hid'-a-i, hi-da'-i (hidday; Alexandrian Haththai): One of David's thirty "mighty men" (2 Sam 23:30), described as "of the brooks of Gaash." In the parallel list in 1 Ch 11:32 the form of the name is "Hurai" (huray).
hid'-e-kel (chiddeqel): One of the rivers of EDEN (which see) (Gen 2:14, the Revised Version margin "that is, Tigris"; so Septuagint Tigris), said to flow East to Assyria, usually identified with the Tigris, which rises in Armenia near Lake Van and, after flowing Southeast through 8 degrees of latitude, joins the Euphrates in Babylonia to form the Shatt el-'Arab, which runs for 100 miles through a delta which has been formed since the time of Abraham, and now enters the Persian Gulf through 2 branches. About one-third of the distance below its source, and soon after it emerges from the mountains of Kurdistan, the Tigris passes by Mosul, the site of ancient Nineveh, and, lower down at Bagdad, approaches within a few miles of the Euphrates. Here and for many miles below, since the level is lower than that of the Euphrates, numerous canals are conducted to it, irrigating the most fertile portions of Babylonia.
George Frederick Wright
hid'-'n: The translation of Taman, "to hide," "to bury" (Job 3:16); of tsaphan "to conceal," "store up" (Job 15:20, "The number of years is hidden to the oppressor," the Revised Version (British and American) "even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor," margin "and years that are numbered are laid up"; Job 24:1, "Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty," the Revised Version (British and American) "Why are times not laid up by the Almighty?" margin as the King James Version with "Why is it?" prefixed; Ps 83:3, "They consulted (the Revised Version (British and American) "consult") against thy hidden ones"); of matspunim (from tsaphan), "hidden things or places" (Ob 1:6, "How are his hidden things sought up!" the Revised Version (British and American) "treasures," the American Standard Revised Version "sought out"); of pala', "to be wonderful," "difficult" (Dt 30:11, "This commandment .... is not hidden from thee," the Revised Version (British and American) "too hard for thee," margin "or wonderful"); of chaphas, Hithpael, "to hide one's self" (Prov 28:12, the Revised Version (British and American) "When the wicked rise, men hide themselves," margin (Hebrew) "must be searched for"); of kruptos, "hidden," "secret" (1 Pet 3:4, "the hidden man of the heart"; 1 Cor 4:5, krupton, "the hidden things of darkness"; 2 Cor 4:2, "the hidden things of dishonesty," the Revised Version (British and American) "of shame"); of apokrupto, "to hide away," trop., not to reveal or make known (1 Cor 2:7, "But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden"; compare Eph 3:9; Col 1:26).
Among the occurrences of "hidden" in Apocrypha we have (2 Esdras 16:62), "The Spirit of Almighty God .... searcheth out all hidden things in the secrets of the earth," the Revised Version (British and American) "He who made all things and searcheth out hidden things in hidden places"; Ecclesiasticus 42:19, "revealing the steps (the Revised Version (British and American) "traces") of hidden things," apokruphos; 42:20, "Neither any word is hidden from him," the Revised Version (British and American) "hid," ekrube).
W. L. Walker
hi'-el (chi'el; Achiel): A Bethelite who according to 1 Ki 16:34 rebuilt Jericho, and in fulfillment of a curse pronounced by Joshua (Josh 6:26) sacrificed his two sons. This seems to have been a custom prevalent among primitive peoples, the purpose being to ward off ill luck from the inhabitants, especially in a case where the destroyer had invoked a curse on him who presumed to rebuild. Numerous instances are brought to light in the excavations of Gezer (Macalister, Bible Side-Lights from the Mound of Gezer, chapter x). At first the very best was claimed as a gift to the deity, e.g. one's own sons; then some less valuable member of the community. When civilization prevented human sacrifice, animals were offered instead. The story of Abraham offering Isaac may be a trace of this old custom, the tenor of the story implying that at the time of the writing of the record, the custom was coming to be in disrepute. A similar instance is the offering of his eldest son by the king of Edom to appease the deity and win success in battle (2 Ki 3:27; compare Mic 6:7). Various conjectures have been made as to the identity of this king. Ewald regarded him as a man of wealth and enterprise (unternehmender reicher Mann); Cheyne following Niebuhr makes it Jehu in disguise, putting 1 Ki 16:34 after 2 Ki 10:33; Winckler explains as folklore.
W. N. Stearns
he-er-ap'-o-lis (Hierapolis, "sacred city"): As the name implies, Hierapolis was a holy city. It was situated 6 miles from Laodicea and twice that distance from Colosse, on the road from Sardis to Apamea. Though its history is not well known, it seems to have been of Lydian origin, and once bore the name of Kydrara. The Phrygian god Sabazios was worshipped there under the name Echidma, and represented by the symbol of the serpent. Other local deities were Leto and her son Lairbenos. Though called the holy city, Hierapolis was peculiarly regarded as the stronghold of Satan, for there was a Plutonium, or a hole reaching far down into the earth, from which there issued a vapor, even poisoning the birds flying above. It is supposed that upon a stool, deep in the Plutonium, a priest or priestess sat, and, when under the influence of the vapor, uttered prophecies valuable to those who sought them. Though a stronghold of Satan, Hierapolis early became a Christian city, for, according to Col 4:13, the only place where it is mentioned in the New Testament, a church was founded there through the influence of Paul while he was at Ephesus. Tradition claims that Philip was the first evangelist to preach there, and it also claims that he and his two unmarried daughters were buried there; a third who was married, was buried at Ephesus. Several of the early Christians suffered martyrdom at Hierapolis, yet Christianity flourished, other churches were built, and during the 4th century the Christians filled the Plutonium with stones, thus giving evidence that the paganism had been entirely supplanted by the church. During the Roman period, Justinian made the city a metropolis, and it continued to exist into the Middle Ages. In the year 1190 Frederick Barbarossa fought with the Byzantines there.
The modern town is called Pambuk Kalessi, or cotton castle, not because cotton is raised in the vicinity, but because of the white deposit from the water of the calcareous springs. The springs were famous in ancient times because they were supposed to possess Divine powers. The water is tepid, impregnated with alum, but pleasant to the taste. It was used by the ancients for dyeing and medicinal purposes. The deposit of pure white brought up by the water from the springs has heaped itself over the surrounding buildings, nearly burying them, and stalactite formations, resembling icicles, hang from the ruins. The ruins, which are extensive, stand on a terrace, commanding an extensive view, and though they are partly covered by the deposit, one may still trace the city walls, the temple, several churches, the triumphal arch, the gymnasium and baths, and the most perfect theater in Asia Minor. Outside the walls are many tombs.
E. J. Banks
hi-er'-e-el (Hiereel): 1 Esdras 9:21. In Ezr 8:9 the name is Jehiel.
hi-er'-e-moth (Ieremoth):
(1) 1 Esdras 9:27 = Jeremoth (Ezr 10:26).
(2) 1 Esdras 9:30 = Jeremoth (Ezr 10:29, margin "and Ramoth").
hi-er-i-e'-lus (Iezrielos).
See JEZRIELUS .
hi-ur'-mas (Hiermas): 1 Esdras 9:26, corresponding to Ramiah in Ezr 10:25.
hi-ga'yon, hi-gi'-on (higgayon): The meaning of this word is uncertain. Two interpretations are possible; the one based on an allied Arabic root gives "a deep vibrating sound," the other derived from the Greek versions of Ps 9:16, where we read higgayon Celah, takes it to mean an instrumental interlude.
See PSALMS .
Is found in Gen 29:7 as a rendering of the Hebrew yom agadhol, literally, "great day." The Hebrew means the day at its height, broad daylight as contrasted with the time for getting the cattle to their sheds for the night (compare French grand jour). In Jn 19:31, "highday" renders megale hemera, literally, "great day," and refers to the Passover Sabbath--and therefore a Sabbath of special sanctity.
(1) "High place" is the normal translation of bamah, a word that means simply "elevation" (Jer 26:18; Ezek 36:2, etc.; compare the use in Job 9:8 of the waves of the sea. For the plural as a proper noun see BAMOTH ). In the King James Version of Ezek 16:24,25,31,39, "high places" is the translation of ramah (the Revised Version (British and American) "lofty places"), a common word (see RAMAH ) of exactly the same meaning, indistinguishable from bamah in 16:16. In three of these verses of Ezek (16:24,31,39) ramah is paralleled by gabh, which again has precisely the same sense ("eminent place" in the King James Version, the English Revised Version), and the "vaulted place" of the American Standard Revised Version (English Revised Version margin) is in disregard of Hebrew parallelism. In particular, the high places are places of worship, specifically of idolatrous worship. So the title was transferred from the elevation to the sanctuary on the elevation (1 Ki 11:7; 14:23; compare the burning of the "high place" in 2 Ki 23:15), and so came to be used of any idolatrous shrine, whether constructed on an elevation or not (note how in 2 Ki 16:4; 2 Ch 28:4 the "high places" are distinguished from the "hills"). So the "high places" in the cities (2 Ki 17:9; 2 Ch 21:11 (Septuagint)) could have stood anywhere, while in Ezek 16:16 a portable structure seems to be in point. (2) The use of elevations for purposes of worship is so widespread as to be almost universal, and rests, probably, on motives so primitive as to evade formal analysis. If any reason is to be assigned, the best seems to be that to dwellers in hilly country the heaven appears to rest on the ridges and the sun to go forth from them--but such reasons are certainly insufficient to explain everything. Certain it is that Israel, no less than her neighbors, found special sanctity in the hills. Not only was' Sinai the "Mount of God," but a long list can be drawn up of peaks that have a special relation to Yahweh (see MOUNT ,MOUNTAIN ; and for the New Testament, compare Mk 9:2; Heb 12:18-24, etc.). And the choice of a hilltop for the Temple was based on considerations other than convenience and visibility. (But bamah is not used of the Temple Mount.)
