HIROM

the reader to suppose that his father, as well as

his mother,

have been

His name is

variously given in Kings and Chronicles.

(not

according to the common view (see

Bertheau), the word

‘my father’

and

his

the king’s) father

see

is appended to Huram.

Giesebrecht

indeed, has argued ably

for the view that

or Hiram-abi

Hiram is

my father

was the real name of the artificer sent from

Tyre

Ch.

being supposed to he an error).

So,

too, Stade

whilst Kamphausen

(Kau.

thinks that

may have been

the original form of the name, shortened in our text of
Kings and of

Ch.

411

into Hiram or Huram, and in

our text of

2 1 3

into Huram-abi.

These

scholars, however, seem too ready to trust the Chronicler
in this point

neither form of the solution proposed

seems plausible.

W e are bound to consider in the first instance whether

some error, either of the Chronicler or of the
may not be at the root of the strange name or reading

Huram-abi.

It appears certain that either the name

of the artificer was precisely that of the Tyrian king
(for which ancient parallels might be adduced), or that
it was near enough to Hiram to be assimilated to this
name through corruption.

It might,

( I )

HOLIAB

a name which has analogies in

and

Arabian

and is given by

to the colleague of the artificer,

Bezaleel, or

Huram (with a

for

one remembers

that Bezaleel in P is called ben Uri, ben

T h e more common form of the name is

(cp

above)

found

and

Kt. in

Ch.

Ch. 9

for

45.

A variant .is

(EV

and

used of

no.

2 3

and Kr. in

Ch.

alsoofno.

see above. Finally the rare form

is met

with

to no.

and in

for

no.

This form agrees with the Ass.

the

of Jos. (the last form used to represent no.

and the

of Herod.

Thus the names of the

present identical variations. Kittel on

Ch. 14

suggests that

the original form may have been Hnram

which passed suc-

cessively into

and

(on

this phonetic change see

Barth, NB,

xxix); hence, from

combination of these two

arose

C.-S. A. C.

HIRCANUS

[VA])

HIRE, HIRELING

Gen.

Job

71.

HIROM

IRAM

LAVERY

K. makes his

of the tribe of Naphtali

;

Ch.,

.hat of Dan.

This early reading found favour with the correctors of

with one corrector of

who may possibly have been the

scribe

Swete gives

(A*?). The reading

be a guess, corresponding to the guess

in 4

(see next note

but one).

T h e name

which the artificer bears in Josephus,

is only a corruption of

Two views

possible. (

)

The Chronicler may have

nisread

(‘the fleet of Hiram in

if a person called Abi-Huram were the leader of Hiram’s

and changed the relative position of

and Hiram

prevent the mistranslation ‘father

Hiram

;

ee Che.

[July,

For

and

we may

ead

‘my servant,’

‘his servant’; cp readings of

in Ch.

Josephus names the craftsman’s father

he says (Ant.

viii. 34). Does he think of

father?

According to Ginsb. some

MSS

and

818

have

Cp the form

Eupol.

Eus.,

T o the latter belonged Aholiab.

But this seems too simple a n expedient.

‘They take him though he be on the watch

And

pierce through his nose with snares’

(literally ‘in his own sight ’),

(probably ropes with harpoons attached).

doubtful if

suits the context so well.

text,

This is a more natural rendering of the Hebrew though it is

Bu. render; a n emended

Who will seize him by the teeth

And pierce his nose with a

The chief question that arises in connection with this

animal

(Hippopotamus

is whether it ever

lived in Palestine, or whether its fame had spread to the
poet from Egypt. At the present time the river-swine
(as the ancient Egyptians called them) do not extend
north of

between the second and the third

cataracts, and even there they are rare but both the
frescoes and writings of the

and the fossil

remains found in the Delta of the Nile show that
former times it inhabited Lower Egypt and was har-
pooned by the inhabitants.

During the Pleistocene and

Pliocene epochs an animal specifically indistinguishable

from the hippopotamus was widely spread over southern
and middle Europe, extending even into England, so that
although at present there is no distinct evidence of its
existing in the Jordan it is possible that it may formerly
have done

so.

The animals are exclusively fluviatile, and can remain under

water for considerable periods-as much a s

minutes. They

are fond of frequenting the reed-covered margins of the rivers
piercing

paths in the closely-matted

on the hanks. They are herbivorous. (See, further,

M O T H ,

[There may

be a safer reference to the hippopotamus

Ps.

where the reading varied between

and

from the forest and ‘from the River

see Ginsh.

the

The latter

reading was the more popular one in Palestine in pre-Roman
times; the swine of the River would naturally be the

SWINE.]

M.-A. E.

HIRAH

noble

cp Palm.

friend

Judah (Gen.

38112:

[ADEL]).

HIRAM

perhaps an abbreviation

HIRAM

[RKAL]).

Hiram

I.,

king of Tyre, famous for the help he

rendered Solomon in the building of the temple, and
in the manning of his

(

[

see

PHIR

in return for which Solomon

gave him twenty cities in the land of Galilee

( I

see

ABUL

The later tradition that the friendship

between the two was strengthened by Solomon’s
marriage with

daughter of Hiram (Tatian,

Coni.

37)

may rest upon

Ps.

David, soon after occupying Jerusalem, is said to have

received cedar-wood and workmen from Hiram to help
him in his building operations

S. 5

Hiram was also a contemporary of Solomon’s.

Unless, therefore, we assume that the event referred to

relates to the last part of David‘s reign, we

meet with a serious chronological difficulty.

some

conjecture that the length of Hiram’s reign

based upon

1 1 8 )

is inexact, or that it

was Hiram’s father,

who really helped David

(cp Kittel,

More probably Hiram’s

kindly offices towards Solomon have been
Hiram‘s reputed tomb

is still

pointed out to the

of T y r e ; the date is unknown

(cp

296)

see

APOCRYPHA,

HRONICLES

The artificer sent by Hiram, king

Tyre

( I

Ch.

16).

A man

mixed

race, it would appear, though

leaves it open

and

Another suggestion is to read

A. C.

Reading

‘hook’ (cp Am. 4

for

For other conjectures cp

Ew.

Hist.

3226.

Similarly the author of

1 4

ascribes

to Saul deeds

which really belong to David

;

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

CONTENTS

Beginnings

First History :

Recensions
Second History :

4).

History of Kindgoms
Influence of Prophets

6).

Biography of Jeremiah

8).

Hebrew

Combining of Documents

Early Post-Exilic Works

11-14).

Chronicle of Jerusalem : the Chronicler

Stories

Hellenistic

Philo

Justin

Josephus
Seder Olam

23).

Literature

Deuteronomistic Schooi

The aim

the present article is

sketch the

development of Israelitish and Jewish historiography
from its beginnings down to the second century of
era.

For fuller information about particular books the

reader is referred to the pertinent articles.

The making of history precedes the writing of history,

and it is often found that the impulse to write history is

first given by some great achievement
which exalts the self-consciousness of

people and awakens the sense of the
memorable character of what it has
done. The Persian wars in Greece,

the second Punic war in Rome, the empire of Charles

Great among the Germans, are familiar instances.

In Israel, the national history begins with the consolida-

tion of the tribes in

kingdom and the throwing

off

the Philistine yoke.

The circumstances in which this

was accomplished, and the personality of the men who
freed and united Israel and raised it at once to

leading place among the kingdoms of Syria, were such

powerfully to stimulate the national spirit and

the imagination.

Internal evidence makes it highly

probable that the earliest Hebrew historians wrote in
the reign of Solomon (middle of the

cent.

. c . ) ,

and wrote first of the great events of the preceding
century.

large part of

9-20

is derived from such a work

the author of which

was

exceedingly well-informed

about political affairs

also about the inner history of

David's house and court. T h e story of David's youth, his

relations to Saul, his romantic friendship with Jonathan, his
adventurous life as

freebooter in the south, forms the natural

introduction to the history of his reign. The older form of the
history of Saul is probably of approximately the same

(see

AMUEL

ii.).

