Havilah (חֲוִילָה)

1. Name of a land and its people, first mentioned in Genesis 2:11 in relation to the Garden of Eden. It is described as a good land with abundance in gold, as well as onyx and bdellium, a myrrh-like resin made from certain plants. Some scholars place Havilah to the northeast of Mesopotamia. If the name is Hebrew it means “stretch of sand” or “land of sand”.

2. Name of a descendant of Noah, mentioned in Genesis 10:7, i.e. the son of Cush, who was the son of Ham. He is considered an eponymous ancestors of a nation associated with the region of the Gulf of Aden.

3. Name of a descendant of Noah, mentioned in Genesis 10:29, i.e. the son of Joktan, a descendant of Shem. He is considered an eponymous ancestors of a nation associated with the region of the Arabian desert. He is also mentioned to be a brother of Ophir, which is—like the Havilah mentioned in 1 above—the name of a country celebrated for its gold.

Hawa (חַוָּה‎)

Hebrew. “Life” or “Living”. The Hebrew name for Eve, the wife of Adam.

Hazor (רחָצ)

1. Hebrew. “Castle” or “fence”. Name of an ancient royal city located in the Upper Galilee, north of the Sea of Galilee, between Ramah and Kadesh, on the high ground overlooking Lake Merom. It was the seat of Jabin, a powerful Canaanite king who led several campaigns against the Israelites.

2. Name a town north of Jerusalem in which the Tribe of Benjamin resided after their return from the Babylonian exile and later inhabited by their descendants, the Benjamites.

3. Name of one of the cities in the extreme south of Judah.

Holy of Holies

See Kodesh Hakodashim.

Huldrych Zwingli

A Swiss Protestant reformer and theologian, a contemporary of Martin Luther, who played a central role in the Reformation in Switzerland. Born on 1 January 1484 in Wildhaus, in the canton of St. Gallen, Zwingli was ordained as a Catholic priest and educated in the humanist tradition, studying classical literature, philosophy, and theology. As pastor of the Grossmünster in Zurich from 1519, he began advocating reforms in church practice and doctrine, emphasizing the authority of Scripture (sola scriptura), justification by faith alone (sola fide), and the removal of practices he regarded as unbiblical, including the veneration of saints, the use of images in worship, and clerical celibacy. Zwingli’s theology differed from Luther’s on the Lord’s Supper, denying the physical presence of Christ in the Eucharist and instead teaching a symbolic or spiritual presence. He promoted the establishment of a theocratic model of church governance in Zurich, integrating civil and religious authority, and sought to reform society according to biblical principles. Zwingli died on 11 October 1531 at the Battle of Kappel during conflicts between Protestant and Catholic cantons in Switzerland. His work laid the foundation for the Reformed tradition, influencing later theologians such as John Calvin and the development of Reformed churches across Europe.