Talk:Hazael

Latest comment: 2 years ago by Zhomron in topic The he in the name.

Untitled edit

This is considerably "original research" so I'm not posting it in the main article but does anyone else see a striking resemblence between the story of Ben-Hadad (Hadadezer) and Hazael and the story of Macbeth? Is it possible this is where The Bard got his inspiration for one of the greatest tragedies ever written? KRugg 02:21, 3 March 2007 (UTC)Reply

Yes, I noticed the same thing, that's why I came to this page! It appears that there are a few academic references; I've ordered one, I'll add a bit in if it seems appropriate. Walkerma (talk) 13:30, 30 March 2010 (UTC)Reply

Request for clarity in this sentence please edit

From the article:

"Hazael is first referred to by name in 1 Kings 19:15 when God told the prophet Elijah to anoint him king over Syria. "

Does the 'him' in this sentence refer to Hazael or to Elijah? I am being bold and changing 'him' to 'Hazael'. If I'm wrong, please revert. 188.220.45.209 (talk) 09:59, 6 June 2012 (UTC)Reply

The he in the name. edit

The he is silent because it's unmarked, @Zhomron. This is what's known as a Qere and Ketiv. GordonGlottal (talk) 00:45, 24 January 2022 (UTC)Reply

@GordonGlottal: No critical manuscript I can get my hands on marks Haza[h]el with a Qere/Ktiv (even within the chapters they are present in, there are plenty of other words marked with qere/ktiv. Never Hazael). For that matter, no Hebrew word I have ever seen has a medial he they mark as unspoken, let alone qere. What exactly are you basing this assertion on? Zhomron (talk) 00:53, 24 January 2022 (UTC)Reply
The Masoretes' normal way of marking a silent א or ה which is still there in spelling is to ignore it in vocalization/diacritics. The best way of telling in a standard edition is to pay attention to when the vowels match up with the consonants. Here, the word as constructed would plainly be unpronounceable/doesn't follow the rules, which is to say the vowels clearly imply that the he is not pronounced -- a he closing a qamatz in the middle of a word like that would need a schwa, like in יהצה (the only example I can think of). You could also look at the Masoretic notes. In general a normal edition won't explicitly announce such a minor change. GordonGlottal (talk) 01:00, 24 January 2022 (UTC)Reply
@GordonGlottal: I've only just realized what a colossal fool I have been here, of course that's a silent he. I was picturing the word like it was English, Hazahel, without even trying to actually say it in Hebrew where pronouncing that he would literally be impossible. Zhomron (talk) 15:54, 24 January 2022 (UTC)Reply