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HaraAid to Bible Understanding
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place (as in JB, RS) and not a river believe that “Hara” possibly was a local designation for the Karja Baghlar, the mountainous region in Turkey N of Tell Halaf (a site of NE Syria).
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HaradahAid to Bible Understanding
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HARADAH
(Har·aʹdah) [trembling].
A site where the Israelites encamped while on their way to the land of Canaan. (Num. 33:24, 25) Its location is today unknown.
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HaranAid to Bible Understanding
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HARAN
(Haʹran).
[Heb., Ha·ranʹ, mountaineer]
1. Son of Terah and brother of Abram (Abraham) and Nahor. Haran fathered Lot and two daughters, Iscah and Milcah; the latter married her uncle Nahor. Haran died before Terah and Abram left Ur of the Chaldees.—Gen. 11:26-31.
2. A descendant of Gershon through Shimei; tribe of Levi.—1 Chron. 23:6-9.
[Heb., Hha·ranʹ]
3. A son of Caleb by his concubine Ephah, and “father” of Gazez; tribe of Judah.—1 Chron. 2:3, 42, 46.
4. A city of northern Mesopotamia, where Abram (Abraham) resided temporarily and where Terah his father died. (Gen. 11:31, 32; 12:4, 5; Acts 7:2-4) The name “Haran” also seems to have embraced the surrounding area, for Haran is listed among the “nations” conquered by the kings of Assyria.—2 Ki. 19:11, 12.
Some time after leaving Haran, Abraham sent his oldest servant to his relatives (apparently residing at Haran or a nearby town, “the city of Nahor”), to find a bride for his son Isaac. (Gen. chap. 24) Later, Jacob, Abraham’s grandson, went to Haran to escape the wrath of his brother Esau and also to find a wife among the daughters of his uncle Laban. (Gen. 27:42-46; 28:1, 2, 10) At a well, evidently near Haran, Jacob met Rachel.—Gen. 29:4-12.
In the eighth century B.C.E., Assyrian King Sennacherib tried to intimidate Judean King Hezekiah with messages boasting about his forefathers’ conquest of Haran and other places.—2 Ki. 19:8-13; Isa. 37:8-13.
Assyrian sources seem to refer to Haran as Harranu (meaning “road”), perhaps because of being on the caravan route linking it with cities such as Nineveh, Asshur, Babylon and Tyre, as well as the land of Egypt. (Compare Ezekiel 27:23.) The name of the ancient city is preserved in modern Harran, situated on the Belikh River, about sixty-eight miles (109 kilometers) N of its junction with the Euphrates. But some believe that the ancient site itself lies to the N of modern Harran. Certain scholars see evidence for patriarchal residence (as described in the Bible) in the correspondency of ancient place-names in this area to such personal names as Serug, Nahor and Terah.—Gen. 10:22-26.
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HarariteAid to Bible Understanding
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HARARITE
(Harʹa·rite) [mountain dweller].
The designation of certain of David’s mighty men. (2 Sam. 23:8, 11, 33; 1 Chron. 11:26, 34, 35) They were perhaps from the hill country of Judah.
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HarbonaAid to Bible Understanding
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HARBONA
(Har·boʹna) [donkey driver].
One of Ahasuerus’ seven court officials sent to convey to Queen Vashti the king’s word for her to appear before him. Then, at the time that Haman’s scheme to exterminate the Jews was exposed, Harbona’s mentioning the fifty-cubit stake Haman had made for Mordecai prompted Ahasuerus to order that Haman himself be hanged on it.—Esther 1:10-12; 7:9, 10.
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HareAid to Bible Understanding
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HARE
A gnawing animal closely related to but larger than the rabbit and differing from the latter in that its young are usually not born in an underground burrow and are active at birth, fully furred and having open eyes. The hare is known by its divided lip, long ears, cocked tail, and for its long hind limbs and feet, so useful for a speedy escape from its enemies. The fastest hares are said to attain a speed of as much as forty-five m.p.h. (c. 72 k.p.h.). The average length of the animals, of which there are numerous varieties, is about twenty-five inches (c. .6 meter). Their usual coloration is grayish or brownish.
The hare was prohibited as food under the Law given through Moses and is referred to as a chewer of the cud. (Lev. 11:4, 6; Deut. 14:7) Hares and rabbits, of course, do not have a multi-chambered or multi-parted stomach and do not regurgitate their food for rechewing, which characteristics are associated with the scientific classification of ruminants or cud chewers. Nevertheless, it must be remembered that such modern scientific classification was not the basis for the Hebrew word for ‘cud chewing’ in Moses’ day. Hence, there is no foundation for judging the accuracy of the Bible statement by this restricted, relatively recent conception of what constitutes a cud-chewing animal, as done by many critics.
In the past, commentators with faith in the inspiration of the Bible record saw no error in the statement of the Law. Observed The Imperial Bible Dictionary (Fairbairn, 1874, Vol. I, p. 700): “It is obvious that the hare does in repose chew over and over the food which it has some time taken; and this action has always been popularly considered a chewing of the cud. Even our poet Cowper, a careful noticer of natural phenomena, who has recorded his observations on the three hares which he had domesticated, affirms that they ‘chewed the cud all day till evening.’”
Scientific observation of hares and rabbits in more recent years, however, indicates that even more than seeming cud chewing is involved. Writes François Bourlière (The Natural History of Mammals, 1954, p. 41): “The habit of ‘refection,’ or passing the food twice through the intestine instead of only once, seems to be a common phenomenon in the rabbits and hares. Domestic rabbits usually eat and swallow without chewing their night droppings, which form in the morning as much as half the total contents of the stomach. In the wild rabbit refection takes place twice daily, and the same habit is reported for the European hare. . . . It is believed that this habit provides the animals with large amounts of B vitamins produced by bacteria in the food within the large intestine.” On the same point, the work Mammals of the World (Vol. II, p. 647) notes: “This may be similar to ‘chewing the cud’ in ruminant mammals.”
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HarephAid to Bible Understanding
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HAREPH
(Haʹreph) [autumn, or, sharp].
A descendant of Judah; son of Hur and the “father of Beth-gader.”—1 Chron. 2:3, 50, 51; see BETH-GADER.
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HarhaiahAid to Bible Understanding
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HARHAIAH
(Har·haiʹah).
Father of Uzziel. Harhaiah’s son, a goldsmith, did repair work on the wall of Jerusalem under the direction of Nehemiah.—Neh. 3:8.
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HarhasAid to Bible Understanding
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HARHAS
(Harʹhas) [perhaps, glitter, splendor].
Grandfather of Shallum the husband of the prophetess Huldah. (2 Ki. 22:14) In the Masoretic text his name is given as Hasrah at 2 Chronicles 34:22.
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HarhurAid to Bible Understanding
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HARHUR
(Harʹhur) [possibly, violent heat, fever, or freeborn].
Ancestral head of a family of Nethinim temple slaves. “The sons of Harhur” are listed among those returning with Zerubbabel from Babylon in 537 B.C.E.—Ezra 2:1, 2, 43, 51; Neh. 7:46, 53.
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HarimAid to Bible Understanding
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HARIM
(Haʹrim) [dedicated].
1. An Aaronic priest selected by lot to head the third of the twenty-four priestly divisions organized by David. (1 Chron. 24:1, 3, 7, 8) “Sons [or descendants] of Harim” are mentioned among the postexilic priests: 1,017 returned from Babylon in 537 B.C.E. (Ezra 2:1, 2, 36, 39; Neh. 7:42) Adna was the head of this paternal house in the following generation.
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