HACHMONITE

See HACHMONI No. 1.

HADAD

(Haʹdad) [perhaps, thunderer].

1. One of the twelve sons of Ishmael the son of Abraham and his concubine Hagar.—Gen. 25:12-15; 1 Chron. 1:28-30.

2. Successor to the kingship of Edom after the death of Husham. “Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated the Midianites in the field of Moab,” apparently ruled from the city of Avith.—Gen. 36:31, 35, 36; 1 Chron. 1:46, 47.

3. Another king of Edom; husband of Mehetabel. Hadad succeeded Baal-hanan to the kingship, and “the name of his city was Pau.” (1 Chron. 1:43, 50, 51) He is called Hadar at Genesis 36:39, which may be due to a scribal error, since the Hebrew letters corresponding to “r” (ר) and “d” (ד) are very similar.

4. An Edomite of the royal offspring and troublemaker for Israel during Solomon’s reign. While yet a child, Hadad, along with some of his father’s servants, fled down to Egypt by way of Paran to escape Joab’s slaughter of all the males of Edom. In Egypt Hadad and those with him were kindly received, Pharaoh giving Hadad a house as well as food and land, and later even his own sister-in-law as a wife. By this woman, Hadad had a son named Genubath, who lived right in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh. Upon learning that King David and Joab had died, Hadad returned to Edom and proved to be a resister to Solomon.—1 Ki. 11:14-22, 25.

5. Hadad is considered to be the chief deity of ancient Syria and is generally identified with Rimmon. The name “Hadad” appears as part of the names of certain Syrian kings, such as Ben-hadad (1 Ki. 15:18) and Hadadezer (1 Ki. 11:23), and also occurs in the name “Hadadrimmon.”—Zech. 12:11; see HADADRIMMON.

HADADEZER

(Had·ad·eʹzer) [Hadad is a help].

Son of Rehob and king of Zobah, a Syrian (Aramaean) kingdom thought to have been situated N of Damascus (2 Sam. 8:3, 5; 1 Ki. 11:23; 1 Chron. 18:3, 5) and which included vassalages. (2 Sam. 10:19) Before being defeated by King David, Hadadezer had waged warfare against Toi (Tou) the king of Hamath.—2 Sam. 8:9, 10; 1 Chron. 18:9, 10.

After the Syrians who had been hired by the Ammonites to fight against David were defeated, Hadadezer strengthened his forces by enlisting additional Syrians from the region of the Euphrates. (2 Sam. 10:6, 15, 16; 1 Chron. 19:16) This may be alluded to at 2 Samuel 8:3 (compare 1 Chronicles 18:3), where the reference seems to be to Hadadezer’s seeking to put his control back again at the river Euphrates. On this, Cook’s Commentary (Vol. II, p. 396) notes that the Hebrew literally means “to cause his hand to return” and states: “The exact force of the metaphor must . . . be decided by the context. If, as is most probable, this verse relates to the circumstances more fully detailed [at 2 Samuel 10:15-19], the meaning of the phrase here will be when he (Hadadezer) went to renew his attack (upon Israel), or to recruit his strength against Israel, at the river Euphrates.”

At Helam the forces of Hadadezer under the command of Shobach (Shophach) met those of David and were defeated. Immediately afterward Hadadezer’s vassals made peace with Israel. (2 Sam. 10:17-19; 1 Chron. 19:17-19) In the conflict forty thousand Syrian horsemen were killed. Perhaps, in order to escape through rough terrain, these horsemen dismounted and were slain as footmen. This could account for their being called “horsemen” at 2 Samuel 10:18 and “men on foot” at 1 Chronicles 19:18. The difference in the number of Syrian charioteers killed in battle is usually attributed to scribal error, the lower figure of 700 charioteers being considered the correct one.

David also took much copper from Betah (apparently also called Tibhath) and Berothai (perhaps the same as Cun), two cities of Hadadezer’s realm, and brought the gold shields belonging to Hadadezer’s servants, probably the vassal kings, to Jerusalem. (2 Sam. 8:7, 8; 1 Chron. 18:7, 8; compare 2 Samuel 10:19.) David also captured many of Hadadezer’s horses, horsemen, chariots and footmen. The variation in the enumeration of these at 2 Samuel 8:4 and 1 Chronicles 18:4 may have arisen through scribal error. In the Septuagint Version both passages indicate that 1,000 chariots and 7,000 horsemen were captured, and therefore 1 Chronicles 18:4 perhaps preserves the original reading.

However, it may be noted that what are commonly viewed as scribal errors in the account of David’s conflict with Hadadezer may simply reflect other aspects of the war or different ways of reckoning.

HADADRIMMON

(Ha·dad·rimʹmon).

Evidently a location in the valley plain of Megiddo. (Zech. 12:11) Hadadrimmon is often identified with Rummaneh, a site about four and a half miles (7 kilometers) S-SE of Megiddo.

The ‘great wailing’ at Hadadrimmon mentioned in Zechariah’s prophecy perhaps alludes to the lamentation over King Josiah, killed in battle at Megiddo. (2 Ki. 23:29; 2 Chron. 35:24, 25) But some associate this lamentation with ritualistic mourning ceremonies like those for the false god Tammuz (compare Ezekiel 8:14), and consider “Hadadrimmon” to be the composite name of a god. This is unlikely, especially since Jehovah’s words, through Zechariah, are part of a prophecy concerning the Messiah. Hardly could idolatrous weeping ceremonies serve as a prophetic illustration; but the mourning for a faithful Judean king could well do so.—Compare John 19:37; Revelation 1:7 with Zechariah 12:10-14.

HADAR

(Haʹdar) [perhaps, thunderer].

Successor to the kingship of Edom after the death of Baal-hanan; also called Hadad.—Gen. 36:31, 39; 1 Chron. 1:43, 50, 51; see HADAD No. 3.

HADASHAH

(Ha·dashʹah) [new].

A Judean city in the Shephelah. (Josh. 15:33, 37) Its exact ancient location is today unknown.

HADASSAH

(Ha·dasʹsah) [myrtle, joy].

The cousin of Mordecai who replaced Persian Queen Vashti; better known by her Persian name Esther, meaning “fresh myrtle.”—Esther 2:7; see ESTHER.

HADES

(Haʹdes).

This is the common transliteration into English of the corresponding Greek word haiʹdes. It literally means “the unseen place.” In all, the word Hades occurs ten times in the earliest manuscripts of the Christian Greek Scriptures.—Matt. 11:23; 16:18; Luke 10:15; 16:23; Acts 2:27, 31; Rev. 1:18; 6:8; 20:13, 14.

The Authorized Version translates haiʹdes as “hell” in these texts but the Revised Standard Version renders it “Hades,” with the exception of Matthew 16:18, where “powers of death” is used, though the footnote reads “gates of Hades.” “Hades” rather than “hell” is used in many modern translations.

The translators of the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (from Genesis to Malachi) used the word “Hades” seventy-three times, employing it sixty times to translate the Hebrew word sh^eʼohlʹ, commonly rendered “Sheol.” Luke, the divinely inspired writer of Acts, definitely showed Hades to be the Greek equivalent of Sheol when he translated Peter’s quotation from Psalm 16:10. (Acts 2:27) Inversely, nine modern Hebrew translations of the Christian Greek Scriptures use the word “Sheol” to translate Hades at Revelation 20:13, 14; and the Syriac translation uses the related word Shiul.

In every case in which the word Hades is used in the Christian Greek Scriptures it is related with death, either in the verse itself or in the immediate context in all except the two instances cited in the