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In times of affliction the hair was cut off (Isaiah 3:17, 24; 15:2; 22:12; Jeremiah 7:29; Amos 8:10). Tearing the hair and letting it go dishevelled were also tokens of grief (Ezra 9:3). “Cutting off the hair” is a figure of the entire destruction of a people (Isaiah 7:20). The Hebrews anointed the hair profusely with fragrant ointments (Ruth 3:3; 2 Samuel 14:2; Psalm 23:5; 45:7, etc.), especially in seasons of rejoicing (Matthew 6:17; Luke 7:46).
•HAKKOZ the thorn, the head of one of the courses of the priests (1 Chronicles 24:10).
•HALAH a district of Media to which captive Israelites were transported by the Assyrian kings (2 Kings 17:6; 18:11; 1 Chronicles 5:26). It lay along the banks of the upper Khabur, from its source to its junction with the Jerujer. Probably the district called by Ptolemy Chalcitis.
•HALAK smooth; bald, a hill at the southern extremity of Canaan (Joshua 11:17). It is referred to as if it were a landmark in that direction, being prominent and conspicuous from a distance. It has by some been identified with the modern Jebel el-Madura, on the south frontier of Judah, between the south end of the Dead Sea and the Wady Gaian.
•HALHUL full of hollows, a town in the highlands of Judah (Joshua 15:58). It is now a small village of the same name, and is situated about 5 miles north-east of Hebron on the way to Jerusalem. There is an old Jewish tradition that Gad, David’s seer (2 Samuel 24:11), was buried here.
•HALL (Gr. aule, Luke 22:55; R.V., “court”), the open court or quadrangle belonging to the high priest’s house. In Matthew 26:69 and Mark 14:66 this word is incorrectly rendered “palace” in the Authorized Version, but correctly “court” in the Revised Version. In John 10:1,16 it means a “sheep-fold.” In Matthew 27:27 and Mark 15:16 (A.V., “common hall;” R.V., “palace”) it refers to the proetorium or residence of the Roman