consequence of the edict of Cyrus; and it is believed that he was born
during the captivity, and that he was of the sacerdotal race. His
prophecy consists of four distinct revelations, all which took place in
the second year of Darius, king of Persia, B. C. 520. The prophet
reproves the people for their delay in building the temple of God, and
represents the unfruitful seasons which they had experienced as a divine
punishment for this neglect. He exhorts them to proceed in the important
work; and by way of encouragement predicts, that the glory of the second
temple, however inferior in external magnificence, shall exceed that of
the first; which was accomplished by its being honoured with the
presence of the Saviour of mankind. He farther urges the completion of
the temple by promises of divine favour, and under the type of
Zerubbabel he is supposed by some to foretel the great revolutions which
shall precede the second advent of Christ. The style of Haggai is in
general plain and simple; but in some passages it rises to a
considerable degree of sublimity.
HAIR. The eastern females wear their hair, which the prophet
emphatically calls the “instrument of their pride,” very long, and
divided into a great number of tresses. In Barbary, the ladies all
affect to have their hair hang down to the ground, which, after they
have collected into one lock, they bind and plait with ribands. Where
nature has been less liberal in its ornaments, the defect is supplied by
art, and foreign is procured to be interwoven with the natural hair. The
Apostle’s remark on this subject corresponds entirely with the custom of
the east, as well as with the original design of the Creator: “Does not
even nature itself teach you, that, if a man have long hair, it is a
shame unto him? But if a woman have long hair, it is a glory to her; for
her hair is given her for a covering,” 1 Cor. xi, 14. The men in the
east, Chardin observes, are shaved; the women nourish their hair with
great fondness, which they lengthen by tresses, and tufts of silk down
to the heels. But among the Hebrews the men did not shave their heads;
they wore their natural hair, though not long; and it is certain that
they were, at a very remote period, initiated in the art of cherishing
and beautifying the hair with fragrant ointments. The head of Aaron was
anointed with a precious oil, compounded after the art of the
apothecary; and in proof that they had already adopted the practice, the
congregation were prohibited, under pain of being cut off, to make any
other like it, after the composition of it, Exod. xxx, 32, 33. The royal
Psalmist alludes to the same custom in the twenty-third Psalm: “Thou
anointest my head with oil.” We may infer from the direction of Solomon,
that the custom had at least become general in his time: “Let thy
garments be always white, and let thy head lack no ointment,” Eccles.
ix, 8. After the hair is plaited and perfumed, the eastern ladies
proceed to dress their heads, by tying above the lock into which they
collect it, a triangular piece of linen, adorned with various figures in
needlework. This, among persons of better fashion, is covered with a
_sarmah_, as they call it, which is made in the same triangular shape,
of thin flexible plates of gold or silver, carefully cut through, and
engraven in imitation of lace, and might therefore answer to השהרנים,
the moonlike ornament mentioned by the prophet in his description of the
toilette of a Jewish lady, Isaiah iii, 18. Cutting off the hair was a
sign of mourning, Jer. vii, 29; but sometimes in mourning they suffered
it to grow long. In ordinary sorrows they neglected their hair; and in
violent paroxysms they plucked it off with their hands.
John Baptist was clothed in a garment made of camel’s hair, not with a
camel’s skin, as painters and sculptors represent him, but with coarse
camlet made of camel’s hair. The coat of the camel in some places yields
very fine silk, of which are made stuffs of very great price; but in
general this animal’s hair is hard, and scarcely fit for any but coarse
habits, and a kind of hair cloth. Some are of opinion that camlet
derives its name from the camel, being originally composed of the wool
and hair of camels; but at present there is no camel’s hair in the
composition of it, as it is commonly woven and sold among us.
HAM, or CHAM, חם, son of Noah, and brother to Shem and Japheth, is
believed to have been Noah’s youngest son. Ham, says Dr. Hales,
signifies _burnt_ or _black_, and this name was peculiarly significant
of the regions allotted to his family. To the Cushites, or children of
his eldest son, Cush, were allotted the hot southern regions of Asia,
along the coasts of the Persian Gulf, Susiana or Chusistan, Arabia, &c;
to the sons of Canaan, Palestine and Syria; to the sons of Misraim,
Egypt and Libya, in Africa. The Hamites, in general, like the Canaanites
of old, were a sea-faring race, and sooner arrived at civilization and
the luxuries of life than their simpler pastoral and agricultural
brethren of the other two families. The first great empires of Assyria
and Egypt were founded by them; and the republics of Tyre, Sidon, and
Carthage, were early distinguished for their commerce: but they sooner
also fell to decay; and Egypt, which was one of the first, became the
last and “basest of the kingdoms,” Ezek. xxix, 15; and has been
successively in subjection to the Shemites, and Japhethites; as have
also the settlements of the other branches of the Hamites. See CANAAN.