The beginnings having

been made, the Israelite

writers naturally turned to the earlier history of their
people.

sources,

those of the Greek

logographers with whom it is natural to compare them,

were poems, such

the Song

and briefer lyrics like those

in Nu.

21,

of which collections had

been made (see J

ASHER

, B

OOK O

F ;

WARS

OF)

ENEALOGIES

often representing clan-groupings

tribal and

local traditions of diverse kinds, such as furnish the
material for most of the book of Judges the historical
traditions of sanctuaries; the sacred legends of holy

places, relating theophanies and other revelations, the
erection of the altar or sacred stone, the origin of
peculiar usages-for example, Bethel (Gen.

28)

laws

myths of native and foreign origin

folk-lore and

fable-in short, everything which seemed to testify of
the past.3

T o

the greater part

this material is not in any

proper sense historical at all but for the early Israelite
as for the early Greek historian it was otherwise our
distinctions between authentic history, legendary history,
pure legend, and myth, he made as little as he recognised

That the earliest Hebrew historians wrote

soon

the

time of David ; and that they began with contemporary history
and gradually went back t o the remoter past is the view of

Graf

and of several recent scholars (Kittel, Budde,

The theory that poems form the nucleus of the earliest

prose narratives, the chief source

the first historians, has been

much exaggerated.

For a more particular account

these sources see

XODUS

UMBERS

SHU

UDGES,

our distinction of natural and supernatural.

It was

all

history to

and if one part of it had

better

attestation than another, it was certainly the sacred
history

it was told at the ancient sanctuaries of the

land.

The sources were not equally copious for all periods.

The stories of the heroes who delivered their countrymen
from invaders and oppressors gave a vivid picture of
the times before the kingdom.

Of the crossing of the

Jordan and the taking of Jericho the local traditions of
Gilgal furnished a pretty full account. Of the further

progress of the invasion, the struggles by which the
Israelite tribes established themselves in the

country, the oldest historian found no

the deliverance from Egypt and the adoption of

the religion of

at his holy mountain a mass of

legendary and mythical circumstance had gathered (cp

XODUS

)

but of the wandering in the deserts

of Palestine only the most fragmentary memories

were preserved (cp

ANDERINGS

the sojourn

in Egypt, again, there was no tradition (cp

the gap is filled by genealogies which really repre-

sent later clan-groupings.

Beyond these centuries the

stream of narration suddenly broadens

the stories

of the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, Israel and his

sons,

are told with

wealth of Circumstance and a vividness

of colour which show that we have entered the realm of
pure legend (see the several articles).

Limits; remains. -Whether the earliest compre-

hensive history of Israel began with the migration of the
Terahites, or with the primeval history-the first man,
the great flood-is uncertain.

The literary analysis

cannot decide the question, and the examination of the
foreign elements in Gen.

1-11

has as yet led to no

positive results.

Nor is it

certain where the

history ended.

The presumption is that the author

brought it down to his own times; but the evidence
in our historical books

not

clear as we

wish.

A considerable part of this oldest Hebrew history is

preserved in the stratum of the H

EXATEUCH

which critics

designate by the

and in the parts of Judges

and

that are akin to

It has not, indeed,

come down to us intact or in its original form; re-
dactors, in combining it with other sources, haveomitted
parts, and additions to it of diverse character and age
have been made.

What remains, however, gives us

most favourable impression of the authors' abilities.
T o this writing we may apply what a Greek critic says
of the early Greek historians :

. .

The early Hebrew historians did not affix their names

to their works

they had, indeed, no idea of authorship.

The traditions and legends which they
collected were common property, and

did not cease to be so when they were committed to
writing the written hook was in every sense the pro-
perty of the scribe or the possessor of the roll.

Only

part of the great volume of tradition was included in

Judg.

the main an attempt to

fill

this gap by infer.

ences from known facts of a much later time: see

JOSHUA,

The same phenomenon is observed in Greek and

history. see Wachsmuth

620.

Tdey affected a

clear,

pure, concise, suit;

the subject, and making no show

elaboration,

Dion.

2076

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

the first books.

Transcribers freely added new matter

from the same sources on which the original authors
had drawn, the traditions of their own locality or
sanctuary, variants of historical tradition or legend.
Every new copy was thus in some measure

fresh

recension.

When in the course of time the enrich-

ment of the narrative directly from oral tradition
became

less considerable factor, it

succeeded by the

more literary process of conflation or contamination of
recensions

scribes compared different copies, and

combined their contents according to their own judg-
ments or interests.

The transmission of the oldest

historical writings, even in its earlier stages, before the
systematic redactions of

and his successors, was

thus an extremely complicated

The problems thus presented to criticism are often insoluble;

in general only those elements can be certainly recognised a s
secondary'which by underscoring the moral of the history or
enlarging on its religious aspects in a prophetic spirit betray

different religious point of view from that of the older narrators,
and even in these cases the age of the addition

often in doubt.

The oldest Hebrew history ( J ) was written in the

southern kingdom.

At a somewhat later time

similar work ( E ) was produced in Israel.

material, drawn from the

of Israelite

in the

main the same but the local interest

is that

the northern kingdom, and the moral

and religious point of view is more advanced.

Thus, in

the

patriarchal legend traits offensive to a more

refined age are frequently tacitly removed (cp,

the way in

which Jacob's flocks are increased in

and in E , Gen.

theological reflection is shown in the substitution of
and audible voices for theophanies a s modes of revelation;
historical reflection in the representation of the

fore-

fathers as idolaters,' in the avoidance of the name

before

Moses,

and so forth.

In later recensions of the work

(E,)

the conduct and

fortunes of Israel are judged and interpreted from a
point of view resembling that of Hosea.

If those critics

who ascribe to secondary strata in

such chapters

12 15

are right, some of these editors approximated

very closely to the deuteronomic pragmatism.

For the period down to the time of Solomon the sources

of the historians were almost exclusively oral tradition

of the most varied character and con-
tents

;

of records and monuments there

are but few traces, and these for the
most part doubtful. With the establish-

ment of the monarchy this

changed in some degree.

The stream of popular tradition flows on and continues
to be drawn upon largely by writers

history but by

its side appears matter evidently derived from
mentary sources.

Records were doubtless kept in

the

From the references to them in the

Book

Kings, and from the similar records of Assyrian and

Egyptian monarchs we

infer the nature of their

contents : the succession to the throne, the chief events
of the reign (probably year by year), wars, treaties and
alliances, important edicts, the founding or fortifying of
cities, the building or restoring of temples, and the
like.

Everything

goes

to show that these

were brief;

there is no reason to imagine that the records of a reign were
wrought into narrative memoirs. I t is antecedently probable
that the kings of Israel and Judah like other Oriental monarchs
-for example their neighbonr

of Moab-commemorated

their

or their piety 'in inscriptions; but there is no

evidence of this in the

OT,

nor has any such monument

hitherto been recovered.

The temples also doubtless had their records,

running in great part parallel to those of the kingdom.

It has its complete analogy in the transmission of the text,

which is indeed, but a part of the same process.

The'distinctively

element in

is small.

See further,

$ 6

end,

XODUS

$6,

UDGES

Direct evidence

this has frequently been sought in the

titles of two officials of the court, the

ECORDER

)

and

the

but

doubtful whether rightly.

See

OVERN

MENT,

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

The succession in the priesthood (dated by the year
the reigning king); repairs of the temple-as under
Joash and Josiah-or changes, such as the new altar of
Ahaz; the intervention of the priests in the affairs of
state, as in the revolution which overthrew Athaliah
and brought Joash to the throne, would naturally be set
down in the archives of the temple.

