Hercules - hur'-ku-lez (Herakles): The process of Hellenizing the Jews which began at an earlier date was greatly promoted under Antiochus Epiphanes (175-164 BC). Jason, who supplanted his brother Onias in the office of high priest by promising Antiochus an increase of tribute, aided the movement by setting up under the king's authority a Greek palaestra for the training of youth in Greek exercises, and by registering the inhabitants of Jerusalem as citizens of Antioch (2 Maccabees 4:8 f). Certain of these Antiochians of Jerusalem Jason sent to Tyre, where games were held every five years in honor of Hercules, that is, the national Tyrian deity Melcart, identified with Baal of Old Testament history. According to Josephus (Ant., VII, v, 3) Hiram, king of Tyre in the days of Solomon, built the temple of Hercules and also of Astarte. Jason s deputies carried 300 drachmas of silver for the sacrifice of Hercules, but they were so ashamed of their commission that they "thought it not right to use the money for any sacrifice" and "on account of present circumstances it went to the equipment of the galleys" (2 Maccabees 4:18-20).ISBE Hercules.2

J. HutchisonISBE Hercules.3

Herd

Herd - hurd.ISBE Herd.2

See CATTLE.ISBE Herd.3

Herdsman

Herdsman - hurdz'-man (boqer; the King James Version, the English Revised Version "herdman"): A cowherd (Amos 7:14). The same word is used in Syria today. ro`eh, has its equivalent in the language of Syria and Palestine (Arabic ra'i), and is a general term for any kind of a herdsman (Genesis 13:7-8; 26:20; 1 Samuel 21:7). noqedh, occurs in one passage (Amos 1:1); literally it means one who spots or marks the sheep, hence, a herdsman. Spotting the wool with different dyes is still the method of distinguishing between the sheep of different flocks. The herdsman is seldom the owner of the sheep, but a hireling.ISBE Herdsman.2

See SHEEP; SHEEP TENDING.ISBE Herdsman.3

James A. PatchISBE Herdsman.4

Here

Here - her, in composition:ISBE Here.2

Hereafter

Hereafter - her-aft'-er (here (this present) and after) represents Hebrew 'achar, "hinder part," "end" (Isaiah 41:23), "the things that are to come hereafter" ('achor after, behind the present), with den, "this," 'achare dhen, Aramaic (Daniel 2:29, 45), 'achar, "after," "behind," "last" (Ezekiel 20:39), Greek ap' arti, "from now" (Matthew 26:64), "Hereafter ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven," which does not mean "at a future time" according to the more modern usage of "hereafter," but (as the Greek) "from now," the Revised Version (British and American) "henceforth"; Tyndale and the chief versions after him have "hereafter," but Wycliff has "fro hennes forth." John 1:51, "Hereafter ye shall see the heaven opened," etc., where "hereafter" has the same meaning; it is omitted by the Revised Version (British and American) after a corrected text (Wycliff also omits); eti, "yet," "still," "any more" "any longer" (John 14:30, the Revised Version (British and American) "I will no more speak much with you," Wycliff, "now I schal not"); meketi, "no more," "no longer" (Mark 11:14, "no man eat fruit of thee hereafter," the Revised Version (British and American) "henceforward"); apo tou nun, "from now" (Luke 22:69, the Revised Version (British and American) "From henceforth shall the Son of man be seated at the right hand of the power of God," Wycliff "aftir this tyme"); meta tauta (John 13:7, "Thou shalt know (the Revised Version (British and American) "understand") hereafter," Wycliff "aftirward").ISBE Hereafter.2

Hereby

Hereby - her-bi', represents bezo'th, "in or by this" (Genesis 42:15 "Hereby ye shall be proved"); ek toutou, "out of this" (1 John 4:6, the Revised Version (British and American) "by this"); en touto, "in this," "by this means" (1 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 2:3, 1; 16, 19, 24; 2, 13).ISBE Hereby.2

Heredity

Heredity - he-red'-i-ti:ISBE Heredity.2

1. Physiological Heredity: Heredity, in modern language, is the law by which living beings tend to repeat their characteristics, physiological and psychical, in their offspring, a law familiar in some form to even the most uncultured peoples. The references to it in the Bible are of various kinds.ISBE Heredity.3

Curiously enough, little mention is made of physiological heredity, even in so simple a form as the resemblance of a son to his father, but there are a few references, such as, e.g., those to giants with giants for sons (2 Samuel 21:18-22; 1 Chronicles 20:4-8; compare Genesis 6:4; Numbers 13:33; Deuteronomy 1:28, etc.). Moreover Deuteronomy 28:59-61 may contain a thought of hereditary diseases (compare 2 Kings 5:27). On the psychical side the data are almost equally scanty. That a son and his father may differ entirely is taken for granted and mentioned repeatedly (especially in Ezekiel 18:5-20). Even in the case of the king, the frequent changes of dynasty prevented such a phrase as "the seed royal" (2 Kings 11:1; Jeremiah 41:1) from being taken very seriously. Yet, perhaps, the inheritance of mechanical dexterity is hinted at in Genesis 4:20-22, if "father" means anything more than "teacher." But, in any case, the fact that "father" could have this metaphorical sense, together with the corresponding use of "son" in such phrases as "son of Belial" (Judges 19:22 the King James Version), "son of wickedness" (Psalms 89:22), "sons of the prophets" (Amos 7:14 margin, etc.), "son of the wise, .... of ancient kings" (Isaiah 19:11; this last phrase may be meant literally), shows that the inheritance of characteristics was a very familiar fact.ISBE Heredity.4

See SON.ISBE Heredity.5

2. Hebrew Conception of Heredity: The question, however, is considerably complicated by the intense solidarity that the Hebrews ascribed to the family. The individual was felt to be only a link in the chain, his "personality" (very vaguely conceived) somehow continuing that of his ancestors and being continued in that of his descendants. After death the happiness (or even existence; see DEATH) of this shade in the other world depended on the preservation of a posterity in this. Hence, slaying the sons of a dead man was thought to affect him directly, and it would be a great mistake to suppose that an act such as that of 2 Samuel 21:1-9, etc., was simply to prevent a blood-feud. Nor was it at all in point that the children might repeat the qualities of the father, however much this may have been realized in other connections. Consequently, it is impossible to tell in many cases just how much of a modern heredity idea is present.ISBE Heredity.6

The most important example is the conception of the position of the nations. These are traced back to single ancestors, and in various cases the qualities of the nation are explained by those of the ancestor (Genesis 9:22-27; Genesis 21:20-21; Genesis 49:1-33, etc.). The influences that determine national characteristics are evidently thought to be hereditary, and yet not all of them are hereditary in our sense; e.g. in Genesis 27:1-46, the condition of the descendants of Jacob and Esau is conceived to have been fixed by the nature of the blessings (mistakenly) pronounced by Isaac. On the other hand, Ezra (Genesis 9:11-12) thinks of the danger of intermarrying with the children of a degenerate people in an entirely modern style, but in Deuteronomy 23:3-6 the case is not so clear. There a curse pronounced on the nations for their active hostility is more in point than moral degeneracy (however much this may be spoken of elsewhere, Numbers 25:1-3, etc.), and it is on account of the curse that the taint takes ten generations to work itself out, while, in the case of Edomite or Egyptian blood, purity was attained in three. Hence, it is hard to tell just how Exodus 20:5-6 was interpreted. The modern conception of the effect of heredity was surely present in part, but there must have been also ideas of the extension of the curse-bearing individuality that we should find hard to understand.ISBE Heredity.7

3. Abraham's Children: The chiefest question is that of the Israelites. Primarily they are viewed as the descendants of Abraham, blessed because he was blessed (Genesis 22:15-18, etc.). This was taken by many with the utmost literalness, and physical descent from Abraham was thought to be sufficient (especially Matthew 3:9; John 8:31-44; Romans 9:6-13), or at least necessary (especially Ezra 2:59; 9:2; Nehemiah 7:61), for salvation. Occasionally this descent is stated to give superior qualities in other regards (Esther 6:13). But a distinction between natural inheritance of Abraham's qualities and the blessing bestowed by God's unbounded favor and decree on his descendants must have been thoroughly recognized, otherwise the practice of proselytizing would have been impossible.ISBE Heredity.8

4. Heredity and the New Testament: In the New Testament the doctrine of original sin, held already by a certain school among the Jews (2 Esdras 7:48), alone raises much question regarding heredity (compare 1 Corinthians 7:14). Otherwise the Old Testament concepts are simply reversed: where likeness of nature appears, there is (spiritual) descent (Romans 4:12; Galatians 3:7, etc.). None the less, that the Israel "after the flesh" has a real spiritual privilege is stated explicitly (Romans 3:1-2; 11:26; Revelation 11:13).ISBE Heredity.9

See BLESSING; CURSE; FAMILY; SALVATION; SIN; TRADITION.ISBE Heredity.10

Burton Scott EastonISBE Heredity.11

Herein

Herein - her-in', Hebrew bezo'th, "in" or "by this" (Genesis 34:22, the Revised Version (British and American) "on this condition"); en touta (John 4:37; 9:30; 15:8; Acts 24:16; 2 Corinthians 8:10; 1 John 4:10, 17).ISBE Herein.2

Hereof

Hereof - her-ov', Greek haute, "this" (Matthew 9:26); houtos, "this" (Hebrews 5:3, the Revised Version (British and American) "thereof").ISBE Hereof.2

Heres

Heres - he'-rez, he'-res:ISBE Heres.2

(1) har-cherec, "Mount Heres" (Judges 1:34 f), a district from which the Amorites were not expelled; it is mentioned along with Aijalon and Shallbim. In Joshua 19:41 f we have then two towns in association with Ir-shemesh and many authorities consider that as cherec = shemesh, i.e. the sun, and har, being perhaps a copyist's error for `ir, "city," we have in Judges 1:34 a reference to Beth-shemesh, the modern `Ain Shems. Conder thinks that Batn Harasheh, Northeast of Aijalon, a prominent hill, may be the place referred to. Budde thinks Har-heres may be identified with the Bit-Ninib (Ninib being the fierce morning sun) of the Tell el-Amarna Letters; this place was in the district of Jerusalem.ISBE Heres.3

(2) ma`aleh he-charec, "the ascent of Heres" (Judges 8:13, the King James Version "before the sun was up"), the place from which Gideon returned to Succoth after his defeat of Zebah and Zalmunna. the Revised Version (British and American) is probably a great improvement on the King James Version, but both the text and the topography are uncertain.ISBE Heres.4

(3) `ir ha-cherec, "City of Heres" EVm, "City of Destruction" (cherem) English Versions of the Bible, or "City of the sun" cherec) English Versions, margin. This is the name of one of the "five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan, and swear to Yahweh of hosts" (Isaiah 19:18).ISBE Heres.5

See IR-HA-HERES.ISBE Heres.6

E. W. G. MastermanISBE Heres.7

Heresh

Heresh - he'-resh (cheresh; the Septuagint's Codex Vaticanus, Rharaiel; Codex Alexandrinus, Hares): A Levite (1 Chronicles 9:15).ISBE Heresh.2

Heresy

Heresy - her'-e-si, her'-e-si (hairesis, from verb haireo, "to choose"): The word has acquired an ecclesiastical meaning that has passed into common usage, containing elements not found in the term in the New Testament, except as implied in one passage. In classical Greek, it may be used either in a good or a bad sense, first, simply for "choice," then, "a chosen course of procedure," and afterward of various schools and tendencies. Polybius refers to those devoting themselves to the study of Greek literature as given to the Hellenike hairesis. It was used not simply for a teaching or a course followed, but also for those devoting themselves to such pursuit, namely, a sect, or assembly of those advocating a particular doctrine or mode of life. Thus, in Acts, the word is used in the Greek, where the King James Version and the Revised Version (British and American) have "sect," "sect of the Sadducees" (Acts 5:17), "sect of the Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5). In Acts 26:5 the Pharisees are called "the straitest hairesis (sect)." The name was applied contemptuously to Christianity (Acts 24:14; 28:22). Its application, with censure, is found in 1 Corinthians 11:19 m; Galatians 5:20 margin, where it is shown to interfere with that unity of faith and community of interests that belong to Christians. There being but one standard of truth, and one goal for all Christian life, any arbitrary choice varying from what was common to all believers, becomes an inconsistency and a sin to be warned against. Ellicott, on Galatians 5:20, correctly defines "heresies" (King James Version, the English Revised Version) as "a more aggravated form of dichostasia" (the American Standard Revised Version "parties") "when the divisions have developed into distinct and organized parties"; so also 1 Corinthians 11:19, translated by the Revised Version (British and American) "factions." In 2 Peter 2:1, the transition toward the subsequent ecclesiastical sense can be traced. The "destructive heresies" (Revised Version margin, the English Revised Version margin "sects of perdition") are those guilty of errors both of doctrine and of life very fully described throughout the entire chapter, and who, in such course, separated themselves from the fellowship of the church.ISBE Heresy.2

In the fixed ecclesiastical sense that it ultimately attained, it indicated not merely any doctrinal error, but "the open espousal of fundamental error" (Ellicott on Titus 3:10), or, more fully, the persistent, obstinate maintenance of an error with respect to the central doctrines of Christianity in the face of all better instruction, combined with aggressive attack upon the common faith of the church, and its defenders. Roman Catholics, regarding all professed Christians who are not in their communion as heretics, modify their doctrine on this point by distinguishing between Formal and terial Heresy, the former being unconscious and unintentional, and between different degrees of each of these classes (Cath. Encyclopedia, VII, 256 ff). For the development of the ecclesiastical meaning, see Suicer's Thesaurus Ecclesiasticus, I, 119-23.ISBE Heresy.3

H. E. JacobsISBE Heresy.4

Hereth, the Forest of

Hereth, the Forest of - he'-reth (ya`-ar chareth; Septuagint polis Sareik; the King James Version Hareth): David (1 Samuel 22:5) was told by the prophet Gad to depart from Mizpah of Moab and go to the land of Judah, and he "came into the forest of Hereth." The Septuagint has "city" instead of forest; see also Josephus, Ant,VI , xii, 4. The village Kharas, on an ancient high road, 3 miles Southeast of Aid el ma, probably David's stronghold ADULLAM (which see), may possibly answer to the place (PEF, III, 305, Sh XXI). "Horesh" has been suggested as an alternative reading.ISBE Hereth, the Forest of.2