HAMAN, son of Hammedatha, the Amalekite, of the race of Agag; or,
according to other copies, son of Hamadath the Bugean or Gogean, that
is, of the race of Gog; or it may be read, Haman the son of Hamadath,
which Haman was Bagua or Bagoas, eunuch, that is, officer to the king of
Persia. We have no proof of Haman’s being an Amalekite; but Esther iii,
1, reads of the race of Agag. In the apocryphal Greek, Esther ix, 24,
and the Latin, Esther xvi, 10, he is called a Macedonian, _animo et
gente Macedo_. King Ahasuerus, having taken him into favour, promoted
him above all the princes of his court, who bent the knee to him
(probably prostrated themselves wholly before him, as to a deity) when
he entered the palace: this Mordecai the Jew declined, for which slight,
Haman plotted the extirpation of the whole Jewish nation; which was
providentially prevented. He was hanged on a gibbet fifty cubits high,
which he had prepared for Mordecai; his house was given to Queen Esther;
and his employments to Mordecai. His ten sons were likewise executed.
See ESTHER.
HAMATH, a city of Syria, capital of a province of the same name, lying
upon the Orontes, Joshua xiii, 5; Judges iii, 3; 2 Kings xiv, 25; 2
Chron. vii, 8. The king of Hamath cultivated a good understanding with
David, 2 Sam. viii, 9. This city was taken by the kings of Judah, and
afterward retaken by the Syrians, and recovered from them by Jeroboam
the Second, 2 Kings xiv, 28.
HAND sometimes denotes the vengeance of God: “The hand of the Lord was
heavy upon them of Ashdod,” after they had taken the ark, 1 Samuel v, 6,
7. To pour water on any one’s hands, signifies to serve him, 2 Kings
iii, 11. To wash one’s hands, denotes innocence: Pilate washed his hands
to denote his being innocent of the blood of Jesus, Matthew xxvii, 24.
To kiss one’s hand, is an act of adoration, 1 Kings xix, 18. “If I
beheld the sun when it shined, and my mouth hath kissed my hand,” Job
xxxi, 27. To fill one’s hands, is to take possession of the priesthood,
to perform the functions of that office; because in this ceremony, those
parts of the victim which were to be offered, were put into the hand of
the newly created priest, Judges xvii, 5, 12; 1 Kings xiii, 33. To lean
upon any one’s hand, is a mark of familiarity and superiority. The king
of Israel had a confident on whom he thus leaned, 2 Kings vii, 17. The
king of Syria leaned on the hand or arm of Naaman when he went up to the
temple of Rimmon, 2 Kings v, 18. To lift up one’s hand, is a way of
taking an oath which has been in use among all nations. To give one’s
hand, signifies to grant peace, to swear friendship, to promise entire
security, to make alliance, 2 Kings x, 15. The Jews say, they were
obliged to give the hand to the Egyptians and Assyrians, that they might
procure bread, 2 Macc. xiii, 22; that is, to surrender to them, to
submit. To stretch out one’s hand, signifies to chastise, to exercise
severity or justice, Ezek. xxv, 7. God delivered his people with a high
hand, and arm stretched out; by performing many wonders, and inflicting
many chastisements, on the Egyptians. To stretch out one’s hand,
sometimes denotes mercy: “I have spread out my hands,” entreated, “all
the day unto a rebellious people,” Isaiah lxv, 2. Hand is also
frequently taken for the power and impression of the Holy Spirit felt by
a prophet: “The hand of the Lord was on Elijah,” 1 Kings xviii, 46. It
is said that God gave his law by the hand of Moses, that he spoke by the
hand of prophets, &c; that is, by their means, by them, &c. The right
hand denotes power, strength. The Scripture generally imputes to God’s
right hand all the effects of his omnipotence: “Thy right hand, O Lord,
hath dashed in pieces the enemy,” Exodus xv, 6. The Son of God is often
represented as sitting at the right hand of his heavenly Father: “The
Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand,” Psalm cx, 1; thou hast
done thy work upon earth, now take possession of that sovereign kingdom
and glory which by right belongeth unto thee; do thou rule with
authority and honour, as thou art Mediator. The right hand commonly
denotes the south, as the left does the north; for the Hebrews speak of
the quarters of the world, in respect of themselves, having their faces
turned to the east, their backs to the west, their right hands to the
south, and their left to the north. For example: “Doth not David hide
himself with us in strong holds, in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah,
which is on the south of Jeshimon?” in Hebrew, “on the _right hand_ of
Jeshimon.” The accuser was commonly at the right hand of the accused:
“Let Satan stand at his right hand,” Psalm cix, 6. And in Zech. iii, 1,
Satan was at the right hand of the high priest Joshua, to accuse him.
