Smith's Bible Dictionary.pdf - Online Christian Library

Smith's Bible Dictionary
(Jeremiah 14:5) Its shyness and remoteness from the haunts of men are also alluded to, (Job 39:1)
and its timidity, causing it to cast its young at the sound of thunder. (Psalms 29:9)
Hinge
Both ancient Egyptian and modern Oriental doors were and are hung by means of pivots turning
in sockets on both the upper and lower sides. (1 Kings 7:50) In Syria, and especially the Hauran,
there are many ancient doors consisting of stone slabs with pivots carved out of the same piece,
inserted in sockets above and below, and fixed during the building of the house. The allusion in
(Proverbs 26:14) is thus clearly explained.
Hinnom
(lamentation), Valley of, otherwise called “the valley of the son” or “children of Hinnom,” a
deep and narrow ravine, with steep, rocky sides, to the south and west of Jerusalem, separating
Mount Zion to the north from the “hill of evil counsel,” and the sloping rocky plateau of the “plain
of Rephaim” to the south. The earliest mention of the valley of Hinnom is in (Joshua 15:8; 18:16)
where the boundary line between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin is described as passing along
the bed of the ravine. On the southern brow, overlooking the valley at its eastern extremity Solomon
erected high places for Molech, (1 Kings 11:7) whose horrid rites were revived from time to time
in the same vicinity the later idolatrous kings. Ahaz and Manasseh made their children “pass through
the fire” in this valley, (2 Kings 16:3; 2 Chronicles 28:3; 33:6) and the fiendish custom of infant
sacrifice to the fire-gods seems to have been kept up in Tophet, which was another name for this
place. To put an end to these abominations the place was polluted by Josiah, who renders it
ceremonially unclean by spreading over it human bones and other corruptions, (2 Kings 23:10,13,14;
2 Chronicles 34:4,5) from which time it appears to have become the common cesspool of the city,
into which sewage was conducted, to be carried off by the waters of the Kidron. From its ceremonial
defilement, and from the detested and abominable fire of Molech, if not from the supposed
ever-burning funeral piles, the later Jews applied the name of this valley—Ge Hinnom, Gehenna
(land of Hinnom)—to denote the place of eternal torment. In this sense the word is used by our
Lord. (Matthew 5:29; 10:28; 23:15; Mark 9:43; Luke 12:5)
Hippopotamus
[Behemoth]
Hirah
(a noble race), an Adullamite, the friend of Judah. (Genesis 38:1,12) and see Genesis38:20
Hiram, Or Huram
(noble).
•The king of Tyre who sent workmen and materials to Jerusalem, first, (2 Samuel 5:11; 1 Chronicles
14:1) to build a palace for David (B.C. 1064), whom he ever loved, (1 Kings 5:1) and again, 1Kin
5:10; 7:13; 2Chr 2:16 To build the temple for Solomon, with whom he had a treaty of peace and
commerce (1 Kings 5:11,12) He admitted Solomon’s ships issuing from Joppa, to a share in the
profitable trade of the Mediterranean, (1 Kings 10:22) and the Jewish sailors, under the guidance
of Tyrians, were taught to bring the gold of India, (1 Kings 9:26) to Solomon’s two harbors on
the Red Sea.
•Hiram was the name of a man of mixed race, (1 Kings 7:13,40) the principal architect and engineer
sent by King Hiram to Solomon.
Hittits
277
William Smith