The priestly

annals may,

in other countries, have taken a wider

range, and included political events and remarkable
occurrences, such as earthquake, famine, pestilence.
There may have been also local records of cities

and

towns.

It is

accordance with frequent observation in other

literatures to suppose that the history of the early
kingdom of which we have spoken above was carried
on from age to age by successive continuators.

Such a

seems to underlie,

the present accounts

of the

of Solomon and the division of the kingdom,

and traces of others may perhaps be recognised in the
subsequent narrative.

The continuators were doubtless

at the same time redactors, who supplemented the work
of their predecessors from oral or written sources-as,
for example, the history of Solomon

amplified and

embellished from the luxuriant Solomonic legend-or
abridged those parts which seemed to them less inter-
esting or less important.

The kingdom of Israel also had its own historians,

but little of their writing has come down to us even
the reign of a monarch as great

know from

foreign sources that Omri was is an absolute

i n

our Book of Kings.

There is, however, one por-

tion of the Israelite historical literature that strongly
appealed to later Judaean writers, and has consequently
been largely preserved-viz., the lives of the great
Israelite prophets of the ninth century, Elijah and
Elisha.

These stories are not all of the same age or

origin whether they were taken from an earlier written
collection is not certain, though, on the whole, probable.
They are of the highest value for the light which they
throw on the political as well as on the religious history
of the northern kingdom (see

and

The relations of the two neighbour nations of the

Same people to each other in peace and war must have
filled

large place

the histories of both, which ac-

cordingly had much in common but it is not probable
that the attempt to unite them in

parallel history of the

two kingdoms was made till some time after the fall of
Samaria. In this combined history Judaean sources and
the

point of view naturally preponderated but

it does not appear that any effort was made to exalt
Judah at the expense of Israel.

The impartiality with

which the author records,

the rebuff received b y

Amaziah from Joash

( 2

is noteworthy.

This history is the basis of our

Books

of Kings but

the deuteronomic redaction has here been

thorough

that the attempt to reconstruct the earlier

or even

determine more exactly its age

attended with un-

usual difficulty.

The prophets of the eighth century interpreted

dealing with his people upon a consistent moral

ciple : the evils which afflict the nation,
and the graver evils which are imminent,
are divine

upon it for its

- -

sins-the injustice and oppression that are rife, the
political fatuity of its statesmen, the religious corrnption
of priests and people, who desert

for other gods,

or offer him the polluted worship of the baals, or affront
his holiness with the sacrifices and prayers of unrighteous
men.

Nor was it the present generation only that had

sinned

Hosea, in particular, traces the worship of the

baals back to the first settlement of the Israelites in
Canaan and in every age sin must bring judgment in
its train.

The application

this principle by the writers of the

seventh and sixth centuries makes an era in Hebrew
historiography narrative history is succeeded by

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

history; not the mere succession of events, but

.also their interdependence and causation engages the

author's interest.

This step has been taken at some

period in most historical literatures

what is peculiar in

the Hebrew historians is that their pragmatism is
religious.

T h e

or the displeasure of God is. the one cause of pros-

perity or

; and hi5 favour or his displeasure depends in

the end solely

the faithfulness or unfaithfulness of the people

t o the religion of

The standard was at first that which

the prophets of the eighth century had set up later, it was the

deuteronomic law. Under the impression of the deuteronomic
movement, of the prophecy of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and of the
events of the last half-century of the kingdom of Judah, the
interest of the writers was increasingly absorbed in the lesson of
the history; history was indeed for them prophecy teaching by

example.

The influence of the prophets (orators) is manifested

another

the pragmatism of

new school of

historians, like that of the Greek and Roman historians,

,especially

the influence of Isocrates, is a rhetorical

This appears in the amplification and height-

ening of the congenial portions of the older narratives,

and especially in the introduction at critical points in
the history of speeches by prophets-often anonymous
-in which the author's own comment

reflection is

effectively put into the mouth of an actor or a spectator

of the action.

This pragmatic historiography is frequently called

deuteronomistic

on account of its affinity to

It flourished in the latter part of the seventh

and especially in the sixth; but the same

moralising treatment of the history, the same distinctive
turns of thought and phrase,

much later writers

in the Chronicler

the fundamental prin-

ciple of the school is nowhere formulated so clearly and

concisely as by Josephus in the Introduction

his

Antiquities

( 3 ,

Niese).

Deuteronomistic history of the

two

first

product

the new school of historians was

history of the kingdoms of Judah and

Israel from the accession of

Solo-

written before the fall of Jeru-

salem, which

second redaction

dating from after the middle of the 6th century) we
have in the Books of Kings.

The author took his

material from older histories such as have been spoken

above

5).

The purpose

enforce the moral

the history appears in the selection of material

well

in the treatment

it.

It is presumably to this

author that we are to ascribe the omission of all details

concerning whole reigns

Omri), where the recorded

facts did not conform to the historical theory.

The

sovereign is responsible for the purity of the national
religion upon every king a summary judgment is passed

from

this point of view.

With hardly a n exception all have come short of the strict

standard of the

law

;

but this departure has

degrees some-the

kings of Judah-only tolerated the

worship of Yahwi: a t illegitimate altars (high places)

Jerohoam and

successors in the northern

shipped idols of Yahwi: others still introduced foreign gods and
rites.

few suppressed gross abuses such as the

(see

DOLATRY

6 )

only Hezekiah and Josiah instituted thorough-

going reforms, which were made the more imperative by the
revival and importation of all

of heathenism under their

predecessors, Ahaz and Manasseh.

The history is interpreted

upon

deuteronomic prin-

ciples, which are clearly set forth at the beginning

the prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the

temple, and are first applied to Solomon himself.

T h e earlier part of his reign, we are told, was prosperous in

his later years there were revolts

and treasons a t home

after his death the kingdom was divided the cause was that

Solomon

his

age,

under the influence of his foreign wives,

introduced the worship of other gods the prophet Ahijah the

Particularly to the secondary parts of that hook.
Cp also Macc.
This was the natural beginning under the influence of the

prophets and the immediate impression of the deuteronomic
reforms.

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

declares the sin and denounces the divine judgment

K. 11).

The editor, who after the fall of Judah revised the

work of his predecessor and gave the Book of Kings
substantially its present form, sharpened the pragmatism

throughout in the spirit of Jeremiah and Ezekiel and of
the contemporary additions to Deuteronomy (esp.

and the end of

28)

the Exile itself is the final vindi-

cation of the prophetic theodicy.

The rhetorical character of the new historical writing especi-

ally invited amplification; if the older authors seemed not
sufficiently to have emphasised the lesson, the later ones supplied
the deficiency. Such chapters as

K. 13 exemplify the growth

of moralising legend

the youngest additions

the book.

T h e systematic chronology also, with its calculated synchron-
isms,

the work of the exilic

T h e

period. -The earlier history

was now taken in hand by the new school. The in-
vasions and forays of the neighbouring peoples in the
period before the kingdom were divine visitations, just

like the invasions of Egyptians, Syrians, Assyrians,

Babylonians in later

The sin, also, which pro-

voked this judgment was the same, unfaithfulness to the
religion of

The stories of the judges illustrate

this moral.

I n a general introduction (Judg.

2 6

in the introduc-

tions to the individual stories the author draws out the lesson

whenever Israel fell into the worship of the gods of Canaan,

gave it over into the power of its foes when in distress

it turned to him again, he raised up a champion and delivered
it (see

UDGES

Those parts of the older book of stories

which could not be adapted to this scheme were omitted. A

having the same systematic basis a s that of Kings,

and directly connected with the latter, was supplied (see C

HRON

OLOGY,

5).

Here also more than one stage

the deuteronomistic

redaction is probably to be recognised. The deutero-
nomistic book of Judges

Eli and Samuel, and

was an

to the history of the kings.

