(Had·ad·eʹzer) [Hadad Is a Helper].

Son of Rehob and king of Zobah, a Syrian (Aramaean) kingdom that is thought to have been situated N of Damascus (2Sa 8:3, 5; 1Ki 11:23; 1Ch 18:3, 5) and that included vassalages. (2Sa 10:19) Before being defeated by King David, Hadadezer had waged warfare against Toi (Tou) the king of Hamath.​—2Sa 8:9, 10; 1Ch 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. (2Sa 10:6, 15, 16; 1Ch 19:16) This may be alluded to at 2 Samuel 8:3 (compare 1Ch 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 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 2Sa 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. (2Sa 10:17-19; 1Ch 19:17-19) In the conflict 40,000 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. (2Sa 8:7, 8; 1Ch 18:7, 8; compare 2Sa 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 Greek Septuagint 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.

(Ha·dad·rimʹmon).

Evidently a location in the valley plain of Megiddo. (Zec 12:11) Hadadrimmon is often identified with Rummana, a site about 7 km (4.5 mi) SSE 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. (2Ki 23:29; 2Ch 35:24, 25) But some associate this lamentation with ritualistic mourning ceremonies like those for the false god Tammuz (compare Eze 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 Joh 19:37 and Re 1:7 with Zec 12:10-14.

(Haʹdar).

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

(Ha·dashʹah) [New].

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

(Ha·dasʹsah) [Myrtle].

The cousin of Mordecai who replaced Persian Queen Vashti; better known by her Persian name Esther.​—Es 2:7; see ESTHER.

(Haʹdes).

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

The King James 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 Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures (from Genesis to Malachi) uses the word “Hades” 73 times, employing it 60 times to translate the Hebrew word sheʼohlʹ, 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. (Ac 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 all but two cases in which the word Hades is used in the Christian Greek Scriptures it is related to death, either in the verse itself or in the immediate context; the two other instances are discussed in the following paragraph. Hades does not refer to a single grave (Gr., taʹphos), or to a single tomb (Gr., mneʹma), or to a single memorial tomb (Gr., mne·meiʹon), but to the common grave of mankind, where the dead and buried ones are unseen. It thus signifies the same as the corresponding word “Sheol,” and an examination of its use in all its ten occurrences bears out this fact.​—See GRAVE; SHEOL.

In its first occurrence, at Matthew 11:23, Jesus Christ, in chiding Capernaum for its disbelief, uses Hades to represent the depth of debasement to which Capernaum would come down, in contrast with the height of heaven to which she had been exalted by reason of Jesus’ ministry there. A corresponding text is found at Luke 10:15. Note the similar way in which Sheol is used at Job 11:7, 8.

Jesus and Congregation Delivered. Concerning the Christian congregation, Jesus said, at Matthew 16:18, that “the gates of Hades [“powers of death,” RS] will not overpower it.” Similarly, King Hezekiah, when on the verge of death, said: “In the midst of my days I will go into the gates of Sheol.” (Isa 38:10) It, therefore, becomes apparent that Jesus’ promise of victory over Hades means that its “gates” will open to release the dead by means of a resurrection, even as was the case with Christ Jesus himself.

Since Hades refers to the common grave of mankind, Jesus entered within “the gates of Hades” when buried by Joseph of Arimathea. On Pentecost of 33 C.E., Peter said of Christ: “Neither was he forsaken in Hades nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God resurrected, of which fact we are all witnesses.” (Ac 2:25-27, 29-32; Ps 16:10) Whereas “the gates of Hades” (Mt 16:18) were still holding David within their domain in Peter’s day (Ac 2:29), they had swung open for Christ Jesus when his Father resurrected him out of Hades. Thereafter, through the power of the resurrection given him (Joh 5:21-30), Jesus is the Holder of “the keys of death and of Hades.”​—Re 1:17, 18.

Manifestly, the Bible Hades is not the imagined place that the ancient non-Christian Greeks described in their mythologies as a “dark, sunless region within the earth,” for there was no resurrection from such mythological underworld.

Illustrative Use. At Revelation 6:8 Hades is figuratively pictured as closely following after the rider of the pale horse, personalized Death, to receive the victims of the death-dealing agencies of war, famine, plagues, and wild beasts.

The sea (which at times serves as a watery grave for some) is mentioned in addition to Hades (the common earthen grave), for the purpose of stressing the inclusiveness of all such dead ones when Revelation 20:13, 14 says that the sea, death, and Hades are to give up or be emptied of the dead in them. Thereafter, death and Hades (but not the sea) are cast into “the lake of fire,” “the second death.” They thereby figuratively ‘die out’ of existence, and this signifies the end of Hades (Sheol), the common grave of mankind, as well as of death inherited through Adam.

The remaining text in which Hades is used is found at Luke 16:22-26 in the account of “the rich man” and “Lazarus.” The language throughout the account is plainly parabolic and cannot be construed literally in view of all the preceding texts. Note, however, that “the rich man” of the parable is spoken of as being “buried” in Hades, giving further evidence that Hades means the common grave of mankind.​—See GEHENNA; TARTARUS.

(Haʹdid).

An ancestral city of certain Benjamites returning from Babylonian exile (Ezr 2:1, 2, 33; Ne 7:6, 7, 37; 11:31, 34), commonly identified with el-Haditheh (Tel Hadid), an abandoned Arab village about 5 km (3 mi) ENE of Lod (Lydda). It is generally thought that Hadid is probably the same as the “Huditi” mentioned in the Karnak List of Thutmose III, and the “Adida” in the Apocryphal book of First Maccabees (12:38; 13:13, RS, ecumenical edition), there described as being situated in the Shephelah and overlooking the coastal plain.

(Hadʹlai) [Ceasing].

Father of the Amasa who was one of the heads of the sons of Ephraim in the days of King Pekah of Israel and King Ahaz of Judah.​—2Ch 28:6, 12, 16.