E. W. G. MastermanISBE Hereth, the Forest of.3

Heretic; Heretical

Heretic; Heretical - her'-e-tik, her'-e-tik, he-ret'-i-kal (hairetikos): Used in Titus 3:10, must be interpreted according to the sense in which Paul employs the word "heresy" (1 Corinthians 11:19; Galatians 5:20) for "parties" or "factions." According to this, the Scriptural meaning of the word is no more than "a factious man" (American Standard Revised Version), an agitator who creates divisions and makes parties. Weizsacker translates it into German ein Sektierer, "a sectarist." The nature of the offense is described in other words in 2 Thessalonians 2:6, 11.ISBE Heretic; Heretical.2

Heretofore

Heretofore - her-too-for', Hebrew temol, "yesterday," "neither heretofore, nor since" (Exodus 4:10; compare Exodus 5:7-8, 14; Joshua 3:4; Ruth 2:11); 'ethmol shilshom, "yesterday," "third day" (1 Samuel 4:7, "There hath not been such a thing heretofore."ISBE Heretofore.2

Hereunto

Hereunto - her-un-too', Greek eis touto, "unto," "with a view to this" (1 Peter 2:21, "For hereunto were ye called"): "hereunto" is supplied (Ecclesiastes 2:25, "Who else can hasten hereunto more than I" the Revised Version (British and American) "who can have enjoyment," margin "hasten thereto").ISBE Hereunto.2

Herewith

Herewith - her-with', Hebrew ba-zo'th, bezo'th, "in," "by," or "with this" (Ezekiel 16:29; Malachi 3:10, "Prove me now herewith, saith Yahweh").ISBE Herewith.2

The Revised Version (British and American) has "herein" for "to do this" (Ezra 4:22); for "in these things" (Romans 14:18); "of them that have sinned heretofore" for "which have sinned already" (2 Corinthians 12:21); "hereunto" for "thereunto" (1 Peter 3:9); "herewith" for "thus" (Leviticus 16:3).ISBE Herewith.3

W. L. WalkerISBE Herewith.4

Heritage

Heritage - her'-i-taj (nachalah, from nachal, "to give"; kleroo): That which is allotted, possession, property, portion, share, peculiar right, inheritance; applied to land transferred from the Canaanites to Israel (Psalms 11:6; 136:22); to Israel, as the heritage of Yahweh (Joel 3:2, etc.). In the New Testament (Ephesians 1:11) applied to believers, the spiritual Israel, as God's peculiar possession (Ellicott, Eadie).ISBE Heritage.2

Hermas

Hermas - hur'-mas (Hermas): An abbreviated form of several names, e.g. Hermagoras, Hermeros, Hermodorus, Hermogenes, etc.; the name of a Roman Christian to whom Paul sent greetings (Romans 16:14). Origen and some later writers have identified him with the author of The Pastor of Hermas, but without sufficient reason. According to the Canon of Muratori, the author of The Pastor wrote when his brother Pius was bishop of Rome (140-55 AD). He speaks of himself, however, as a contemporary of Clement of Rome (chapter 4) (circa 100 AD). The name Hermas is very common, and Origen's identification is purely conjectural.ISBE Hermas.2

S. F. HunterISBE Hermas.3

Hermeneutics

Hermeneutics - hur-me-nu'-tiks.ISBE Hermeneutics.2

See INTERPRETATION.ISBE Hermeneutics.3

Hermes (1)

Hermes (1) - hur'-mez (Hermes): In the Revised Version margin of Acts 14:12 for "Mercury" in text (the King James Version "Mercurius").ISBE Hermes (1).2

Hermes (2)

Hermes (2) - (Hermes): The name of a Roman Christian, otherwise unknown, to whom Paul sent greetings (Romans 16:14). "Hermes is among the commonest slave names. In the household alone probably not less than a score of persons might be counted up from the inscriptions, who bore this name at or about the time when Paul wrote" (Lightfoot, Philippians, 176).ISBE Hermes (2).2

Hermogenes

Hermogenes - her-moj'-e-nez (Hermogenes, literally "born of Hermes," a Greek deity, called by the Romans, "Mercury," 2 Timothy 1:15):ISBE Hermogenes.2

1. Where Did He "Turn Away"?: Hermogenes was a Christian, mentioned by Paul as having, along with Phygellus and "all that are in Asia," turned away from him. It is not clear when or where the defection of those Asiatic Christians from the apostle took place, whether it was at Rome at the time of Paul's second imprisonment there, and especially on the occasion of his being brought before the emperor's supreme court, to be tried on a charge now involving the death penalty, or whether it was at some previous time in Ephesus.ISBE Hermogenes.3

2. Was It in Ephesus?: If it was the latter, then the meaning is that Paul wishes to inform Timothy, or perhaps only to remind him, how in Ephesus, where Timothy was the presiding minister of the church, these persons, Phygellus and Hermogenes with many more, had turned away from him, that is, had refused to submit to his authority, and had rejected the Christian doctrine which he taught. This latter meaning, referring the "turning away" to some previous occasion in Ephesus, is thought by some expositors to be the probable signification, owing to the fact that the verb "they be turned away" is in the aorist tense, referring to a time long past when the apostle wrote.ISBE Hermogenes.4

3. Unlikelihood of It Being in Ephesus: On the other hand there is no evidence that there ever was a time when "all they which are in Asia" (the King James Version) turned away from obedience to Paul. Whatever may have been the disloyalty and disobedience of individuals--and this certainly existed; see, e.g., Acts 20:29 f--yet, certainly the New Testament does not show that all that were in Asia, the Christian community as a whole, in Ephesus and Miletus and Laodicea and Hierapolis and Colosse and other places, repudiated his apostolic authority.ISBE Hermogenes.5

4. Probalility of It Being in Rome: If the words "all they which are in Asia" refer to all the Christians from the proconsular province of Asia, who happened to be in Rome at the time of Paul's second imprisonment there, it can easily be understood that they should turn away from him at that testing time. It is impossible to say exactly what form their desertion of the apostle assumed. Their turning away would likely be caused by fear, lest if it were known that they were friends of the prisoner in the Mamertine, they would be involved in the same imprisonment as had overtaken him, and probably also in the same death penalty.ISBE Hermogenes.6

It is altogether in favor of a reference to Rome, that what is said about Phygellus and Hermogenes and their turning away from Paul is immediately followed by a reference to Onesiphorus, and to the great kindness which he showed, when he sought the apostle but very diligently in Rome. On the whole, therefore, a reference to Rome and to the manner in which these persons, named and unnamed, from Asia, had deserted Paul, seems most probable.ISBE Hermogenes.7

See PHYGELLUS .ISBE Hermogenes.8

John RutherfurdISBE Hermogenes.9

Hermon

Hermon - hur'-mon (chermon; Codex Vaticanus, Haermon):ISBE Hermon.2

1. Description: The name of the majestic mountain in which the Anti-Lebanon range terminates to the South (Deuteronomy 3:8, etc.). It reaches a height of 9,200 ft. above the sea, and extends some 16 to 20 miles from North to South. It was called Sirion by the Sidonians (Deuteronomy 3:9; compare Psalms 29:6), and Senir by the Amorites (Deuteronomy 3:9). It is also identified with Sion (Deuteronomy 4:48). See SIRION; SENIR; SION. Sometimes it is called "Mt. Hermon" (Deuteronomy 3:8; Joshua 11:17; 1 Chronicles 5:23, etc.); at other times simply "Hermon" (Joshua 11:3; Psalms 89:12, etc.).ISBE Hermon.3

2. The Hermons: Once it is called "Hermons" (chermonim). the King James Version mistakenly renders this "the Hermonites" (Psalms 42:6). It must be a reference to the triple summits of the mountain. There are three distinct heads, rising near the middle of the mass, the two higher being toward the East. The eastern declivities are steep and bare; the western slopes are more gradual; and while the upper reaches are barren, the lower are well wooded; and as one descends he passes through fruitful vineyards and orchards, finally entering the rich fields below, in Wady etteim. The Aleppo pine, the oak, and the poplar are plentiful. The wolf and the leopard are still to be found on the mountain; and it is the last resort of the brown, or Syrian, bear. Snow lies long on the summits and shoulders of the mountain; and in some of the deeper hollows, especially to the North, it may be seen through most of the year.ISBE Hermon.4

Mt. Hermon is the source of many blessings to the land over which it so proudly lifts its splendid form. Refreshing breezes blow from its cold heights. Its snows are carried to Damascus and to the towns on the seaboard, where, mingled with the sharab, "drink," they mitigate the heat of the Syrian summer. Great reservoirs in the depths of the mountain, fed by the melting snows, find outlet in the magnificent springs at Chasbeiyeh, Tell el-Kady, and Banias, while the dew-clouds of Hermon bring a benediction wherever they are carried (Psalms 133:3).ISBE Hermon.5

3. Sanctuaries: Hermon marked the northern limit of Joshua's victorious campaigns (Joshua 12:1, etc.). It was part, of the dominion of Og (Joshua 12:5), and with the fall of that monarch, it would naturally come under Israelite influence. Its remote and solitary heights must have attracted worshippers from the earliest times; and we cannot doubt that it was a famous sanctuary in far antiquity. Under the highest peak are the ruins of Kacr `Antar, which may have been an ancient sanctuary of Baal. Eusebius, Onomasticon, speaks of a temple on the summit much frequented by the surrounding peoples; and the remains of many temples of the Roman period have been found on the sides and at the base of the mountain. The sacredness of Hermon may be inferred from the allusion in Psalms 89:12 (compare Enoch 6:6; and see also BAAL-HERMON).ISBE Hermon.6

Some have thought that the scene of the Transfiguration should be sought here; see, however, TRANSFIGURATION, MOUNT OF.ISBE Hermon.7

The modern name of Hermon is Jebel eth-thilj, "mount of snow," or Jebel esh-sheikh, "mount of the elder," or "of the chief."ISBE Hermon.8

Little Hermon, the name now often applied to the hill between Tabor and Gilboa, possibly the Hill of Moreh, on which is the sanctuary of Neby Dahy, has no Biblical authority, and dates only from the Middle Ages.ISBE Hermon.9

W. EwingISBE Hermon.10

Hermonites

Hermonites - hur'-mon-its: In Psalms 42:6 the King James Version, where the Revised Version (British and American) reads "Hermons."ISBE Hermonites.2

See HERMON.ISBE Hermonites.3

Herod

Herod - her'-ud: The name Herod (Herodes) is a familiar one in the history of the Jews and of the early Christian church. The name itself signifies "heroic," a name not wholly applicable to the family, which was characterized by craft and knavery rather than by heroism. The fortunes of the Herodiam family are inseparably connected with the last flickerings of the flame of Judaism, as a national power, before it was forever extinguished in the great Jewish war of rebellion, 70 AD. The history of the Herodian family is not lacking in elements of greatness, but whatever these elements were and in whomsoever found, they were in every ease dimmed by the insufferable egotism which disfigured the family, root and branch. Some of the Herodian princes were undeniably talented; but these talents, wrongly used, left no marks for the good of the people of Israel. Of nearly all the kings of the house of Herod it may truly be said that at their death "they went without being desired," unmissed, unmourned. The entire family history is one of incessant brawls, suspicion, intrigue arid shocking immorality. In the baleful and waning light of the rule of the Herodians, Christ lived and died, and under it the foundations of the Christian church were laid.1 Corinthians 11:19 m; Galatians 5:20 margin, where it is shown to interfere with that unity of faith and community of interests that belong to Christians. There being but one standard of truth, and one goal for all Christian life, any arbitrary choice varying from what was common to all believers, becomes an inconsistency and a sin to be warned against. Ellicott, on Galatians 5:20, correctly defines "heresies" (King James Version, the English Revised Version) as "a more aggravated form of dichostasia" (the American Standard Revised Version "parties") "when the divisions have developed into distinct and organized parties"; so also 1 Corinthians 11:19, translated by the Revised Version (British and American) "factions." In 2 Peter 2:1, the transition toward the subsequent ecclesiastical sense can be traced. The "destructive heresies" (Revised Version margin, the English Revised Version margin "sects of perdition") are those guilty of errors both of doctrine and of life very fully described throughout the entire chapter, and who, in such course, separated themselves from the fellowship of the church.ISBE Herod.2

1. The Family Descent: The Herodians were not of Jewish stock. Herod the Great encouraged the circulation of the legend of the family descent from an illustrious Babylonian Jew (Ant., XIV, i, 3), but it has no historic basis. It is true the Idumeans were at that time nominal Jews, since they were subdued by John Hyrcanus in 125 BC, and embodied in the Asmonean kingdom through an enforced circumcision, but the old national antagonism remained (Genesis 27:41). The Herodian family sprang from Antipas (died 78 BC), who was appointed governor of Idumaea by Alexander Janneus. His son Antipater, who succeeded him, possessed al the cunning, resourcefulness and unbridled ambition of his son Herod the Great. He had an open eye for two things--the unconquerable strength of the Roman power and the pitiable weakness of the decadent Asmonean house, and on these two factors he built the house of his hopes. He craftily chose the side of Hyrcanus II in his internecine war with Aristobulus his brother (69 BC), and induced him to seek the aid of the Romans. Together they supported the claims of Pompey and, after the latter's defeat, they availed themselves of the magnanimity of Caesar to submit to him, after the crushing defeat of Pompey at Pharsalus (48 BC). As a reward, Antipater received the procuratorship of Judea (47 BC), while his innocent dupe Hyrcanus had to satisfy himself with the high-priesthood. Antipater died by the hand of an assassin (43 BC) and left four sons, Phasael, Herod the Great, Joseph, Pheroras, and a daughter Salome. The second of these sons raised the family to its highest pinnacle of power and glory. Pheroras was nominally his co-regent ann, possessed of his father's cunning, maintained himself to the end, surviving his cruel brother, but he cuts a small figure in the family history. He, as well as his sister Salome, proved an endless source of trouble to Herod by the endless family brawls which they occasioned.ISBE Herod.3