Archaeological research, particularly at Petra and Gezer, aided by the Old Testament notices, enables us to reconstruct these sanctuaries with tolerable fullness. The cult was not limited to the summit of the hill but took place also on the slopes, and the objects of the cult might be scattered over a considerable area. The most sacred objects were the upright stone pillars (matstsebhah), which seem to have been indispensable. (Probably the simplest "high places" were only a single upright stone.) They were regarded as the habitation of the deity, but, none the less, were usually many in number (a fact that in no way need implicate a plurality of deities). At one time they were the only altars, and even at a later period, when the altar proper was used, libations were sometimes poured on the pillars directly. The altars were of various shapes, according to their purpose (incense, whole burnt offerings, etc.), but were always accompanied by one or more pillars. Saucer-shaped depressions, into which sacrifices could be poured, are a remnant of very primitive rites (to this day in Samaria the paschal lamb is cooked in a pit). The trees of the high place, especially the "terebinths" (oaks?), were sacred, and their number could be supplemented or their absence supplied by an artificial tree or pole ('asherah, the "grove" of the King James Version). (Of course the original meaning of the pillar and asherah was not always known to the worshipper.) An amusing feature of the discoveries is that these objects were often of minute size, so that the gods could be gratified at a minimum of expense to the worshipper. Images (ephods?; the teraphim were household objects, normally) are certain, but in Palestine no remnants exist (the little Bes and Astarte figures were not idols used in worship). Other necessary features of a high place of the larger size were ample provision of water for lustral purposes, kitchens where the sacrifices could be cooked (normally by boiling), and tables for the sacrificial feasts. Normally, also, the service went on in the open air, but slight shelters were provided frequently for some of the objects. If a regular priest was attached to the high place (not always the case), his dwelling must have been a feature, unless he lived in some nearby village. Huts for those practicing incubation (sleeping in the sanctuary to obtain revelations through dreams) seem not to have been uncommon. But formal temples were very rare and "houses of the high places" in 1 Ki 12:31; 13:32; 2 Ki 17:29,32; 23:19 may refer only to the slighter structures just mentioned (see the comm.). In any case, however, the boundaries of the sanctuary were marked out, generally by a low stone wall, and ablutions and removal of the sandals were necessary before the worshipper could enter.
For the ritual, of course, there was no uniform rule. The gods of the different localities were different, and in Palestine a more or less thorough rededication of the high places to Yahweh had taken place. So the service might be anything from the orderly worship of Yahweh under so thoroughly an accredited leader as Samuel (1 Sam 9:11-24) to the wildest orgiastic rites. That the worship at many high places was intensely licentious is certain (but it must be emphasized against the statements of many writers that there is no evidence for a specific phallic cult, and that the explorations have revealed no unmistakable phallic emblems). The gruesome cemetery for newly born infants at Gezer is only one of the proofs of the prevalence of child-sacrifice, and the evidence for human sacrifice in other forms is unfortunately only too clear.
See GEZER , and illustration on p. 1224.
(1) The opposition to the high places had many motives. When used for the worship of other gods their objectionable character is obvious, but even the worship of Yahweh in the high places was intermixed with heathen practices (Hos 4:14, etc.). In Am 5:21-24, etc., sacrifice in the high places is denounced because it is regarded as a substitute for righteousness in exactly the same way that sacrifice in the Temple is denounced in Jer 7:21-24. Or, sacrifice in the high places may be denounced under the best of conditions, because in violation of the law of the one sanctuary (2 Ch 33:17, etc.).
(2) In 1 Samuel, sacrifice outside of Jerusalem is treated as an entirely normal thing, and Samuel presides in one such case (1 Sam 9:11-24). In 1 Ki the practice of using high places is treated as legitimate before the construction of the Temple (1 Ki 3:2-4), but after that it is condemned unequivocally. The primal sin of Northern Israel was the establishment of high places (1 Ki 12:31-33; 13:2,33 f), and their continuance was a chief cause of the evils that came to pass (2 Ki 17:10 f), while worship in them was a characteristic of the mongrel throng that repopulated Samaria (2 Ki 17:32). So Judah sinned in building high places (1 Ki 14:23), but the editor of Kings notes with obvious regret that even the pious kings (Asa, 1 Ki 15:14; Jehoshaphat, 22:43; Jehoash, 2 Ki 12:3; Amaziah, 14:4; Azariah, 15:4; Jotham, 15:35) did not put them away; i.e. the editor of Kings has about the point of view of Dt 12:8-11, according to which sacrifice was not to be restricted to Jerusalem until the country should be at peace, but afterward the restriction should be absolute. The practice had been of such long standing that Hezekiah's destruction of the high places (2 Ki 18:4) could be cited by Rabshakeh as an act of apostasy from Yahweh (2 Ki 18:22; 2 Ch 32:12; Isa 36:7). Under Manasseh they were rebuilt, in connection with other idolatrous practices (2 Ki 21:3-9). This act determined the final punishment of the nation (21:10-15), and the root-and-branch reformation of Josiah (2 Ki 23) came too late. The attitude of the editor of Chronicles is still more condemnatory. He explains the sacrifice at Gibeon as justified by the presence of the Tabernacle (1 Ch 16:39; 21:29; 2 Ch 1:3,13), states that God-fearing northerners avoided the high places (2 Ch 11:16; compare 1 Ki 19:10,14), and (against Kings) credits Asa (2 Ch 14:3,5) and Jehoshaphat (2 Ch 17:6) with their removal. (This last notice is also in contradiction with 2 Ch 20:33, but 16:17a is probably meant to refer to the Northern Kingdom, despite 16:17b.) On the other hand, the construction of high places is added to the sins of Jehoram (2 Ch 21:11) and of Ahaz (2 Ch 28:4,5).
(3) Among the prophets, Elijah felt the destruction of the many altars of God as a terrible grief (1 Ki 19:10,14). Amos and Hosea each mention the high places by name only once (Am 7:9; Hos 10:8), but both prophets have only denunciation for the sacrificial practices of the Northern Kingdom. That, however, these sacrifices were offered in the wrong place is not said. Isa has nothing to say about the high places, except in 36:7, while Mic 1:5 equates the sins of Jerusalem with those of the high places (if the text is right), but promises the exaltation of Jerusalem (4:1 f). In the references in Jer 7:31; 19:5; 32:35; Ezek 6:3,1; 16:16; 20:29; 43:7, idolatry or abominable practices are in point (so probably in Jer 17:3, while Jer 48:35 and Isa 16:12 refer to non-Israelites).
(4) The interpretation of the above data and their historical import depend on the critical position taken as to the general history of Israel's religion.
See ISRAEL ,RELIGION OF ;CRITICISM ;DEUTERONOMY , etc.
LITERATURE.
See, especially, IDOLATRY, and also ALTAR; ASHERAH, etc. For the archaeological literature, see PALESTINE .
Burton Scott Easton
The translation of hupselos, "high," "lofty," "elevated" (Rom 12:16, "Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate," the King James Version margin "be contented with mean things," the Revised Version (British and American) "Set not your mind on high things, but condescend to (margin "Greek: be carried away with") things (margin "them") that are lowly"); high things are proud things, things regarded by the world as high.
High thing is hupsoma, "a high place," "elevation," etc. (2 Cor 10:5, "casting down every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God," "like a lofty tower or fortress built up proudly by the enemy"). In Judith 10:8; 13:4, hupsoma is rendered "exaltation."
W. L. Walker
hi'-est (`elyon; hupsistos): The translation of `elyon, used frequently of God and commonly translated "Most High" (Ps 18:13, "The Highest gave his voice," the Revised Version (British and American) "Most High"; Ps 87:5, "the highest himself," the Revised Version (British and American) "Most High"; Ezek 41:7, "the lowest (chamber) to the highest"); of tsammereth, the foliage of a tree (as if the wool or hair of trees), "the highest branch" (Ezek 17:3,12, the Revised Version (British and American) "top," "lofty top"); of ro'sh, "head," "top" (Prov 8:26, "the highest part of the dust of the world," the King James Version margin "the chief part," the Revised Version (British and American) "the beginning of," margin "sum"); gappe marom, "on the ridges of the heights" (Prov 9:3, "the highest places of the city"); ghabhoah me`al gabhoah, literally, "one high (powerful) who is above the high (oppressor)," is translated "he that is higher than the highest" (Eccl 5:8), the Revised Version (British and American) "one higher than the high (regardeth)." In the New Testament, hupsistos (like `elyon) is used of God (Lk 1:32, "the Son of the Highest," 1:35, "the power of the Highest," 1:76, "the prophet of the Highest"; 6:35, "the children of the Highest," in these places the Revised Version (British and American) has "Most High"); we have also "Hosanna in the highest" (Mt 21:9; Mk 11:10; see HOSANNA ), "Glory to God in the highest" (Lk 2:14), "Glory in the highest" (Lk 19:38); protoklisia, "the first reclining-place" (at table), the chief place at meals, the middle place in each couch of the triclinium (Robinson), is rendered (Lk 14:8), "the highest room," the Revised Version (British and American) "chief seat"; "room" was introduced by Tyndale; Wycliff had "the first place"; protokathedria (protos, "first," kathedra, "seat"), "the first or chief seat," is rendered (Lk 20:46) "the highest seats," the Revised Version (British and American) "chief seats" Wycliff "the first chairs."
"The Highest" as a term for God appears (2 Esdras 4:11,34, the Revised Version (British and American) "Most High"; The Wisdom of Solomon 6:3, hupsistos; Ecclesiasticus 28:7, the Revised Version (British and American) "Most High").
W. L. Walker
hi'-mind-ed: In modern usage denotes elevation of mind in a good sense, but formerly it was used to denote upliftedness in a bad sense, pride, arrogance. It is the translation of hupselophroneo, "to be highminded," "proud," "haughty" (Rom 11:20, "Be not highminded, but fear"; 1 Tim 6:17, "Charge them that are rich .... that they be not highminded"); of tuphoo "to wrap in mist or smoke," trop., to wrap in conceit, to make proud, etc. (2 Tim 3:4, "Traitors, heady, highminded," the Revised Version (British and American) "puffed up"; compare 1 Tim 3:6; 6:4). "No one can be highminded without thinking better of himself, and worse of others, than he ought to think" (Crabb, English Synonyms).
