) father is opulence."Cheyne and Black (1899), Encyclopaedia Biblica, entry for "Abishua." The name also appears in reference to a grandson of Benjamin in 1 Chronicles 8:4.
References