2. Herod the Great: With a different environment and with a different character, Herod the Great might have been worthy of the surname which he now bears only as a tribute of inane flattery. What we know of him, we owe, in the main, to the exhaustive treatment of the subject by Josephus in his Antiquities and Jewish War, and from Strabo and Dio Cassius among the classics. We may subsume our little sketch of Herod's life under the heads of (1) political activity, (2) evidences of talent, and (3) character and domestic life.ISBE Herod.4

(1) Political Activity. Antipater had great ambitions for his son. Herod was only a young man when he began his career as governor of Galilee. Josephus' statement, however, that he was only "fifteen years old" (Ant., XIV, ix, 2) is evidently the mistake of some transcriber, because we are told (XVII, viii, 1) that "he continued his life till a very old age." That was 42 years later, so that Herod at this time must have been at least 25 years old. His activity and success in ridding his dominion of dangerous bands of freebooters, and his still greater success in raising the always welcome tribute-money for the Roman government, gained for him additional power at court. His advance became rapid. Antony appointed him "tetrarch" of Judea in 41 BC, and although he was forced by circumstances temporarily to leave his domain in the hands of the Parthians and of Antigonus, this, in the end, proved a blessing in disguise. In this final spasm of the dying Asmonean house, Antigonus took Jerusalem by storm, and Phasael, Herod's oldest brother, fell into his hands. The latter was governor of the city, and foreseeing his fate, he committed suicide by dashing out his brains against the walls of his prison. Antigonus incapacitated his brother Hyrcanus, who was captured at the same time, from ever holding the holy office again by cropping off his ears (Ant., XIV, xiii, 10). Meanwhile, Herod was at Rome, and through the favor of Antony and Augustus he obtained the crown of Judea in 37 BC. The fond ambition of his heart was now attained, although he had literally to carve out his own empire with the sword. He made quick work of the task, cut his way back into Judea and took Jerusalem by storm in 37 BC.ISBE Herod.5

The first act of his reign was the extermination of the Asmonean house, to which Herod himself was related through his marriage with Mariamne, the grandchild of Hyrcanus. Antigonus was slain and with him 45 of his chief adherents. Hyrcanus was recalled from Babylon, to which he had been banished by Antigonus, but the high-priesthood was bestowed on Aristobulus, Herod's brother-in-law, who, however, soon fell a victim to the suspicion and fear of the king (Ant., XV, iii, 3). These outrages against the purest blood in Judea turned the love of Mariamne, once cherished for Herod, into a bitter hatred. The Jews, loyal to the dynasty of the Maccabees, accused Herod before the Roman court, but he was summarily acquitted by Antony. Hyrcanus, mutilated and helpless as he was, soon followed Aristobulus in the way of death, 31 BC (Ant., XV, vi, 1). When Antony, who had ever befriended Herod, was conquered by Augustus at Actium (31 BC), Herod quickly turned to the powers that were, and, by subtle flattery and timely support, won the imperial favor. The boundaries of his kingdom were now extended by Rome. And Herod proved equal to the greater task. By a decisive victory over the Arabians, he showed, as he had done in his earlier Galilean government, what manner of man he was, when aroused to action. The Arabians were wholly crushed, and submitted themselves unconditionally under the power of Herod (Ant., XV, v, 5). Afraid to leave a remnant of the Asmonean power alive, he sacrificed Mariamne his wife, the only human being he ever seems to have loved (28 BC), his mother-in-law Alexandra (Ant., XV, vii, 8), and ultimately, shortly before his death, even his own sons by Mariamne, Alexander and Aristobulus 7 BC (Ant., XVI, xi, 7). In his emulation of the habits and views of life of the Romans, he continually offended and defied his Jewish subjects, by the introduction of Roman sports and heathen temples in his dominion. His influence on the younger Jews in this regard was baneful, and slowly a distinct partly arose, partly political, partly religious, which called itself the Herodian party, Jews in outward religious forms but Gentiles in their dress and in their whole view of life. They were a bitter offense to the rest of the nation, but were associated with the Pharisees and Sadducees in their opposition to Christ (Matthew 22:16; Mark 3:6; 12:13). In vain Herod tried to win over the Jews, by royal charity in time of famine, and by yielding, wherever possible, to their bitter prejudices. They saw in him only a usurper of the throne of David, maintained by the strong arm of the hated Roman oppressor. Innumerable plots were made against his life, but, with almost superhuman cunning, Herod defeated them all (Ant., XV, viii). He robbed his own people that he might give munificent gifts to the Romans; he did not even spare the grave of King David, which was held in almost idolatrous reverence by the people, but robbed it of its treasures (Ant., XVI, vii, 1). The last days of Herod were embittered by endless court intrigues and conspiracies, by an almost insane suspicion on the part of the aged king, and by increasing indications of the restlessness of the nation. Like Augustus himself, Herod was the victim of an incurable and loathsome disease. His temper became more irritable, as the malady made progress, and he made both himself and his court unutterably miserable. The picture drawn by Josephus (Ant., XVII) is lifelike and tragic in its vividness. In his last will and testament, he remained true to his life-long fawning upon the Roman power (Ant., XVII, vi, 1). So great became his suffering toward the last that he made a fruitless attempt at suicide. But, true to his character, one of the last acts of his life was an order to execute his son Antipater, who had instigated the murder of his halfbrothers, Alexander and Aristobulus, and another order to slay, after his death, a number of nobles, who were guilty of a small outbreak at Jerusalem and who were confined in the hippodrome (Ant., XVI, vi, 5). He died in the 37th year of his reign, 34 years after he had captured Jerusalem and slain Antigonus. Josephus writes this epitaph: "A man he was of great barbarity toward all men equally, and a slave to his passions, but above the consideration of what was right. Yet was he favored by fortune as much as any man ever was, for from a private man he became a king, and though he were encompassed by ten thousand dangers, he got clear of them all and continued his life to a very old age" (Ant., XVII, viii, 1).ISBE Herod.6

(2) Evidences of Talent. The life of Herod the Great was not a fortuitous chain of favorable accidents. He was unquestionably a man of talent. In a family like that of Antipus and Antipater, talent must necessarily be hereditary, and Herod inherited it more largely than any of his brothers. His whole life exhibits in no small degree statecraft, power of organization, shrewdness. He knew men and he knew how to use them. He won the warmest friendship of Roman emperors, and had a faculty of convincing the Romans of the righteousness of his cause, in every contingency. In his own dominions he was like Ishmael, his hand against all, and the hands of all against him, and yet he maintained himself in the government for a whole generation. His Galilean governorship showed what manner of man he was, a man with iron determination and great generalship. His Judean conquest proved the same thing, as did his Arabian war. Herod was a born leader of men. Under a different environment he might have developed into a truly great man, and had his character been coordinate with his gifts, he might have done great things for the Jewish people. But by far the greatest talent of Herod was his singular architectural taste and ability. Here he reminds one of the old Egyptian Pharaohs. Against the laws of Judaism, which he pretended to obey, he built at Jerusalem a magnificent theater and an amphitheater, of which the ruins remain. The one was within the city, the other outside the walls. Thus he introduced into the ascetic sphere of the Jewish life the frivolous spirit of the Greeks and the Romans. To offset this cruel infraction of all the maxims of orthodox Judaism, he tried to placate the nation by rebuilding the temple of Zerubbabel and making it more magnificent than even Solomon's temple had been. This work was accomplished somewhere between 19 BC and 11 or 9 BC, although the entire work was not finished till the procuratorship of Albinus, 62-64 AD (Ant., XV, xi, 5, 6; XX, ix, 7; John 2:20). It was so transcendently beautiful that it ranked among the world's wonders, and Josephus does not tire of describing its glories (BJ, V, v). Even Titus sought to spare the building in the final attack on the city (BJ, VI, iv, 3). Besides this, Herod rebuilt and beautified Struto's Tower, which he called after the emperor, Caesarea. He spent 12 years in this gigantic work, building a theater and amphitheater, and above all in achieving the apparently impossible by creating a harbor where there was none before. This was accomplished by constructing a gigantic mole far out into the sea, and so enduring was the work that the remains of it are seen today. The Romans were so appreciative of the work done by Herod that they made Caesarea the capital of the new regime, after the passing away of the Herodian power. Besides this, Herod rebuilt Samaria, to the utter disgust of the Jews, calling it Sebaste. In Jerusalem itself he built the three great towers, Antonia, Phasaelus and Mariamne, which survived even the catastrophe of the year 70 AD. All over Herod's dominion were found the evidences of this constructive passion. Antipatris was built by him, on the site of the ancient Kapharsaba, as well as the stronghold Phasaelus near Jericho, where he was destined to see so much suffering and ultimately to die. He even reached beyond his own domain to satisfy this building mania at Ascalon, Damascus, Tyre and Sidon, Tripoli, Ptolemais, nay even at Athens and Lacedaemon. But the universal character of these operations itself occasioned the bitterest hatred against him on the part of the narrowminded Jews.ISBE Herod.7

(3) Characteristics and Domestic Life. The personality of Herod was impressive, and he was possessed of great physical strength. His intellectual powers were far beyond the ordinary; his will was indomitable; he was possessed of great tact, when he saw fit to employ it; in the great crises of his life he was never at a loss what to do; and no one has ever accused Herod the Great of cowardice. There were in him two distinct individualities, as was the case with Nero. Two powers struggled in him for the mastery, and the lower one at last gained complete control. During the first part of his reign there were evidences of large-heartedness, of great possibilities in the man. But the bitter experiences of his life, the endless whisperings and warnings of his court, the irreconcilable spirit of the Jews, as well as the consciousness of his own wrongdoing, changed him into a Jewish Nero: a tyrant, who bathed his own house and his own people in blood. The demons of Herod's life were jealousy of power, and suspicion, its necessary companion.ISBE Herod.8

He was the incarnation of brute lust, which in turn became the burden of the lives of his children. History tells of few more immoral families than the house of Herod, which by intermarriage of its members so entangled the genealogical tree as to make it a veritable puzzle. As these marriages were nearly all within the line of forbidden consanguinity, under the Jewish law, they still further embittered the people of Israel against the Herodian family. When Herod came to the throne of Judea, Phasael was dead. Joseph his younger brother had fallen in battle (Ant., XIV, xv, 10), and only Pheroras and Salome survived. The first, as we have seen, nominally shared the government with Herod, but was of little consequence and only proved a thorn in the king's flesh by his endless interference and plotting. To him were allotted the revenues of the East Jordanic territory. Salome, his sister, was ever neck-deep in the intrigues of the Herodian family, but had the cunning of a fox and succeeded in making Herod believe in her unchangeable loyalty, although the king had killed her own son-in-law and her nephew, Aristobulus, his own son. The will of Herod, made shortly before his death, is a convincing proof of his regard for his sister (Ant., XVII, viii, 1).ISBE Herod.9

His domestic relations were very unhappy. Of his marriage with Doris and of her son, Antipater, he reaped only misery, the son, as stated above, ultimately falling a victim to his father's wrath, when the crown, for which he plotted, was practically within his grasp. Herod appears to have been deeply in love with Mariamne, the grandchild of Hyrcanus, in so far as he was capable of such a feeling, but his attitude toward the entire Asmonean family and his fixed determination to make an end of it changed whatever love Mariamne had for him into hatred. Ultimately she, as well as her two sons, fell victims to Herod's insane jealousy of power. Like Nero, however, in a similar situation, Herod felt the keenest remorse after her death. As his sons grew up, the family tragedy thickened, and the court of Herod became a veritable hotbed of mutual recriminations, intrigues and catastrophes. The trials and executions of his own conspiring sons were conducted with the acquiescence of the Roman power, for Herod was shrewd enough not to make a move without it. Yet so thoroughly was the condition of the Jewish court understood at Rome, that Augustus, after the death of Mariamne's sons (7 BC), is said to have exclaimed: "I would rather be Herod's hog hus than his son huios." At the time of his death, the remaining sons were these: Herod, son of Mariamne, Simon's daughter; Archelaus and Antipas, sons of Malthace, and Herod Philip, son of Cleopatra of Jerusalem. Alexander and Aristobulus were killed, through the persistent intrigues of Antipater, the oldest son and heir presumptive to the crown, and he himself fell into the grave he had dug for his brothers.ISBE Herod.10

By the final testament of Herod, as ratified by Rome, the kingdom was divided as follows: Archelaus received one-half of the kingdom, with the title of king, really "ethnarch," governing Judea, Samaria and Idumaea; Antipas was appointed "tetrarch" of Galilee and Peraea; Philip, "tetrarch" of Trachonitis, Gaulonitis and Paneas. To Salome, his intriguing sister, he bequeathed Jamnia, Ashdod and Phasaelus, together with 500,000 drachmas of coined silver. All his kindred were liberally provided for in his will, "so as to leave them all in a wealthy condition" (Ant., XVII, viii, 1). In his death he had been better to his family than in his life. He died unmourned and unbeloved by his own people, to pass into history as a name soiled by violence and blood. As the waters of Callirhoe were unable to cleanse his corrupting body, those of time were unable to wash away the stains of a tyrant's name. The only time he is mentioned in the New Testament is in Matthew 2:1-23 and Luke 1:1-80. In Matthew he is associated with the wise men of the East, who came to investigate the birth of the "king of the Jews." Learning their secret, Herod found out from the "priests and scribes of the people" where the Christ was to be born and ordered the "massacre of the innocents," with which his name is perhaps more generally associated than with any other act of his life. As Herod died in 4 BC and some time elapsed between the massacre and his death (Matthew 2:19), we have here a clue to the approximate fixing of the true date of Christ's birth. Another, in this same connection, is an eclipse of the moon, the only one mentioned by Josephus (Ant., XVII, vi, 4; text and note), which was seen shortly before Herod's death. This eclipse occurred on March 13, in the year of the Julian Period, 4710, therefore 4 BC.ISBE Herod.11