W. L. Walker
hi'-wa.
hi-len (chilen): A city in the hill country of Judah, probably West or Southwest of Hebron, assigned with its suburbs to the Levites (1 Ch 6:58 (Hebrew 43)). The form of the name in Josh 15:51; 21:15 is HOLON (which see).
hil-ki'-a (chilqiyah, "Yah is my portion" or "Yah's portion"): The name of 8 individuals in the Old Testament or 7, if the person mentioned in Neh 12:7,21 was the same who stood with Ezra at the reading of the Law (Neh 8:4). The latter appears as Ezecias (the King James Version) in 1 Esdras 9:43. Five of this name are clearly associated with the priesthood, and the others are presumably so. The etymology suggests this. Either interpretation of the name expresses the person's claim on Yahweh or the parents' recognition of Yahweh's claim on him.
(1) The person mentioned above (Neh 8:4, etc.).
(2) A Levite of the sons of Merari (1 Ch 6:45).
(3) Another Levite of Merari, son of Hosah (1 Ch 26:11). Is he the "porter," i.e. "doorkeeper" of 1 Ch 16:38?
(4) Father of the Gemariah whom Zedekiah of Judah sent to Nebuchadnezzar (Jer 29:3).
(5) The man in 2 Ki 18:18 ff who is evidently more famous as the father of Eliakim, the majordomo of Hezekiah's palace (Isa 22:20 ff; 36:3 ff). Probably the father's name is given in this and similar cases to distinguish between two persons of otherwise identical name.
(6) A priest of Anathoth, father of Jeremiah (Jer 1:1).
(7) The son of Shallum, and the best known of the name (1 Ch 6:13). He is great-grandfather of Ezra through his son Azariah (1 Esdras 8:1; compare 1 Ch 9:11; Neh 11:11). He discovered the lost Book of the Law during the repairing of the Temple (2 Ki 22:4,8 ff); became chief leader in the ensuing reformation in 621 BC (2 Ki 23:4; 2 Ch 34:9 ff; 35:8). He showed the recovered book to Shaphan the scribe, who, in turn, brought it to the notice of the king. At Josiah's request he led a deputation to Huldah the prophetess to "inquire of the Lord" concerning the new situation created by the discovery. The book discovered is usually identified with the Book of Deuteronomy.
See DEUTERONOMY .
Henry Wallace
hil'-kun-tri: The common translation of three Hebrew words:
(1) gibh`ah, from root meaning "to be curved," is almost always translated "hill"; it is a pecuIiarly appropriate designation for the very rounded hills of Palestine; it is never used for a range of mountains. Several times it occurs as a place-name, "Gibeah of Judah" (Josh 15:20,57); "Gibeah of Benjamin" or "Saul" (Jdg 19:12-16, etc.); "Gibeah of Phinehas" (Josh 24:33 margin), etc. (see GIBEAH ). Many such hills were used for idolatrous rites (1 Ki 14:23; 2 Ki 17:10; Jer 2:20, etc.).
(2) har, frequently translated in the King James Version "hill," is in the Revised Version (British and American) usually translated "mountain" (compare Gen 7:19; Josh 15:9; 18:15 f, and many other references), or "hillcountry." Thus we have the "hill-country of the Amorites" (Dt 1:7,19,20); the "hill-country of Gilead" (Dt 3:12); the "hill-country of Ephraim" (Josh 17:15,16,18; 19:50; 20:7, etc.); the "hill-country of Judah" (Josh 11:21; 20:7; 21:11; 2 Ch 27:4, etc.; and (he oreine) Lk 1:39,65); the "hill-country of Naphtali" (Josh 20:7). For geographical descriptions see PALESTINE ;COUNTRY ;EPHRAIM ;JUDAH , etc.
(3) `ophel, is translated by "hill" in 2 Ki 5:24; Isa 32:14; Mic 4:8, but may possibly mean "tower" or "fort." In other passages the word occurs with the article as a place-name.
See OPHEL .
E. W. G. Masterman
(1) The commonest word is har (also harar, and herer), which is rendered "hill," "mount" or "mountain." It occurs several hundreds of times. In a number of places the Revised Version (British and American) changes "hill" to "mountain," e.g. Gen 7:19, mountains covered by flood; Ex 24:4, Horeb; Josh 18:14, mountain before Beth-horon: Jdg 16:3, mountain before Hebron; Ps 95:4, "The heights of the mountains are his also"; 121:1, "I will lift up mine eyes unto the mountains." "Hill" remains in Dt 11:11, "land of hills and valleys"; 1 Ki 20:23, "god of the hills"; Ps 2:6, "my holy hill of Zion": 98:8, "hills sing for joy." "Mount" is changed "hill-country" in Dt 1:7, "hill-country of the Amorites"; Jdg 12:15, "hill-country of the Amalekites"; Dt 3:12, "hill-country of Gilead"; but Gen 3:21, "mountain of Gilead"; and Jdg 7:3, "Mount Gilead." "Hill" or "hills" is changed to "hill-country" in Dt 1:7; Josh 9:1; 10:40; 11:16; 17:16; 21:11. In Dt 1:41,43, the American Standard Revised Version changes "hill" to "hill-country," while the English Revised Version has "mountain." The reasons for these differences of treatment are not in all cases apparent.
(2) The Greek oros, is perhaps etymologically akin to har. It occurs often in the New Testament, and is usually translated "mount" or "mountain." In three places (Mt 5:14; Lk 4:29; 9:37) the King James Version has hill, which the Revised Version (British and American) retains, except in Lk 9:37, "when they were come down from the mountain" (of the transfiguration). The derivative oreinos, "hill country," occurs in Lk 1:39,65.
(3) The common Hebrew word for "hill" is gibh`ah = Gibeah (Jdg 19:12); compare Geba, gebha` (1 Sam 13:3); Gibeon, gib`on (Josh 9:3), from root gabha`, "to be high"; compare Arabic qubbeh, "dome"; Latin caput; kephale.
(4) In 1 Sam 9:11, the King James Version has "hill" for ma`aleh, root 'alah, "to ascend"; compare Arabic `ala', "to be high," and `ali, "high." Here and elsewhere the Revised Version (British and American) has "ascent."
(5) English Versions of the Bible has "hill" in Isa 5 for qeren, "horn"; compare Arabic qarn, "horn," which is also used for a mountain peak.
(6) Tur, is translated "mountain" in Dan 2:35,45, but the Revised Version margin "rock" in Dan 2:35. The Arabic tur, "mountain," is especially used with Sinai, jebel tur sina'.
(7) mutstsabh (Isa 29:3), is translated in the King James Version "mount" in the English Revised Version "fort," in the American Standard Revised Version "posted troops"; compare matstsabh, "garrison" (1 Sam 14:1, etc.), from root natsabh, "to set"; compare Arabic nacab, "to set."
(8) colelah, from calal, "to raise," is in the King James Version and the English Revised Version "mount," the King James Version margin "engine of shot," the American Standard Revised Version "mound" (Jer 32:24; 33:4; Ezek 4:2; 17; 21:22; 26:8; Dan 11:15).
2. Figurative and Descriptive:
The mountains and hills of Palestine are the features of the country, and were much in the thoughts of the Biblical writers. Their general aspect is that of vast expanses of rock. As compared with better-watered regions Descriptive of the earth, the verdure is sparse and incidental. Snow remains throughout the year on Hermon and the two highest peaks of Lebanon, although in the summer it is in great isolated drifts which are not usually visible from below. In Palestine proper, there are no snow mountains. Most of the valleys are dry wadies, and the roads often follow these wadies, which are to the traveler veritable ovens. It is when he reaches a commanding height and sees the peaks and ridges stretching away one after the other, with perhaps, through some opening to the West, a gleam of the sea like molten metal, that he thinks of the vastness and enduring strength of the mountains. At sunset the rosy lights are succeeded by the cool purple shadows that gradually fade into cold gray, and the traveler is glad of the shelter of his tent. The stars come out, and there is no sound outside the camp except perhaps the cries of jackals or the barking of some goat-herd's dog. These mountains are apt to repel the casual traveler by their bareness. They have no great forests on their slopes. Steep and rugged peaks like those of the Alps are entirely absent. There are no snow peaks or glaciers. There are, it is true, cliffs and crags, but the general outlines are not striking. Nevertheless, these mountains and hills have a great charm for those who have come to know them. To the Biblical writers they are symbols of eternity (Gen 49:26; Dt 33:15; Job 15:7; Hab 3:6). They are strong and steadfast, but they too are the creation of God, and they manifest His power (Ps 18:7; 97:5; Isa 40:12; 41:15; 54:10; Jer 4:24; Nah 1:5; Hab 3:6). The hills were places of heathen sacrifice (Dt 12:2; 1 Ki 11:7; 2 Ki 16:4; 17:10; Ezek 6:13; Hos 4:13), and also of sacrifice to Yahweh (Gen 22:2; 31:54; Josh 8:30). Zion is the hill of the Lord (Ps 2:6; 135:21; Isa 8:18; Joel 3:21; Mic 4:2).
Many proper names are associated with the mountains and hills: as Abarim, Amalekites, Ammah, Amorites, Ararat, Baalah, Baal-hermon, Bashan, Beth-el, Bether, Carmel, Chesalon, Ebal, Ephraim, Ephron, Esau, Gaash, Gareb, Geba, Gerizim, Gibeah, Gibeon, Gilboa, Gilead, Hachilah, Halak, Hebron, Heres, Hermon, Hor, Horeb, Jearim, Judah, Lebanon, Mizar, Moreh, Moriah, Naphtali, Nebo, Olives, Olivet, Paran, Perazim, Pisgah, Samaria, Seir, Senir, Sephar, Shepher, Sinai, Sion, Sirion, Tabor, Zalmon, Zemaraim, Zion. See also "mountain of the east" (Gen 10:30); "mountains of the leopards" (Song 4:8); "rocks of the wild goats" (1 Sam 24:2); "hill of the foreskins" (Gibeah-haaraloth) (Josh 5:3); "mountains of brass" (Zec 6:1); "hill of God" (Gibeah of God) (1 Sam 10:5); "hill of Yahweh" (Ps 24:3); "mount of congregation" (Isa 14:13); see also Mt 4:8; 5:1; 14:23; 15:29; 17:1; 28:16; Lk 8:32; Gal 4:25.
Alfred Ely Day
hil'-el (hillel, "he greatly praised"; Septuagint Ellel): An inhabitant of Pirathon in the hill country of Ephraim, and father of Abdon, one of the judges of Israel (Jdg 12:13,15).
hin (hin): A liquid measure containing 12 logs, equal to about 8 quarts.