I n the view of the author, the deliverers formed a continuous

succession of extraordinary rulers

'judges '),

from the kings who followed them in that their

was not

hereditary, each being immediately designated by God.

The history of Saul and David

(

was not

snbjected to so thorough

deuteronomistic redaction.

The rejection of Saul was already sufficiently motived in the

prophetic source-he disobeyed the commandment of God hy

his prophet (

15)

: the glorious reign of David

was,

from the

point of view of the pragmatic school, evidence enough of his
fidelity to the religion of

T h e traces ofdeuteronomistic

hands

are limited to relatively inconsiderable

additions (see S

AMUEL

iii,

Prehistoric

-The peculiar deuteronomistic

pragmatism was from its nature little applicable to the
patriarchal story or the primeval history. The wander-
ings, from Horeb to the banks

the Jordan, are briefly

recounted from this point of view in Dt.

1-3

(cp also

but

the parallel portions of Ex. and

Nu.

there is no evidence

deuteronomistic recension.

The history

the conquest of Canaan as we have it in

Joshua is, on the other hand, largely the work of an
author of this school (see

The corruption of the religion of Israel was,

Hosea had

taught, the consequence of contamination with the religion of
Canaan the prophetic legislation strictly forbids alliance
especially intermarriage with the inhabitants of the land
Ex. 34

12-16)

the later deuteronomists demanded their extermin-

ation a s the only sure way to prevent the infection (Dt.
The generations which followed Joshua had neglected these
commands and reaped the bitter consequences (cp Judg. 2
late) hut Joshua and the god-fearing generation, which

the

might of Yahwi: conquered Canaan, did God's bidding faithfully
in this as in all other things. They must, therefore, have
destroyed the Canaanites, root and branch if the older histories

did not so represent it, they must he corrected. This is the chief
motive of the deuteronomistic account of the conquest (see esp.
Josh.

We have here a n instructive example of the way

which the pragmatic dogma overrides a conflicting tradition

what is said to have been has to yield to what

have been.

The unflinching consequence with which this

re.

presentation of the conquest is carried through reminds us of
the Chronicler (see below,

and, with other things, suggests

that the deuteronomistic redaction of Joshua is one of the

See K

INGS

HRONOLOGY

How far this treatment may have been preformed in

older

2080'

recensions

mooted point cp

$ 1 4 .

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

products

the

which continued its work long after the

restoration.

Besides the productions of the deuteronomistic school

of historians, we have one other work from the sixth

century which possesses a peculiar in-
terest ; the life of the prophet Jeremiah,

which was united with the collections

of his oracles by the compiler of our book of Jeremiah.
It was written

the memories of the prophet's inti-

mate disciples, apparently not long after his death.

addition to its historical

especially for the reign

of Zedekiah and the years following the fall of Jerusalem,
and its still greater value

a revelation of the person-

ality of one of the greatest of the prophets, it is, as far

we know, the first essay in biography, and stands

nearly, or quite, alone in the extant

In the Persian

the fifth centnrv.

appeared a work which treated the
ancient history from

new point

view.

The

author's purpose

was

to set

forth the origin of the sacred institutions and laws of
the Jews, thus showing their antiquity and authority.
Beginning with the creation of the world, he closed with

minute description of the territories of the several

tribes in Canaan. The contents and character

this

work, now generally designated by critics by the symbol

are sufficiently exhibited

The whole tendency

the book is to

carry

back the origin

Jewish

institutions

theremote past the sabbath

was

ordained

at the

creation

the prohibition of

was given to Noah.

the seal

the

covenant

with Abraham;

developed temple ritual

the kingdom and even the temple

itself with all

its

paraphernalia-in portable form-are Mosaic

the post-exilic high priest has his prototype in

Aaron.

This is, no doubt,

some extent to be ascribed to

the working of

natural and familiar process which

may be observed in the older literature as well as in the
later (Chronicles) ; it may

also

be surmised that there

was

desire

give the laws, in the eyes

the Jews

themselves, the authority of immemorial prescription or
the sanctity of most solemn promulgation.

Resides

this, however, the question may properly be asked,
whether contact with the ancient civilisation and religion

of Babylonia may not have prompted the author to
attempt to vindicate the antiquity of the Jewish religion,

just as, somewhat later, the Hellenistic historians, especi-

ally in Egypt, were

to do. The same influence

may be suspected in the minute chronology, which in
its antediluvian parts certainly stands in some connec-
tion with that of the Babylonians (see C

HRONOLOGY

, 4).

ii.

The

-The Mosaic laws in the

are

doubtless to be regarded not

a transcript of the actual

praxis

the author's own time,

an ideal of the

religions community and its worship, projected into the
golden age of the past

Ezekiel's is projected into the

golden age of the future. Whether the book

was

com-

posed with the more definite aim of serving as the basis
of

reform in the Jerusalem use, is not

clear ; the

whole character of the work seems unfavourable to the
hypothesis that

was from the beginning

reform

programme as the original Deuteronomy was.

iii.

-The narrative portions of the work

present an appearance of statistical exactness in matters
of chronology, genealogy, census-lists, and the like,
which led earlier scholars, who regarded

as the oldest

stratum in the Pentateuch (cp H

EXATEUCH

infer that the author had access to ancient documentary
records. This supposition is excluded both by the late
date of

and by the character of the matter in question.

See G

ENESIS

Perhaps it is a

The

older

legends

Elijah and Elisha,

and

the multi-

tudinous prophet

later times

are

be com-

pared.

the groundwork of P,

secondary extensions

See

XODUS

;

EVITICUS

3 ;

2081

.HISTORICAL LITERATURE

The'semblance

of more

definite statistical knowledge in P, as

compared

with the older

historians,

has an

instructive

parallel

the younger Roman

annalists,

for

example,

Valerius

and

is to

be explained

the same

way.

have

illustration

of the

same phenomenon in Chronicles.

In the patriarchal story and the narrative of the exodus

it is not demonstrable that the author used any other
sources than the older historical works which, combined
with his own, have been transmitted to us (J and E)

he doubtless had them in a more complete form,

and, it may

in a different recension. Whether in

the primeval history he made a fresh draught upon
Babylonian tradition-in the account of creation (Gen.
for

or in the variant form of the flood legend

-or whether here also he had Hebrew precursors, is

question which seems at present not

admit of a

confident answer (see

REATION

ELUGE

iv.

additions.-P

contained many laws pur-

porting to have been given to Moses ; to these

multi-

tude of others were added by later hands, sometimes
singly, sometimes in whole collections

until the

symmetry and consistency of the original work was
completely destroyed ; the result was the heterogeneous
conglomerate which it is customary to call the Priests'
Code (see

ITERATURE

Late

additions to the narrative parts of P also can be
nised, especially in Ex. and Nu. (see

XODUS

UMBERS

It has been observed above

that copies

the

same work, differing in text or in contents, were com-

pared and combined by subsequent tran-
scriber-editors.

process of a similar

kind, on a much larger scale, was the

of the parallel histories J and

in one

narrative, JE.

Union

and

E.-This task was accomplished

with considerable skill the redactor

for the most

part reproduces the text of his sources with little
combining them in different ways as the nature of the
case indicated.

The additions of his own which he

makes are akin to the later strata of the separate books,

and

they are chiefly enlargements upon prophetic

motives in the history, and have frequently a repro-
ductive character,

as,

in the renewal of the promises

to the

The author

probably lived

the second half

the seventh century. This composite

work can be followed in our historical books from the
creation to the reign of David if it went farther than
this, the latter part was supplanted

a history of the

kingdoms written on a different plan.

J E did not at once displace the separate

and

they continued to circulate till a considerably later

time, and later transcribers of J E may have enriched
their copies by the introduction from the older books

matter which the first redactor

(

had not included.

The deuteronomistic redaction described above

)

based upon JE, though some of the deuteronomists

used E, a t least, separately.