3. Herod Antipas: Herod Antipas was the son of Herod the Great and Malthace, a Samaritan woman. Half Idumean, half Samaritan, he had therefore not a drop of Jewish blood in his veins, and "Galilee of the Gentiles" seemed a fit dominion for such a prince. He ruled as "tetrarch" of Galilee and Peraea (Luke 3:1) from 4 BC till 39 AD. The gospel picture we have of him is far from prepossessing. He is superstitious (Matthew 14:1 f), foxlike in his cunning (Luke 13:31 f) and wholly immoral. John the Baptist was brought into his life through an open rebuke of his gross immorality and defiance of the laws of Moses (Leviticus 18:16), and paid for his courage with his life (Matthew 14:10; Ant, XVIII, v, Matthew 2:1-23).ISBE Herod.12

On the death of his father, although he was younger than his brother Archelaus (Ant., XVII, ix, 4 f; BJ, II, ii, 3), he contested the will of Herod, who had given to the other the major part of the dominion. Rome, however, sustained the will and assigned to him the "tetrarchy" of Galilee and Peraea, as it had been set apart for him by Herod (Ant., XVII, xi, 4). Educated at Rome with Archelaus and Philip, his half-brother, son of Mariamne, daughter of Simon, he imbibed many of the tastes and graces and far more of the vices of the Romans. His first wife was a daughter of Aretas, king of Arabia. But he sent her back to her father at Petra, for the sake of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, whom he had met and seduced at Rome. Since the latter was the daughter of Aristobulus, his half-brother, and therefore his niece, and at the same time the wife of another half-brother, the union between her and Antipas was doubly sinful. Aretas repaid this insult to his daughter by a destructive war (Ant., XVIII, v, 1). Herodias had a baneful influence over him and wholly dominated his life (Matthew 14:3-10). He emulated the example of his father in a mania for erecting buildings and beautifying cities. Thus, he built the wall of Sepphoris and made the place his capital. He elevated Bethsaida to the rank of a city and gave it the name "Julia," after the daughter of Tiberius. Another example of this inherited or cultivated building-mania was the work he did at Betharamphtha, which he called "Julias" (Ant., XVIII, ii, 1). His influence on his subjects was morally bad (Mark 8:15). If his life was less marked by enormities than his father's, it was only so by reason of its inevitable restrictions. The last glimpse the Gospels afford of him shows him to us in the final tragedy of the life of Christ. He is then at Jerusalem. Pilate in his perplexity had sent the Saviour bound to Herod, and the utter inefficiency and flippancy of the man is revealed in the account the Gospels give us of the incident (Luke 23:7-12; Acts 4:27). It served, however, to bridge the chasm of the enmity between Herod and Pilate (Luke 23:12), both of whom were to be stripped of their power and to die in shameful exile. When Caius Caligula had become emperor and when his scheming favorite Herod Agrippa I, the bitter enemy of Antipas, had been made king in 37 AD, Herodias prevailed on Herod Antipas to accompany her to Rome to demand a similar favor. The machinations of Agrippa and the accusation of high treason preferred against him, however, proved his undoing, and he was banished to Lyons in Gaul, where he died in great misery (Ant., XVIII, vii, 2; BJ, II, ix, 6).ISBE Herod.13

4. Herod Philip: Herod Philip was the son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra of Jerusalem. At the death of his father he inherited Gaulonitis, Traehonitis and Paneas (Ant., XVII, viii, 1). He was Philip apparently utterly unlike the rest of the Herodian family, retiring, dignified, moderate and just. He was also wholly free from the intriguing spirit of his brothers, and it is but fair to suppose that he inherited this totally un-Herodian character and disposition from his mother. He died in the year 34 AD, and his territory was given three years later to Agrippa I, his nephew and the son of Aristobulus, together with the tetrarchy of Lysanias (Ant., XVIII, iv, 6; XIX, v, 1).ISBE Herod.14

5. Herod Archelaus: Herod Archelaus was the oldest son of Herod the Great by Malthace, the Samaritan. He was a man of violent temper, reminding one a great deal of his father. Educated like all Archelaus the Herodian princes at Rome, he was fully familiar with the life and arbitrariness of the Roman court. In the last days of his father's life, Antipater, who evidently aimed at the extermination of all the heirs to the throne, accused him and Philip, his half-brother, of treason. Both were acquitted (Ant., XVI, iv, 4; XVII, vii, 1). By the will of his father, the greater part of the Herodian kingdom fell to his share, with the title of "ethnarch." The will was contested by his brother Antipas before the Roman court. While the matter was in abeyance, Archelaus incurred the hatred of the Jews by the forcible repression of a rebellion, in which some 3,000 people were slain. They therefore opposed his claims at Rome, but Arche1aus, in the face of all this opposition, received the Roman support (Ant., XVII, xi, 4). It is very ingeniously suggested that this episode may be the foundation of the parable of Christ, found in Luke 19:12-27. Archelaus, once invested with the government of Judea, ruled with a hard hand, so that Judea and Samaria were both soon in a chronic state of unrest. The two nations, bitterly as they hated each other, became friends in this common crisis, and sent an embassy to Rome to complain of the conduct of Archelaus, and this time they were successful. Archelaus was warned by a dream of the coming disaster, whereupon he went at once to Rome to defend himself, but wholly in vain. His government was taken from him, his possessions were all confiscated by the Roman power and he himself was banished to Vienna in Gaul (Ant., XVII, xiii, 2, 3). He, too, displayed some of his father's taste for architecture, in the building of a royal palace at Jericho and of a village, named after himself, Archelais. He was married first to Mariamne, and after his divorce from her to Glaphyra, who had been the wife of his half-brother Alexander (Ant., XVII, xiii). The only mention made of him in the Gospels is found in Matthew 2:22.ISBE Herod.15

Of Herod, son of Herod the Great and Mariamne, Simon's daughter, we know nothing except that he married Herodias, the daughter of his dead halfbrother Aristobulus. He is called Philip in the New Testament (Matthew 14:3), and it was from him that Antipas lured Herodias away. His later history is wholly unknown, as well as that of Herod, the brother of Philip the tetrarch, and the oldest son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra of Jerusalem.ISBE Herod.16

6. Herod Agrippa I: Two members of the Herodian family are named Agrippa. They are of the line of Aristobulus, who through Mariamne, grand-daughter of Hyrcanus, carried down the line of the Asmonean blood. And it is worthy of note that in this line, nearly extinguished by Herod through his mad jealousy and fear of the Maccabean power, the kingdom of Herod came to its greatest glory again.ISBE Herod.17

Herod Agrippa I, called Agrippa by Josephus, was the son of Aristobulus and Bernice and the grandson of Herod the Great and Mariamne. Educated at Rome with Claudius (Ant., XVIII, vi, 1, 4), he was possessed of great shrewdness and tact. Returning to Judea for a little while, he came back to Rome in 37 AD. He hated his uncle Antipas and left no stone unturned to hurt his cause. His mind was far-seeing, and he cultivated, as his grandfather had done, every means that might lead to his own promotion. He, therefore, made fast friends with Caius Caligula, heir presumptive to the Roman throne, and his rather outspoken advocacy of the latter's claims led to his imprisonment by Tiberius. This proved the making of his fortune, for Caligula did not forget him, but immediately on his accession to the throne, liberated Agrippa and bestowed on him, who up to that time had been merely a private citizen, the "tetrarchies" of Philip, his uncle, and of Lysanias, with the title of king, although he did not come into the possession of the latter till two more years had gone by (Ant., XVIII, vi, 10). The foolish ambition of Herod Antipas led to his undoing, and the emperor, who had heeded the accusation of Agrippa against his uncle, bestowed on him the additional territory of Galilee and Peraea in 39 AD. Agrippa kept in close touch with the imperial government, and when, on the assassination of Caligula, the imperial crown was offered to the indifferent Claudius, it fell to the lot of Agrippa to lead the latter to accept the proffered honor. This led to further imperial favors and further extension of his territory, Judea and Samaria being added to his domain, 40 AD. The fondest dreams of Agrippa had now been realized, his father's fate was avenged and the old Herodian power had been restored to its original extent. He ruled with great munificence and was very tactful in his contact with the Jews. With this end in view, several years before, he had moved Caligula to recall the command of erecting an imperial statue in the city of Jerusalem; and when he was forced to take sides in the struggle between Judaism and the nascent Christian sect, he did not hesitate a moment, but assumed the role of its bitter persecutor, slaying James the apostle with the sword and harrying the church whenever possible (Acts 12:1-25.). He died, in the full flush of his power, of a death, which, in its harrowing details reminds us of the fate of his grandfather (Acts 12:20-23; Ant, XIX, viii, Acts 2:1-47). Of the four children he left (BJ, II, xi, 6), three are known to history--Herod Agrippa II, king of Calchis, Bernice of immoral celebrity, who consorted with her own brother in defiance of human and Divine law, and became a byword even among the heathen (Juv. Sat. vi. 156-60), and Drusilla, the wife of the Roman governor Felix (Acts 24:24). According to tradition the latter perished in the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD, together with her son Agrippa. With Herod Agrippa I, the Herodian power had virtually run its course.ISBE Herod.18

7. Herod Agrippa II: Herod Agrippa II was the son of Herod Agrippa I and Cypros. When his father died in 44 AD he was a youth of only 17 years and considered too young to assume the government of Judea. Claudius therefore placed the country under the care of a procurator. Agrippa had received a royal education in the palace of the emperor himself (Ant., XIX, ix, 2). But he had not wholly forgotten his people, as is proven by his intercession in behalf of the Jews, when they asked to be permitted to have the custody of the official highpriestly robes, till then in the hands of the Romans and to be used only on stated occasions (Ant., XX, i, 1). On the death of his uncle, Herod of Calchis, Claudius made Agrippa II "tetrarch" of the territory, 48 AD (BJ, II, xii, 1; XIV, iv; Ant, XX, v, 2). As Josephus tells us, he espoused the cause of the Jews whenever he could (Ant., XX, vi, 3). Four years later (52 AD), Claudius extended the dominion of Agrippa by giving him the old "tetrarchies" of Philip and Lysanias. Even at Calchis they had called him king; now it became his official title (Ant., XX, vii, 1). Still later (55 AD), Nero added some Galilean and Perean cities to his domain. His whole career indicates the predominating influence of the Asmonean blood, which had shown itself in his father's career also. If the Herodian taste for architecture reveals itself here and there (Ant., XX, viii, 11; IX, iv), there is a total absence of the cold disdain wherewith the Herods in general treated their subjects. The Agrippas are Jews.ISBE Herod.19

Herod Agrippa II figures in the New Testament in Acts 25:13; 26:32. Paul there calls him "king" and appeals to him as to one knowing the Scriptures. As the brother-in-law of Felix he was a favored guest on this occasion. His relation to Bernice his sister was a scandal among Jews and Gentiles alike (Ant., XX, vii, 3). In the fall of the Jewish nation, Herod Agrippa's kingdom went down. Knowing the futility of resistance, Agrippa warned the Jews not to rebel against Rome, but in vain (BJ, II, xvi, 2-5; XVII, iv; XVIII, ix; XIX, iii). When the war began he boldly sided with Rome and fought under its banners, getting wounded by a sling-stone in the siege of Gamala (BJ, IV, i, 3). The oration by which he sought to persuade the Jews against the rebellion is a masterpiece of its kind and became historical (BJ, II, xvi). When the inevitable came and when with the Jewish nation also the kingdom of Herod Agrippa II had been destroyed, the Romans remembered his loyalty. With Bernice his sister he removed to Rome, where he became a praetor and died in the year 100 AD, at the age of 70 years, in the beginning of Trajan's reign.ISBE Herod.20

LITERATURE.ISBE Herod.21

Josephus, Josephus, Antiquities and BJ; Strabo; Dio Cassius. Among all modern works on the subject, Schurer, The Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ (5 vols) is perhaps still the best.ISBE Herod.22

Henry E. DoskerISBE Herod.23

Herodians

Herodians - he-ro'-di-anz (Herodianoi): A party twice mentioned in the Gospels (Matthew 22:16 parallel Mark 12:13; 3:6) as acting with the Pharisees in opposition to Jesus. They were not a religious sect, but, as the name implies, a court or political party, supporters of the dynasty of Herod. Nothing is known of them beyond what the Gospels state. Whatever their political aims, they early perceived that Christ's pure and spiritual teaching on the kingdom of God was irreconcilable with these, and that Christ's influence with the people was antagonistic to their interests. Hence, in Galilee, on the occasion of the healing of the man with the withered hand, they readily joined with the more powerful party of the Pharisees in plots to crush Jesus (Mark 3:6); and again, in Jerusalem, in the last week of Christ's life, they renewed this alliance in the attempt to entrap Jesus on the question of the tribute money (Matthew 22:16). The warning of Jesus to His disciples to "beware of the leaven of Herod" (Mark 8:15) may have had reference to the insidious spirit of this party.ISBE Herodians.2

James OrrISBE Herodians.3

Herodias

Herodias - he-ro'-di-as (Herodias): The woman who compassed the death of John the Baptist at Macherus (Matthew 14:1-12; Mark 6:14-29; compare also Luke 3:19-20; Luke 9:7-9). According to the Gospel records, Herodias had previously been married to Philip, but had deserted him for his brother Herod the tetrarch. For this Herod was reproved by John (compare Leviticus 18:16; 20:21), and Herod, therefore, to please Herodias, bound him and cast him into prison. According to Matthew 14:5 he would even then have put John to death, but "feared the multitude," which regarded John as a prophet. But Mark 6:19 f relates it was Herodias who especially desired the death of John, but that she was withstood by Herod whose conscience was not altogether dead. This latter explanation is more in harmony with the sequel. At Herod's birthday feast, Herodias induced her daughter Salome, whose dancing had so charmed the tetrarch, to ask as her reward the head of John the Baptist on a charger. This was given her and she then brought it to her mother.ISBE Herodias.2