Often, in a contrary sense, to be at one’s right hand signifies to
defend, to protect, to support him: “I have set the Lord always before
me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved,” Psalm xvi, 8.
To turn from the law of God, neither to the right hand nor to the left,
is a frequent Scripture expression, the meaning of which is, that we
must not depart from it at all. Our Saviour, in Matt, vi, 3, to show
with what privacy we should do good works, says that our left hand
should not know what our right hand does. Above all things, we should
avoid vanity and ostentation in all the good we undertake to do, and
should not think that thereby we merit any thing. Laying on hands, or
imposition of hands, is understood in different ways both in the Old and
New Testament. It is often taken for ordination and consecration of
priests and ministers, as well among the Jews as Christians, Num. viii,
10; Acts vi, 6; xiii, 3; 1 Tim. iv, 14. It is sometimes also made use of
to signify the establishment of judges and magistrates, on whom it was
usual to lay hands when they were entrusted with these employments.
Thus, when Moses constituted Joshua his successor, God appointed him to
lay his hands upon him, Numbers xxvii, 18. Jacob laid his hands on
Ephraim and Manasseh, when he gave them his last blessing, Gen. xlviii,
14. The high priest stretched out his hands to the people, as often as
he recited the solemn form of blessing, Lev. ix, 22. The Israelites, who
presented sin offerings at the tabernacle, confessed their sins while
they laid their hands upon them, Lev. i, 4. This testified that the
person acknowledged himself worthy of death, that he laid his sins upon
the sacrifice, that he trusted in Christ for the expiation of his sins,
and that he devoted himself to God. Witnesses laid their hands upon the
head of the accused person, as it were to signify that they charged upon
him the guilt of his blood, and freed themselves from it, Deut. xiii, 9;
xvii, 7. Our Saviour laid his hands upon the children that were
presented to him, and blessed them, Mark x, 16. And the Holy Ghost was
conferred on those who were baptized by the laying on of the hands of
the Apostles, Acts viii, 17; xix, 6.
HANNAH. See SAMUEL.
HARAN, the eldest son of Terah, and brother to Abraham and Nahor. He was
the father of Lot, Milcah, and Iscah, Gen. xi, 26, &c. Haran died before
his father Terah.
2. HARAN, otherwise called Charran, in Mesopotamia, a city celebrated
for having been the place to which Abraham removed first, after he left
Ur, Gen. xi, 31, 32, and where Terah was buried. Thither it was likewise
that Jacob repaired to Laban, when he fled from Esau, Gen. xxvii, 43;
xxviii, 10, &c. Haran was situated in the north-western part of
Mesopotamia on a river of the same name running into the Euphrates. Mr.
Kinneir says, that Haran, which is still so called, or rather Harran, is
now peopled by a few families of wandering Arabs, who have been led
thither by a plentiful supply of good water from several small streams.
It is situated in 36° 52´ north latitude, and 39° 5´ east longitude; in
a flat and sandy plain. Some think that it was built by Terah, or by
Haran, his eldest son.
HARE, ארנבת, Arabic _arneb_, Lev. xi, 6; Deut. xiv, 7. This name is
derived, as Bochart and others suppose, from ארה, _to crop_, and ניב,
_the produce of the ground_; these animals being remarkable for
devouring young plants and herbage. This animal resembles the rabbit,
but is larger, and somewhat longer in proportion to its thickness. The
hare in Syria, says Dr. Russel, is distinguished into two species,
differing considerably in point of size. The largest is the Turkman
hare, and chiefly haunts the plains; the other is the common hare of the
desert: both are abundant. The difficulty as to this animal is, that
Moses says the _arnabeth_ chews the cud, which our hares do not: but
Aristotle takes notice of the same circumstance, and affirms that the
structure of its stomach is similar to that of ruminating animals. The
animal here mentioned may then be a variety of the species.
HAROSHETH OF THE GENTILES, a city supposed to be situated near Hazor, in
the northern parts of Canaan, called afterward Upper Galilee, or Galilee
of the Gentiles, for the same reason that this place probably obtained
that title, namely, from being less inhabited by Jews, and being near
the great resorts of the Gentiles, Tyre and Sidon. This is said to have
been the residence of Sisera, the general of the armies of Jabin, king
of Canaan, who reigned at Hazor.
