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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comFausset Bible Dictionary: Hivites
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Hebrew always in the singular = "midlanders" (Ewald), "villagers" (Gesenius). Their abode was about Hermon and Lebanon (, "under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh"; , "from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath"); toward Tyre (), and Sichem or Shechem (), and Gibeon (; ). Descended from Ham (). (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.