Herodias was daughter of Aristobulus, son of Herod the Great, by Mariamne, daughter of Hyrcanus. Her second husband (compare above) was Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea (circa 4-39AD ), son of Herod the Great by Malthace. Herod Antipus was thus the step-brother of Aristobulus, father of Herodias. Regarding the first husband of Herodias, to whom she bore Salome, some hold that the Gospel accounts are at variance with that of Josephus. In Matthew 14:3; Mark 6:17; Luke 3:19, he is called Philip the brother of Herod (Antipus). But in Matthew 14:3 and Luke 3:19 the name Philip is omitted by certain important manuscripts. According to Josephus, he was Herod, son of Herod the Great by Mariamne daughter of Simon the high priest, and was thus a step-brother of Herod Antipas (compare Josephus, Ant,XVIII , v, 4). It is suggested in explanation of the discrepancy (1) that Herod, son of Mariamne, bore a second name Philip, or (2) that there is confusion in the Gospels with Heroal-Philip, tetrarch of Trachonitis, who was the son of Herod the Great and Cleopatra, and who was in reality the husband of Salome, daughter of Herodias (compare also A. B. Bruce, The Expositor Greek Testament., I, 381; A. C. Headlam, article "Herod" in HDB, II, 359, 360). According to Josephus (Ant., VIII, vii, 2; XVIII, vii, 1) the ambition of Herodias proved the ruin of Herod Antipas. Being jealous of the power of Agrippa her brother, she induced Herod to demand of Caligula the title of king. This was refused through the machinations of Agrippa, and Herod was banished. But the pride of Herodias kept her still faithful to her husband in his misfortune.ISBE Herodias.3

C. M. KerrISBE Herodias.4

Herodion

Herodion - he-ro'-di-on (Herodion; Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek Hrodion): A Roman Christian to whom Paul sent greetings (Romans 16:11). The name seems to imply that he was a freedman of the Herods, or a member of the household of Aristobulus, the grandson of Herod the Great (Romans 16:10). Paul calls him "my kinsman," i.e. "a Jew" (see JUNIAS , 1).ISBE Herodion.2

Heron

Heron - her'-un ('anaphah; charadrios; Latin Ardea cinerea): Herons are mentioned only in the abomination lists of Leviticus 11:19 (margin "ibis") and Deuteronomy 14:18. They are near relatives of crane, stork, ibis and bittern. These birds, blue, white or brown, swarmed in Europe and wintered around Merom, along the Jordan, at the headwaters of the Jabbok and along its marshy bed in the dry season. Herons of Southern Africa that summered in the Holy Land loved to nest on the banks of Merom, and raise their young among the bulrushes, papyrus, reeds and water grasses, although it is their usual habit to build in large trees. The white herons were small, the blue, larger, and the brown, close to the same size. The blue were 3 1/2 ft. in length, and had a 5-ft. sweep. The beak, neck and legs constituted two-thirds of the length of the body, which is small, lean and bony, taking its appearance of size from its long loose feathers. Moses no doubt forbade these birds as an article of diet, because they ate fish and in older specimens would be tough, dark and evil smelling. The very poor of our western and southeastern coast states eat them.ISBE Heron.2

Gene Stratton-PorterISBE Heron.3

Hesed, Son of

Hesed, Son of - he'-sed.ISBE Hesed, Son of.2

See BEN-HESED.ISBE Hesed, Son of.3

Heshbon

Heshbon - hesh'-bon (cheshbon; Hesebon): The royal city of Sihon king of the Amorites, taken and occupied by the Israelites under Moses (Numbers 21:25 f, etc.). It lay on the southern border of Gad (Joshua 13:26), and was one of the cities fortified by Reuben (Numbers 32:37). It is reckoned among the cities of Gad given to the Merarite Levites (Joshua 21:39). In later literature (Isaiah 15:4; 16:8 f; Jeremiah 48:2, 34, 45; 49:3) it is referred to as a city of Moab. It passed again into Jewish hands, and is mentioned by Josephus (Ant., XIII, xv, 4) as among their possessions in the country of Moab under Alexander Janneus. The city with its district called Hesebonitis, was also under the jurisdiction of Herod the Great (Ant., XV, vii, 5, where it is described as lying in the Peraea). Eusebius, Onomasticon places it 20 Roman miles from the Jordan. It is represented by the modern Chesban, a ruined site in the mountains over against Jericho, about 16 miles East of the Jordan. It stands on the edge of Wady Chesban in a position of great strength, about 600 ft. above `Ain Chesban. The ruins, dating mainly from Roman times, spread over two hills, respectively 2,930 ft. and 2,954 ft. in height. There are remains of a temple overlooked from the West by those of a castle. There is also a large ruined reservoir; while the spring in the valley forms a succession of pools (Song of Solomon 7:4). The city is approached from the valley by a steep path passing through a cutting in the rock, which may have been closed by a gate (Conder, Heth and Moab, 142). On a hill to the West, el-Kurmiyeh, is a collection of dolmens and stone circles (Musil, Arabia Petrea, I, 383 ff).ISBE Heshbon.2

W. EwingISBE Heshbon.3

Heshmon

Heshmon - hesh'-mon (cheshmon): An unidentified place on the border of Judah toward Edom (Joshua 15:27). This may have been the original home of the Hasmoneans.ISBE Heshmon.2

Heth (1)

Heth (1) - chath cheth: The eighth letter of the Hebrew alphabet; transliterated in this Encyclopedia as "ch". It came also to be used for the number 8. For name, etc., see ALPHABET.ISBE Heth (1).2

Heth (2)

Heth (2) - heth (cheth): In Genesis 23:10 the ancestor of the Hittites. As the various peoples who occupied Canaan were thought to belong to one stock, Genesis 10:15 (1 Chronicles 1:13) makes Heth the (2nd) son of Canaan. In Genesis 23:1-20 the "sons of Heth" occupy Hebron, but they were known to have come there from the north. A reference to this seems to be preserved in the order of the names in Genesis 10:15-16, where Heth is placed between Sidon and the Jebusites.ISBE Heth (2).2

See HITTITES.ISBE Heth (2).3

Hethlon

Hethlon - heth'-lon (chethlon; Peshitta chethron): Name of a place associated with Zedad on the ideal northern boundary of Israel, as given in Ezekiel 47:15 and Ezekiel 48:1, but not named in Numbers 34:8, while the Septuagint evidently translated the text it had. In accordance with the opinion they hold as to the boundary line of Northern Israel, van Kasteren and Buhl seek to identify Hethlon with 'Adlun on the river Qasmiyeh. Much more in harmony with the line of the other border towns given is its identification with Heitala to the Northeast of Tripoli. The "way of Hethlon" would then coincide with the Eleutherus valley, between Homs and the Mediterranean, through which the railway now runs, and to this identification the Septuagint seems to give testimony, indicating some path of "descent" from the Biqa'a.ISBE Hethlon.2

W. M. ChristieISBE Hethlon.3

Hewer

Hewer - hu'-er (choTebh): Applies especially to a wood-worker or wood-gatherer (compare Arabic chattab, "a woodman") (Joshua 9:21, 23, 17; 2 Chronicles 2:10; Jeremiah 46:22). Gathering wood, like drawing water, was a menial task. Special servants were assigned to the work (Deuteronomy 29:11). Joshua set the Gibeonites to hewing wood and drawing water as a punishment for their trickery, whereas were it not for the oath which the Israelites had sworn, the Gibeonites would probably have been killed.ISBE Hewer.2

See DRAWER OF WATER.ISBE Hewer.3

chatsbh, from the root "to cut" or "to carve," applies to hewers of stone in 1 Kings 5:15; 2 Kings 12:12; 1 Chronicles 22:15; 2 Chronicles 2:18.ISBE Hewer.4

James A. PatchISBE Hewer.5

Hexateuch

Hexateuch - hek'-sa-tuk:ISBE Hexateuch.2

1. Evidence for: This word, formed on the analogy of Pentateuch, Heptateuch, etc., is used by modern writers to denote the first six books of the Bible (i.e. the Law and Joshua) collectively. Many critics hold that these six books were composed out of the sources JEP, etc. (on which see PENTATEUCH), and only separated very much later into different works. The main grounds for this belief are: (1) the obvious fact that Josh provides the sequel to the Pentateuch, narrating the conquest and settlement in Canaan to which the latter work looks forward, and (2) certain material and stylistic resemblances. The composition of the respective works is considered in the articles PENTATEUCH and JOSHUA.ISBE Hexateuch.3

2. Evidence against: Here we must glance at the evidence against theory of a Hexateuch. It is admitted that there is no trace of any such work as the Hexateuch anywhere in tradition. The Jewish Canon places the Pentateuch in a separate category from Joshua. The Samaritans went farther and adopted the Pentateuch alone. The orthography of the two works differs in certain important particulars (see E. Konig, Einleitung, 151 f, 250). Hence, a different literary history has to be postulated for the two works, even by those who adopt theory of a Hexateuch. But that theory is open to objection on other grounds. There are grave differences of opinion among its supporters as to whether all the supposed Pentateuchal documents are present in Joshua, and in any case it is held that they are quite differently worked up, the redactors having proceeded on one system in the Pentateuch and on quite another in Joshua. Arguments are given in the article PENTATEUCH to show the presence of Mosaic and pre-Mosaic elements in the Pentateuch and the unsoundness of the documentary theory in that work, and if these be correct theory of a Hexateuch necessarily falls to the ground.ISBE Hexateuch.4

For Bibliography see PENTATEUCH; JOSHUA.ISBE Hexateuch.5

Harold M. WienerISBE Hexateuch.6

Hezeki

Hezeki - hez'-e-ki (chizqi).ISBE Hezeki.2

See HIZKI.ISBE Hezeki.3

Hezekiah (1)

Hezekiah (1) - hez-e-ki'-a (chizqiyah):ISBE Hezekiah (1).2

(1) King of Judah. See special articleISBE Hezekiah (1).3

(2) A son of Neariah, of the royal family of Judah (1 Chronicles 3:23, the Revised Version (British and American) "Hizkiah").ISBE Hezekiah (1).4

(3) An ancestor of Zephaniah (Zephaniah 1:1, the King James Version "Hizkiah").ISBE Hezekiah (1).5

(4) One of the returned exiles from Babylon (Ezra 2:16; Nehemiah 7:21).ISBE Hezekiah (1).6

Hezekiah (2)

Hezekiah (2) - (chizqiyah, "Yahweh has strengthened"; also written chizqiyahu, "Yah has strengthened him"; Hezekias): One of the greatest of the kings of Judah; reigned (according to the most self-consistent chronology) from circa 715 to circa 690 BC.ISBE Hezekiah (2).2

Old Testament Estimate:ISBE Hezekiah (2).3

On the Old Testament standard of loyalty to Yahweh he is eulogized by Jesus Sirach as one of the three kings who alone did not "commit trespass" (Sirach 49:4), the other two being David and Josiah. The Chronicler represents him (2 Chronicles 32:31) as lapsing from the wisdom of piety only by his vainglory in revealing the resources of his realm to the envoys of Merodach-baladan. In 2 Kings 18:5, the earliest estimate, his special distinction, beyond all other Judean kings, before or after, was that he "trusted in Yahweh, the God of Israel." It is as the king who "clave to Yahweh" (2 Kings 18:6) that the Hebrew mind sums up his royal and personal character.ISBE Hezekiah (2).4

I. Sources for His Life and Times. 1. Scripture Annals: The historical accounts in 2 Kings 18:1-377-2 Kings 20:1-21 and 2 Chronicles 29:1-366-2 Chronicles 32:1-33 are derived in the main from the same state annals, though the latter seems also to have had the Temple archives to draw upon. For "the rest of his acts" 2 Ki refers to a source then still in existence but now lost, "the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah" (2 Kings 20:20), and 2 Chronicles to "the vision of Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz, in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel" (2 Chronicles 32:32). In this last-named source (if this is the original of our Book of Isa.), besides the warnings and directions called out by the course of the history, there is a narrative section (Isaiah 36:1-22-Isaiah 39:1-8) recounting the Sennacherib crisis much as do the other histories, but incorporating also a passage of Isaianic prophecy (Isaiah 37:22-32) and a "writing of Hezekiah king of Judah" (Isaiah 38:10-20). Lastly, in Sirach 48:17-25, there is a summary of the good and wise deeds of Hezekiah, drawn from the accounts that we already have.ISBE Hezekiah (2).5

2. View-point and Colouring: Of these sources the account in 2 Kings is most purely historianic, originating at a time when religious and political values, in the Hebrew mind, were inseparable. In 2 Ch the religious point and coloring, especially in its later developed ritual and legal aspects, has the decided predominance. Sirach, with the mind of a man of letters, is concerned mainly with eulogizing Hezekiah. in his "praise of famous men" (compare Sirach 44 through 50), of course from the devout Hebrew point of view. In the vision of Isaiah (Isaiah 1:1-31 through Isaiah 39:1-8), we have the reflection of the moral and spiritual situation in Jerusalem, as realized in the fervid prophetic consciousness; and in the prophecy of his younger contemporary Micah, the state of things in the outlying country districts nearest the path of invasion, where both the iniquities of the ruling classes and the horrors of war were felt most keenly. Doubtless also many devotional echoes of these times of stress are deducible from the Psalms, so far as we can fairly identify them.ISBE Hezekiah (2).6

3. Side-Lights: It is in Hezekiah's times especially that the Assyrian inscriptions become illuminating for the history of Israel; for one important thing they furnish certain fixed dates to which the chronology of the times can be adjusted. Of Sennacherib's campaign of 701, for instance, no fewer than six accounts are at present known (see G.A. Smith, Jerusalem, II, 154, note), the most detailed being the "Taylor Cylinder," now in the British Museum, which in the main agrees, or at least is not inconsistent, with the Scripture history.ISBE Hezekiah (2).7