See WEIGHTS AND MEASURES .
hind.
See DEER .
The translation of Aijeleth hash-Shahar ('ayyeleth ha-shachar) in the title of Ps 22, probably the name of some wellknown song to which the psalm was intended to be sung, which possibly had reference to the early habits of the deer tribe in search of water and food, or to the flight of the hind from the hunters in early dawn; or "morning" may symbolize the deliverance from persecution and sorrow.
"The first rays of the morning sun, by which it announces its appearance before being itself visible, are compared to the fork-like antlers of a stag; and this appearance is called, Ps 22 title. `The hind of the morning,' because those antler rays preceded the red of dawn, which again forms the transition to sunrise" (Delitzsch, Iris. 107).
According to Hengstenberg, the words indicate the subject-matter of the poem, the character, sufferings, and triumph of the person who is set before us. See PSALMS . For an interesting Messianic interpretation see Hood, Christmas Evans, the Preacher of Wild Wales, 92 ff.
M. O. Evans
hinj (poth): Hinges of Jewish sacred buildings in Scripture are mentioned only in connection with Solomon's temple. Here those for the doors, both of the oracle and of the outer temple, are said to have been of gold (1 Ki 7:50). By this is probably to be understood that the pivots upon which the doors swung, and which turned in the sockets of the threshold and the lintel, were cased in gold. The proverb, "As the door turneth upon its hinges, so doth the sluggard upon his bed" (Prov 26:14), describes the ancient mode of ingress and egress into important edifices. In the British Museum are many examples of stone sockets taken from Babylonian and Assyrian palaces and temples, engraved with the name and titles of the royal builder; while in the Hauran doors of a single slab of stone with stone pivots are still found in situ. Hinges, as we understand the word, were unknown in the ancient world.
See HOUSE ,II , 1.
W. Shaw Caldecott
hin'-om (ge hinnom, Josh 15:8; 18:16; "valley of the son of Hinnom" (ge bhen hinnom), Josh 15:8; 18:16; 2 Ch 28:3; 33:6; Jer 7:31 f; 19:2,6; 32:35; "valley of the children (sons) of Hinnom" (ge bhene hinnom), 2 Ki 23:10; or simply "the valley," literally, the "hollow" or "ravine" (ha-gay'), 2 Ch 26:9; Neh 2:13,15; 3:13; Jer 31:40 and, perhaps also, Jer 2:23 (the above references are in the Hebrew text; there are some variations in the Septuagint)): The meaning of "Hinnom" is unknown; the expressions ben Hinnom and bene Hinnom would suggest that it is a proper name; in Jer 7:32; 19:6 it is altered by the prophet to "valley of slaughter," and therefore some have thought the original name must have had a pleasing meaning.
1. Bible References and History:
It was near the walls of Jerusalem, "by the entry of the gate Harsith" (Jer 19:2); the Valley Gate opened into it (Neh 2:13; 3:13). The boundary between Judah and Benjamin ran along it (Josh 15:8; 18:16). It was the scene of idolatrous practices in the days of Ahaz (2 Ch 28:3) and of Manasseh, who "made his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom" (2 Ch 33:6), but Josiah in the course of his reforms "defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the children (margin "son") of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter to pass through the fire to Molech" (2 Ki 23:10). It was on account of these evil practices that Jeremiah (7:32; 19:6) announced the change of name. Into this valley dead bodies were probably cast to be consumed by the dogs, as is done in the Wady er-Rababi today, and fires were here kept burning to consume the rubbish of the city. Such associations led to the Ge-Hinnom (New Testament "Gehenna") becoming the "type of Hell" (Milton, Paradise Lost, i, 405).
See GEHENNA .
The Valley of Hinnom has been located by different writers in each of the three great valleys of Jerusalem. In favor of the eastern or Kidron valley we have the facts that Eusebius and Jerome (Onom) place "Gehennom" under the eastern wall of Jerusalem and the Moslem geographical writers, Muqaddasi and Nasir-i-khusran, call the Kidron valley Wady Jahamum. The Jewish writer Kimchi also identifies the Valley of Jehoshaphat (i.e. the Kidron) with Hinnom. These ideas are probably due to the identification of the eastern valley, on account of its propinquity to the Temple, as the scene of the last judgment--the "Valley of Jehoshaphat" of Joel 3:2--and the consequent transference there of the scene of the punishment of the wicked, Gehenna, after the ancient geographical position of the Valley of Hinnom, had long been lost. In selecting sacred sites, from the 4th Christian century onward, no critical topographical acumen has been displayed until quite modern times. There are three amply sufficient arguments against this view: (1) the Kidron valley is always called a nachal and not a gay' (see KIDRON ); (2) the "Gate of the Gai" clearly did not lie to the East of the city; (3) En-rogel, which lay at the beginning of the Valley of Hinnom and to its East (Josh 15:8; 18:16) cannot be the "Virgin's fount," the ancient Gihon (2 Sam 17:17).
See GIHON .
Several distinguished modern writers have sought to identify the Tyropeon Valley (el Wad) with Hinnom, but as the Tyropeon was incorporated within the city walls before the days of Manasseh (see JERUSALEM ), it is practically impossible that it could have been the scene of the sacrifice of children--a ritual which must have occurred beyond the city's limits (2 Ki 23:10, etc.).
The clearest geographical fact is found in Josh 15:8; 18:16, where we find that the boundary of Judah and Benjamin passed from En-rogel "by the valley of the son of Hinnom"; if the modern Bir Eyyub is En-rogel, as is certainly most probable, then the Wady er-Rababi, known traditionally as Hinnom, is correctly so called. It is possible that the name extended to the wide open land formed by the junction of the three valleys; indeed, some would place Tophet at this spot, but there is no need to extend the name beyond the actual gorge. The Wady er-Rababi commences in a shallow, open valley due West of the Jaffa Gate, in the center of which lies the Birket Mamilla; near the Jaffa Gate it turns South for about 1/3 of a mile, its course being dammed here to form a large pool, the Birket es Sultan. Below this it gradually curves to the East and rapidly descends between sides of bare rocky scarps, much steeper in ancient times. A little before the valley joins the wide Kidron valley lies the traditional site of AKELDAMA (which see).
E. W. G. Masterman
(shoq, "leg," "limb," "hip," "shoulder"): Samson smote the Philistines "hip and thigh" (Hebrew "leg upon thigh"), which was indicative of "a great slaughter" (Jdg 15:8), the bodies being hewed in pieces with such violence that they lay in bloody confusion, their limbs piled up on one another in great heaps.
See also SINEW .
hip-o-pot'-a-mus (Job 41:1 margin).
See BEHEMOTH .
hi'-ra (chirah; Septuagint Eiras): A native of Adullam, and a "friend" of Judah (Gen 38:1,12). The Septuagint and the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) both describe him as Judah's "shepherd."
hi'-ram (chiram; Septuagint Chiram, but Cheiram, in 2 Sam 5:11; 1 Ch 14:1): There is some confusion regarding the form of this name. In the books of Samuel and Kings the prevailing form is "Hiram" (chiram); but in 1 Ki 5:10,18 margin (Hebrew 24,32); 7:40 margin "Hirom" (chirom) is found. In Chronicles the form of the word is uniformly "Huram" (churam).
(1) A king of Tyre who lived on most friendly terms with both David and Solomon. After David had taken the stronghold of Zion, Hiram sent messengers and workmen and materials to build a palace for him at Jerusalem (2 Sam 5:11; 1 Ch 14:1). Solomon, on his accession to the throne, made a league with Hiram, in consequence of which Hiram furnished the new king of Israel with skilled workmen and with cedar trees and fir trees and algum trees from Lebanon for the building of the Temple. In return Solomon gave annually to Hiram large quantities of wheat and oil (1 Ki 5:1 (Hebrew 15) ff; 2 Ch 2:3 (Hebrew 2) ff). "At the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Yahweh and the king's house," Solomon made a present to Hiram of twenty cities in the land of Galilee. Hiram was not at all pleased with these cities and contemptuously called them "Cabul." His displeasure, however, with this gift does not seem to have disturbed the amicable relations that had hitherto existed between the two kings, for subsequently Hiram sent to the king of Israel 120 talents of gold (1 Ki 9:10-14). Hiram and Solomon maintained merchant vessels on the Mediterranean and shared mutually in a profitable trade with foreign ports (1 Ki 10:22). Hiram's servants, "shipmen that had knowledge of the sea," taught the sailors of Solomon the route from Ezion-geber and Eloth to Ophir, whence large stores of gold were brought to King Solomon (1 Ki 9:26; 2 Ch 8:17 f).
Josephus (Apion, I, 17, 18) informs us, on the authority of the historians Dius and Menander, that Hiram was the son of Abibal, that he had a prosperous reign of 34 years, and died at the age of 53. He tells us on the same authority that Hiram and Solomon sent problems to each other to solve; that Hiram could not solve those sent him by Solomon, whereupon he paid to Solomon a large sum of money, as had at first been agreed upon. Finally, Abdemon, a man of Tyre, did solve the problems, and proposed others which Solomon was unable to explain; consequently Solomon was obliged to pay back to Hiram a vast sum of money. Josephus further states (Ant., VIII, ii, 8) that the correspondence carried on between Solomon and Hiram in regard to the building of the Temple was preserved, not only in the records of the Jews, but also in the public records of Tyre. It is also related by Phoenician historians that Hiram gave his daughter to Solomon in marriage.
(2) The name of a skillful worker in brass and other substances, whom Solomon secured from Hiram king of Tyre to do work on the Temple. His father was a brass-worker of Tyre, and his mother was a woman of the tribe of Naphtali (1 Ki 7:14), "a woman of the daughters of Dan" (2 Ch 2:14 (Hebrew 13); 1 Ki 7:13 ff; 2 Ch 2:13 f (Hebrew 12,13)).
Jesse L. Cotton
her-ka'nuz.
