embrace, the eighth of the twelve minor prophets. Of his personal history we have no reliable information. He was probably a member of the Levitical choir. He was contemporary with Jeremiah and Zepha ...
Habakkuk, Prophecies of:
were probably written about B.C. 650-627, or, as some think, a few years later. This book consists of three chapters, the contents of which are thus comprehensively described: “When the prophet in ...
Habergeon:
an Old English word for breastplate. In Job 41:26 (Heb. shiryah) it is properly a “coat of mail;“ the Revised Version has “pointed shaft.“ In Ex. 28:32, 39:23, it denotes a military garment s ...
Habitation:
God is the habitation of his people, who find rest and safety in him (Ps. 71:3; 91:9). Justice and judgment are the habitation of God's throne (Ps. 89:14, Heb. mekhon, “foundation“), because all ...
Habor:
the united stream, or, according to others, with beautiful banks, the name of a river in Assyria, and also of the district through which it flowed (1 Chr. 5:26). There is a river called Khabur which ...
Hachilah:
the darksome hill, one of the peaks of the long ridge of el-Kolah, running out of the Ziph plateau, “on the south of Jeshimon“ (i.e., of the “waste“), the district to which one looks down fro ...
Hadad:
Adod, brave(?), the name of a Syrian god. (1.) An Edomite king who defeated the Midianites (Gen. 36:35; 1 Chr. 1:46). (2.) Another Edomite king (1 Chr. 1:50, 51), called also Hadar (Gen. 36:39; 1 Chr ...
Hadadezer:
Hadad is help; called also Hadarezer, Adod is his help, the king of Zobah. Hanun, the king of the Ammonites, hired among others the army of Hadadezer to assist him in his war against David. Joab, who ...
Hadad-rimmon:
(composed of the names of two Syrian idols), the name of a place in the valley of Megiddo. It is alluded to by the prophet Zechariah (12:11) in a proverbial expression derived from the lamentation fo ...
Hadar:
Adod, brave(?). (1.) A son of Ishmael (Gen. 25:15); in 1 Chr. 1:30 written Hadad. (2.) One of the Edomitish kings (Gen. 36:39) about the time of Saul. Called also Hadad (1 Chr. 1:50, 51). It is proba ...
Hadarezer:
Adod is his help, the name given to Hadadezer (2 Sam. 8:3-12) in 2 Sam. 10.
Hadashah:
new, a city in the valley of Judah (Josh. 15:37).
Hadassah:
myrtle, the Jewish name of Esther (q.v.), Esther 2:7.
Hadattah:
new, one of the towns in the extreme south of Judah (Josh. 15:25).
Hades:
that which is out of sight, a Greek word used to denote the state or place of the dead. All the dead alike go into this place. To be buried, to go down to the grave, to descend into hades, are equiva ...
Hadid:
pointed, a place in the tribe of Benjamin near Lydda, or Lod, and Ono (Ezra 2:33; Neh. 7:37). It is identified with the modern el-Haditheh, 3 miles east of Lydda.
Hadlai:
resting, an Ephraimite; the father of Amasa, mentioned in 2 Chr. 28:12.
Hadoram:
is exalted. (1.) The son of Tou, king of Hamath, sent by his father to congratulate David on his victory over Hadarezer, king of Syria (1 Chr. 18:10; called Joram 2 Sam. 8:10). (2.) The fifth son of ...
Hadrach:
the name of a country (Zech. 9:1) which cannot be identified. Rawlinson would identify it with Edessa. He mentions that in the Assyrian inscriptions it is recorded that “Shalmanezer III. made two e ...
Haemorrhoids:
or Emerods, bleeding piles known to the ancient Romans as mariscae, but more probably malignant boils of an infectious and fatal character. With this loathsome and infectious disease the men of Ashdo ...
Haft:
a handle as of a dagger (Judg. 3:22).
Hagar:
flight, or, according to others, stranger, an Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid (Gen. 16:1; 21:9, 10), whom she gave to Abraham (q.v.) as a secondary wife (16:2). When she was about to become a mother she f ...
Hagarene:
or Hagarite. (1.) One of David's mighty men (1 Chr. 11:38), the son of a foreigner. (2.) Used of Jaziz (1 Chr. 27:31), who was over David's flocks. “A Hagarite had charge of David's flocks, and an ...
Haggai:
festive, one of the twelve so-called minor prophets. He was the first of the three (Zechariah, his contemporary, and Malachi, who was about one hundred years later, being the other two) whose ministr ...
Haggai, Book of:
consists of two brief, comprehensive chapters. The object of the prophet was generally to urge the people to proceed with the rebuilding of the temple. Chapter first comprehends the first address (2- ...
Haggith:
festive; the dancer, a wife of David and the mother of Adonijah (2 Sam. 3:4; 1 Kings 1:5, 11; 2:13; 1 Chr. 3:2), who, like Absalom, was famed for his beauty.
Hagiographa:
the holy writings, a term which came early into use in the Christian church to denote the third division of the Old Testament scriptures, called by the Jews Kethubim, i.e., “Writings.“ It consist ...
Hail!:
a salutation expressive of a wish for the welfare of the person addressed; the translation of the Greek _Chaire_, “Rejoice“ (Luke 1:8). Used in mockery in Matt. 27:29.
Hail:
frozen rain-drops; one of the plagues of Egypt (Ex. 9:23). It is mentioned by Haggai as a divine judgment (Hag. 2:17). A hail-storm destroyed the army of the Amorites when they fought against Joshua ...
Hair:
(1.) The Egyptians let the hair of their head and beard grow only when they were in mourning, shaving it off at other times. “So particular were they on this point that to have neglected it was a s ...
Hakkoz:
the thorn, the head of one of the courses of the priests (1 Chr. 24:10).
Halah:
a district of Media to which captive Israelites were transported by the Assyrian kings (2 Kings 17:6; 18:11; 1 Chr. 5:26). It lay along the banks of the upper Khabur, from its source to its junction ...
Halak:
smooth; bald, a hill at the southern extremity of Canaan (Josh. 11:17). It is referred to as if it were a landmark in that direction, being prominent and conspicuous from a distance. It has by some b ...
Halhul:
full of hollows, a town in the highlands of Judah (Josh. 15:58). It is now a small village of the same name, and is situated about 5 miles north-east of Hebron on the way to Jerusalem. There is an ol ...
Hall:
(Gr. aule, Luke 22:55; R.V., “court“), the open court or quadrangle belonging to the high priest's house. In Matt. 26:69 and Mark 14:66 this word is incorrectly rendered “palace“ in the Autho ...
Hallel:
praise, the name given to the group of Psalms 113-118, which are preeminently psalms of praise. It is called “The Egyptian Hallel,“ because it was chanted in the temple whilst the Passover lambs ...
Hallelujah:
praise ye Jehovah, frequently rendered “Praise ye the LORD,“ stands at the beginning of ten of the psalms (106, 111-113, 135, 146-150), hence called “hallelujah psalms.“ From its frequent occ ...
Hallow:
to render sacred, to consecrate (Ex. 28:38; 29:1). This word is from the Saxon, and properly means “to make holy.“ The name of God is “hallowed“, i.e., is reverenced as holy (Matt. 6:9).
Halt:
lame on the feet (Gen. 32:31; Ps. 38:17). To “halt between two opinions“ (1 Kings 18:21) is supposed by some to be an expression used in “allusion to birds, which hop from spray to spray, forwa ...
Ham:
warm, hot, and hence the south; also an Egyptian word meaning “black“, the youngest son of Noah (Gen. 5:32; comp. 9:22,24). The curse pronounced by Noah against Ham, properly against Canaan his f ...