Union

and P.- A

post-exilic redac-

tion, finally, united P with J E and

The method of

the redactor

is more mechanical than that of

his religious and historical point of view is that of

P-

especially of the later additions to P-and

Later

editors.

very likely ended his

compilation where P itself ended but later editors not
only made additions to his

work,

also extended a

priestly redaction over the books of Judges, Samuel,
and Kings, sometimes restoring (from J E ) passages
which the deuteronomistic redaction had omitted, some-
times adding matter drawn from the midrash of their

The fondness of Valerius for enormous numbers also is shared

by P.

On the character

and

method

this redaction see further,

EXATEUCH

SIS

6 ;

XODUS

3 :

UMBERS

6 ;

OSHUA

UDGES

14.

EVITICUS

JOSHUA,

UDGES

ENESIS

EXODUS,

2082

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

time, sometimes combining the old version

a story

with the midrash upon it.

In this way the great

Hebrew history, from the creation to the fall of Judah,

which we possess in Gen.

gradually assumed sub-

stantially its present form.

consequence of the

essentially compilatory character of the Jewish historio-
graphy, this work of the fifth or fourth century

has

fortunately preserved, without material change, large
parts of the pre-exilic historical literature, from the
tenth century to the sixth.’

The national history of Judah came to an end in the

when

became a Babylonian province.

- -

History o

During the century which followed,
many writers occupied themselves with
the history of the kingdoms

of the

earlier ages (see above, 7) but there
was little to inspire the

Tews

either in

the his-

tory

their own times. It is plain that when long

afterwards the attempt was made to relate the events
of this period, the author had hardly any material a t
his command except the references to the completion of
the temple

the prophets Haggai and Zechariah.

scarcely to be doubted that in the archives of the

temple the succession of the priests, repairs and improve-
ments of the edifice, and other matters, were recorded,
and official documents relating to the temple and its
privileges

to the city were preserved

perhaps also

lists of families (with their domiciles), on the basis of
which the capitation tax was collected

some such

material is preserved by the Chronicler. There is much
less, however, than might have been expected: it is
possible that the archives were partially or completely
destroyed when the city was taken by the armies of
Ochus, as they were almost certainly destroyed in the
days of Antiochus Epiphanes.

A new type of Jewish historical literature

repre-

sented bv the memoirs of Nehemiah and

Nehe-

miah narrates in a plain and straight-
forward way, though not without a just

of his own merit. what he

had done for

people by restoring in the face of great

the ruinous defences

Jerusalem, and by

remedying many abuses which he found rife in the

Ezra tells how he conducted a colony

from Babylonia to Jerusalem, and describes the sad
state of things he found among priests and people, his
efforts to purge the community from the contamination
of mixed marriages, and finally the introduction and
solemn ratification of the book of the

The memoirs

Nehemiah and Ezra were used by

the Chronicler as sources for the reign of Artaxerxes,
and through him considerable portions of them have
been transmitted to

us,

though curtailed, deranged,

and in parts wrought over.

To the latter part

the Persian or the beginning of

the Greek period must be ascribed another of the

sources

the Chronicler an Aramaic

narrative,

incorporating

documents

relative to the building

the walls of

and of the

Darts of

. -

which, worked over and supplemented by the Chronicler,
are preserved in Ezra

4-6.

The original scope

the

most instructive parallel to the Jewish literature in this

respect is afforded

the Christian chroniclers and historians of

the Middle Ages; see, for example, the Saxon Annalist, in

The library of the

patriarchate now contains a

collection of Arabic and Turkish edicts about, the holy places,

beginning with the ‘Testament of Mohammed.

Delitzsch

compares the beginning of the

memoir literature among the Greeks and Romans. See also
Wachsmuth,

natural motive for the memoirs is the desire to acquaint

the Jews

the

with what he had found and done in Jeru-

salem. See N

EHEMIAH

See

ZRA

and

ZRA

-N

EHEMIAH

T h e genuineness of the

Memoirs of Ezra has recently been impeached by Torrey, Ezra-

Nehemiah

(‘96).

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

work can only be uncertainly guessed from the extant
fragments.

The conjecture that other parts of Ezra

were translated into Hebrew from the same source (van
Hoonacker, Howorth) is not well founded.

Some

interest attaches to these fragments as the

first

trace of

historical writing in the vernacular.

The experiment

seems to have found little favour

Hebrew was too

firmly established as the literary language.

the same age is to be assigned a lost work

the

history of the kingdom which is frequently referred to

by the Chronicler, and of which considerable

parts are preserved

Chronicles.

Chronicler cites this work under a

of names (Book of the Kings of Israel and

Judah,

or,

of Judah and Israel, etc.), and particular

sections of it under special titles (Words’ of Samuel
the Seer, Nathan the Prophet, Gad the

and so

on). Twice the book is referred to under the signifi-
cant name ‘midrash’

Midrash

the

Book of

Kings

Ch.

the Midrash of the Prophet

(ib.

T h e name denotes a homiletic exposition, particularly a story

teaching some edifying religious or moral lesson, and usually
attaching itself more or less loosely to the words of an older text.
This is the character of both the passages in connection with
which the term occurs, and of many others in Chronicles

Ch. 148

etc.

Budde

attention to the fact that edifying stories of a kind

similar to those which in Chronicles are supposed to come from
the lost Midrash of Kings are found in other parts of the

OT,

and conjectured that the Prayer of Manasseh and the Books of

and Ruth are derived from the same work, extracts from

which he surmises in

1-13

and

The ohvious

resemblance is, however, sufficiently explained by the supposition
that these writings, together with other pieces of the same kind
in Num. and Judg., are the product of the same age and school
that they were all taken from the same book is hardly t o
proved.

That the

Book

of the Kings

Israel and Judah

which the Chronicler cites was based upon the deutero-
nomistic history of the kingdoms (Sam.-Kings) is
beyond question. The most probable theory is that it
was an edition of that work enriched by the
of a large element of historical midrash illustrating the
moral and religious lessons which the history ought

teach, and with such changes

omissions as the

additions

the author’s pragmatism rendered necessary.

Its relation to the canonical

was thus very

similar to the relation of the

Book

to Genesis.

The author’s religious point of view, ruling interests,
and literary manner

closely resemble those of the

Chronicler that what is to be said under this head will
best be reserved for the next paragraph.

In the early part of the Greek period, probably after

300

c.,

an author connected with the temple composed

history of Jerusalem from the time of

David to the latter part

the fourth

prefixing

skeleton of the

preceding history from the creation to

century;

the death

in the form of genealogies, in which

are manifested interests the same as those which
dominate the body of the book.

This history we

possess in

our Books

of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah,

which originally formed a single continuous work.

T h e narrative begins with Saul’s last

the anointing

David as King of all Israel, and the taking of Jerusalem

(

Ch.

from this point to the destruction of Jerusalem hy

it runs parallel to Sam. and Kings, hut deals

with Judah only.

From the deportation of 586 the author

passes a t once to the edict of Cyrus permitting the Jews to

return to Palestine

Ch.

The return and

the rebuilding of the temple are then related, to the completion

of the

in the sixth year of Darius; then follows

immediately the commission of

Ezra

the seventh year of

Artaxerxes, his return a t the head of a

colony,

and his attempted

reforms in Jerusalem (Ezra

; and, again without any con-

nection, the .appointment of Nehemiah a s governor in the

‘Narrative [of Samuel’

I t

whether this form

of citation is only a convenient way of indicating the part

the

extensive work in which the prophet named figured or whether
it implies a theory that each prophet wrote the events of his
own time

s).

2084

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

twentieth year

rebuilding of the walls

a n d

the ratification of the law (Neh. 8-10). The narrative ends

with the measures of reform which Nehemiah found necessary

the occasion of a

visit in the thirty-second year of

Artaxerxes ; hut the genealogies are brought down to the reign
of the last Persian king.

