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Bible Dictionaries
Hadad
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or HADAD. 1. The name of a Semitic divinity (also written Adad, and Dadda for Adâda), the equivalent of Rimmon (wh. see) among the Aramæans of Damascus and apparently worshipped by all the Aramæan peoples, as well as among both South-Arabian and North-Arabian tribes, and also among the Assyrians. In Assyria and Babylonia, however, his cult, combined with that of Rammân, was apparently not native, but introduced from the Aram¿ans of the west. Hadad, like Rimmon (Rammân), was the god of the air and of thunder and lightning. The word seems to be derived from Arabic hadda , ‘to smite, crush.’ The name of this deity is not found alone in the Bible, but appears in several compounds, Benhadad, Bildad , and those which follow this article. It is possible, also, that Adrammelech of 2 Kings 19:37 and Isaiah 37:38 should be read Adadmelech , ‘Adad is king.’
2. The eighth son of Ishmael, 1 Chronicles 1:30 , and also Genesis 25:15 according to RV [Note: Revised Version.] and the best readings. 3. The fourth of the eight ancient kings of Edom, Gen 36:35; cf. 1 Chronicles 1:46 . 1 Chronicles 1:4 . The eighth of the kings of Edom in the same list as the last-named, 1 Chronicles 1:50 (in Genesis 36:39 miswritten Hadar) . 5. The son of a king of Edom in the 10th cent. b.c. ( 1 Kings 11:14 ff.). He escaped the massacre of Edomites perpetrated by Joab, David’s general, and fled (according to the received reading) to Egypt, whose king befriended him, and gave him his sister-in-law as his wife. After the death of David he returned to Edom, and his efforts seem to have rescued Edom from the yoke of king Solomon. It is probable that in 1 Kings 11:17 ff. instead of Mitsraim (Egypt) Mitsri should be read in the Hebrew as the name of a region west of Edom, which in the old MSS was several times confounded with the word for Egypt. The reference to Pharaoh ( 1 Kings 11:18 ff.) would then have been a later addition.
J. F. M’Curdy.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Hadad'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/h/hadad.html. 1909.