See HYRCANUS .
hir: Two entirely different words are translated "hire" in the Old Testament:
(1) The most frequent one is sakhar, verb sakhar, and verbal adjective sakhir. (a) As a verb it means "to hire" for a wage, either money or something else; in this sense it is used with regard to ordinary laborers (1 Sam 2:5; 2 Ch 24:12), or mercenary soldiers (2 Sam 10:6; 2 Ki 7:6; 1 Ch 19:6; 2 Ch 25:6), or a goldsmith (Isa 46:6), or a band of loose followers (Jdg 9:4), or a false priest (Jdg 18:4), or Balaam (Dt 23:4; Neh 13:2), or hostile counselors (Ezr 4:5), or false prophets (Neh 6:12 f). As a verbal adjective it refers to things (Ex 22:15; Isa 7:20)or men (Lev 19:13; Jer 46:21). (b) As a noun it denotes the wage in money, or something else, paid to workmen for their services (Gen 30:32 f; 31:8; Dt 24:15; 1 Ki 5:6; Zec 8:10), or the rent or hire paid for a thing (Ex 22:15), or a work-beast (Zec 8:10). In Gen 30:16 Leah hires from Rachel the privilege of having Jacob with her again, and her conception and the subsequent birth of a son, she calls her hire or wage from the Lord for the gift of her slave girl to Jacob as a concubine (Gen 30:18).
(2) The other word translated hire is 'ethnan, once 'ethnan. It is rather a gift (from root nathan, "to give") than a wage earned by labor, and is used uniformly in a bad sense. It is the gift made to a harlot (Dt 23:18), or, reversing the usual custom, made by the harlot nation (Ezek 16:31,41). It was also used metaphorically of the gifts made by Israelites to idols, since this was regarded as spiritual harlotry (Isa 23:17 f; Mic 1:7; compare also Hos 8:9 f).
In the English New Testament the word occurs once as a verb and 3 times as a noun as the translation of misthos, and its verbal form. In Mt 20:1,8 and Jas 5:4 it refers to the hiring of ordinary field laborers for a daily wage. In Lk 10:7 it signifies the stipend which is due the laborer in the spiritual work of the kingdom of God. It is a wage, earned by toil, as that of other laborers. The word is very significant here and absolutely negatives the idea, all too prevalent, that money received by the spiritual toiler is a gift. It is rather a wage, the reward of real toil.
William Joseph McGlothlin
hir'-ling (sakhir): Occurs only 6 times in the Old Testament, and uniformly means a laborer for a wage. In Job 7:1 f there is reference to the hireling's anxiety for the close of the day. In Isa 16:14 and 21:16 the length of the years of a hireling is referred to, probably because of the accuracy with which they were determined by the employer and the employee. Malachi (3:5) speaks of the oppression of the hireling in his wages, probably by the smallness of the wage or by in some way defrauding him of part of it.
In the New Testament the word "hireling" (misthotos) occurs only in Jn 10:12 f, where his neglect of the sheep is contrasted unfavorably with the care and courage of the shepherd who owns the sheep, who leads them to pasture and lays down his life for their protection from danger and death.
William Joseph McGlothlin
hiz: Used often in the King James Version with reference to a neuter or inanimate thing, or to a lower animal (Gen 1:11, "after his kind"; Lev 1:16, "pluck away his crop"; Acts 12:10, "of his own accord"; 1 Cor 15:38, "his own body"), etc. the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "its."
his (sharaq): "To hiss" has two applications: (1) to call, (2) to express contempt or scorn.
(1) It is the translation of sharaq, a mimetic word meaning to hiss or whistle, to call (bees, etc.), (a) Isa 5:26, "I will hiss unto them from the ends of the earth," the Revised Version (British and American) "hiss for them (margin "him") from the end of the earth"; 7:18, "Yahweh will hiss for the fly that is in the uttermost part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Assyria"; namely, Egyptians whose land was noted for flies (18:1) and Assyrians whose country was pre-eminently one of bees. Dangerous enemies are compared to bees in Dt 1:44; Ps 118:12 (Skinner's Isaiah): Zec 10:8, "I will hiss for them, and gather them" (His own people, who will come at His call).
(2) More often, to hiss is to express contempt or derision (1 Ki 9:8; Job 27:23; Jer 19:8, etc.). In this sense we have also frequently a hissing (2 Ch 29:8; Jer 19:8; 25:9,18; 29:18; 51:37; Mic 6:16, shereqah); Jer 18:16, sheriqoth or sheruqoth; Ecclesiasticus 22:1, "Every one will hiss him (the slothful man) out in his disgrace" (eksurisso, "to hiss out"); The Wisdom of Solomon 17:9, "hissing of serpents" (surigmos).
W. L. Walker
hith'-er-too (to this): Used of both place and time. It is the translation of various words and phrases:
(1) Of place, `adh halom (2 Sam 7:18, "Thou hast brought me hitherto," the Revised Version (British and American) "thus far"; 1 Ch 17:16; perhaps 1 Sam 7:12, `adh hennah, "Hitherto hath Yahweh helped us" (in connection with the setting up of the stone Ebenezer)) belongs to this head; hennah is properly an adverb of place; it might always be rendered "thus far."
(2) Of time, `adh koh, "unto this" (Ex 7:16, "Hitherto thou hast not hearkened"; Josh 17:14, "Hitherto Yahweh hath blessed me"); me'az, "from then" (2 Sam 15:34, the Revised Version (British and American) "in time past"); hale'ah, "beyond," etc. (Isa 18:7, "terrible from their beginning hitherto," the Revised Version (British and American) "onward"); `adh kah, Aramaic (Dan 7:28, the Revised Version (British and American) "here," margin "hitherto"); `adh hennah, "unto here" (Jdg 16:13; 1 Sam 1:16; Ps 71:17, etc.); achri tou deuro (Rom 1:13, "was let (the Revised Version (British and American) "hindered") hitherto"); heos arti, "until now" (Jn 5:17, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work" the Revised Version (British and American) "even until now," that is, "on the Sabbath as well as on other days', and I do as He does"; Jn 16:24, "Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive," that is "up till now"; "now ask in my name and ye shall receive"); oupo, "not yet" (1 Cor 3:2, "Hitherto ye were not able to bear it," the Revised Version (British and American) "not yet").
W. L. Walker
hit'-its (bene cheth, chittim; Chettaioi): One of the seven nations conquered by Israel in Palestine.
3. Egyptian Invasions: XVIIIth Dynasty
5. Egyptian Invasions: XIXth Dynasty
6. Declension of Power: Aryan Invasion
9. Invasion by Assur-nasir-pal
10. Invasions by Shalmaneser II and Rimmonnirari III
2. Hittire and Egyptian Monuments
6. Vocabulary of Pterium Epistles
1. Polytheism: Names of Deities
3. Interpretation of Monuments
LITERATURE
The "sons of Heth" are noticed 12 times and the Hittites 48 times in the Old Testament. In 21 cases the name Occurs in the enumeration of races, in Syria and Canaan, which are said (Gen 10:6 f) to have been akin to the early inhabitants of Chaldea and Babylon. From at least 2000 BC this population is known, from monumental records, to have been partly Semitic and partly Mongolic; and the same mixed race is represented by the Hittite records recently discovered in Cappadocia and Pontus. Thus, while the Canaanites ("lowlanders"), Amorites (probably "highlanders"), Hivites ("tribesmen") and Perizzites ("rustics") bear Semitic titles, the Hittites, Jebusites and Girgashites appear to have non-Sem names. Ezekiel (16:3,15) speaks of the Jebusites as a mixed Hittite-Amorite people.
The names of Hittites noticed in the Old Testament include several that are Semitic (Ahimelech, Judith, Bashemath, etc.), but others like Uriah and Beeri (Gen 26:34) which are probably non-Sem. Uriah appears to have married a Hebrew wife (Bathsheba), and Esau in like manner married Hittite women (Gen 26:34; 36:2). In the time of Abraham we read of Hittites as far South as Hebron (Gen 23:3 ff; 27:46), but there is no historic improbability in this at a time when the same race appears (see ZOAN ) to have ruled in the Nile Delta (but see Gray in The Expositor, May, 1898, 340 f).
In later times the "land of the Hittites" (Josh 1:4; Jdg 1:26) was in Syria and near the Euphrates (see TAHTIM-HODSHI ); though Uriah (2 Sam 11) lived in Jerusalem, and Ahimelech (1 Sam 26:6) followed David. In the time of Solomon (1 Ki 10:29), the "kings of the Hittites" are mentioned with the "kings of Syria," and were still powerful a century later (2 Ki 7:6). Solomon himself married Hittite wives (1 Ki 11:1), and a few Hittites seem still to have been left in the South (2 Ch 8:7), even in his time, if not after the captivity (Ezr 9:1; Neh 9:8).
The Hittites were known to the Assyrians as Chatti, and to the Egyptians as Kheta, and their history has been very fully recovered from the records of the XVIIIth and XIXth Egyptian Dynasties, from the Tell el-Amarna Letters, from Assyrian annals and, quite recently, from copies of letters addressed to Babylonian rulers by the Hittite kings, discovered by Dr. H. Winckler in the ruins of Boghaz-keui ("the town of the pass"), the ancient Pterium in Pontus, East of the river Halys. The earliest known notice (King, Egypt and West Asia, 250) is in the reign of Saamsu-ditana, the last king of the first Babylonian Dynasty, about 2000 BC, when the Hittites marched on the "land of Akkad," or "highlands" North of Mesopotamia.
The chronology of the Hittites has been made clear by the notices of contemporary rulers in Babylonia, Matiene, Syria and Egypt, found by Winckler in the Hittite correspondence above noticed, and is of great importance to Bible history, because, taken in conjunction with the Tell el-Amarna Letters, with the Kassite monuments of Nippur, with the Babylonian chronicles and contemporary chronicles of Babylon and Assyria, it serves to fix the dates of the Egyptian kings of the XVIIIth and XIXth Dynasties which were previously uncertain by nearly a century, but which may now be regarded as settled within a few years. From the Tell el-Amarna Letters it is known that Thothmes IV was contemporary with the father of Adad-nirari of Assyria (Berlin number 30), and Amenophis IV with Burna-burias of Babylon (Brit. Mss. number 2); while a letter from Chattu-sil, the Hittite contemporary of Rameses II, was addressed to Kadashman-Turgu of Babylon on the occasion of his accession. These notices serve to show that the approximate dates given by Brugsch for the Pharaohs are more correct than those proposed by Mahler; and the following table will be useful for the understanding of the history--Thothmes III being known to have reigned 54 years, Amenophis III at least 36 years, and Rameses II, 66 years or more. The approximate dates appear to be thus fixed.
