The Hivites ( he, ''Ḥiwwîm'') were one group of descendants of

Canaan Canaan (; Phoenician: 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍 – ; he, כְּנַעַן – , in pausa – ; grc-bib, Χανααν – ;The current scholarly edition of the Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus T ...

, son of Ham, according to the

Table of Nations The Generations of Noah, also called the Table of Nations or Origines Gentium, is a genealogy of the sons of Noah, according to the Hebrew Bible (Genesis ), and their dispersion into many lands after the Flood, focusing on the major known soci ...

in (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 Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

word ''hawwah'' (), 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, according to the

Book of Joshua The Book of Joshua ( he, סֵפֶר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ‎ ', Tiberian: ''Sēp̄er Yŏhōšūaʿ'') is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament, and is the first book of the Deuteronomistic history, the story of Isra ...

, lived in the hilly region of

Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus lie ...

from Lebo Hamath () to

Mount Hermon Mount Hermon ( ar, جبل الشيخ or جبل حرمون / ALA-LC: ''Jabal al-Shaykh'' ("Mountain of the Sheikh") or ''Jabal Haramun''; he, הַר חֶרְמוֹן, ''Har Hermon'') is a mountain cluster constituting the southern end of th ...

(). Hivites are also mentioned further south in the

Masoretic Text The Masoretic Text (MT or 𝕸; he, נֻסָּח הַמָּסוֹרָה, Nūssāḥ Hammāsōrā, lit. 'Text of the Tradition') is the authoritative Hebrew and Aramaic text of the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh) in Rabbinic Judaism. ...

of the Hebrew Bible, which assigns to Hivites the towns of Gibeon, Kephirah, Beeroth, and Kiriath-Jearim (). However, the

Septuagint The Greek Old Testament, or Septuagint (, ; from the la, septuaginta, lit=seventy; often abbreviated ''70''; in Roman numerals, LXX), is the earliest extant Greek translation of books from the Hebrew Bible. It includes several books beyond t ...

reads these four towns as inhabited by

Horites The Horites ( he, ''Ḥōrīm''), were a people mentioned in the Torah (, ) inhabiting areas around Mount Seir in Canaan (). Name According to Archibald Sayce (1915), the Horites have been identified with references in Egyptian inscriptions ...

, suggesting that the name Hivite may have entered the Masoretic Text via a spelling error. The Masoretic Text of described the Hivites as being "under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh." However, the Septuagint reads "Hittites" in place of "Hivites," suggesting that one text or the other has suffered an error. Similarly in according to the Masoretic Text, Hivites are mentioned immediately after "the stronghold of Tyre," where the Septuagint once again reads "Hittites."

Biblical mentions

Within the Hebrew Bible, Hivites are often listed among the inhabitants of

, promised to the descendants of Abraham. , in the

, mentions that one of

Esau Esau ''Ēsaû''; la, Hesau, Esau; ar, عِيسَوْ ''‘Īsaw''; meaning "hairy"Easton, M. ''Illustrated Bible Dictionary'', (, , 2006, p. 236 or "rough".Mandel, D. ''The Ultimate Who's Who in the Bible'', (.), 2007, p. 175 is the elder son o ...

's wives was "

Oholibamah Aholibamah (Hebrew: ''ʾĀhŏlīḇāmā''; "My tabernacle of/is height/exaltation" or "Tent of the High Place"Phillips, J. ''Exploring Genesis: an expository commentary'', (, ), 2001, p. 284), is an eight-time referenced matriarch in the biblical ...

the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite" who is also described as "of the daughters of

". However, textual evidence from the Septuagint and Genesis 36:20 suggest that Zibeon was originally referred to not as a Hivite, but a Horite.North, Robert.
The Hivites
" Biblica 54, no. 1 (1973): 56. The

claims that Hivites were one of seven groups living in the land of Canaan when the

Israelites The Israelites (; , , ) were a group of Semitic-speaking tribes in the ancient Near East who, during the Iron Age, inhabited a part of Canaan. The earliest recorded evidence of a people by the name of Israel appears in the Merneptah Stele o ...

under

Joshua Joshua () or Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' lit. 'Yahweh is salvation') ''Yēšūaʿ''; syr, ܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܢܘܢ ''Yəšūʿ bar Nōn''; el, Ἰησοῦς, ar , يُوشَعُ ٱبْنُ نُونٍ '' Yūšaʿ ...

commenced their conquest of the land (). These seven nations were to be exterminated:

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-cent ...

, Girgashites,

Amorites The Amorites (; sux, 𒈥𒌅, MAR.TU; Akkadian: 𒀀𒈬𒊒𒌝 or 𒋾𒀉𒉡𒌝/𒊎 ; he, אֱמוֹרִי, 'Ĕmōrī; grc, Ἀμορραῖοι) were an ancient Northwest Semitic-speaking people from the Levant who also occupied lar ...

, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. In , Joshua ordered the Hivites of Gibeon to be wood gatherers and water carriers for the Temple of

YHWH The Tetragrammaton (; ), or Tetragram, is the four-letter Hebrew theonym (transliterated as YHWH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are ''yodh'', '' he'', '' waw'', and ...

(see

Nethinim Nethinim ( ''nəṯīnīm'', lit. "given ones", or "subjects"), or Nathinites or Nathineans, was the name given to the Temple assistants in ancient Jerusalem. The term was applied originally in the Book of Joshua (where it is found in its verbal fo ...

). The Bible records that

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

included Hivite cities. During the reign of

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

, 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.

Etymology

Location

Biblical mentions

See also

References

Further reading