The author's sources naturally varied for the different

periods.

i. For the earlier part

the work he used the

teuch and the older historical books, the genealogical
material in which he excerpted, condensed, and combined
in his own way, supplementing it with constructions of
his own which plainly reflect post-exilic conditions.

For the history of the kingdom the ulterior source

was the deuteronomistic work (Sam.-Kings) it seems
probable, however, that the Chronicler used this work,
not in the form in which it lies before us, but as it was
embodied in the Midrash of Kings

Chronicles may then be regarded as mainly an abridg-
ment.

From the fall of Jerusalem in

the time

Alexander, the sources were the prophets Haggai and

the Aramaic history already spoken of

the Memoirs of Nehemiah and Ezra

a list of high

priests from Jeshua to Jaddua, and probably other
priestly genealogies, etc.

The

material all

belonged to the first quarter century of the Persian period

a few years in the reign of Artaxerxes there was

evidently

continuous historical tradition, written or

oral, when the Chronicler wrote indeed, his knowledge
was not sufficient to enable him rightly

arrange the

fragmentary remains at his

In the Chronicler's account of the first two

and

)

these three periods there are occasional historical

notices not otherwise transmitted to

which seem to

come from old sources.

T h e recension of

which lay before the Chronicler

or the author of the Midrash may have been different from ours,
as the recension

the hands of the Alexandrian translators

frequently differed from that on which M T is based.

T h e

restoration, by the last redactor of Judges, of considerable

material from

which the deuteronomistic redactor had

omitted, proves that the final loss

of the old Hehrew history books

occurred a t a comparatively late time, as so

much

of the classic

literature perished late in the Byzantine period.

The Chronicler's work is an ecclesiastical history the

Jewish Church in Jerusalem is its subject. The whole
history of the Northern Kingdom, which was included

not only in the deuteronomistic Book of Kings but also
in the Chronicler's immediate source, the Book

the

Kings of Israel and Judah, is therefore omitted.

T h e

temple, the ministry, the ritual, have central importance
and special interest is shown in the prominence of the

Levites on festal occasions (see C

HRONICLES

, 7). The

clergy are also the custodians of the law

they give

instruction in it and decisions under it.

The liturgy

the temple and the minute organisation of the ministry

with its guilds of musicians, singers, door-keepers, etc.,
are attributed to

Upon the deuteronomistic

pragmatism which it found in its sources the
exilic History superimposed a pragmatism

of a

new

type.

In it also prosperity and adversity depend upon

fidelity to the religion of

but the conception of

religion is clerical rather than prophetic.

The ideas of

theodicy and retribution are more mechanical

the

vindication of

God's

law is not only sure, it is also

and swift.

The exhibition of this principle in history is the motive of the

most radical changes made in the representation of the older
hooks as well as in the long haggadic additions.

I n

both, it is

probahle that the Chronicler was preceded

the author of the

Midrash ; hut the same spirit appears in the Chronicler's own
work in Ezra and

The influence of Is. 40
T h e derangement of

however, partly

This may be connected with the

that David composed

The influence of Ezekiel is manifest.

the character

of the

additions and changes, see

is also

ascribed to later hands.

Psalms for the temple service.

HRONICLES

208

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

Taken altogether, it is as historical midrash

edifying fiction with an historical background), not as
history, that Chronicles, like its lost precursor, must be
regarded and judged. This type of literature enjoyed,

as we shall see, an immense popularity in the Greek
period among both Hebrew and Hellenistic Jews.

The first part of the Chronicle of Jerusalem, from

the creation to the exile, ran parallel to the great
historical work Gen. -Kings

the second, beginning

with the edict of Cyrus, had no competitor.

The

latter was accordingly detached to serve, under the
title Book of

as a continuation of the older

history through the Persian period. When at a later
time the first part (Chronicles) was given a place in the
canon, it was not reunited with Ezra, but was counted
either as the last (Talmud) or as the first

the Kethiibim (see C

ANON

In the Alexandrian

Bible, where a general rearrangement was
the original order was restored.

T h e oldest Greek translation of the post-exilic History is

preserved to us as a torso be inning with

Ch. 35 1-27 and

ending abruptly with

I t presents the material

in a

different-and to some extent more original-order than M T
and the later Greek version

;

and contains one long passage not

found in either (Pages of Darius,

A sketch of Jewish historical literature would be

incomplete without some mention of the popular religious

stories

abundant in the last three or

four centuries before our era.

These

all have an historical setting, and

doubtless passed from the beginning,

as they still do with many, for veracious history.

character they do not essentially differ from the haggadic
additions in Chronicles but instead of attaching them-
selves to a given situation in the older history, they
create their own situation.

With this freedom is

naturally connected a greater variety in the motive and
moral of the story.

and

Two of the longer tales

this class, to

which we might perhaps give the name historical
romances, are the books of Judith and Esther.

They

have in common the patriotic motive, and also that in
each it is a

who, at great peril to herself, saves

her people from threatened destruction.

UDITH

)

was probably written

Palestine, in Hebrew. The

setting

the action is purely fictitious; the author's

notions of history and

geography, beyond his own

region, are of the most confused kind.

If any historical incident furnished the nucleus

of the story,

the circumstances had been thoroughly forgotten. T h e religious
point of view, a s

appears in the speech of

for example,

and in the stress laid on clean meats

(cp

Dan. 1) and the sacred-

ness of tithes etc is that of correct Judaism

is erroneous to

say of

T h e lesson of faith in God and fidelity to

his law is obvious; but it is not necessary to assume that the
hook was written to inculcate this lesson and to encourage its

readers in a particular crisis.

The considerable differences in the recensions (three Greek, Old

Latin, Syriac) show that the hook had considerable currency ;
hut it never enjoyed the same popularity a s its companion,

A peculiar interest attaches to E

STHER

as one

of the very few remaining pieces of the literature of the
Oriental

The feast of

URIM

the origin

of which is celebrated in the

was certainly

adopted by the Jews in the

Probably too (see

STHER

the legend was borrowed or imitated

but this does not alter the fact that the story constructed
upon it is one of the most characteristic works of Jewish
fiction.

How the

Esther becomes Queen

of Persia; how

Our Ezra and Nehemiah (cp

ZRA

-N

4).

See

ZRA

REEK

See Torrey

;

ZRA

REEK

and reminiscences in Jewish literature see

('67).

put the

in the

times, and several of them connect it

with the Hanukka festivities a s Esther is connected with

the

onlv

other

which this

can

confidentlv be

affirmed.

(Esth. 10

I n

the subscription

the Greekrersion it

called

2086

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

the proud vizier Haman is compelled to do the almost royal
honour he had conceived for himself to the Jew Mordecai whom
he hates most of all men and how Esther by her address saves

her people from the general massacre which Haman had planned
gets the minister hanged .on his own gallows and Mordecai
appointed in his place, and procures a counter-edict by authority
of which the Jews in Susa and the provinces slaughter their
fellow-snhjects without resistance,-that was something to delight

the heart of a race whose peculiarities and contempt for the state
religion involved it in such hitter sufferings.

When the temple was destroyed and the other feasts

ceased, Purim only gained in importance, and the book
connected with Purim

well expressed the feelings of

the oppressed Jews that Esther became, next to the
Torah, the best known and most highly-prized book in
the

book of very different spirit and tendency is

ONAH

which tells how the prophet, who was

unwilling to preach to the heathen, was miraculously
constrained to go, and how at his message Ninevah
repented and its doom was averted, and pointedly
rebukes the spirit which would have God show no
mercy upon the nations.

