Baal-Hanan
1:
BAAL-HANAN (PERSON) [Heb ba˓al ḥānān (בַּעַל חָנָן)]. This name, meaning “Baal has shown mercy” (IPN 187), belongs to 2 persons in the OT (see below). Outside the OT, the name occurs for the ruler of Arwad at the time of Ashurbanipal (Phoenician *Ba˓alḥanōn, in Akkadian transcription Ba-˒-al-ḫa-nu-nu, Asb. Prism A II 84; 91).
1. In Gen 36:38–39 = 1 Chr 1:49–50, Baal-Hanan is the 7th ruler in the list of “the kings who ruled in the country of Edom before there was a king of the Israelites, ” Gen 36:31. Opinions vary about the date of the “Edomite King List, ” ranging from the 11th century b.c. (Weippert 1982:155), through the 8th to 6th centuries (Bennett 1983:16), to the 6th/5th centuries (Knauf 1985a). Scholars tend to agree, however, that the succession scheme of this list is artificial, and that in all likelihood the rulers listed in it were contemporaries (Bartlett 1972:27; Weippert 1982:155). The name Baal-Hanan is Canaanite, as is the name of the father of this Edomite “king, ” ˓Akbōr “Jerboa” (Knauf 1985a:248).
2. According to 1 Chr 27:28, a certain “Baal-Hanan of Geder” was King David’s “commissioner for the olives and sycamores in the lowlands.” The list of David’s officials 1 Chr 27:25–31 can be regarded as fictitious (Knauf 1985b:13). In this case, this Baal-Hanan might refer to an Idumaean of the postexilic period.
Bibliography
Bartlett, J. R. 1972. The Rise and Fall of the Kingdom of Edom. PEQ 104:26–37.
Bennett, C.-M. 1983. Excavations at Buseirah (Biblical Bozrah). Pp. 9–17 in Midian, Moab and Edom. The History and Archaeology of Late Bronze and Iron Age Jordan and North-West Arabia, ed. J. F. A. Sawyer and D. J. A. Clines. Sheffield.
Knauf, E. A. 1985a. Alter und Herkunft der edomitischen Königsliste Gen 36, 31–39. ZAW 97:245–53.
———. 1985b. Ismael. Untersuchungen zur Geschichte Palästinas und Nordarabiens im 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr.Wiesbaden.
Lemaire, A. 1988. Hadad l’ Édomite ou Hadad l’Araméen? BN 43:14–18.
Weippert, M. 1982. Remarks on the History of Settlement in Southern Jordan during the Early Iron Age. Pp. 153–62 in Studies in the History and Archaeology of Jordan I, ed. A. Hadidi. Amman.
Ernst Axel Knauf
Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Bible Dictionary (1:551). New York: Doubleday.
2:
Baal-Hanan — lord of grace. (1.) A king of Edom, son of Achbor (Gen. 36:38, 39; 1 Chr. 1:49, 50).
(2.) An overseer of “the olive trees and sycomore trees in the low plains” (the Shephelah) under David (1 Chr. 27:28).
Easton, M. (1996, c1897). Easton's Bible dictionary. Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
3:
BAAL-HANAN
1. Acbor’s son, a king of Edom (Gn 36:38–39; 1 Chr 1:49–50).
2. Official appointed by King David to be in charge of the royal olive groves and orchards of sycamore-figs in the lowlands bordering Philistine territory (1 Chr 27:28). He came from Geder, a town in the area.
Elwell, W. A., & Comfort, P. W. (2001). Tyndale Bible dictionary. Tyndale reference library (135). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
4:
BA´AL-HA´NAN (bāʹal haʹnon; “lord of grace”).
1. An early king of Edom, son of Achbor, successor of Shaul, and succeeded by Hadar (Gen. 36:38–39; 1 Chron. 1:49–50).
2. A Gederite, David’s overseer of “the olive and sycamore trees in the Shephelah” (1 Chron. 27:28), after 1000 b.c.
Unger, M. F., Harrison, R. K., Vos, H. F., Barber, C. J., & Unger, M. F. (1988). The new Unger's Bible dictionary. Revision of: Unger's Bible dictionary. 3rd ed. c1966. (Rev. and updated ed.). Chicago: Moody Press.
5:
Baalhanan (bayʹuhl-hayʹnan; Heb., ‘Baal [deity] is gracious’). 1 The son of Achbor, and a pre-Israelite king of Edom (Gen. 36:38-39). 2 A regional overseer of olive and sycamore trees during the reign of King David (1 Chron. 27:28).
Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row, P., & Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). Harper's Bible dictionary. Includes index. (1st ed.) (85). San Francisco: Harper & Row.
6:
Baal-Hanan (Heb. ba˓al ḥānān)
1. A son of Achbor; the seventh king of Edom (Gen. 36:38 = 1 Chr. 1:49).
2. Overseer of the olive and sycamore trees in the Shephelah during the reign of David (1 Chr. 27:28).
Freedman, D. N., Myers, A. C., & Beck, A. B. (2000). Eerdmans dictionary of the Bible (136). Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans.