HARP, a stringed musical instrument. The Hebrew word _kinaor_, which is
translated “harp” in our English version, very probably denoted all
stringed instruments. By the Hebrews, the harp was called the _pleasant_
harp; and it was employed by them, not only in their devotions, but also
at their entertainments and pleasures. It is probable, that the harp was
nearly the earliest, if not the earliest, instrument of music. David
danced when he played on the harp: the Levites did the same. Hence it
appears, that it was light and portable, and that its size was
restricted within limits which admitted of that service, and of that
manner of using it.
HART, איל, Deut. xii, 15; xiv, 5; Psalm xlii, 1; Isaiah xxxv, 6, the
stag, or male deer. Dr. Shaw considers its name in Hebrew as a generic
word including all the species of the deer kind; whether they are
distinguished by round horns, as the stag; or by flat ones, as the
fallow deer; or by the smallness of the branches, as the roe. Mr. Good
observes that the hind and roe, the hart and the antelope, were held,
and still continue to be, in the highest estimation in all the eastern
countries, for the voluptuous beauty of their eyes, the delicate
elegance of their form, or their graceful agility of action. The names
of these animals were perpetually applied, therefore, to persons,
whether male or female, who were supposed to be possessed of any of
their respective qualities. In 2 Sam. i, 19, Saul is denominated “the
roe of Israel;” and in the eighteenth verse of the ensuing chapter, we
are told that “Asahel was as light of foot as a wild roe:” a phraseology
perfectly synonymous with the epithet _swift-footed_, which Homer has so
frequently bestowed upon his hero Achilles. Thus again: “Her princes are
like harts which find no pasture; they are fled without strength before
their pursuers,” Lam. i, 6. “The Lord Jehovah is my strength; he will
make my feet like hinds’ feet; he will cause me to tread again on my own
hills,” Hab. iii, 19. See HIND.
HARVEST. Three months intervened between the seed time and the first
reaping, and a month between this and the full harvest. Barley is in
full ear all over the Holy Land, in the beginning of April; and about
the middle of the same month, it begins to turn yellow, particularly in
the southern districts; being as forward near Jericho in the latter end
of March, as it is in the plains of Acre a fortnight afterward. The
reaping continues till the middle of Sivan, or till about the end of May
or beginning of June, which, as the time of wheat harvest, finishes this
part of the husbandman’s labours.
2. The reapers in Palestine and Syria make use of the sickle in cutting
down their crops, and, according to the present custom in this country,
“fill their hand” with the corn, and those who bind up the sheaves,
their “bosom,” Psalm cxxix, 7; Ruth ii, 5. When the crop is thin and
short, which is generally the case in light soils, and with their
imperfect cultivation, it is not reaped with the sickle, but plucked up
by the root with the hand. By this mode of reaping, they leave the most
fruitful fields as naked as if nothing had ever grown on them; and as no
hay is made in the east, this is done, that they may not lose any of the
straw, which is necessary for the sustenance of their cattle. The
practice of plucking up with the hand is perhaps referred to in these
words of the Psalmist, to which reference has already been made: “Let
them be as the grass upon the house tops, which withereth afore it
groweth up; wherewith the mower filleth not his hand, nor he that
bindeth sheaves his bosom.” The tops of the houses in Judea are flat,
and, being covered with plaster of terrace, are frequently grown over
with grass. As it is but small and weak, and from its elevation exposed
to the scorching sun, it is soon withered. A more beautiful and striking
figure, to display the weak and evanescent condition of wicked men,
cannot easily be conceived.
3. The reapers go to the field very early in the morning, and return
home betimes in the afternoon. They carry provisions along with them,
and leathern bottles, or dried bottle gourds, filled with water. They
are followed by their own children, or by others, who glean with much
success, for a great quantity of corn is scattered in the reaping, and
in their manner of carrying it. The greater part of these circumstances
are discernible in the manners of the ancient Israelites. Ruth had not
proposed to Naomi, her mother-in-law, to go to the field, and glean
after the reapers; nor had the servant of Boaz, to whom she applied for
leave, so readily granted her request, if gleaning had not been a common
practice in that country. When Boaz inquired who she was, his overseer,
after informing him, observes, that she came out to the field in the
morning; and that the reapers left the field early in the afternoon, as
Dr. Russel states, is evident from this circumstance, that Ruth had time
to beat out her gleanings before evening. They carried water and
provisions with them; for Boaz invited her to come and drink of the
water which the young men had drawn; and at meal-time, to eat of the
bread, and dip her morsel in the vinegar. And so great was the
simplicity of manners in that part of the world, and in those times,
that Boaz himself, although a prince of high rank in Judah, sat down to
dinner in the field with his reapers, and helped Ruth with his own hand.