The protest against the

persuasion that

God‘s

word and his compassion are for

the Jews only is noteworthy. The book is not only a
story about a prophet

more than any other product

its age,

breathes the prophet’s

iv.

similar motive

thought by many to actuate

the Book of R

the author would answer

those who, like Ezra and Nehemiah, were

hot

against mixed marriages, by showing how the blood of

Moabite ancestress flowed in the veins of David himself.

One of the most pleasing of these writings is

OBIT

with its attractive pictures of Jewish piety

and its instruciive glimpses of current superstitions, for
the history of both of which it is an important source.
It is a moral tale simply, without any ulterior motive
other than the edification of its readers. The numerous
varying recensions show that it had

wide popularity

among Jews as it had afterwards among Christians. See
A

CHIACHARUS

vi.

stories.

stories celebrate

the constancy of pious Jews to their religion in spite of
all efforts to turn them from it.

The Gentile

power, whether represented by Babylonian, Persian,
Seleucid,

Ptolemy, appears not only as the oppressor

but also

the persecutor of the Jews, prohibiting the

exercise of their religion and trying to force them to
worship idols and practise abominable rites.

Some of the stories tell of the miraculous deliverance of God’s

faithful servants, others

of the triumphant fortitude of the

martyrs under the most

tortures.

T o

inspire a like

faith and devotion in the reader; leading them to prize more
highly a religion which has produced such fruits, and making
them also ready, if need he, to die for their holy law, is the
obvious motive of the

T o this class belong the stories of Daniel and the

three Jewish youths in Babylon, in the Book

ANIEL

Here the faithful worshippers of

are miraculously

delivered from the fiery furnace and the lions’ den, and endued
with a supernatural wisdom which puts all the
astrologers and magicians to shame, so that the heathen kings
are constrained toconfess the god of the Jews the supreme God,

the Greek version other stories are added Susanna

and the Elders, illustrating Daniel’s wisdom in judg-
ment Bel and the Dragon, showing how Daniel ingeni-
ously proved to Cyrus that the gods of the Babylonians
were

gods. The display of Jewish wisdom before

heathen kings

the motive also of the story of the

Three Pages of Darius

Esd.

where a contest

of wits in answer to the question, What is the mightiest
thing on earth? wins for Zerubbabel permission

return and restore the temple at

The Greek-speaking Jews also had their story-books

with similar subjects. One of these is

Maccabees (see

T h e entire lack

a religious element in the story was made

Ezek.

Mal.

We should compare the Christian

(Schmidt);

ZRA

REEK

good in the Greek translation by extensive additions.

2087

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

ACCABEES

[THIRD]),

which professes to narrate

events in the reign of Ptolemy Philopator after
defeat of Seleucus

Raphia in

217

B.C.

may be

regarded as in some sense a Hellenistic counterpart to

Esther, and is one of the worst specimens of this kind

of fiction.

I t seems to be an elaborated variation of an older legend

preserved

Josephus

Many scholars are of the

opinion that the occasion of writing the hook was the persecution
of the Alexandrian Jews under

Of the stories of martyr heroism, the most famous

are those of the aged

and of the mother and

her seven sons in

Macc.

repeated in great detail

Macc., which took their place among the most

popular of Christian

There were doubtless many other religious stories in

circulation from a later period considerable remains

a similar literature have come down to us

the tale

of Joseph’s wife Aseneth (see A

POCRYPHA

The glorious events of the Asmonzan age inspired

more than one author to write the history of Mattathias

and his sons. The oldest and by far the
most important of these works is that
which we have in the First Book of
Maccabees (see M

ACCABEES

IRST

]),

written

Hebrew, probably in the reign of John

Hyrcanus.

It covers the period from the accession

of Antiochus Epiphanes

.c.)

to the death of

Simon

.c.); but it deals chiefly with the struggle

with the Syrians; of the fierce and treacherous strife
of Jewish parties we catch only passing glimpses.
The author had probably no older written account

the events, but drew upon a tradition close to the

house.

Besides this tradition, he incor-

porated certain documents which were preserved in
public places

in the archives (cp

The writer is sincerely religious, as are the heroes of

his story. As to his method of conceiving history, we
need only point out here that the action moves wholly

the earthly stage, without miracle, or prophecy.

Macc. is an historical source of the first value for the

times of the early

it is deeply to be

regretted that we have not similar sources for other
epochs of Jewish history.

At the end of the work

the reader is referred

for information about the following period to the
Chronicles of the high-priesthood of John Hyrcanus.
Of these Chronicles nothing has survived; it cannot
even be shown that the history of Hyrcanus’ rule in
Josephus ultimately goes back-in whole or in part-to
these

The struggle of their brethren in Palestine had

keen

interest for the Greek-speaking Jews also. Jason of

Cyrene wrote

history of it in five books,

beginning with the antecedents of the con-

flict under

Onias

III.,

and ending,

we are to judge

from the summary of its contents in

Macc.

with the liberation of the city by Judas after the victory
over Nicanor (cp Macc.

We know this work

only through

Macc., which is professedly an abridg-

ment of it.

The original must have been very

which is perhaps one reason why it was not more
generally known.

The character of the work is in

striking contrast

Macc. it imitates and outdoes

the worst types of Greek rhetorical
The straining for effect is tiresomely persistent. Every-
thing is exaggerated ; special

interventions occur

at every turn and the operation

the law of

is everywhere emphasised (see chap.

9).

There is

See

now,

however, Biichler,

the genuineness of these pieces; see

ACCABEES

IRST

see Destinon,

44.

Schiirer considers it doubtful whether Jason made an end

here; but cp

Macc.

and see Willrich,

66.

See, however, Biichler,

Niese,

2088

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

no evidence that Jason had any written sources the
whole character of the book suggests rather that he
derived his information from the reports-confused and
mingled with legend-which came by various channels
from Palestine.

the two epistles in Macc.

and

the other critical points, see

ACCA

BEE

Other writings of a legendary character are known to

us through Josephus, who, directly or’ indirectly, drew
upon them in

his

history of the Greek’period among

them were the account of

relations to the

Jews (Ant. xi.

and the story of the

and

(Joseph the tax-farmer),

Ant.

On the latter see Biichler

preceding col. n.

I).’

In the third and the second centuries

.c.,

most of

the Hebrew historical literature

was

translated into

Greek. Jews in the new centres of
Greek culture, especially in
andria, became acquainted with the
writings of Greek historians, and
with works like those of Manetho

and Berossus, written in Greek, through which the
ancient history of Egypt and Babylonia from authentic
sources was brought to the knowledge of the educated
world.

It would be strange, indeed, if they had not

felt stirred to perform

like service for the history of

their own nation.

earliest of these writings of which

we know anything

that of Demetrius,

It is

chronological epitome

rather than

narrative history, and was doubtless

composed for Jewish readers.

The author brings to

the solution of the difficult problems of chronology
thorough knowledge of the O T and great acumen.

T h e occasionalexplanationsof other difficulties in the Scriptures

show honesty a s well a s ingenuity.

The close connection in

many of these points between the Hellenistic and the Palestinian
exegesis has also been remarked.

work of Eupolemos under a

similar title was of a different nature.

He narrated the

history more at large, and with embellishments in the
taste of his times, such

the correspondence of Solomon

with the pharaoh, the legend

Jeremiah

and

on.

In him also we first note the disposition to

vindicate for the Hebrews the priority

philosophy,

science, and the useful arts, which is

characteristic of

later Hellenistic authors.

Moses was the first sage

and the first who gave his

written laws. H e taught

ofwriting

Jews ;

the

learned it from the Jews, and the Greeks from them.

Eupolemos probably wrote under Demetrius Soter

(circa

. c . ) ,

and it has been surmised that he may

be the same who is mentioned in

Macc.

in which

case his book would have additional interest as the work
of a Palestinian

iii.

was

that Jews in Egypt

should seek to connect the story of Abraham’s sojourn
in Egypt, of Joseph’s elevation, and above all, of Moses
and the exodus, with Egyptian history.