II. Events of His Reign. 1. His Heritage: From his weak and unprincipled father Ahaz (compare 2 Chronicles 28:16-25), Hezekiah inherited not only a disorganized realm but a grievous burden of Assyrian dominance and tribute, and the constant peril and suspense of greater encroachments from that arrogant and arbitrary power: the state of things foretold in Isaiah 7:20; 8:7 f. The situation was aggravated by the fact that not only the nation's weakness but its spiritual propensities had incurred it: the dominant classes were aping the sentiments, fashions and cult of the East (compare Isaiah 2:6-8), while the neglected common people were exposed to the corruptions of the still surviving heathenism of the land. The realm, in short, was at the spiritual nadir-point from which prophets like Isaiah and Micah were laboring to bring about the birth of a true Hebrew conscience and faith. Their task was a hard one: with a nation smear-eyed, dull-cared, fat-hearted (Isaiah 6:10), whose religion was a precept of men learned by rote (Isaiah 29:13). Clearly, from this point of view, a most difficult career was before him.ISBE Hezekiah (2).8

2. Religious Reform: The sense of this unspiritual state of things furnishes the best keynote of Hezekiah's reforms in religion, which according to the Chronicler he set about as soon as he came to the throne (2 Chronicles 29:3). It is the Chronicler who gives the fullest account of these reforms (2 Chronicles 29:1-36 through 2 Chronicles 31:1-21); naturally, from his priestly point of view and access to ecclesiastical archives. Hezekiah began with the most pressing constructive need, the opening and cleansing of the Temple, which his father Ahaz had left closed and desecrated (2 Chronicles 28:24), and went on to the reorganization of its liturgical and choral service. In connection with this work he appointed a Passover observance, which, on a scale and spirit unknown since Solomon (2 Chronicles 30:26), he designed as a religious reunion of the devout-minded in all Israel, open not only to Jerusalem and Judah, but to all who would accept his invitation from Samaria, Galilee, and beyond the Jordan (2 Chronicles 30:5-12, 18). The immediate result of the enthusiasm engendered by this Old Home Week was a vigorous popular movement of iconoclasm against the idolatrous high places of the land. That this was no weak fanatical impulse to break something, but a touch of real spiritual quickening, seems evidenced by one incident of it: the breaking up of Moses' old brazen serpent and calling it what it had come to mean, nechushtan, "a piece of brass" (2 Kings 18:4); the movement seems in fact to have had in it the sense, however crude, that old religious forms had become hurtful and effete superstitions, hindering spirituality. Nor could the movement stop with the old fetish. With it went the demolition of the high places themselves and the breaking down of the pillars (matstsebhoth) and felling of the sacred groves ('asherah), main symbols these of a debasing naturecult. This reform, on account of later reactions (see under MANASSEH), has been deemed ineffective; rather, its effects were inward and germinal; nor were they less outwardly than could reasonably be expected, before its meanings were more deepened and centralized.ISBE Hezekiah (2).9

3. Internal Improvements: All this, on the king's part, was his response to the spiritual influence of Isaiah, with whose mind his own was sincerely at one. As a devout disciple in the school of prophetic ideas, he earnestly desired to maintain the prophet's insistent attitude of "quietness and confidence" (compare Isaiah 30:15), that is, of stedfast trust in Yahweh alone, and of abstinence from revolt and entangling alliances with foreign powers. This, however, in the stress and suspense of the times, did not preclude a quiet preparation for emergencies; and doubtless the early years of his reign were notable, not only for mild and just administration throughout his realm, but for measures looking to the fortifying and defense of the capital. His work of repairing and extending the walls and of strengthening the citadel (Millo), as mentioned in 2 Chronicles 32:5, had probably been in progress long before the Assyrian crisis was imminent. Nor was he backward in coming to an understanding with other nations, as to the outlook for revolt against Assyria. He could not learn his lesson of faith all at once, especially with a factious court pulling the other way. He did not escape the suspicion of Sargon (died 705), who for his Egyptian leanings counted him among the "plotters of sedition" (compare COT, 100); while the increasing prosperity and strength of his realm marked him for a leading role in an eventual uprising. He weathered at least one chance of rebellion, however, in 711, probably through the strenuous exertions of Isaiah (see Isaiah 20:1 ff).ISBE Hezekiah (2).10

4. The Assyrian Crisis: Hezekiah's opportunity to rise against Assyrian domination seems to have been taken about 704. How so pious a king came to do it in spite of Isaiah's strenuous warnings, both against opposition to Assyria and alliance with other powers, is not very clear. The present writer ventures to suggest the view that the beginning was forced or perhaps sprung upon him by his princes and nobles. In the year before, Sargon, dying, had left his throne to Sennacherib, and, as at all ancient changes of sovereignty, this was the signal for a general effort for independence on the part of subject provinces. That was also the year of Hezekiah's deadly illness (2 Kings 20:1-21; Isaiah 38:1-22), when for a time we know not how long he would be incapacitated for active administration of affairs. Not unlikely on his recovery he found his realm committed beyond withdrawal to an alliance with Egypt and perhaps the leadership of a coalition with Philistia; in which case personally he could only make the best of the situation. There was nothing for it but to confirm this coalition by force, which he did in his Philistine campaign mentioned in 2 Kings 18:8. Meanwhile, in the same general uprising, the Chaldean Merodach-baladan, who had already been expelled from Babylon after an 11-year reign (721-710), again seized that throne; and in due time envoys from him appeared in Jerusalem, ostensibly to congratulate the king on his recovery from his illness, but really to secure his aid and alliance against Assyria (2 Kings 20:12-15; Isaiah 39:1-4). Hezekiah, flattered by such distinguished attention from so distant and powerful a source, by revealing his resources committed what the Chronicler calls the one impious indiscretion of his life (2 Chronicles 32:31), incurring also Isaiah's reproof and adverse prediction (2 Kings 20:17 f; Isaiah 39:6 f). The conflict with Sennacherib was now inevitable; and Hezekiah, by turning the water supply of Jerusalem from the Gihon spring to a pool within the walls and closing it from without, put the capital in readiness to stand a siege. The faith evoked by this wise work, confirmed by the subsequent deliverance, is reflected in Psalms 46:1-11. That this incurring of a hazardous war, however, with its turmoils and treacheries, and the presence of uncouth Arab mercenaries, was little to the king's desire or disposition, seems indicated in Psalms 120:1-7, which with the other Songs of Degrees (Psalms 120:1-7 through Psalms 134:1-3) may well reflect the religious faith of this period of Hezekiah's life.ISBE Hezekiah (2).11

5. Invasion and Deliverance: The critical moment came in 701, when Sennacherib, who the year before had reconquered Babylon and expelled Merodach-baladan (perhaps Isaiah 21:1-9 refers to and this), was free to invade his rebellious provinces in the West. It was a vigorous and sweeping campaign; in which, beginning with Sidon and advancing downISBE Hezekiah (2).12

through the coast lands, he speedily subdued the Philistine cities, defeating them and their southern allies (whether these were from Egypt proper or from its extension across the Sinai peninsula and Northern Arabia, Mutsri, is not quite clear) at Eltekeh; in which campaign, according to his inscription, he took 46 walled towns belonging to Judah with their spoil and deported over 200,000 of their inhabitants. This, which left Jerusalem a blockaded town (in fact he says of Hezekiah: "Himself I shut up like a bird in a cage in Jerusalem his royal city"), seems referred to in Isaiah 1:7-9 and predicted in Isaiah 6:11 f. Its immediate effect was to bring Hezekiah to terms and extort an enormous tribute (2 Kings 18:14-16). When later, however, he was treacherous enough to disregard the compact thus implied (perhaps Isaiah 33:1-24 refers to this), and demanded the surrender of the city (2 Kings 18:17 through 2 Kings 19:7; Isaiah 36:2 through Isaiah 37:7), Hezekiah besought the counsel of Isaiah, who bade him refuse the demand, and predicted that Sennacherib would "hear tidings" and return to his own land; which prediction actually came to pass, and suddenly Hezekiah found himself free. A deliverance so great, and so signally vindicating the setting forth of faith, could not but produce a momentous revulsion in the nation's mind, like a new spiritual birth in which the faith of the "remnant" became a vital power in Israel; its immediate effect seems portrayed in Psalms 124:1-8 and perhaps Psalms 126:1-6, and its deep significance as the birth of a nation in a day seems summarized long afterward in Isaiah 66:7 through Isaiah 9:1-21; compare Isaiah 37:3; 2 Kings 19:3.ISBE Hezekiah (2).13

6. The Second Summons: A second summons to surrender, sent from Libnah by letter (2 Kings 19:1 ff; Isaiah 37:8 ff), is treated by the Scripture historians as a later feature of the same campaign; but recent researches seem to make it possible, nay probable, that this belonged to another campaign of Sennacherib, when Taharka of Ethiopia (Tirhakah, 2 Kings 19:9; Isaiah 37:9) came to power in Egypt, in 691. If this was so, there is room in Hezekiah's latter years for a decade of peace and prosperity (compare Ch 32:22,23,27-30), and in Isaiah's old age for a collection and revision of his so wonderfully vindicated prophecies. The historians' evident union of two stories in one makes the new attitude with which this crisis was met, obscure; but the tone of confirmed confidence and courage seems decidedly higher. The discomfiture of Sennacherib in this case was brought about, not by a rumor of rebellions at home, but by an outbreak of plague (2 Kings 19:35 f; Isaiah 37:36 f), which event the Scripture writers interpreted as a miracle. The prophetic sign of deliverance (2 Kings 19:29; Isaiah 37:30) may be referred to the recovery of the devastated lands from the ravage inflicted by Sennacherib in his first campaign (compare also Psalms 126:5 f).ISBE Hezekiah (2).14

III. His Character. Our estimate of Hezekiah's character is most consistently made by regarding him as a disciple of Isaiah, who was earnestly minded to carry out his prophetic ideas. As, however, these were to begin with only the initial ideas of a spiritual "remnant," the king's sympathies must needs be identified at heart, not with his imperious nobles and princes, but with a minority of the common people, whose religious faith did not become a recognizable influence in the state until after 701. In the meantime his zeal for purer worship and more just domestic administration, which made him virtually king of the remnant, made him a wise and sagacious prince over the whole realm. Isaiah's glowing prophecy (32:1-8) seems to be a Messianic projection of the saner and clearer-seeing era that his domestic policy adumbrated--a time when king and nobles rule in righteousness, when man can lean on man, when things good and evil are seen as they are and called by their right names. When it came to dealing with the foreign situation, however, especially according to the Isaianic program, his task was exceedingly difficult, as it were a pioneer venture in faith. His effort to maintain an attitude of steadfast trust in Yahweh, with the devout quietism which, though really its consistency and strength looked like a supine passivity, would lead his restlessly scheming nobles to regard him as a pious weakling; and not improbably they came to deem him almost a negligible quantity, and forced his hand into diplomacies and coalitions that were not to his mind. Some such insolent attitude of theirs seems to be portrayed in Isaiah 28:14-22. This was rendered all the more feasible, perhaps, by the period of incapacitation that must have attended his illness, in the very midst of the nation's critical affairs. Isaiah's words (Isaiah 33:17 ff) may be an allusion at once to his essential kingliness, to the abeyance of its manifestation due to his disease, and to the constricted condition into which, meanwhile, the realm had fallen. This exceedingly critical episode of Hezekiah's career does not seem to have had its rights with students of the era. Considering the trials that his patient faith must have had, always at cross-purposes with his nobles (compare Psalms 120:6 f); that now by reason of his sickness they had the whip hand; that his disease cut him off not only from hope of life, but from association with men and access to the sanctuary (compare Isaiah 38:10-11, 12); that, as his son Manasseh was not born till three years within the fifteen now graciously added to his life (compare 2 Kings 21:1), his illness seemed to endanger the very perpetuity of the Davidic dynasty, we have reason for regarding him as well-nigh a martyr to the new spiritual uprising of faith which Isaiah was laboring to bring about. In the Messianic ideal which, in Isaiah's sublime conception, was rising into personal form, it fell to his lot to adumbrate the first kingly stage, the stage of committal to Yahweh's word and will and abiding the event. It was a cardinal element in that composite ideal which the Second Isaiah pushes to its ultimate in his portrayal of the servant of Yahweh; another element, the element of sacrifice, has yet to be added. Meanwhile, as with the king so with his remnant-realm, the venture of faith is like a precipitation of spiritual vitality, or, as the prophet puts it, a new birth (compare Isaiah 26:17 f; Isaiah 37:3; 66:7 f, for the stages of it). The event of deliverance, not by men's policies but by Yahweh's miraculous hand, was the speedy vindication of such trust; and the revulsion of the next decade witnessed a confirming and solidifying of spiritual integrity in the remnant which made it a factor to be reckoned with in the trying times that succeeded (see under MANASSEH). The date of Hezekiah's death (probably not long after 690) is not certainly known; nor of the death of his mentor Isaiah (tradition puts this by martyrdom under Manasseh); but if our view of his closing years is correct, the king's death crowned a consistent character of strength and spiritual steadfastness; while the unapproachable greatness of Isaiah speaks for itself.ISBE Hezekiah (2).15

