Hushai

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Hushai ( Hebrew חוּשַׁי ḥûšaj ) is the name of a person who appears in the Bible in the Book of Samuel . The person also appears in 1 Kings and 1 Chronicles .

etymology

The Hebrew Verbal Rootחושׁ ḥûš can mean hurry up on the one hand and enjoy on the other . The name may also be derived from the Hebrew wordשַׁי šaj ab, which means gift . Hans Rechenmacher gives two possible interpretations; accordingly, Huschai is either (following Martin Noth ) a rudimentary short form of the verbal root חשׁב ḥšv , German for ' crediting ' and maybe translating "(God) has credited" or it is a short form ofאֲחוּשַׁמָע * * 'ǎḥûšamā' meaning “brother has heard”.

The Septuagint gives the name as Χουσι Chūsi , the Vulgate as Husai .

origin

In the Book of Samuel, Hushai is referred to as Arkiter. The Arkites were probably a non-Israelite people and are mentioned in the Book of Joshua as neighbors of the tribe of Ephraim .

Mention in the Bible

Hushai is a servant of King David and is instrumental in his victory over his son Absalom , who wants to become king instead of him. He meets him when David flees Jerusalem from the uprising of his son Absalom . Hushai wants to join David, but is sent back to Jerusalem, where he is supposed to put himself in the service of Absalom and give reports from the royal palace to the priests Zadok and Abjatar, who are still loyal to David .
Once in Jerusalem he was able to gain the trust of Absalom and became one of his advisors.
Hushai uses this to get Absalom not to heed the advice of one of his other counselors, Ahitofel .
The latter has previously suggested that David follow up immediately in order to finally destroy him if he and his armed forces were particularly vulnerable due to the retreat. Hushai argues against it that David would fight all the more resolutely in this case and suggests in return that Absalom first gather all Israel in Jerusalem to defeat David with united forces. Huschai's ruse succeeds. He arranges for David to be warned and to withdraw immediately across the Jordan . David does this and it means that Absalom's forces there can be defeated by those of David.

In the book of kings, Hushai's son Baana is mentioned as one of Solomon's officials . Hushai is briefly mentioned in the Chronicle as a friend of King David.

Hushai in Jewish tradition

Hushai appears only very sparsely in Jewish tradition. A legend contained in the Babylonian Talmud (Tractate Sanhedrin, chap. 11, p. 107a) deals with how Hushai prevented David from committing idolatry : Desperate about the impending defeat against his son, David decides to make sacrifices for idols so that his later inexplicable defeat could be attributed to this circumstance. Hushai prevents this by pointing out to David that his defeat was a punishment for marrying Absalom's mother Maacha , even though she was a prisoner of war. Although this practice is actually allowed in the Torah ( Deut 21,10  EU ), this legend draws a connection to the regulation, which is only a few verses after that, according to which disobedient children are to be stoned. Naughty sons are therefore a consequence of marrying women prisoners of war ( Deut 21.18  EU ).

literature

  • Art. חוּשַׁי, In: Gesenius, 18th edition 2013 , 333.
  • Art. חושׁ, In: ibid., 332–333.
  • Nysse, Richard W .:  Hushai (PERSON) . In: Anchor Bible Dictionary (ABD). Volume 3, Doubleday, New York / London 1992, ISBN 0-385-19361-0 , pp. 338-339.
  • Jürg Hutzli: Art. Hushai (Friend of David) - Hebrew Bible / Old Testament . In: Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception vol 12, Walter de Gruyter (Ed.), Berlin / Boston, 2016, 616–617.
  • Karin Hedner Zetterholm: Hushai (Friend of David) - Rabbinic Judaism . In: Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception , Vol. 12, de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston, 2016, 617–618.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gesenius , 18th ed. 2013, p. 333.
  2. ↑ Gesenius , 18th ed. 2013, pp. 332–333.
  3. ↑ Gesenius , 18th ed. 2013, p. 1346.
  4. ↑ Hans Rechenmacher : Old Hebrew names, Münster 2012, p. 57.67.138
  5. ↑ 2 Sam 15.32  ELB , Jos 16.2  ELB .
  6. ↑ 2 Sam 15.32  ELB .
  7. ↑ 2 Sam 16:16  ELB .
  8. ↑ 2 Sam 17.1  ELB .
  9. ↑ 2 Sam 18.1  ELB .
  10. ↑ 1 Kings 4.16  ELB , 1 Chr 27.33  ELB .
  11. ↑ Jürg Hutzli / Karin Hedner Zetterholm: Art. Hushai (Friend of David) in: Encyclopedia of the Bible and Its Reception Vol. 12, de Gruyter, Berlin / Boston 2016, 616–618.