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Dictionary of the Bible

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HARLOT

or Hariphite (QerS). The latter reading, if correct, perhaps points to a connexion with Hariph.

HARLOT (Heb.sSnSft, 'ishshah nokrlvySh [lit. 'strange woman'], qedSslmh, Gr. pm-M) in EV denotes unchaste women, especially those devoted to immoral service in idol sanctuaries, or given to a dissolute life for gain. We find evidence of their existence in very early times (Gn 38). From the name 'strange woman' in Pr &* 23" etc. (cf. 1 K 111, Ezr lO^ etc.), we may perhaps infer that in later times they were chiefly foreigners. By songs (Is 23") and insinuating arts (Pr 6^ etc.) they capti-vated the unwary. They acted also as decoys to the dens of robbery and murder (Pr 7^- " etc.). Wealth was lavished upon them (Ezk !&"■ " 2S^ etc.; cf. Lk 15'°). Apart from breaches of the marriage vows, immoral relations between the sexes were deemed venial (Dt iT?'"). A man might not compel ills daughter to sin (Lv 1929), but apparently she was free herself to take that way. Children of harlots were practical out-laws (Dt 232, jg iiiff._ jn 8"), and in NT times the harlot lived under social ban (Mt 21*^ etc.).

The picture takes a darker hue when we remember that in ancient Syria the reproductive forces of nature were deified, and worshipped in grossly immoral rites. Both men and women prostituted themselves in the service of the gods. The Canaanite sanctuaries were practically gigantic brothels, legalized by the sanctions of religion. The appeal made to the baser passions of the Israelites was all too successful (Am 2', Hos i^^"- etc.), and it is grimly significant that the prophets designate apostasy and declension by 'whoredom.' There were therefore special reasons for the exceptional law regard-ing the priest's daughter (Lv 21'). Religious prostitu-tion was prohibited in Israel (Dt 23"), and all gain from the unholy calling as Temple revenue was spurned (see Driver, Deut., in loc). The pure religion of 3' was delivered from this peril only by the stern discipline of the Exile. A similar danger beset the early Church, e.g. in Greece and Asia Minor: hence such passages as Ro IMS., 1 Co 6™-, Gal 5" etc., and the decree of the Apostolic Council (Ac 15™- 2=). W. Ewing.

HAR-MAGEDON.— The name of the place in which, accordingto Rev 16" (AV Armageddon) , the kings of the lower world are to be gathered together by the Dragon, the Beast, and the false prophet, to make war upon God. The most generally accepted location makes this to be the mountains of Megiddo, that is to say, those surrounding the plain of Megiddo, in which so many great battles of the past were fought. The difficulty with this explanation is that one would expect the plain rather than the mountains to be chosen as a battle-field. Another explanation finds in the word a survival of the name of the place in which the gods of Babylonia were believed to have defeated the dragon Tiamat and the other evil spirits. Such a view, however, compels a series of highly speculative corrections of the text, as well as various critical suppositions regarding the structure of the Book of Revelation. While the reference is apocalyptic, it seems probable on the whole that the word perpetuates Megiddo as the synonym of the battle-field -whether above the earth or in the under world on which the final victory over evil was to be won. Shailgb Mathews.

HARMON.— Am # (RV; AV 'the palace'). No place of the name of Harmon is known. The text appears to be hopelessly corrupt.

HARMONIES OF THE GOSPELS.— The beginnings of works of this class go back to very early days. Tatian's Diatessaron (2nd cent.) is of the nature of a Gospel Harmony. The Sections of Ammonius (3rd cent.) arrange the Gospels in four parallel columns. The Sections and Canons of Eusebius (4th cent.) develop still further the plan of Ammonius, enabling the reader to discover at a glance the parallel passages in the Gospels. In the 5th cent. Euthalius, a deacon of

HARROW

Alexandria, besides adopting the division into sections, applied the method of numbered lines to the Acts and Epistles.

The following are the principal modern Harmonies: A. Wright, Synopsis of the Gospels in Greek, with Various Readings and Critical Notes (Macmillan, 1903); Huck, Synopsis der drei ersten Bvangelien? (TQbingen, 1906); Tischendorf, Synopsis evangelica, ex iv. Evangdiis ordine chronologico concinnata et brevi commentario illustrata (Leipzig, 1891); C. C. James, Harmony of the Gospels in the words of the BV (Cambridge, 1901).

J. S. Banks.

HARNEPHER.— An Asherite (1 Ch 7").

HARNESS. See, generally. Armour, which RV sub-stitutes in most places for AV 'harness.' Similarly 'harnessed' (Ex IS's) becomes 'armed,' and the 'well harnessed' camp of 1 Mac 4' becomes 'fortified.' For 'the joints of the harness' of 1 K 22*" RVm sub-stitutes 'the lower armour and the breastplate,' the former being probably ' the tassets or jointed appendages of the cuirass, covering the abdomen' (Skinner, Cent. Bible, in loc.). The only passage where 'harness' as a verb has its modern signification is Jer 46* 'harness the horses,' the verb in the original being that used in Gn 46", Ex 14» etc. for yoking the horses to the chariot.

A. R. S. Kennedy.

HAROD. A spring, not a well as in AV, near the mountains of Gilboa (wh. see), where Gideon tested his men (Jg 7'), and which was probably the site of Saul's camp before his fatal battle with the PhiUstines (1 S 29'). It has been very generally Identified with the copious 'Ain Jalud in the Vale of Jezreel, E. of Zer'in. The water rises in a natural cavern and spreads itself out into a considerable pool, partially artificial, before descending the valley. It is one of the most plentiful and beautiful fountains in Palestine, and one that must always have been taken into account in military move-ments in the neighbourhood. The ' fountain in Jezreel ' (1 S 29') may have been the 'Ain el-Meyiieh just below Zer'in (Jezreel); but this and another neighbouring spring are of insignificant size compared with 'Ain Jalud. E. W. G. Mastbrman.

HARODITE.— A designation applied in 2 S 2325 to two of David's heroes, Shammah and EUka. The second is wanting in LXX and in the parallel list in 1 Ch 11". In the latter passage, by a common scribal error 'the Harodite' has been transformed into 'the Harorite.' 'The Harodite' was probably a native of 'Ain-harod (.Jalud), Jg 7'. See preceding article.

HAROEH ('the seer').— A Judahite (1 Ch 2»2). Perhaps the name should be corrected to Reaiah (cf. 1 Ch 42).

HARORITE.— See Harodite.

HAROSHETH.— A place mentioned only in the account of the flght with Sisera (Jg 4?- "- "). From it Sisera advanced, and thither he fled. It has been identified with the modern Tell el-Harathiyeh, which is 16 miles N.N.W. from Megiddo. But this is uncertain; nor do we know why the descriptive epithet 'of the Gentiles' is added. W. F. Coeb.

HARP, See Music and Musical Instruments.

HARROW. In 2 S 123i a passage which had become corrupt before the date of 1 Ch 20' as rendered in EV, David is represented as torturing the Ammonites 'under harrows of iron.' The true text and rendering, however, have reference to various forms of forced labour (see RVm), and the 'harrows' become 'picks of iron' or some similar instrument.

The Heb. verb tr. 'harrow' in Job 39'° is elsewhere correctly rendered 'break the clods' (Hos 10"; also Is 282<, but Amer. RV has here ' harrow'). In Hastings' DB ii. 306 several reasons were given for rejecting the universal modern rendering of the original by ' harrow.' This conclusion has since been confirmed

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