Nor ought we to pass over in silence the mutual salutation of Boaz and
his reapers, when he came to the field, as it strongly marks the state
of religious feeling in Israel at the time, and furnishes another proof
of the artless, the happy, and unsuspecting simplicity, which
characterized the manners of that highly favoured people. “And, behold,
Boaz came from Bethlehem, and said unto the reapers, The Lord be with
you. And they answered him, The Lord bless thee,” Ruth ii, 4.
4. It appears from the beautiful history of Ruth, that, in Palestine,
the women lent their assistance in cutting down and gathering in the
harvest; for Boaz commands her to keep fast by his maidens. The women in
Syria shared also in the labours of the harvest; for Dr. Russel informs
us, they sang the _ziraleet_, or song of thanks, when the passing
stranger accepted their present of a handful of corn, and made a
suitable return. It was another custom among the Jews to set a
confidential servant over the reapers, to see that they executed their
work properly, that they had suitable provisions, and to pay them their
wages: the Chaldees call him _rab_, the master, ruler, or governor of
the reapers. Such was the person who directed the labours of the reapers
in the field of Boaz. The right of the poor in Israel to glean after the
reapers was secured by a positive law, couched in these words: “And when
ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners
of thy land; neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest. And
thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape
of thy vineyard: thou shalt leave them to the poor and the stranger: I
am the Lord your God,” Lev. xix, 9. It is the opinion of some writers,
that, although the poor were allowed the liberty of gleaning, the
Israelitish proprietors were not obliged to admit them immediately into
the field, as soon as the reapers had cut down the corn, and bound it up
in sheaves, but when it was carried off: they might choose, also, among
the poor, whom they thought most deserving, or most necessitous. These
opinions receive some countenance from the request which Ruth presented
to the servant of Boaz, to permit her to glean “among the sheaves;” and
from the charge of Boaz to his young men, “Let her glean even among the
sheaves;” a mode of speaking which seems to insinuate that though they
could not legally hinder Ruth from gleaning in the field, they had a
right, if they chose to exercise it, to prohibit her from gleaning among
the sheaves, or immediately after the reapers.
HATE. To hate is not always to be understood rigorously, but frequently
signifies merely a less degree of love. “If a man have two wives, one
beloved and another hated,” Deut. xxi, 15; that is, less beloved. Our
Saviour says that he who would follow him must hate father and mother;
that is, he must love them less than Christ, less than his own
salvation, and not prefer them to God. “Jacob have I loved, and Esau
have I hated;” that is, have deprived of the privileges of his
primogeniture, through his own profanity; and visited him with severe
judgment on account of his sins.
HAURAN. The tract of country of this name is mentioned only twice in
Scripture, Ezek. xlvii, 16, 18. It was probably of small extent in the
time of the Jews; but was enlarged under the Romans, by whom it was
called Auranitis. At present it extends from about twenty miles south of
Damascus to a little below Bozra, including the rocky district of El
Ledja, the ancient Trachonitis, and the mountainous one of the Djebel
Haouran. Within its limits are also included, beside Trachonitis, Ituræa
or Ittur, now called Djedour, and part of Batanæa or Bashan. It is
represented by Burckhardt as a volcanic region, consisting of a porous
tufa, pumice, and basalt, with the remains of a crater on the Tel Shoba,
on its eastern side. It produces, however, crops of corn, and has many
patches of luxuriant herbage, which are frequented in the summer by the
Arab tribes for pasturage. It abounds, also, with many interesting
remains of cities, scattered over its surface, with Grecian
inscriptions. The chief of these are Bozra, Ezra, Medjel, Shoba, Shakka,
Souerda, Kanouat, Hebran, Zarle, Oerman, and Aatyl; with Messema, Berak,
and Om Ezzeitoun, in the Ledja.
HAVILAH, the son of Cush, Genesis x, 7. There must have been other, and
perhaps many, Havilahs beside the original one, a part of the numerous
and wide-spread posterity of Cush. By one and the first of these, it is
probable that the western shores of the Persian Gulf were peopled; by
another, the country of Colchis; and by another, the parts about the
southern border of the Dead Sea and the confines of Judea, the country
afterward inhabited by the Amalekites.