3. Egyptian Invasions: XVIIIth Dynasty:
The Hyksos race having been expelled from the Delta by Aahmes, the founder of the XVIIIth (Theban) Dynasty, after 1700 BC, the great trade route through Palestine Syria was later conquered by Thothmes I, who set up a monument on the West bank of the Euphrates. The conquests of Aahmes were maintained by his successors Amenophis I and Thothmes I and II; but when Thothmes III attained his majority (about 1580 BC), a great league of Syrian tribes and of Canaanites, from Sharuhen near Gaza and "from the water of Egypt, as far as the land of Naharain" (Aram-naharaim), opposed this Pharaoh in his 22nd year, being led by the king of Kadesh--probably Kadesh on the Orontes (now Qedes, North of Riblah)--but they were defeated near Megiddo in Central Palestine; and in successive campaigns down to his 31st year, Thothmes III reconquered the Palestine plains, and all Syria to Carchemish on the Euphrates. In his 29th year, after the conquest of Tuneb (now Tennnib, West of Arpad), he mentions the tribute of the Hittites including "304 lbs in 8 rings of silver, a great piece of white precious stone, and zagu wood." They were, however, still powerful, and further wars in Syria were waged by Amenophis II, while Thothmes IV also speaks of his first "campaign against the land of the Kheta." Adad-nirari I wrote to Egypt to say that Thothmes IV had established his father (Bel-tiglat-Assur) as ruler of the land of Marchasse (probably Mer'ash in the extreme North of Syria), and to ask aid against the "king of the land of the Hittites." Against the increasing power of this race Thothmes IV and his son Amenophis III strengthened themselves by marriage alliances with the Kassite kings of Babylon, and with the cognate rulers of Matiene, East of the Hittite lands of Syria, and Cappadocia. Dusratta of Matiene, whose sister Gilukhepa was married by Amenophis III in his 10th year, wrote subsequently to this Pharaoh to announce his own accession (Am Tab, Brit. Mus. number 9) and his defeat of the Hittites, sending a two-horse chariot and a young man and young woman as "spoils of the land of the Hittites."
About this time (1480 BC) arose a great Hittite ruler bearing the strange name Subbiliuliuma, similar to that of Sapalulmi, chief the Hattinai, in North Syria, mentioned by Shalmaneser II in the 9th century BC. He seems to have ruled at Pterium, and calls himself "the great king, the noble king of the Hatti." He allied himself against Dusratta with Artatama, king of the Harri or North Syrians. The Syrian Hittites in Marchassi, North of the land of the Amorites, were led shortly after by Edugamma of Kinza (probably Kittiz, North of Arpad) in alliance with Aziru the Amorite, on a great raid into Phoenicia and to Bashan, South of Damascus. Thus it appears that the Amorites had only reached this region shortly before the Hebrew conquest of Bashan. Amenophis III repelled them in Phoenicia, and Subbiliuliuma descended on Kinza, having made a treaty with Egypt, and captured Edugamma and his father Suttatarra. He also conquered the land of Ikata which apparently lay East of the Euphrates and South of Carehemish. Some 30 years later, in the reign of Amenophis IV, Dusratta of Matiene was murdered, and his kingdom was attacked by the Assyrians; but Subbiliuliuma, though not a friend of Dusratta with whom he disputed the suzerainty of North Syria, sent aid to Dusratta's son Mattipiza, whom he set on his throne, giving him his own daughter as a wife. A little later (about 1440 BC) Aziru the Amorite, who had been subject to Amenophis III, submitted to this same great Hittite ruler, and was soon able to conquer the whole of Phoenicia down to Tyre. All the Egyptian conquests were thus lost in the latter part of the reign of Amenophis III, and in that of Amenophis IV. Only Gaza seems to have been retained, and Burna-burias of Babylon, writing to Amenophis IV, speaks of the Canaanite rebellion as beginning in the time of his father Kuri-galzu I (Am Tab, British Museum number 2), and of subsequent risings in his own time (Berlin number 7) which interrupted communication with Egypt. Assur-yuballidh of Assyria (Berlin number 9), writing to the same Pharaoh, states also that the relations with Assyria, which dated back even to the time of Assur-nadin-akhi (about 1550 BC), had ceased. About this earlier period Thothmes III records that he received presents from Assyria. The ruin of Egypt thus left the Hittites independent, in North Syria, about the time when--according to Old Testament chronology--Palestine was conquered by Joshua. They probably acknowledged Arandas, the successor of Subbiliuliuma, as their suzerain.
5. Egyptian Invasions: XIXth Dynasty:
The XVIIIth Dynasty was succeeded, about 1400 BC, or a little later, by the XIXth, and Rameses I appears to have been the Pharaoh who made the treaty which Mursilis, brother of Arandas, contracted with Egypt. But on the accession of Seti I, son of Rameses I, the Syrian tribes prepared to "make a stand in the country of the Harri" against the Egyptian resolution to recover the suzerainty of their country. Seti I claims to have conquered "Kadesh (on the Orontes) in the Land of the Amorites," and it is known that Mutallis, the eldest son of Mursilis, fought against Egypt. According to his younger brother Hattusil, he was tyrant, who was finally driven out by his subjects and died before the accession of Kadashman-Turgu (about 1355 BC) in Babylon. Hattusil, the contemporary of Rameses II, then seized the throne as "great king of the Hittites" and "king of Kus" ("Cush," Gen 2:3), a term which in the Akkadian language meant "the West." In his 2nd year Rameses II advanced, after the capture of Ashkelon, as far as Beirut, and in his 5th year he advanced on Kadesh where he was opposed by a league of the natives of "the land of the Kheta, the land of Naharain, and of all the Kati" (or inhabitants of Cilicia), among which confederates the "prince of Aleppo" is specially noticed. The famous poem of Pentaur gives an exaggerated account of the victory won by Rameses II at Kadesh, over the allies, who included the people of Carchemish and of many other unknown places; for it admits that the Egyptian advance was not continued, and that peace was concluded. A second war occurred later (when the sons of Rameses II were old enough to take part), and a battle was then fought at Tuneb (Tennib) far North of Kadesh, probably about 1316 BC. The celebrated treaty between Rameses II and Chattusil was then made, in the 21st year of the first named. It was engraved on a silver tablet having on the back the image of Set (or Sutekh), the Hittite god of heaven, and was brought to Egypt by Tar-Tessubas, the Hittite envoy. The two "great kings" treated together as equals, and formed a defensive and offensive alliance, with extradition clauses which show the advanced civilization of the age. In the 34th year of his reign, Rameses II (who was then over 50 years of age) married a daughter of Chattusil, who wrote to a son of Kadashman-Turgu (probably Kadashman-burias) to inform this Kassite ruler of Babylon of the event. He states in another letter that he was allied by marriage to the father of Kadashman-Turgu, but the relations between the Kassite rulers and the Hittites were not very cordial, and complaints were made on both sides. Chattusil died before Rameses II, who ruled to extreme old age; for the latter (and his queen) wrote letters to Pudukhipa, the widow of this successful Hittite overlord. He was succeeded by Dudhalia, who calls himself "the great king" and the "son of Pudukhipa the great queen, queen of the land of the city of the Chatti."
6. Declension of Power: Aryan Invasion:
The Hittite power began now, however, to decline, in consequence of attacks from the West by hostile Aryan invaders. In the 5th year of Seti Merenptah II, son of Rameses II, these fair "peoples of the North" raided the Syrian coasts, and advanced even to Belbeis and Heliopolis in Egypt, in alliance with the Libyans West of the Delta. They were defeated, and Merenptah appears to have pursued them even to Pa-Kan'-ana near Tyre. A text of his 5th year (found by Dr. Flinders Petrie in 1896) speaks of this campaign, and says that while "Israel is spoiled" the "Hittites are quieted": for Merenptah appears to have been on good terms with them, and allowed corn to be sent in ships "to preserve the life of this people of the Chatti." Dudchalia was succeeded by his son "Arnuanta the great king," of whom a bilingual seal has been found by Dr. Winckler, in Hittite and cuneiform characters; but the confederacy of Hittite tribes which had so long resisted Egypt seems to have been broken up by these disasters and by the increasing power of Assyria.
A second invasion by the Aryans occurred in the reign of Rameses III (about 1200 BC) when "agitation seized the peoples of the North," and "no people stood before their arms, beginning with the people of the Chatti, of the Kati, of Carchemish and Aradus." The invaders, including Danai (or early Greeks), came by land and sea to Egypt, but were again defeated, and Rameses III--the last of the great Pharaohs--pursued them far north, and is even supposed by Brugsch to have conquered Cyprus. Among the cities which he took he names Carchemish, and among his captives were "the miserable king of the Chatti, a living prisoner," and the "miserable king of the Amorites."
Half a century later (1150 BC) the Assyrians began to invade Syria, and Assur-ris-isi reached Beirut; for even as early as about 1270 BC Tukulti-Ninip of Assyria had conquered the Kassites, and had set a Semitic prince on their throne in Babylon. Early in his reign (about 1130 BC) Tiglath- pileser I claims to have subdued 42 kings, marching "to the fords of the Euphrates, the land of the Chatti, and the upper sea of the setting sun"--or Mediterranean. Soldiers of the Chatti had seized the cities of Sumasti (probably Samosata), but the Assyrian conqueror made his soldiers swim the Euphrates on skin bags, and so attacked "Carchemish of the land of the Hittites." The Moschians in Cappadocia were apparently of Hittite race, and were ruled by 5 kings: for 50 years they had exacted tribute in Commagene (Northeastern Syria), and they were defeated, though placing 20,000 men in the field against Tiglath-pileser I. He advanced to Kumani (probably Comana in Cappadocia), and to Arini which was apparently the Hittite capital called Arinas (now Iranes), West of Caesarea in the same region.
