than Ahithophel’s advice to attack immediately. Hushai then informed the priests of what happened. (2 Sam. 17:1-16) Hushai’s counsel frustrated that of Ahithophel, just as David had petitioned God, and thus ‘Jehovah brought calamity upon Absalom.’—2 Sam. 15:31; 17:14; see FRIEND (COMPANION) OF THE KING.

HUSHAM

(Huʹsham) [haste].

A native of the land of the Temanites who succeeded Jobab as king of Edom. (Gen. 36:31, 34, 35; 1 Chron. 1:45, 46) This was “before any king reigned over the sons of Israel.”—1 Chron. 1:43.

HUSHATHITE

(Huʹshath·ite).

A resident, or perhaps a descendant, of Hushah.—2 Sam. 21:18; 23:8, 27; 1 Chron. 11:26, 29; 20:4; 27:1, 11.

HUSHIM

(Huʹshim) [hasters].

1. Son of Dan (Gen. 46:23), evidently called Shuham at Numbers 26:42.

2. A designation given to the sons of Aher of the tribe of Benjamin.—1 Chron. 7:6, 12.

3. Wife of the Benjamite Shaharaim and the mother of Abitub and Elpaal.—1 Chron. 8:1, 8, 11.

HYACINTH

(hyʹa·cinth) [Gr., hy·aʹkin·thos].

A deep-blue semiprecious stone; primarily the word referred to the flower by that name, probably describing the dark-blue iris. At Revelation chapter 21 the New Jerusalem is described as seen by the apostle John in vision. The eleventh of its foundation stones is said to be hyacinth (vs. 20).

Hyacinth blue (hyacinthine) is one of the colors of the breastplates in the description of the heavenly armies of cavalry, at Revelation 9:16, 17. The breastplates spoken of were probably those worn by the riders of the horses. Fire-red and sulphur are mentioned as the other two breastplate colors. In view of the later statement that the horses breathed out fire, smoke and sulphur, the hyacinth blue may represent the darkness of smoke, which, along with fire and sulphur, may be destructive to life.

HYKSOS

See EGYPT, EGYPTIAN.

HYMENAEUS

(Hy·me·naeʹus) [named after Hymen, the Greek god of marriage].

An apostate from Christianity during the first century, Hymenaeus was identified by Paul as a blasphemer, full of “empty speeches that violate what is holy.” In his deviation from the truth, Hymenaeus, along with a certain Philetus, taught false doctrine, subverting the faith of some. One of their false teachings was that ‘the resurrection had already occurred’ in their day. Evidently this was their teaching: that the resurrection was merely a spiritual one, of a symbolic kind, and that the dedicated Christians had already had their resurrection, that this was all there was to the matter and there was no further resurrection in the future under God’s Messianic kingdom. (But compare 1 Corinthians 15:12-23.)

In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, Hymenaeus’ name is associated with another apostate, Alexander. The apostle states that he had handed Hymenaeus and Alexander “over to Satan,” evidently referring to Paul’s expelling or disfellowshiping them from the congregation. This constituted discipline or training for the Christians who had been acquainted with these apostate men, as a warning not to follow their blasphemous course.—1 Tim. 1:18-20; 2 Tim. 2:16-18.

HYPOCRITE

One pretending to be what he is not; a person whose actions are out of harmony with his words.

Although words from the Hebrew root hha·nephʹ are rendered “hypocrite” or “hypocrisy” in some translations, such as the Authorized Version, Douay and Leeser, other translators have variously rendered these words “profane” (Yg), “impious” (Ro), “godless” (RS) and “apostate” (NW). According to A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament by Francis Brown with the cooperation of S. R. Driver and C. A. Briggs, pages 337 and 338, hha·nephʹ, when used as an adjective, may be defined as “profane, irreligious, . . . godless”; or, as a verb, “be polluted, profane, . . . inclining away from right.” In the Scriptures hha·nephʹ appears in parallel with those forgetting God (Job 8:13), the wicked (Job 20:5), evildoers (Isa. 9:17), and is used in contrast to the upright and innocent ones.—Job 17:8; see APOSTASY.

The Greek word rendered “hypocrite” (hy·po·kri·tesʹ) means “one who answers,” as well as a stage actor. Greek and Roman actors employed large masks with mechanical devices for amplifying the voice. Hence, the Greek word hy·po·kri·tesʹ came to be used in a metaphorical sense to apply to one playing false, or one putting on a pretense. The same word appears in the Septuagint translation at Job 34:30; 36:13. Hypocrites are “unfaithful ones” (compare Luke 12:46 with Matthew 24:51) and “hypocrisy” (hy·poʹkri·sis), as used in the Scriptures, may also denote “wickedness” and “cunning.”—Compare Matthew 22:18; Mark 12:15; Luke 20:23; see also Galatians 2:13, where hy·poʹkri·sis is rendered “pretense.”

Jesus Christ identified as hypocrites those making gifts of mercy with showy display, those praying and fasting to be seen of men and one picking on the strawlike fault of his brother but doing nothing about removing his own rafterlike fault. Christ classified as such those who claimed to be God’s servants but who failed to discern the significance of the time in which they were living and the events that were occurring, while readily drawing conclusions from the appearance of earth and sky as to what the weather would be like.—Matt. 6:2, 5, 16; 7:1-5; Luke 6:42; 12:54-56.

Not only did the Son of God while on earth denounce the religious leaders of Israel as hypocrites, but he also stated his reasons for doing so. They rendered mere lip service to the Creator, making the word of God invalid because of their traditions. (Matt. 15:1, 6-9; Mark 7:6, 7) Their actions were out of harmony with their words. (Matt. 23:1-3) The scribes and Pharisees not only deliberately refused to avail themselves of the opportunity to enter the kingdom of the heavens, but they added to their sin by trying to hinder others from doing so. They put forth every effort to convert someone, only to make him twice as much a subject for Gehenna as they were. They were sticklers for the little things of the Law, but disregarded the weightier matters of it—justice, mercy and faithfulness. As hypocrites, they possessed only a seemingly clean outward appearance; inside they were full of immoderateness. Like whitewashed graves, outwardly beautiful, they appeared righteous to men, but inside were “full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” They built the graves of the prophets and decorated the memorial tombs of the righteous ones, claiming that they would not have shed the blood of such ones. However, their course of action proved them to be just like their murderous forefathers. (Matt. 23:13-36) The teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees was actually hypocrisy.—Matt. 16:6, 12; Luke 12:1; see also Luke 13:11-17.

A striking example of a hypocritical course was that followed by the disciples of the Pharisees and the party followers of Herod when approaching Jesus on the tax question. First, they resorted to flattery, saying: “Teacher, we know you are truthful and teach the way of God in truth.” Then they posed the catch question: “Is it lawful to pay head tax to Caesar or not?” Appropriately Jesus referred to them as hypocrites, since they were not really desirous of getting an answer to their question but merely raised it with a view to trapping Jesus in his speech.—Matt. 22:15-22; Luke 20:19-26.