IV. Reflection of His Age in Literature. 1. Complication and Revival: The sublime and mature utterances of Isaiah alone, falling in this time, are sufficient evidence that in Hezekiah's age, Israel reached its golden literary prime. Among the idealists and thinkers throughout the nation a new spiritual vigor and insight were awake. Of their fellowship was the king himself, who emulated the activity of his predecessor Solomon as patron of piety and letters. The compilation of the later Solomonic section of the Proverbs (Proverbs 25:1-28 through Proverbs 29:1-27), attributed to the "men of Hezekiah," indicates the value attached to the accumulations of the so-called Wisdom literature; and it is fair to assume that these men of Hezekiah did not stop with compiling, but stamped upon the body of Proverbs as a whole that sense of it as a philosophy of life which it henceforth bears, and perhaps added the introductory section, Proverbs 1:1-33 through Proverbs 9:1-18. Nor would a king so zealous for the organization and enrichment of the temple-worship (compare Isaiah 38:20) be indifferent to its body of sacred song. It seems certain that his was, in all the nation's history, the greatest single agency in compiling and adapting the older Davidic Psalms, and in the composition of new ones. Perhaps this union of collecting and creative work in psalmody is referred to in the mention of "the words of David, and of Asaph the seer" (2 Chronicles 29:30). To Hezekiah himself is attributed one "writing" which is virtually a psalm, Isaiah 38:20. The custom through all the history of hymnology (in our own day also) of adapting older compositions to new liturgical uses makes uncertain the identification of psalms belonging specifically to this period; still, many psalms of books ii and iii, and especially those ascribed to Asaph and the sons of Korah, seem a close reflection of the spirit of the times. An interesting theory recently advanced (see THIRTLE , Old Testament Problems) that the fifteen Songs of the Steps ("Degrees" or "Ascents," Psalms 120:1-7 through Psalms 134:1-3) are a memorial of Hezekiah's fifteen added years, when as a sign the shadow went backward on the steps of Ahaz (2 Kings 20:8-11), seems to reveal many remarkable echoes of that eventful time. Nor does it seem unlikely that with this first extensive collection of psalms the titles began to be added.ISBE Hezekiah (2).16

2. Of More Creative Strain: This literary activity of Hezekiah's time, though concerned largely with collecting and reviving the treasures of older literature, was pursued not in the cold scribal spirit, but in a fervid creative way. This may be realized in two of the psalms which the present writer ascribes to this period. Psalms 49:1-20, a psalm of the sons of Korah, is concerned to make an essential tenet of Wisdom viable in song (compare Psalms 49:3-4), as if one of the "men of Hezekiah" who is busy with the Solomonic counsels would popularize the spirit of his findings. Psalms 78:1-72 in like manner, a Maschil of Asaph, is concerned to make the noble histories of old viable in song (Psalms 78:2), especially the wilderness history when Israel received the law and beheld Yahweh's wonders, and down to the time when Ephraim was rejected and Judah, in the person of David, was chosen to the leadership in Israel.ISBE Hezekiah (2).17

Such a didactic poem would not stand solitary in a period so instructed. As in Wisdom and psalmody, so in the domain of law and its attendant history, the literary activity was vigorous. This age of Hezekiah seems the likeliest time for putting into literary idiom that "book of the law" found later in the Temple (2 Kings 22:1-20); which book Josiah's reforms, carried out according to its commands, prove to have been our Book of Deuteronomy. This is not the place to discuss the Deuteronomic problem (see under JOSIAH); it is fair to note here, however, that as compared with the austere statement of the Mosaic statutes elsewhere, this book has a literary art and coloring which seem to stamp its style as that of a later age than Moses', though its substance is Mosaic; and this age of Hezekiah seems the likeliest time to put its rewriting and adaptation. Nor did the new spirit of literary creation feed itself entirely on the past. The king's chastening experience of illness and trial, with the steadfast faith that upbore and survived it, must have been fruitful of new ideas, especially of that tremendous conception, now just entering into thought, of the ministry of suffering. Time, of course, must be allowed for the ripening of an idea so full of involvement; and it is long before its sacrificial and atoning values come to light in such utterances as Isaiah 53:1-12. But such psalms as Psalms 49:1-20 and Psalms 73:1-28, not to mention Hezekiah's own psalm (Isaiah 38:1-22), show that the problem was a living one; it was working, moreover, in connection with the growing Wisdom philosophy, toward the composition of the Book of Job, which in a masterly way both subjects the current Wisdom motives to a searching test and vindicates the intrinsic integrity of the patriarch in a discipline of most extreme trial. The life of a king whose experience had some share in clarifying the ideas of such a book was not lived in vain.ISBE Hezekiah (2).18

John Franklin GenungISBE Hezekiah (2).19

Hezekiah, the Men of

Hezekiah, the Men of - A body of men of letters to whom is ascribed the compilation of a supplementary collection of Solomonic proverbs (Proverbs 25:1).ISBE Hezekiah, the Men of.2

See PROVERBS,THE BOOK OF ,II , 5; HEZEKIAH,IV , 2.ISBE Hezekiah, the Men of.3

Hezekiah's Sickness

Hezekiah's Sickness - See DIAL OF AHAZ.ISBE Hezekiah's Sickness.2

Hezion

Hezion - he'-zi-on (chezyon; the Septuagint's Codex Vaticanus, Azein; Codex Alexandrinus, Azael): An ancestor of Ben-hadad, king of Syria (1 Kings 15:18).ISBE Hezion.2

Hezir

Hezir - he'-zer:ISBE Hezir.2

(1) (chezir; the Septuagint's Codex Vaticanus, Chezein; Codex Alexandrinus, Iezeir): A Levite in the time of David (1 Chronicles 24:15).ISBE Hezir.3

(2) Septuagint Hezeir): A chief of the people in the time of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 10:20).ISBE Hezir.4

Hezro; Hezrai

Hezro; Hezrai - hez'-ro, hez'-ra-i, hez'-ri (chezro, 2 Samuel 23:35; 1 Chronicles 11:37, but the Qere of 2 Samuel 23:35 is chezray. The ancient versions almost unanimously support the form Hezrai): A Carmelite, i.e. an inhabitant of Carmel. See CARMELITE. One of David's thirty "mighty men."ISBE Hezro; Hezrai.2

Hezron (1)

Hezron (1) - hez'-ron (chetsron, and chetsron; Septuagint Asron):ISBE Hezron (1).2

(1) A son of Reuben (Genesis 46:9; Exodus 6:14), and head of the family of the Hezronites (Numbers 26:6).ISBE Hezron (1).3

(2) A son of Perez, and grandson of Judah (Genesis 46:12; Numbers 26:21; 1 Chronicles 2:5, 9, 18, 21, 24-25; 4:1), a direct ancestor of David (Ruth 4:18 f). He appears also in the genealogy of our Lord (Esrom) (Matthew 1:3; Luke 3:33).ISBE Hezron (1).4

Hezron (2)

Hezron (2) - (chetsron, "enclosure"): On the South boundary of Judah between "Kadesh-barnea" and "Addar" (Joshua 15:3); in the parallel passage (Numbers 34:4) "Hazar-addar." The two places may have been near together. Conder suggests that the name survives in Jebel Hadhireh, a mountain Northwest of Petra in the Tih.ISBE Hezron (2).2

Hezronites

Hezronites - hez'-ron-its (ha-chetsrowni and ha-chetsroni; Septuagint ho Asronei): The name of the descendants of Hezron the son of Reuben (Numbers 26:6), and of the descendants of Hezron the son of Perez (Numbers 26:21).ISBE Hezronites.2

Hiddai

Hiddai - hid'-a-i, hi-da'-i (hidday; Alexandrian Haththai): One of David's thirty "mighty men" (2 Samuel 23:30), described as "of the brooks of Gaash." In the parallel list in 1 Chronicles 11:32 the form of the name is "Hurai" (huray).ISBE Hiddai.2

Hiddekel

Hiddekel - hid'-e-kel (chiddeqel): One of the rivers of EDEN (which see) (Genesis 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.ISBE Hiddekel.2

George Frederick WrightISBE Hiddekel.3

Hidden

Hidden - 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; Psalms 83:3, "They consulted (the Revised Version (British and American) "consult") against thy hidden ones"); of matspunim (from tsaphan), "hidden things or places" (Obadiah 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" (Deuteronomy 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" (Proverbs 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 Peter 3:4, "the hidden man of the heart"; 1 Corinthians 4:5, krupton, "the hidden things of darkness"; 2 Corinthians 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 Corinthians 2:7, "But we speak God's wisdom in a mystery, even the wisdom that hath been hidden"; compare Ephesians 3:9; Colossians 1:26).ISBE Hidden.2

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).ISBE Hidden.3

W. L. WalkerISBE Hidden.4

Hiel

Hiel - hi'-el (chi'el; Achiel): A Bethelite who according to 1 Kings 16:34 rebuilt Jericho, and in fulfillment of a curse pronounced by Joshua (Joshua 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 Kings 3:27; compare Micah 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 Kings 16:34 after 2 Kings 10:33; Winckler explains as folklore.ISBE Hiel.2

W. N. StearnsISBE Hiel.3

Hierapolis

Hierapolis - 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 Colossians 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.ISBE Hierapolis.2

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.ISBE Hierapolis.3

E. J. BanksISBE Hierapolis.4

Hiereel

Hiereel - hi-er'-e-el (Hiereel): 1 Esdras 9:21. In Ezra 8:9 the name is Jehiel.ISBE Hiereel.2

Hieremoth

Hieremoth - hi-er'-e-moth (Ieremoth):ISBE Hieremoth.2

(1) 1 Esdras 9:27 = Jeremoth (Ezra 10:26).ISBE Hieremoth.3

(2) 1 Esdras 9:30 = Jeremoth (Ezra 10:29, margin "and Ramoth").ISBE Hieremoth.4

Hierielus

Hierielus - hi-er-i-e'-lus (Iezrielos).ISBE Hierielus.2

See JEZRIELUS.ISBE Hierielus.3

Hiermas

Hiermas - hi-ur'-mas (Hiermas): 1 Esdras 9:26, corresponding to Ramiah in Ezra 10:25.ISBE Hiermas.2

Higgaion

Higgaion - 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 Psalms 9:16, where we read higgayon Celah, takes it to mean an instrumental interlude.ISBE Higgaion.2

See PSALMS.ISBE Higgaion.3

High Day

High Day - Is found in Genesis 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 John 19:31, "highday" renders megale hemera, literally, "great day," and refers to the Passover Sabbath--and therefore a Sabbath of special sanctity.ISBE High Day.2

High Place

High Place - 1. General: (1) "High place" is the normal translation of bamah, a word that means simply "elevation" (Jeremiah 26:18; Ezekiel 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 Ezekiel 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 Ezekiel 16:16. In three of these verses of Ezek (Ezekiel 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 Kings 11:7; 14:23; compare the burning of the "high place" in 2 Kings 23:15), and so came to be used of any idolatrous shrine, whether constructed on an elevation or not (note how in 2 Kings 16:4; 2 Chronicles 28:4 the "high places" are distinguished from the "hills"). So the "high places" in the cities (2 Kings 17:9; 2 Chronicles 21:11 (Septuagint)) could have stood anywhere, while in Ezekiel 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 Mark 9:2; Hebrews 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.)ISBE High Place.2

2. Description: 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 Kings 12:31; 13:32; 2 Kings 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.ISBE High Place.3

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 Samuel 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.ISBE High Place.4

See GEZER, and illustration on p. 1224.ISBE High Place.5

3. History: (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 (Hosea 4:14, etc.). In Amos 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 Jeremiah 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 Chronicles 33:17, etc.).ISBE High Place.6

(2) In 1 Samuel, sacrifice outside of Jerusalem is treated as an entirely normal thing, and Samuel presides in one such case (1 Samuel 9:11-24). In 1 Ki the practice of using high places is treated as legitimate before the construction of the Temple (1 Kings 3:2-4), but after that it is condemned unequivocally. The primal sin of Northern Israel was the establishment of high places (1 Kings 12:31-33; 2, 33 f), and their continuance was a chief cause of the evils that came to pass (2 Kings 17:10 f), while worship in them was a characteristic of the mongrel throng that repopulated Samaria (2 Kings 17:32). So Judah sinned in building high places (1 Kings 14:23), but the editor of Kings notes with obvious regret that even the pious kings (Asa, 1 Kings 15:14; Jehoshaphat, 1 Kings 22:43; Jehoash, 2 Kings 12:3; Amaziah, 2 Kings 14:4; Azariah, 2 Kings 15:4; Jotham, 2 Kings 15:35) did not put them away; i.e. the editor of Kings has about the point of view of Deuteronomy 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 Kings 18:4) could be cited by Rabshakeh as an act of apostasy from Yahweh (2 Kings 18:22; 2 Chronicles 32:12; Isaiah 36:7). Under Manasseh they were rebuilt, in connection with other idolatrous practices (2 Kings 21:3-9). This act determined the final punishment of the nation (2 Kings 21:10-15), and the root-and-branch reformation of Josiah (2 Kings 23:1-37) 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 Chronicles 16:39; 21:29; 2 Chronicles 1:3, 13), states that God-fearing northerners avoided the high places (2 Chronicles 11:16; compare 1 Kings 19:10, 14), and (against Kings) credits Asa (2 Chronicles 14:3, 5) and Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 17:6) with their removal. (This last notice is also in contradiction with 2 Chronicles 20:33, but 2 Chronicles 166:14a is probably meant to refer to the Northern Kingdom, despite 2 Chronicles 166:14b.) On the other hand, the construction of high places is added to the sins of Jehoram (2 Chronicles 21:11) and of Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:4-5).ISBE High Place.7

(3) Among the prophets, Elijah felt the destruction of the many altars of God as a terrible grief (1 Kings 19:10, 14). Amos and Hosea each mention the high places by name only once (Amos 7:9; Hosea 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 Micah 1:5 equates the sins of Jerusalem with those of the high places (if the text is right), but promises the exaltation of Jerusalem (Micah 4:1 f). In the references in Jeremiah 7:31; 19:5; 32:35; Ezekiel 6:3, 1; 16:16; 20:29; 43:7, idolatry or abominable practices are in point (so probably in Jeremiah 17:3, while Jeremiah 48:35 and Isaiah 16:12 refer to non-Israelites).ISBE High Place.8

(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.ISBE High Place.9

See ISRAEL,RELIGION OF ; CRITICISM; DEUTERONOMY, etc.ISBE High Place.10

LITERATURE.ISBE High Place.11

See, especially, IDOLATRY, and also ALTAR; ASHERAH, etc. For the archaeological literature, see PALESTINE.ISBE High Place.12

Burton Scott EastonISBE High Place.13

High Priest

High Priest - See PRIEST, HIGH.ISBE High Priest.2

High Things

High Things - The translation of hupselos, "high," "lofty," "elevated" (Romans 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.ISBE High Things.2

High thing is hupsoma, "a high place," "elevation," etc. (2 Corinthians 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."ISBE High Things.3