9. Invasion by Assur-nacir-pal:
The power of the Hittites was thus broken by Assyria, yet they continued the struggle for more than 4 centuries afterward. After the defeat of Tiglath-pileser I by Marduk-nadin-akhi of Babylon (1128-1111 BC), there is a gap in Assyrian records, and we next hear of the Hittites in the reign of Assur-nacir-pal (883-858 BC); he entered Commagene, and took tribute from "the son of Bachian of the land of the Chatti," and from "Sangara of Carchemish in the land of the Chatti," so that it appears that the Hittites no longer acknowledged a single "great king." They were, however, still rich, judging from the spoil taken at Carchemish, which included 20 talents of silver, beads, chains, and sword scabbards of gold, 100 talents of copper, 250 talents of iron, and bronze objects from the palace representing sacred bulls, bowls, cups and censers, couches, seats, thrones, dishes, instruments of ivory and 200 slave girls, besides embroidered robes of linen and of black and purple stuffs, gems, elephants' tusks, chariots and horses. The Assyrian advance continued to `Azzaz in North Syria, and to the Afrin river, in the country of the Chattinai who were no doubt Hittites, where similar spoils are noticed, with 1,000 oxen and 10,000 sheep: the pagutu, or "maces" which the Syrian kings used as scepters, and which are often represented on Hittite monuments, are specially mentioned in this record. Assur-nacir-pal reached the Mediterranean at Arvad, and received tribute from "kings of the sea coast" including those of Gebal, Sidon and Tyre. He reaped the corn of the Hittites, and from Mt. Amanus in North Syria he took logs of cedar, pine, box and cypress.
10. Invasions by Shalmaneser II and Rimmonnirari III:
His son Shalmaneser II (858-823 BC) also invaded Syria in his 1st year, and again mentions Sangara of Carchemish, with Sapalulmi of the Chattinai. In Commagene the chief of the Gamgums bore the old Hittite name Mutallis. In 856 BC Shalmaneser II attacked Mer'-ash and advanced by Dabigu (now Toipuk) to `Azzaz. He took from the Hattinai 3 talents of gold, 100 of silver, 300 of copper, 1,000 bronze vases and 1,000 embroidered robes. He also accepted as wives a daughter of Mutallis and another Syrian princess. Two years later 120,000 Assyrians raided the same region, but the southward advance was barred by the great Syrian league which came to the aid of Irchulena, king of Hamath, who was not subdued till about 840 BC. In 836 BC the people of Tubal, and the Kati of Cappadocia and Cilicia, were again attacked. In 831 BC Qubarna, the vassal king of the Chattinai in Syria, was murdered by his subjects, and an Assyrian tartanu or general was sent to restore order. The rebels under Sapalulmi had been confederated with Sangara of Carchemish. Adad-nirari III, grandson of Shalmaneser II, was the next Assyrian conqueror: in 805 BC he attacked `Azzaz and Arpad, but the resistance of the Syrians was feeble, and presents were sent from Tyre, Sidon, Damascus and Edom. This conqueror states that he subdued "the land of the Hittites, the land of the Amorites, to the limits of the land of Sidon," as well as Damascus, Edom and Philistia.
But the Hittites were not as yet thoroughly subdued, and often revolted. In 738 BC Tiglath-pileser II mentions among his tributaries a chief of the Gamgums bearing the Hittite name Tarku-lara, with Pisiris of Carchemish. In 702 BC Sennacherib passed peacefully through the "land of the Chatti" on his way to Sidon: for in 717 BC Sargon had destroyed Carchemish, and had taken many of the Hittites prisoners, sending them away far east and replacing them by Babylonians. Two years later he in the same way took the Hamathites as captives to Assyria. Some of the Hittites may have fled to the South, for in 709 BC Sargon states that the king of Ashdod was deposed by "people of the Chatti plotting rebellion who despised his rule," and who set up Azuri instead.
The power of the Hittites was thus entirely broken before Sennacherib's time, but they were not entirely exterminated, for, in 673 BC, Esar-haddon speaks of "twenty-two kings of the Chatti and near the sea." Hittite names occur in 712 BC (Tarchu-nazi of Meletene) and in 711 BC (Mutallis of Commagene), but after this they disappear. Yet, even in a recently found text of Nebuchadnezzar (after 600 BC), we read that "chiefs of the land of the Chattim, bordering on the Euphrates to the West, where by command of Nergal my lord I had destroyed their rule, were made to bring strong beams from the mountain of Lebanon to my city Babylon." A Hittite population seems to have survived even in Roman times in Cilicia and Cappadocia, for (as Dr. Mordtman observed) a king and his son in this region both bore the name Tarkon-dimotos in the time of Augustus, according to Dio Cassius and Tacitus; and this name recalls that of Tarku-timme, the king of Erine in Cappadocia, occurring on a monument which shows him as brought captive before an Assyrian king, while the same name also occurs on the bilingual silver boss which was the head of his scepter, inscribed in Hittite and cuneiform characters.
The power of the Mongolic race decayed gradually as that of the Semitic Assyrians increased; but even now in Syria the two races remain mingled, and Turkoman nomads still camp even as far South as the site of Kadesh on the Orontes, while a few tribes of the same stock (which entered Syria in the Middle Ages) still inhabit the plains of Sharon and Esdraelon, just as the southern Hittites dwelt among the Amorites at Jerusalem and Hebron in the days of Abraham, before they were driven north by Thothmes III.
The questions of race and language in early times, before the early stocks were mixed or decayed, cannot be dissociated, and we have abundant evidence of the racial type and characteristic dress of the Hittites. The late Dr. Birch of the British Museum pointed out the Mongol character of the Hittite type, and his opinion has been very generally adopted. In 1888 Dr. Sayce (The Hittites, 15, 101) calls them "Mongoloid," and says, "They had in fact, according to craniologists, the characteristics of a Mongoloid race." This was also the opinion of Sir W. Flower; and, if the Hittites were Mongols, it would appear probable that they spoke a Mongol dialect. It is also apparent that, in this case, they would be related to the old Mongol population of Chaldea (the people of Akkad and Sumir or "of the highlands and river valley") from whom the Semitic Babylonians derived their earliest civilization.
2. Hittite on Egyptian Monuments:
The Hittite type is represented, not only on their own monuments, but on those of the XVIIIth and XIXth Egyptian Dynasties, including a~ colored picture of the time of Rameses III. The type represented has a short head and receding forehead, a prominent and sometimes rather curved nose, a strong jaw and a hairless face. The complexion is yellow, the eyes slightly slanting, the hair of the head black, and gathered into a long pigtail behind. The physiognomy is like that of the Sumerians represented on a bas-relief at Tel-loh (Zirgul) in Chaldea, and very like that of some of the Kirghiz Mongols of the present time, and of some of the more purely Mongolic Turks. The head of Gudea at Zirgul in like manner shows (about 2800 BC) the broad cheek bones and hairless face of the Turkish type; and the language of his texts, in both grammar and vocabulary, is closely similar to pure Turkish speech.
Among Mongolic peoples the beard grows only late in life, and among the Akkadians it is rarely represented--excepting in the case of gods and ancient kings. The great bas-relief found by Koldewey at Babylon, and representing a Hittite thunder-god with a long pigtail and (at the back) a Hittite inscription, is bearded, but the pigtailed heads on other Hittite monuments are usually hairless. At Iasili-Kaia--the rock shrine near Pterium--only the supreme god is bearded, and all the other male figures are beardless. At Ibreez, in Lycaonia, the gigantic god who holds corn and grapes in his hands is bearded, and the worshipper who approaches him also has a beard, and his hair is arranged in the distinctive fashion of the Semitic Babylonians and Assyrians. This type may represent Semitic mixture, for M. Chantre discovered at Kara-eyak, in Cappadocia, tablets in Semitic Babylonian representing traders' letters perhaps as old as 2000 BC. The type of the Ibreez figures has been said to resemble that of the Armenian peasantry of today; but, although the Armenians are Aryans of the old Phrygian stock, and their language almost purely Aryan, they have mixed with the Turkish and Semitic races, and have been said even to resemble the Jews. Little reliance can be placed, therefore, on comparison with modern mixed types. The Hittite pigtail is very distinctive of a Mongolic race. It was imposed on the Chinese by the Manchus in the 17th century, but it is unknown among Aryan or Semitic peoples, though it seems to be represented on some Akkadian seals, and on a bas-relief picturing the Mongolic Susians in the 7th century BC.
The costume of the Hittites on monuments seems also to indicate Mongolic origin. Kings and priests wear long robes, but warriors (and the gods at Ibreez and Babylon) wear short jerkins, and the Turkish shoe or slipper with a curled-up toe, which, however, is also worn by the Hebrew tribute bearers from Jehu on the "black obelisk" (about 840 BC) of Shalmaneser II. Hittite gods and warriors are shown as wearing a high, conical head-dress, just like that which (with addition of the Moslem turban) characterized the Turks at least as late as the 18th century. The short jerkin also appears on Akkadian seals and bas-reliefs, and, generally speaking, the Hittites (who were enemies of the Lycians, Danai and other Aryans to their west) may be held to be very clearly Mongolic in physical type and costume, while the art of their monuments is closely similar to that of the most archaic Akkadian and Babylonian sculptures of Mesopotamia. It is natural to suppose that they were a branch of the same remarkable race which civilized Chaldea, but which seems to have had its earliest home in Akkad, or the "highlands" near Ararat and Media, long before the appearance of Aryan tribes either in this region or in Ionia. The conclusion also agrees with the Old Testament statement that the Hittites were akin to the descendants of Ham in Babylonia, and not to the "fair" tribes (Japheth), including Medes, Ionians and other Aryan peoples.
As early as 1866 Chabas remarked that the Hittite names (of which so many have been mentioned above) were clearly not Semitic, and this has been generally allowed. Those of the Amorites, on the other hand, are Semitic, and the type represented, with brown skin, dark eyes and hair, aqui-line features and beards, agrees (as is generally allowed) in indicating a Semitic race. There are now some 60 of these Hittite names known, and they do not suggest any Aryan etymology. They are quite unlike those of the Aryan Medes (such as Baga-datta, etc.) mentioned by the Assyrians, or those of the Vannic kings whose language (as shown by recently published bilinguals in Vannic and Assyrian) seems very clearly to have been Iranian--or similar to Persian and Sanskrit--but which only occurs in the later Assyrian age. Comparisons with Armenian and Georgian (derived from the Phrygian and Scythian) also fail to show any similarity of vocabulary or of syntax, while on the other hand comparisons with the Akkadian, the Kassite and modern Turkish at once suggest a linguistic connection which fully agrees with what has been said above of the racial type. The common element Tarku, or Tarkhan, in Hittite names suggests the Mongol dargo and the Turkish tarkhan, meaning a "tribal chief." Sil again is an Akkadian word for a "ruler," and nazi is an element in both Hittite and Kassite names.
