Difference between revisions of "Halah"

<p> [[District]] to which captive Israelites were carried. &nbsp;2 Kings 17:6; &nbsp;2 Kings 18:11; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 5:26 . In an [[Assyrian]] geographical list the name of <i> Halahhu </i> has been found, which corresponds with Halah, but its position is not well defined. The texts associate it with [[Habor]] <i> q.v. </i> </p>

<p> ''''' hā´la ''''' ( חלח , <i> ''''' ḥălaḥ ''''' </i> ; Ἁλάε , <i> ''''' Haláe ''''' </i> , Ἁλλάε , <i> ''''' Halláe ''''' </i> , Χαάχ , <i> ''''' Chaách ''''' </i> , for Χαλάχ , <i> ''''' Chalách ''''' </i> , Χαλά , <i> ''''' Chalá ''''' </i> ; [[Vulgate]] (Jerome's <i> Latin Bible </i> , 390-405 ad) <i> Hala </i> ): </p> 1. Many Identifications <p> [[Mentioned]] in &nbsp;2 Kings 17:6; &nbsp;2 Kings 18:11; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 5:26 , as one of the places to which the kings of Assyria sent the exiled Israelites (see Gozan; Habor ). Various identifications have been proposed, all of them except the last more or less improbable for philological reasons: (1) The Assyrian <i> ''''' Kalah̬ ''''' </i> ( <i> ''''' Nimrūd ''''' </i> , the Calah of &nbsp;Genesis 10:11 ); (2) The Assyrian <i> ''''' H̬ilakku ''''' </i> (Cilicia); (3) Chalkitis in [[Mesopotamia]] (Ptol. v.18, 4), adjoining Gauzanitis (Gozan) - a good position otherwise; (4) The Calachene of Strabo, in the North of Assyria. [[Equally]] unsuitable, also, is (5) The Chalonitis of Pliny and Strabo, Northeast of Assyria, notwithstanding that this was apparently called <i> ''''' Halah ''''' </i> by the Syrians. An attractive identification was (6) with the river ''''' Balı̄kh ''''' (by change of "H" into "B") - compare [[Septuagint]] "in Halae and in Habor, <i> rivers </i> of Gozan" - but even this has to be abandoned in favor of (7) The Assyrian <i> ''''' H̬alah̬h̬u ''''' </i> , which (except the doubling and the case-ending) is the same, letter for letter. </p> 2. The Most [[Probable]] of Them <p> It is mentioned in the <i> W. Asia Inscr </i> , II, plural 53, l. 35, between <i> ''''' Arraph̬a ''''' </i> (Arrapachitis) and <i> ''''' Raṣappu ''''' </i> (Reseph). According to the tablet K. 123, where it is called <i> ''''' mat H̬alah̬h̬i ''''' </i> , "the land of ''''' H̬alah̬h̬u ''''' ," it apparently included the towns ''''' Še ''''' - ''''' bisê ''''' , ''''' Še ''''' - ''''' ı̂rriši ''''' , Lu-ammu(ti?), and ''''' Še ''''' - ''''' Akkulani ''''' , apparently four grain-producing centers for the Assyrian government. The first quotation implies that Halah was near or in Gauzanitis, and had a chief town of the same name. Of the 8 personal names in K. 123,5 are Assyrian, the remainder being [[Syrian]] rather than Israelite. </p>

<p> (Hebrew Chalach', '''''חֲלִח''''' ''.,'' signif. unknown; Sept. '''''Ε᾿Λαέ''''' and '''''Ἀλαέ''''' , Vulg. ''Hala;'' but in &nbsp;1 Chronicles 5:26; Sept. '''''Ξαξαδ''''' , Vulg. ''Lahela),'' a city or district of Media, upon the river Gozan, to which, among other places, the captives of [[Israel]] were transplanted by the Assyrian kings (&nbsp;2 Kings 17:6; &nbsp;2 Kings 18:11; &nbsp;1 Chronicles 5:26). Many, after Bochart ''(Geog. Sacra,'' 3:14, p. 220), have conceived this Halah or Chalach to be the same with the CALAH or Kelach of [[Genesis]] 10, 11, the Calacine ( '''''Καλακινή''''' ) which [[Ptolemy]] places to the north of Assyria (6, 1), the ''Calachene'' ( '''''Καλαχηνή''''' ) of [[Strabo]] (11, 530), in the plain of the [[Tigris]] around Nineveh. But this is probably a different place, the modern Kalah-Shergat. Major Rennell, identifying the Gozan with the Kizzil-Ozan, indicates as lying along its banks a district of some extent, and of great beauty and fertility, called ''Chalchal,'' having within it a remarkably strong position of the same name, situated on one of the hills adjoining to the mountains which separate it from the province of [[Ghilan]] ''(Geog. Of Herod.'' p. 396). The [[Talmud]] understands ''Cholwan,'' five days journey from [[Bagdad]] (Furst, ''Lex. S.V.'' ). Ptolemy, however, mentions (5. 18) another province in Mesopotamia of a similar name, namely, ''Chalcitis'' ( '''''Χαλκῖτις''''' ), which he places between Anthemusia (compare Strabo, 16:1, '''''§''''' 27) and Gau'zonitis (Gozan); and this appears to be the true Halah of the Bible. It lay along the banks of the Upper Khab '''''Û''''' r, extending from its source at Ras el-Ain to its junimtiorp with the Jerujer, as the name is thought to remain in the modern Cla, a large mound on this river, above its junction with the Jerujer (Layard, Nin. and Bab. p. 312, note). Halah, Habor, and Gozan were situated close together on the left bank of the [[Euphrates]] (Rawlinson, [[Ancient]] Monarchies, 1, 246). </p>