W. L. WalkerISBE High Things.4

High, Most

High, Most - See GOD, NAMES OF.ISBE High, Most.2

Highest

Highest - hi'-est (`elyon; hupsistos): The translation of `elyon, used frequently of God and commonly translated "Most High" (Psalms 18:13, "The Highest gave his voice," the Revised Version (British and American) "Most High"; Psalms 87:5, "the highest himself," the Revised Version (British and American) "Most High"; Ezekiel 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" (Ezekiel 17:3, 12, the Revised Version (British and American) "top," "lofty top"); of ro'sh, "head," "top" (Proverbs 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" (Proverbs 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" (Ecclesiastes 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 (Luke 1:32, "the Son of the Highest," Luke 1:35, "the power of the Highest," Luke 1:76, "the prophet of the Highest"; Luke 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" (Matthew 21:9; Mark 11:10; see HOSANNA), "Glory to God in the highest" (Luke 2:14), "Glory in the highest" (Luke 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 (Luke 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 (Luke 20:46) "the highest seats," the Revised Version (British and American) "chief seats" Wycliff "the first chairs."ISBE Highest.2

"The Highest" as a term for God appears (2 Esdras 4:11, 34, the Revised Version (British and American) "Most High"; Wisdom of Solomon 6:3, hupsistos; Ecclesiasticus 28:7, the Revised Version (British and American) "Most High").ISBE Highest.3

See also SINEW.ISBE Hip.3

Hippopotamus

Hippopotamus - hip-o-pot'-a-mus (Job 41:1 margin).ISBE Hippopotamus.2

See BEHEMOTH.ISBE Hippopotamus.3

Hirah

Hirah - hi'-ra (chirah; Septuagint Eiras): A native of Adullam, and a "friend" of Judah (Genesis 38:1, 12). The Septuagint and the Vulgate (Jerome's Latin Bible, 390-405 A.D.) both describe him as Judah's "shepherd."ISBE Hirah.2

Hiram

Hiram - hi'-ram (chiram; Septuagint Chiram, but Cheiram, in 2 Samuel 5:11; 1 Chronicles 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 Kings 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).ISBE Hiram.2

(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 Samuel 5:11; 1 Chronicles 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 Kings 5:1 (Hebrews 15) ff; 2 Chronicles 2:3 (Hebrews 2:1-18) 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 Kings 9:10-14). Hiram and Solomon maintained merchant vessels on the Mediterranean and shared mutually in a profitable trade with foreign ports (1 Kings 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 Kings 9:26; 2 Chronicles 8:17 f).ISBE Hiram.3

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.ISBE Hiram.4

(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 Kings 7:14), "a woman of the daughters of Dan" (2 Chronicles 2:14 (Hebrews 13:1-25); 1 Kings 7:13 ff; 2 Chronicles 2:13 f (Hebrews 12:1-29, 13)).ISBE Hiram.5

Jesse L. CottonISBE Hiram.6

Hircanus

Hircanus - her-ka'nuz.ISBE Hircanus.2

See HYRCANUS.ISBE Hircanus.3

Hire

Hire - hir: Two entirely different words are translated "hire" in the Old Testament:ISBE Hire.2

(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 Samuel 2:5; 2 Chronicles 24:12), or mercenary soldiers (2 Samuel 10:6; 2 Kings 7:6; 1 Chronicles 19:6; 2 Chronicles 25:6), or a goldsmith (Isaiah 46:6), or a band of loose followers (Judges 9:4), or a false priest (Judges 18:4), or Balaam (Deuteronomy 23:4; Nehemiah 13:2), or hostile counselors (Ezra 4:5), or false prophets (Nehemiah 6:12 f). As a verbal adjective it refers to things (Exodus 22:15; Isaiah 7:20)or men (Leviticus 19:13; Jeremiah 46:21). (b) As a noun it denotes the wage in money, or something else, paid to workmen for their services (Genesis 30:32 f; Genesis 31:8; Deuteronomy 24:15; 1 Kings 5:6; Zechariah 8:10), or the rent or hire paid for a thing (Exodus 22:15), or a work-beast (Zechariah 8:10). In Genesis 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 (Genesis 30:18).ISBE Hire.3

(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 (Deuteronomy 23:18), or, reversing the usual custom, made by the harlot nation (Ezekiel 16:31, 41). It was also used metaphorically of the gifts made by Israelites to idols, since this was regarded as spiritual harlotry (Isaiah 23:17 f; Micah 1:7; compare also Hosea 8:9 f).ISBE Hire.4

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 Matthew 20:1, 8 and James 5:4 it refers to the hiring of ordinary field laborers for a daily wage. In Luke 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.ISBE Hire.5

William Joseph McGlothlinISBE Hire.6

Hireling

Hireling - 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 Isaiah 16:14 and Isaiah 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 (Isaiah 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.ISBE Hireling.2

In the New Testament the word "hireling" (misthotos) occurs only in John 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.ISBE Hireling.3

William Joseph McGlothlinISBE Hireling.4

His

His - hiz: Used often in the King James Version with reference to a neuter or inanimate thing, or to a lower animal (Genesis 1:11, "after his kind"; Leviticus 1:16, "pluck away his crop"; Acts 12:10, "of his own accord"; 1 Corinthians 15:38, "his own body"), etc. the Revised Version (British and American) substitutes "its."ISBE His.2

Hiss

Hiss - his (sharaq): "To hiss" has two applications: (1) to call, (2) to express contempt or scorn.ISBE Hiss.2

(1) It is the translation of sharaq, a mimetic word meaning to hiss or whistle, to call (bees, etc.), (a) Isaiah 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"; Isaiah 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 (Isaiah 18:1) and Assyrians whose country was pre-eminently one of bees. Dangerous enemies are compared to bees in Deuteronomy 1:44; Psalms 118:12 (Skinner's Isaiah): Zechariah 10:8, "I will hiss for them, and gather them" (His own people, who will come at His call).ISBE Hiss.3

(2) More often, to hiss is to express contempt or derision (1 Kings 9:8; Job 27:23; Jeremiah 19:8, etc.). In this sense we have also frequently a hissing (2 Chronicles 29:8; Jeremiah 19:8; 9, 18; 29:18; 51:37; Micah 6:16, shereqah); Jeremiah 18:16, sheriqoth or sheruqoth; Ecclesiasticus 22:1, "Every one will hiss him (the slothful man) out in his disgrace" (eksurisso, "to hiss out"); Wisdom of Solomon 17:9, "hissing of serpents" (surigmos).ISBE Hiss.4

W. L. WalkerISBE Hiss.5

Hitherto

Hitherto - hith'-er-too (to this): Used of both place and time. It is the translation of various words and phrases:ISBE Hitherto.2

(1) Of place, `adh halom (2 Samuel 7:18, "Thou hast brought me hitherto," the Revised Version (British and American) "thus far"; 1 Chronicles 17:16; perhaps 1 Samuel 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."ISBE Hitherto.3

(2) Of time, `adh koh, "unto this" (Exodus 7:16, "Hitherto thou hast not hearkened"; Joshua 17:14, "Hitherto Yahweh hath blessed me"); me'az, "from then" (2 Samuel 15:34, the Revised Version (British and American) "in time past"); hale'ah, "beyond," etc. (Isaiah 18:7, "terrible from their beginning hitherto," the Revised Version (British and American) "onward"); `adh kah, Aramaic (Daniel 7:28, the Revised Version (British and American) "here," margin "hitherto"); `adh hennah, "unto here" (Judges 16:13; 1 Samuel 1:16; Psalms 71:17, etc.); achri tou deuro (Romans 1:13, "was let (the Revised Version (British and American) "hindered") hitherto"); heos arti, "until now" (John 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"; John 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 Corinthians 3:2, "Hitherto ye were not able to bear it," the Revised Version (British and American) "not yet").ISBE Hitherto.4

W. L. WalkerISBE Hitherto.5

Hittites

Hittites - hit'-its (bene cheth, chittim; Chettaioi): One of the seven nations conquered by Israel in Palestine.ISBE Hittites.2

I. OLD TESTAMENT NOTICESISBE Hittites.3

1. Enumeration of RacesISBE Hittites.4

2. IndividualsISBE Hittites.5

3. Later MentionISBE Hittites.6

II. HISTORYISBE Hittites.7

1. SourcesISBE Hittites.8

2. ChronologyISBE Hittites.9

3. Egyptian Invasions: XVIIIth DynastyISBE Hittites.10

4. "The Great King"ISBE Hittites.11

5. Egyptian Invasions: XIXth DynastyISBE Hittites.12

6. Declension of Power: Aryan InvasionISBE Hittites.13

7. Second Aryan InvasionISBE Hittites.14

8. Assyrian InvasionsISBE Hittites.15

9. Invasion by Assur-nasir-palISBE Hittites.16

10. Invasions by Shalmaneser II and Rimmonnirari IIIISBE Hittites.17

11. Revolts and InvasionsISBE Hittites.18

12. Break-up of Hittite PowerISBE Hittites.19

13. Mongols in SyriaISBE Hittites.20

III. LANGUAGEISBE Hittites.21

1. Mongol RaceISBE Hittites.22

2. Hittire and Egyptian MonumentsISBE Hittites.23

3. Hair and BeardISBE Hittites.24

4. Hittite DressISBE Hittites.25

5. Hittite NamesISBE Hittites.26

6. Vocabulary of Pterium EpistlesISBE Hittites.27

7. Tell el-Amarna TabletISBE Hittites.28

IV. RELIGIONISBE Hittites.29

1. Polytheism: Names of DeitiesISBE Hittites.30

2. Religious SymbolismISBE Hittites.31

V. SCRIPTISBE Hittites.32

1. Cuneiform and HieroglyphicISBE Hittites.33

2. Description of SignsISBE Hittites.34

3. Interpretation of MonumentsISBE Hittites.35

LITERATUREISBE Hittites.36

I. Old Testament Notices. 1. Enumeration of Races: 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 (Genesis 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.ISBE Hittites.37

2. Individuals: The names of Hittites noticed in the Old Testament include several that are Semitic (Ahimelech, Judith, Bashemath, etc.), but others like Uriah and Beeri (Genesis 26:34) which are probably non-Sem. Uriah appears to have married a Hebrew wife (Bathsheba), and Esau in like manner married Hittite women (Genesis 26:34; 36:2). In the time of Abraham we read of Hittites as far South as Hebron (Genesis 23:3 ff; Genesis 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).ISBE Hittites.38

3. Later Mention: In later times the "land of the Hittites" (Joshua 1:4; Judges 1:26) was in Syria and near the Euphrates (see TAHTIM-HODSHI); though Uriah (2 Samuel 11:1-27) lived in Jerusalem, and Ahimelech (1 Samuel 26:6) followed David. In the time of Solomon (1 Kings 10:29), the "kings of the Hittites" are mentioned with the "kings of Syria," and were still powerful a century later (2 Kings 7:6). Solomon himself married Hittite wives (1 Kings 11:1), and a few Hittites seem still to have been left in the South (2 Chronicles 8:7), even in his time, if not after the captivity (Ezra 9:1; Nehemiah 9:8).ISBE Hittites.39

II. History. 1. Sources: 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.ISBE Hittites.40

2. Chronology: 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.ISBE Hittites.41

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."ISBE Hittites.42

4. "The Great King": 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.ISBE Hittites.43

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," Genesis 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."ISBE Hittites.44

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.ISBE Hittites.45

7. Second Aryan Invasion: 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."ISBE Hittites.46

8. Assyrian Invasions: 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.ISBE Hittites.47

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.ISBE Hittites.48

10. Invasions by Shalmaneser II and Rimmonnirari III:ISBE Hittites.49

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.ISBE Hittites.50

11. Revolts and Invasions: 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.ISBE Hittites.51

12. Breakup of Hittite Power: 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.ISBE Hittites.52

13. Mongols in Syria: 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.ISBE Hittites.53

III. Language. 1. Mongol Race: 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.ISBE Hittites.54

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.ISBE Hittites.55

3. Hair and Beard: 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.ISBE Hittites.56

4. Hittite Dress: 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.ISBE Hittites.57

5. Hittite Names: 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.ISBE Hittites.58

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.ISBE Hittites.59

7. Tell el-Amarna Tablet: 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.ISBE Hittites.60

IV. Religion. 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.ISBE Hittites.61

2. Religious Symbolism: 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.ISBE Hittites.62

V Script.ISBE Hittites.63

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.ISBE Hittites.64

2. Description of Signs: 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.ISBE Hittites.65

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.ISBE Hittites.66

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.ISBE Hittites.67

See also ASIA MINOR, ARCHAEOLOGY OF; PALESTINE EXPLORATION.ISBE Hittites.68

LITERATURE.ISBE Hittites.69

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.ISBE Hittites.70

C. R. ConderISBE Hittites.71

Hivite

Hivite - hi'-vit (chiwwni; Heuaios):ISBE Hivite.2

1. Name: A son of Canaan (Genesis 10:17), i.e. an inhabitant of the land of Canaan along with the Canaanite and other tribes (Exodus 3:17, etc.). In the list of Canaanite peoples given in Genesis 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 Joshua 9:7 the Septuagint reads "Horite" as also does Codex A in Genesis 34:2, and in Genesis 36:2 a comparison with Genesis 36:24-25 shows that "Horite" must be substituted for "Hivite."ISBE Hivite.3

2. Geographical Situation: In Judges 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 Joshua 11:3 as being "under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh," and in 2 Samuel 24:7 they are mentioned immediately after "the stronghold of Tyre." Hence, the Septuagint (Codex Alexandrinus) reading must be right in Genesis 34:2 and Joshua 9:7, which makes the inhabitants of Shechem and Gibeon Horites instead of Hivites; indeed, in Genesis 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.ISBE Hivite.4

A. H. SayceISBE Hivite.5

Hizki

Hizki - hiz'-ki (chizqi; Septuagint Azaki; the King James Version Hezeki): A son of Elpaal, a descendant of Benjamin (1 Chronicles 8:17).ISBE Hizki.2

Hay — Hen (1)

Hizkiah — Hul