6. Vocabulary of Pterium Epistles:
It has also been remarked that the vocabulary of the Hittite letters discovered by Chantre at Pterium recalls that of the letter written by Dusratta of Matiene to Amenophis III (Am Tab number 27, Berlin), and that Dusratta adored the Hittite god Tessupas. A careful study of the language of this letter shows that, in syntax and vocabulary alike, it must be regarded as Mongolic and as a dialect of the Akkadian group. The cases of the noun, for instance, are the same as in Akkadian and in modern Turkish. No less than 50 words and terminations are common to the language of this letter and of those discovered by M. Chantre and attributed to the Hittites whose territory immediately adjoined that of Matiene. The majority of these words occur also in Akkadian.
But in addition to these indications we have a letter in the Tell el-Amarna Letters (Berlin number 10) written by a Hittite prince, in his own tongue and in the cuneiform script. It is from (and not to, as has been wrongly supposed by Knudtzon) a chief named Tarchun-dara, and is addressed to Amenophis III, whose name stands first. In all the other letters the name of the sender always follows that of the recipient. The general meaning of this letter is clear from the known meanings of the "ideograms" used for many words; and it is also clear that the language is "agglutinative" like the Akkadian. The suffixed possessive pronouns follow the plural termination of the noun as in Akkadian, and prepositions are not used as they are in Semitic and Aryan speech; the precative form of the verb has also been recognized to be the same as used in Akkadian. The pronouns mi, "my," and ti, "thy," are to be found in many living Mongolic dialects (e.g. the Zyrianian me and te); in Akkadian also they occur as mi and zi. The letter opens with the usual salutation: "Letter to Amenophis III the great king, king of the land of Egypt (Mizzari-na), from Tarchun-dara (Tarchundara-da), king of the land of Arzapi (or Arzaa), thus. To me is prosperity. To my nobles, my hosts, my cavalry, to all that is mine in all my lands, may there be prosperity; (moreover?) may there be prosperity: to thy house, thy wives, thy sons, thy nobles, thy hosts, thy cavalry, to all that is thine in thy lands may there be prosperity." The letter continues to speak of a daughter of the Pharaoh, and of a sum of gold which is being sent in charge of an envoy named Irsappa. It concludes (as in many other instances) with a list of presents, these being sent by "the Hittite prince (Nu Chattu) from the land Igait" (perhaps the same as Ikata), and including, besides the gold, various robes, and ten chairs of ebony inlaid with ivory. As far as it can at present be understood, the language of this letter, which bears no indications of either Semitic or Aryan speech, whether in vocabulary or in syntax, strongly favors the conclusion that the native Hittite language was a dialect of that spoken by the Akkadians, the Kassites and the Minyans of Matiene, in the same age.
1. Polytheism: Names of Deities:
The Hittites like their neighbors adored many gods. Besides Set (or Sutekh), the "great ruler of heaven," and Ishtar (Ashtoreth), we also find mentioned (in Chattusil's treaty) gods and goddesses of "the hills and rivers of the land of the Chatti," "the great sea, the winds and the clouds." Tessupas was known to the Babylonians as a name of Rimmon, the god of thunder and rain. On a bilingual seal (in Hittite and cuneiform characters), now in the Ashmolean Museum, we find noticed the goddess Ischara, whose name, among the Kassites, was equivalent to Istar. The Hittite gods are represented--like those of the Assyrians--standing erect on lions. One of them (at Samala in Syria) is lion-headed like Nergal. They also believed in demons, like the Akkadians and others.
Their pantheon was thus also Mongolic, and the suggestion (by Dr. Winckler) that they adored Indian gods (Indra, Varuna), and the Persian Mithra, not only seems improbable, but is also hardly supported by the quotations from Semitic texts on which this idea is based. The sphinx is found as a Hittite emblem at Eyuk, North of Pterium, with the double-headed eagle which again, at Iasili-kaia, supports a pair of deities. It also occurs at Tel-loh as an Akkadian emblem, and was adopted by the Seljuk Turks about 1000 AD. At Eyuk we have a representation of a procession bringing goats and rams to an altar. At Iflatun-bunar the winged sun is an emblem as in Babylonia. At Mer'-ash, in Syria, the mother goddess carries her child, while an eagle perches on a harp beside her. At Carchemish the naked Ishtar is represented with wings. The religious symbolism, like the names of deities, thus suggests a close connection with the emblems and beliefs of the Kassites and Akkadians.
V Script.
1. Cuneiform and Hieroglyphic:
In the 16th century BC, and down to the 13th century, the Hittites used the cuneiform characters and the Babylonian language for correspondence abroad. On seals and and mace-heads they used their own hieroglyphics, together with the cuneiform. These emblems, which occur on archaic monuments at Hamath, Carchemish and Aleppo in Syria, as well as very frequently in Cappadocia and Pontus, and less frequently as far West as Ionia, and on the East at Babylon, are now proved to be of Hittite origin, since the discovery of the seal of Arnuanta already noticed. The suggestion that they were Hittite was first made by the late Dr. W. Wright (British and Foreign Evangelical Review, 1874). About 100 such monuments are now known, including seals from Nineveh and Cappadocia, and Hittite gold ornaments in the Ashmolean Museum; and there can be little doubt that, in cases where the texts accompany figures of the gods, they are of a votive character.
The script is quite distinctive, though many of the emblems are similar to those used by the Akkadians. There are some 170 signs in all, arranged one below another in the line--as among Akkadians. The lines read alternately from right to left and from left to right, the profile emblems always facing the beginning of each line.
The interpretation of these texts is still a controversial question, but the most valuable suggestion toward their understanding is that made by the late Canon Isaac Taylor (see ALPHABET , 1883). A syllabary which was afterward used by the Greeks in Cyprus, and which is found extensively spread in Asia Minor, Egypt, Palestine, Crete, and even on later coins in Spain, was recognized by Dr. Taylor as being derived from the Hittite signs. It was deciphered by George Smith from a Cypriote-Phoenician bilingual, and appears to give the sounds applying to some 60 signs.
3. Interpretation of Monuments:
These sounds are confirmed by the short bilinguals as yet known, and they appear in some cases at least to be very clearly the monosyllabic words which apply in Akkadian to similar emblems. We have thus the bases of a comparative study, by aid of a known language and script--a method similar to that which enabled Sir H. Rawlinson to recover scientifically the lost cuneiform, or Champollion to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics.
See also ASIA MINOR ,ARCHAEOLOGY OF ;PALESTINE EXPLORATION .
LITERATURE.
The Egyptian notices will be found in Brugsch's A History of Egypt under the Pharaohs, 1879, and the Assyrian in Schrader's Cuneiform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, English Translation, 1885. The discoveries of Chantre are published in his Mission en Cappadoce, 1898, and those of Dr. H. Winckler in the Mitteilungen der deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft, number 35, December, 1907. The researches of Humann and Puchstein, Reisen in Kleinasien und Nordsyrien, 1890, are also valuable for this question; as is also Dr. Robert Koldewey's discovery of a Hittite monument at Babylon (Die hettische Inschrift, 1900). The recent discovery of sculpture at a site North of Samala by Professor Garstang is published in the Annals of Archaeology, I, number 4, 1908, by the University of Liverpool. These sculptures are supposed to date about 800 BC, but no accompanying inscriptions have as yet been found. The views of the present writer are detailed in his Tell Amarna Tablets, 2nd edition, 1894, and in The Hittites and Their Languages, 1898. Dr. Sayce has given an account of his researches in a small volume, The Hittites, 1888, but many discoveries by Sir C. Wilson, Mr. D.G. Hogarth, Sir W. Ramsay, and other explorers have since been published, and are scattered in various periodicals not easily accessible. The suggestions of Drs. Jensen, Hommel, and Peiser, in Germany, of comparison with Armenian, Georgian and Turkish, have not as yet produced any agreement; nor have those of Dr. Sayce, who looks to Vannic or to Gr; and further light on Hittite decipherment is still awaited. See, further, Professor Garstang's Land of the Hittites, 1910.
C. R. Conder
hi'-vit (chiwwni; Heuaios):
A son of Canaan (Gen 10:17), i.e. an inhabitant of the land of Canaan along with the Canaanite and other tribes (Ex 3:17, etc.). In the list of Canaanite peoples given in Gen 15:19-21, the Hivites are omitted in the Hebrew text, though inserted in Septuagint and S. Gesenius suggests that the name is descriptive, meaning "villagers." The difficulty of explaining it is increased by the fact that it has been confused with "Horite" in some passages of the Hebrew text. In Josh 9:7 the Septuagint reads "Horite" as also does Codex A in Gen 34:2, and in Gen 36:2 a comparison with 36:24,25 shows that "Horite" must be substituted for "Hivite."
In Jdg 3:3 the Hittites are described as dwelling "in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon unto the entrance of Hamath," and in accordance with this the Hivite is described in Josh 11:3 as being "under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh," and in 2 Sam 24:7 they are mentioned immediately after "the stronghold of Tyre." Hence, the Septuagint (Codex Alexandrinus) reading must be right in Gen 34:2 and Josh 9:7, which makes the inhabitants of Shechem and Gibeon Horites instead of Hivites; indeed, in Gen 48:22 the people of Shechem are called Amorite, though this was a general name for the population of Canaan in the patriarchal period. No name resembling Hivite has yet been found in the Egyptian or Babylonian inscriptions.
A. H. Sayce
hiz'-ki (chizqi; Septuagint Azaki; the King James Version Hezeki): A son of Elpaal, a descendant of Benjamin (1 Ch 8:17).
hiz-ki'-a (chizqiyah; Septuagint Ezekia, "strength of Yah"):
(1) A son of Neariah, a descendant of David (1 Ch 3:23, the King James Version "Hezekiah").
(2) An ancestor of the prophet Zephaniah (Zeph 1:1). In the Revised Version (British and American) this word is here translated "Hezekiah." This name again appears in Neh 10:17 (Hebrew 18) in the form of "Hizkijah" in the King James Version, but as "Hezekiah" in the Revised Version (British and American).
See HEZEKIAH .