1. A river called Khahur rises in the central high- lands of Kurdistan, flows in a south-westerly direction, and falls into the Tigris about seventy miles above Mo- sul (Layard, Nitieveh and Bahijlon, p. 56 ; Schultens, In- dex Geoffr. in vitam Saladini, s. v.). INIany suppose this to be the Habor of Scripture for the following reasons : 1. It is within Assyria proper, which Ptolemy says was bounded on the west by tlie Tigris (vi, 1). 2. It is af- firmed that the Assyrian monarch would place his cap- tives in a central part of his kingdom, such as this is, and not in the outskirts (Keil on 2 Kings xvii, 4-(j). 3. Habor is termed "'a river of Gozan" ("r J "lil3 "ii2H) ; and Gozan is supposed to signify " pasture," and to be identical with the word Zozan, now applied by the Nes- tiirians to the pastiu'e-lands in the highlands of Assyria, wliere the Khabur takes its rise (Grant, The Nestoriau C'h)istians, p. 124). 4. Ptolemy mentions a mountain called Ckabor {XajSiopac) which divides Assyria from Media (vi, 1) ; and Bochart says the river Chabor has its source in that mountain (Opera, i, 194, 242, 3G2). Some have supposed that the modern Nestorians are the descendants of the captive Jews (Grant, I. c). See Go-
ZAX.
2. The other and much more celebrated river, Kha- hiir, is that famous affluent of the Euphrates, which is caUed Abort-has ('A/Soppaf) by Strabo (xvi, 1, 27) and Procopius (Bell. Pers. ii, 5) ; Abiiras (Aj^jovpctg) by Isi- dore of Gharax (p. 4) ; A bora (Xftiopa) by Zosimus (iii, 12) ; and Chuborus by Ptolemy (XafSwnac, v, 18) -and Pliny (//. iV. XXX, 3). " It rises about lat. 30^ 40', long. 40^; flows only a little south of east to its junction near Kaukab with the Jerujer or river of Nisibis, which comes down from J\Ions JMasius. Both of these branch- es arc formed by the union of a number of streams. Neither of them is fordable for some distance above their junction; and below it they constitute a river of such magnitude as to be navigable for a considerable distance by steamers. The course of the Khabur below Kaukab is tortuous [through rich meads covered with flowers, having a general direction about S.S.W. to its junction with the Euphrates at Karkesia, the ancient Circesium]. The entire length of the stream is not less than 200 miles" (Rawlinson, Ancient Monaixhies, i,236; see Ainsworth, Travels in the Track of Ike Ten Thou- sand, p. 79 ; Layard, Xineveh and Babi/lon, p. 304). Bit- ter {Erdkiinih', x, 248), Gesenius {Thesaurus), Layard, Kawlinson, and others, maintain that this is the ancient JIabor. 'There can be no doubt that Ass\T:ia proper was confined to the country lying along the banks of the Upper Tigris, and stretching eastward to :Media. But its territory gradually exjianded so as to include Baby- lonia (Herodotus, iii, 92), Mesopotamia (Pliny, //. ^V. vi, 20), and even the country westward to the confines of Cilicia and Phcenicia (Strabo, xvi). At the time of the captivity the power of Assyria was at its height. The Jewish captives were as secure on the banks of the western as of the eastern Habor. The ruins of Assyrian towns are scattered over the whole of northern Meso- potamia. " On the banks of the lower Khabur are the remains of a royal palace, besides many other traces of the tract through -which it runs having been perma- nently occupied by the Assyrian people. Even near Seruj, in the country between Haran and the Euijhra- tes, some evidence has been found not only of conquest, but of occupation" (Kawlinson, Ancient Monarchies, i, 247; see Chesney, /:(7j/»Y//cs Expedition, i. Hi; Lavard, Nin. ami Bab. p. 275, 279-300, 312). There can be no doubt that the KhaV)ur was in AssvTia. and near the centre of the Idngdom, at the time of the captivity.
Further, Ptolemy mentions a province in ]\Iesopntamia called Gauzanitis (v, 18), It lay around the Khabur, and was doubtless identical with Gozan, lience the ))hrase •■ Habor, the river of Gozan" (2 Kings xvii. 0). Chalci- tis, which appears to be identical witli Ilalah, mention- ed in the same passage, adjoined (iauzamtis. It is a remarkable fact that down as late as tlic 12th century there Avere large Jewish communities on tlie banks of the Kliabur (Benjamin of Tudela, in Earln Tiarck m Pal. p. 92 sq.). The district along the banks probably took its name from the river, as would seem from a com- parison with 1 Chron. v, 2G. Ptolemy mentions a town called Chabor (v, 18). The Khabur occurs under that name in an Assyrian inscription of the 9th century be- fore our sera (Layard, Nin. and Bub. p. 354) . See Cu- neiform IXSCUIPTIONS.
It seems doubtfiU whether Habor was identical with the river Chcljar (133), on which Ezekiel saw his vis- ions. The latter was perhaps farther .south in Babylo- nia (Ezek. i, 3, etc.).— Kitto, s. v. See Cuebak.
Haccerem. See Bfc:TH-HAc-cEREjr.
HachaH'ah (Heb. Chakalyah', n^psri; according to Gesenius, whose eyes Jehovah enlivens; according to Furst, ornament of Jehovah ; Sept. 'AxaXia v. r. \t\- Kia), the father of Nehemiah, the governor after the captivity (Neh. i, 1 ; x, 2). B.C. ante 447.
Hach'ilah (Heb. Chahilah', nbiztl. according to Gesenius, darksome ; accoriling to Fiirst, drought ; Sept. 'Exi^a V. r. XfXjuriS), the descriptive name of a well- wooded hill (n"2S) near ("on the south of," "before," " by the way of") the wilderness (" Jeshimon") of Ziph, where David lay hid, and where Said pitched his tent at the information of the Ziphites (1 Sam. xxiii, 19; xxvi, 1, 3). This is doubtless the Tell Zif reported by Dr. Robinson {Researches, ii, 190, 191) as "a round eminence situated in the plain, a hundred feet or more in height," with a level plot on the top, ajiparently once inclosed by a wall, and containing several cisterns; ly- ing a short distance west of the site of the town of Ziph. See ZiPii. The identification proposed by Schwarz {Palest, p. 113) with " the village Beth-Chachal, 21 miles west of Hebron," is unsupported and out of place.