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Haemorrhoids or Emerods, bleeding piles known to the ancient Romans as mariscae, but more probably malignant boils of an infectious and fatal character. With this loathsome and infectious disease the men of Ashdod were smitten by the hand of the Lord. This calamity they attributed to the presence of the ark in their midst, and therefore they removed it to Gath (1 Sam. 5:6-8). But the same consequences followed from its presence in Gath, and therefore they had it removed to Ekron, 11 miles distant. The Ekronites were afflicted with the same dreadful malady, but more severely; and a panic seizing the people, they demanded that the ark should be sent back to the land of Israel (9-12; 6:1-9).

Haft a handle as of a dagger (Judg. 3:22).

Hagar flight, or, according to others, stranger, an Egyptian, Sarah's handmaid (Gen. 16:1; 21:9, 10), whom she gave to Abraham (q.v.) as a secondary wife (16:2). When she was about to become a mother she fled from the cruelty of her mistress, intending apparently to return to her relatives in Egypt, through the desert of Shur, which lay between. Wearied and worn she had reached the place she distinguished by the name of Beer-lahai-roi ("the well of the visible God"), where the angel of the Lord appeared to her. In obedience to the heavenly visitor she returned to the tent of Abraham, where her son Ishmael was born, and where she remained (16) till after the birth of Isaac, the space of fourteen years. Sarah after this began to vent her dissatisfaction both on Hagar and her child. Ishmael's conduct was insulting to Sarah, and she insisted that he and his mother should be dismissed. This was accordingly done, although with reluctance on the part of Abraham (Gen. 21:14). They wandered out into the wilderness, where Ishmael, exhausted with his journey and faint from thirst, seemed about to die. Hagar "lifted up her voice and wept," and the angel of the Lord, as before, appeared unto her, and she was comforted and delivered out of her distresses (Gen. 21:18, 19).

Ishmael afterwards established himself in the wilderness of Paran, where he married an Egyptian (Gen. 21:20,21).

"Hagar" allegorically represents the Jewish church (Gal. 4:24), in bondage to the ceremonial law; while "Sarah" represents the Christian church, which is free.

Hagarene or Hagarite. (1.) One of David's mighty men (1 Chr. 11:38), the son of a foreigner.

(2.) Used of Jaziz (1 Chr. 27:31), who was over David's flocks. "A Hagarite had charge of David's flocks, and an Ishmaelite of his herds, because the animals were pastured in districts where these nomadic people were accustomed to feed their cattle."

(3.) In the reign of Saul a great war was waged between the trans-Jordanic tribes and the Hagarites (1 Chr. 5), who were overcome in battle. A great booty was captured by the two tribes and a half, and they took possession of the land of the Hagarites.

Subsequently the "Hagarenes," still residing in the land on the east of Jordan, entered into a conspiracy against Israel (comp. Ps. 83:6). They are distinguished from the Ishmaelites.

Haggai festive, one of the twelve so-called minor prophets. He was the first of the three (Zechariah, his contemporary, and Malachi, who was about one hundred years later, being the other two) whose ministry belonged to the period of Jewish history which began after the return from captivity in Babylon. Scarcely anything is known of his personal history. He may have been one of the captives taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. He began his ministry about sixteen years after the Return. The work of rebuilding the temple had been put a stop to through the intrigues of the Samaritans. After having been suspended for fifteen years, the work was resumed through the efforts of Haggai and Zechariah (Ezra 6:14), who by their exhortations roused the people from their lethargy, and induced them to take advantage of the favourable opportunity that had arisen in a change in the policy of the Persian government. (See DARIUS �T0000975 [2].) Haggai's prophecies have thus been characterized:, "There is a ponderous and simple dignity in the emphatic reiteration addressed alike to every class of the community, prince, priest, and people, 'Be strong, be strong, be strong' (2:4). 'Cleave, stick fast, to the work you have to do;' or again, 'Consider your ways, consider, consider, consider' (1:5, 7;2:15, 18). It is the Hebrew phrase for the endeavour, characteristic of the gifted seers of all times, to compel their hearers to turn the inside of their hearts outwards to their own view, to take the mask from off their consciences, to 'see life steadily, and to see it wholly.'", Stanley's Jewish Church. (See SIGNET.)

Haggai, Book of consists of two brief, comprehensive chapters. The object of the prophet was generally to urge the people to proceed with the rebuilding of the temple.

Chapter first comprehends the first address (2-11) and its effects (12-15). Chapter second contains,

(1.) The second prophecy (1-9), which was delivered a month after the first.

(2.) The third prophecy (10-19), delivered two months and three days after the second; and

(3.) The fourth prophecy (20-23), delivered on the same day as the third.

These discourses are referred to in Ezra 5:1; 6:14; Heb. 12:26. (Comp. Hag. 2:7, 8, 22.)

Haggith festive; the dancer, a wife of David and the mother of Adonijah (2 Sam. 3:4; 1 Kings 1:5, 11; 2:13; 1 Chr. 3:2), who, like Absalom, was famed for his beauty.

Hagiographa the holy writings, a term which came early into use in the Christian church to denote the third division of the Old Testament scriptures, called by the Jews Kethubim, i.e., "Writings." It consisted of five books, viz., Job, Proverbs, and Psalms, and the two books of Chronicles. The ancient Jews classified their sacred books as the Law, the Prophets, and the Kethubim, or Writings. (See BIBLE.)

In the New Testament (Luke 24:44) we find three corresponding divisions, viz., the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms.

Hail! a salutation expressive of a wish for the welfare of the person addressed; the translation of the Greek Chaire, "Rejoice" (Luke 1:8). Used in mockery in Matt. 27:29.

Hail frozen rain-drops; one of the plagues of Egypt (Ex. 9:23). It is mentioned by Haggai as a divine judgment (Hag. 2:17). A hail-storm destroyed the army of the Amorites when they fought against Joshua (Josh. 10:11). Ezekiel represents the wall daubed with untempered mortar as destroyed by great hail-stones (Ezek. 13:11). (See also 38:22; Rev. 8:7; 11:19; 16:21.)