Hivites

a people descended from Canaan, Gen 10:17. They are also mentioned, Deu 2:23. The inhabitants of Shechem, and the Gibeonites, were Hivites, Jos 11:19; Gen 34:2. Mr. Bryant supposes the Hivites to be the same as the Ophites, or ancient worshippers of the sun under the figure of a serpent; which was, in all probability, the deity worshipped at Baal-Hermon.

Hi´vites, one of the nations of Canaan which occupied Palestine before the Israelites (Gen 10:17; Exo 3:8; Exo 3:17; Exo 23:23; Jos 3:10). They occupied the northern and north-eastern part of the country. In Jdg 3:3, it is stated that ’the Hivites dwelt in Mount Hermon, from Mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Hamath;’ and in Jos 11:3, the Hivites are described as living ’under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh.’ The ’cities of the Hivites’ are mentioned in 2Sa 24:7, and, from being associated with Sidon and Tyre, must have been in the northwest. A remnant of the nation still existed in the time of Solomon, who subjected them to a tribute of personal labor, with the remnants of other Canaanitish nations which the Israelites had been unable to expel (1Ki 9:20). A colony of this tribe was also found in Northern Palestine, occupying the towns of Gideon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim: and these obtained from Joshua a treaty of peace by stratagem (Jos 9:3-17; Jos 11:19).

See CANAANITES.\par

Hebrew always in the singular = "midlanders" (Ewald), "villagers" (Gesenius). Their abode was about Hermon and Lebanon (Jos 11:3, "under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh"; Jdg 3:3, "from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath"); toward Tyre (2Sa 24:7), and Sichem or Shechem (Gen 34:11), and Gibeon (Jos 9:1; Jos 9:7). Descended from Ham (Gen 10:17). (See AVIM, with whom Septuagint identify them).

A warm, impulsive, unsuspicious people, as their readiness to accept the cunning proposition of Simeon and Levi shows; peaceful and commercial, more keen to gain cattle and wealth than to wage war, as the same story shows; as also that of Abimelech (Judges 8:33 - 9:53). The Shechemite idol Baalberith, "Baal of the covenant," was a god of peace not war. Their not revenging themselves on Jacob’s family, as he feared, is another proof of their quiet spirit. The Gibeonite Hivites showed the same unwarlike spirit, with the additional element of craft wherewith they in their turn deceived Israel, as Jacob’s sons had deceived their forefathers.

Hivites, Land of the (hî’vîtes), A region in Canaan, along the coast of the Mediterranean, peopled by some of the descendants of Canaan, the son of Ham. Gen 10:17; 1Ch 1:15. On Jacob’s return to Canaan, Shechem was in possession of the Hivites, Hamor the Hivite being the "prince of the land." Gen 34:2. They voluntarily surrendered their country to Joshua. Jos 9:7; Jos 11:19. The main body of the Hivites were then living on the northern confines of western Palestine—"under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh," Jos 11:3; "in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Hamath." Jdg 3:3. They paid tribute to Solomon. 1Ki 9:20; 2Ch 8:7. Their country appears to have been afterward absorbed by the surrounding nations.

[Hi’vites]

One of the races found early in Palestine: they were descendants of Ham through Canaan. Gen 10:17. Jacob, on his return to Palestine, found Shechem occupied by the Hivites. Gen 34:2. They also possessed Gibeon, and found means to deceive Joshua into making a league with them. Jos 9:3; Jos 9:7. They seemed to be more a commercial than a warlike people. We also find the Hivites in the north in mount Lebanon, and Israel was beguiled into making marriage contracts with them. Jdg 3:3; Jdg 3:5-6. In the days of Solomon they were still in the land, and were made tributary to Israel. 1Ki 9:20. Israel suffered through not carrying out the directions of God to cast out these and other inhabitants of the land. They were by them led into idolatry.

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By: Joseph Jacobs, M. Seligsohn

One of the Canaanitic nations dispossessed by the children of Israel (Gen. x. 17; Ex. xxiii. 23, 28; et al.). In the Hebrew text the name occurs only in the singular; its meaning is, according to Gesenius, "the villager" (comp. , or, according to Ewald ("Gesch. des Volkes Israel," i. 318), "the midlander," the Hivites having previously inhabited central Palestine. The Hivite was the sixth son of Canaan (Gen. x. 17). In the first enumeration (Gen. xv. 19-21) of the nations which occupied Palestine in the time of Abraham, the Hivites are not mentioned. Hamor, the Prince of Shechem, was a Hivite; if the Hivites were Shechemites, they are represented as peaceful, credulous, and given to trade and cattle-raising (Gen. xxxiv. 2, 18-29). Like the Hittites, they held their assemblies in the gates of their cities (Gen. xxxiv. 20). Later, in the time of the conquest of Palestine by Joshua, fearing to meet the Israelites in battle, they resorted to stratagem; as they had been outwitted by the sons of Jacob, so they duped Joshua and all the Israelites (Josh. ix. 3-27). The Hivites had then four cities—Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim (Josh. ix. 17), situated a considerable distance apart. The Gibeonites were spared by Joshua on account of his oath. The Hivites spread toward the north of Palestine, their main body lying under Mount Hermon, in the land of Mizpeh (Josh. xi. 3), "in Mount Lebanon," from Baal-hermon to Hamath (Judges iii. 3). Joab, when numbering the Israelites, is stated to have come to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites (II Sam. xxiv. 7). Targ. Yer. Gen. x. 17 renders "ha-Ḥiwwi" by "Ṭeripola'e" (Tripolitans?).

HIVITES.—One of the tribes of Palestine which the Israelites displaced (Exo 3:8; Exo 3:17 [J [Note: Jahwist.] ]). Our oldest source (J [Note: Jahwist.] ) says that they were the people who, fearing to meet the Israelites in battle, by a ruse made a covenant with them (Jos 9:7). A Deuteronomic editor states that their villages were Gibeon, Chephira, Kiriath-jearim, and Beeroth (Jos 9:17). Gibeon was six miles N. W. of Jerusalem, and Beeroth ten miles N. of it. Probably, therefore, they inhabited a region north of Jerusalem. Gen 34:2 (P [Note: Priestly Narrative.] ) makes the Shechemites Hivites, but this is of doubtful authority. The main part of the chapter is silent on this point. In Jos 11:3 and Jdg 3:3 they seem to be located near Hermon in the Lebanon, but ‘Hivite’ is probably here a corruption of ‘Hittite’ (cf. Moore, Judges, p. 79). Deuteronomic editors introduce Hivites often in their list of Canaanitish peoples, usually placing them before Jebusites. Perhaps this indicates that they lived near Jerusalem. 2Sa 24:7, though vague, is not inconsistent with this. Some have supposed Hivite to mean ‘villager,’ but the etymology is most uncertain. Really nothing is known of their racial affinities.

George A. Barton.

Among the many tribal groups that occupied Canaan before the Israelites dispossessed them were the people known as Hivites (Gen 10:15-17; Exo 3:8; Exo 23:28; Deu 7:1; Jos 3:10). They lived mainly in the mountain country of northern Palestine and Lebanon (Jos 11:3; Jdg 3:3; 2Sa 24:6-7), though some lived in Shechem and others as far south as Gibeon (Gen 34:2; Jos 9:3; Jos 9:7; Jos 11:19). They were among the many Canaanite tribal peoples used as slaves in Solomon’s building programs (1Ki 9:20-21). Like other Canaanite groups they were eventually absorbed into Israel.