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The Hivites (Hebrew Hiwwi) were one group of descendants of Canaan, son of Ham, according to the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 (10:17). A variety of proposals have been made, but beyond the references in the Bible to Hivites in the land of Canaan, no consensus has been reached about their precise historical identity.
Etymology
E. C. Hostetter has proposed that the name comes from "tent-dweller," as a cognate to the Hebrew word hawwah ( חוה ), which means tent-camp, although this proposal is rejected by John Day.
No name resembling "Hivite" has been found in Egyptian or Mesopotamian inscriptions, though the Hiyawa in a Luvian-Phoenician bilingual has been linked to the Biblical Hiwwi.
Location
The Hivites dwelt in the mountainous regions of Canaan stretching from Lebanon – specifically Lebo Hamath (Judges 3:3) - and Mt. Hermon (Joshua 11:3) in the north to the central Benjamin plateau in the Hill country just north of Jerusalem. Within this region we find specific enclaves of Hivites mentioned in the Bible. Genesis 34 describes Hivites ruling the region of Shechem. Further south there were the four Hivite towns – Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth and Kiriath Jearim (Joshua 9:17) – involved in the deception of Joshua. (Joshua 9:3–27)
Joshua 11:3 described the Hivites as being "under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh" and in 2 Samuel 24:7 they are mentioned immediately after "the stronghold of Tyre."
Biblical Mentions
Within the Hebrew Bible, Hivites are often listed among the inhabitants of Canaan, promised to the descendants of Abraham. Genesis 36:2, in the Masoretic Text, mentions that one of Esau's wives was "Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite" who is also described as "of the daughters of Canaan". However, textual evidence from the Septuagint and Genesis 36:20 suggest that Zibeon was originally referred to not as a Hivite, but a Horite.
The Book of Joshua claims that Hivites were one of seven groups living in the land of Canaan when the Israelites under Joshua commenced their conquest of the land (Joshua 3:10). These seven nations were to be exterminated: Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. In Joshua 9, Joshua had ordered the Hivites of Gibeon to be wood gatherers and water carriers for the Temple of YHWH (see Nethinim).
The Hivites continued to exist as a distinct people group at the time of David, when they were counted in a regional census taken at this time. During the reign of Solomon, they are described as part of the slave labor for his many building projects. It is not clear if, when or how they ceased to be a separate group before the Israelite kingdoms came to an end.
References
- ^ John Day (2007). Robert Rezetko; Timothy Henry Lim; W. Brian Aucker (eds.). "Gibeon and the Gibeonites in the Old Testament", Reflection and Refraction: Studies in Biblical Historiography in Honour of A. Graeme Auld. BRILL. p. 116. ISBN 90-04-14512-5.
- Trevor Bryce, The World of the Neo-Hittite Kingdoms:A Political and Military history, Oxford University Press 2012 p.65
- Genesis 10:15; Exodus 3:8, 3:17, 13:5, 23:23, 33:2, 34:11; Numbers 13:29; Deuteronomy 7:1, 20:17; Joshua 3:10, 9:1, 11:3, 12:8 24:11; Judges 3:5; 1 Kings 9:20; 1 Chronicles 1:13; 2 Chronicles 8:7; Ezra 9:1.
- North, Robert. "The Hivites." Biblica 54, no. 1 (1973): 56. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42610140.
- Exodus 34:11, 23:23, Deuteronomy 7:1–3 (Exodus 3:8
- 2 Samuel 24:1–7
- 1 Kings 9:20–21, 2 Chronicles 8:7–8
Further reading
- Barker, Burdick, Stek, Wessel, Youngblood (Eds.). (1995). The New International Version Study Bible. (10th Ann ed). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
- Bright, John. (2000). A History of Israel. (4th ed.). Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.
- DeVaux, Roland. (1997). Ancient Israel. (John McHugh, Trans.) Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
- Freedman, David Noel (Ed.). (2000). Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible. (pp. 597) Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.
- Wood, Millard, Packer, Wiseman, Marshall (Eds.). (1996). New Bible Dictionary (3rd ed.) (pp. 477). Downers Grove, IL: Intervarsity Press.