Talk:Hazael

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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)
 * 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)

Request for clarity in this sentence please
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)

The he in the name.
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)


 * 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)
 * 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)
 * 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)