Tlie Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States sustained in December, 1869, missionaries at Port-au- Prince, Cabaret Quatre, and at Cape Haytien. In Port- au-Prince a church and a rectory were erected in 1868 ; the missions of this place and of Cabaret Quatre had to- gether, in May, 1869, 102 communicants.
The English Wesleyans, who were the first Protes- tant body to establish a Protestant mission in Hayti, had in 1868 6 circuits, 6 chapels, 4 other preaching- places, 210 members, and about 890 regular attendants on public worship.— Neher, Kirchl. Geogr. unci Stuiistik; vol. iii, 1869. (A. J. S.)
Ha'zael (llch.CJiazad'. 'bXTH, also bNnm,whom God beholds, i. c. cares for; Sept. 'A^aJyXjYulg. Ilaznel, but A -.ael in Amos i, 4 ; hence Latin A ztliis, Justin. xxxvi, 2), an ofliccr of P>enhadad, king of Syria, whose eventual accession to the throne of that kingdom was revealed to Elijah (1 Kings xix, 15), B.C. cir. 907; and ■who, when Elislia was at Damascus, was sent by his master, who was then ill, to consult the prophet respect- ing his recovery (2 Kings viii,8). B.C. cir. 884. He was followed by forty camels bearmg presents from the king. The answer was, that he vii/jht certainly recover, " Howbeit," added the prophet, " the Lord hath showed me that he shall siu-ely die." He then looked steadfast- ly at Hazael tiU he became confused, on which the man
HAZAIAH
105
IIAZARjMAVETH
of God wept ; aiul when Hazael respectfully inquired the cause of this outburst, Elisha replied by describing the vivid picture then present to his mind of all the evils which the man now before him would inflict npon Israel. Hazael exclaimed, " But what is thy servant, the [not rt] dog, that he shoidd do this great thing y" Tlie prophet explained that it was as king of Syria he should do it. Hazael then returned, and delivered to his master that portion of the prophetic response which was intended for him. But the very next day this man, cool and calculating in his cruel ambition, took a thick cloth, and, having dipped it in water, spread it over the face of the king, who, in his feebleness, and probably in his sleep, was smothered by its weight, and died what seemed to his people a natural death (2 Kings viii, 15). We are not to imagine that such a project as this was conceived and executed in a da}-, or that it was suggest- ed by the words of Elisha. His discomposure at the earnest gaze of the prophet, and other circumstances, show that Hazael at that moment regarded Elisha as one to whom his secret purposes were lcno^vn. (See Kitto's Duilij Bible Illiist. ad loc.).— Kitto, s. v. He was soon engaged in hostilities with Ahaziah, king of Judah, and Jehoram, king of Israel, for the possession of the city of liamoth-gilead (2 Kings viii, 28). The Assyrian inscriptions show that about this time a bloody and destructive war was waged between the Assyrians on tlie one side, and the Sj-rians, Hittites, Hamathites, and Phoenicians on the other. See Cuneiforji Inscrip- tions. Benhadad (q. v.) had recently suffered several severe defeats at the hands of the AssjTian king, and ujion the accession of Hazael the war was speedily re- newed. Hazael took up a position in the fastnesses of the Anti-Libanus, but was there attacked by the Assj^r- ians, who defeated him with great loss, killing 16,000 of his warriors, and capturing more than 1100 chariots. Three years later the AssjTians once more entered Syria in force; but on this occasion Hazael submitted, and helped to furnish the invaders with supplies. After this, internal troubles appear to have occupied the at- tention of the AssjTians, who made no more expeditions into these parts for about a century. The SjTians rap- idly recovered their losses, and towards the close of the reign of Jehu, Hazael led them against the Israelites (B.C. cir. 8G0), whom he " smote in aU their coasts" (2 Kings X, 32), thus accomplishing the prophecy of Elisha (2 Kings viii, 12). His main attack fell upon the east- ern provinces, where he ravaged " all the land of Gilead, the Gadites, add the Reubenites, and the Manassites, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, even Gilead and Bashan" (2 Icings x, 33). After this he seems to have held the kingdom of Israel in a species of subjec- tion (2 Kings xiii, 3-7, and 22), and towards the close of his life he even tlireatened the kingdom of Judah. Having taken Gath (2 Kings xii, 17 ; comp, Amos vi, 2), he proceeded to attack Jerusalem, defeated the Jews in an engagement (2 Chron. xxiv, 24), and was about to assault the citj', when Joash induced him to retire by presenting him with " all the gold that was found in the treasures of the house of the Lord, and in the king's house" (2 Ivings xii, 18).— Smith, s. v. This able and successful, but unprincipled usurper left the tlirone at his death to his son Benhadad (2 Kings xiii, 21). B.C. cir. 835. Such was the prosperity and influence of his reign that the phrase " house of Hazael" occiu-s in prophet- ical denunciation {Amos i, 4) as a designation of the kingdom of Damascene Syria. See Damascus.
Hazai'ah {Hch.Chazaiiali', r\'^\n, whom Jehovah beholds; Sept. '0^(«), son of Adaiairand father of Col- hozeh, a descendant of Pharez (Neh. xi, 5). B.C. con- siderably ante 536.