They had an additional reason for giving their version of these

events in the fact that native writers had set afloat injurious
accounts of the expulsion of

the leprous hordes, which found

only too willing credence not merely among the populace but
with serious

The Jewish writers had no access to authentic sources

of information

in the most favourable case they

could give only uncritical combinations of names and

See Torrey

T W

The book

perhaps have been used as

Hellenistic

Haggada for the Hanukka as Esther for Purim.

On the works described in this paragraph see Freudenthal

(the fragments edited 219

Schiirer, History

People,

33 (5

Will:

‘95.

Freudenthal fixes the date under Ptolemy

IV.

Willrich tries to prove that all this literature is much younger.

Against both this combination and the date given in the

text, see Willrich.

If the account ascribed to Manetho is genuine-which has

seldom been questioned-these malicious inventions began very
early in the Ptolemaic period.

2089

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

events taken from Egyptian history or legend (known
to” them through a Greek medium) with the narratives
of the Pentateuch.

The spinning out of these com-

binations is doubtless in the main pure invention.

Considerable fragments of a work of this sort

been transmitted to

under the name of Artapanos.

This Persian name is with reason suspected of being

pseudonym, the glorification of the Jews being for

greater effect attributed to an unprejudiced foreigner
who collected his information from the best Egyptian
authorities.

However that may be, the author shows

considerable knowledge of things Egyptian and a very
respectable degree of Hellenistic culture.

The design

of the book is plainly to magnify the forefathers of the
Jews by showing that they are the real authors of the
Egyptian civilisation.

his twenty years’sojourn, taught the Egyptians

astrology ; Joseph first caused the fields to be properly surveyed
and meted out reclaimed by irrigation much uncultivated land
allotted

the priests and invented measures. His

men who followed him to

built the temples in Athos

in the story of Moses, how-

ever, that Artapanos develops all his art.

Moses, who was

named by the Egyptians Hermes and is known to the Greeksas

was the adopted son of Merris the childless queen of

Chenephres.

H e was the inventor

the Egyptian

weapons, engines for hoisting stones for

and for

he divided the country into its

names,

assigned

each the god which was to be worshipped in it he was the
founder of philosophy and the author of the hieroglyphic writing
used by the priests.

Resides all this he was a great general

who a t the head of an army of

the Ethiopians:

built the city of Hermopolis, etc. T h e jealousy of Chenephres
finally compelled him to flee the country; on the way he slew

an Egyptian officer who lay in wait for him to kill him (cp

Ex.

As the last example shows theauthordeals very freely

with the biblical narrative when it

his purpose.

iv.

-We possess fragments of several

other works of similar tendency to those of Eupolemos
and Artapanos

the names of Aristeas and

Kleodemus may be mentioned.

Of peculiar interest

are some fragments of this sort which plainly
from the hand of Samaritan Hellenists. One of these
(erroneously ascribed in Eusebius to Eupolemos) makes
Mt. Gerizim the site of the city of Melchizedek and the
temple of the most high God and is otherwise instruc-
tive for the combination of the

O T

narrative with

Babylonian learning : for example, Ur

the Chaldees

i s

Abraham brought the Babylonian astrology

to Egypt, but the real father of the science was Enoch,
etc.

T h e same aim, to exalt the Jewish people in the eyes

other races, appears in a different way in various

pseudepigraphic works purporting to be written about
the Jews by

of Abdera (under

Ptolemy

)

had given in his

History of

Egypt

brief and

unprejudiced account of the Jews which gave occasion
for forging in his name

whole book, the partiality of

which for all things Jewish aroused the suspicion of
ancient critics.

vi. Aridem.-The letter

Aristeas, pretending to be

written by

Gentile to a Gentile, giving the history of

the translation of the Hebrew law into Greek, also is
palpably spurious.

we have a glorification of the Torah and of the

LXX

translation of the profound and practical wisdom of Jewish
sages, ofrhk temple and the cultus-a fabrication

grandscale,

fortified with edicts, correspondence, and all the apparatus with
which fictitioushistory had learned to give itself the semblance

authenticity.

Among the voluminous writings of Philo at least one

work dealing with the ancient history of his people

mention here-the life of Moses.

The first book,

particular, on Moses a s

fairly deserves to be called the best

specimen

Hebrew history retold for Gentile readers.

Cp Pseudo

Aristeas, the Jewish Sibyl, etc.;

This is

hy many Jewish

Abraham

This species of literature flourished rankly in the centuries

Freudenthal, 1 4 3 3

brought the art from Babylonia (FHG 3

2 1 3

A).

before

our era.

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

I t narrates the life of Moses from his birth to the permission

t o

the

two

tribes

occupy the conquered territory

the

Jordan

(Nu.

following the Pentateuch with occasional

allegorical digressions and many edifying reflections and with
those speeches by the personages at important

without

which no author of this time would have thought

it possible to

write history. but free from any infusion of the Hellenistic
midrash

we have found in Eupolemos and Artapanos.

work differs favourably from the corresponding

parts of

Antiquities

in the point just mentioned,

and also in the fact that Philo does not, like Josephus,
suppress unpleasant passages, such as the worship of
the golden calf which Aaron made.

The second book

Moses

a lawgiver

the third, on Moses as a

priest (the tabernacle and its furniture, priests' vestments,
and so on).

Philo wrote also a history of the persecutions of the

Jews in his own time, apparently in five books.

The first it is inferred, was introductory the second described

the

of the Jews in the reign of

by Sejanus

a t Rome and by

the third dealt with

the sufferings of the Alexandrian Jews a t the beginning of the
reign

the fourth, with the evils in which the Jews were

involved by the demand of

that divine honours should

be paid him, and his determination to set up an image of himself
in the temple a t Jerusalem whilst the last described the change
in the fortunes of the Jews brought about by Claudius's edict of

toleration.

these books only the third and the fourth have

survived

(Adversus

ad Caium).

Philo

was a witness of the tribulations of the Jews in Alexandria
in the last year of Flaccus's administration, and was the
leading member of the deputation to

Notwith-

standing their tiresome preaching tone, and obvious
reticence about the result of the mission-not to say sup-
pression of its failure-the books are historical sources
of high value, not only for the troubles of the Jews but
also for the character of

Emperor.

The revolt against Rome in the years

66-73

found its historians in two

who had

themselves been actors in it, Justus of
Tiberias and Flavius Josephus.

The work

Justus is lost-it is known to

only

through the polemic

the autobiography of Josephus-

and the loss is the more to be regretted because Justus
would have enabled

to control Josephns's account of

the events in Galilee, where we have only too good
reason to distrust him.

Justus wrote also a

concise history from Moses to the death of Agrippa

(in the third year of Trajan), which was used by

Julius Africanus, through whom some material derived
from it has been transmitted to

us.

Both works

Justus, like those

Josephus, were written in Greek-

Josephus testifies that he had

a good

Greek

for Greek and Roman readers.

(b.

D.,

d. end of century)

first wrote the history of the war in Aramaic for the

Jews in the

Afterwards, moved

(he says) by the number of misleading
accounts which were in circulation, he

put his own work into Greek.4 The Greek cannot, how-
ever, be

mere translation of the earlier work; for

Greek and Roman readers it would need to be materially
recast, and we can hardly doubt that his own part in
the action was put in a quite different light. Very prob-

ably also the

of Jewish history from the time

Antiochus Epiphanes to the death of Herod (bk.
was first prefixed in the Greek the greater part of the
seventh book was doubtless added at the same time.
The history ends with the taking of Masada (the last
stronghold of the insurgents) and the closing of the
temple of Onias in Egypt, with a final chapter on the
outbreak in Cyrene. The work was completed before
the death of

(79

A .

In this book the history

the

LXX

translation is repeated

after Aristeas.

Schurer

156

where the literature

will

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

For

the agitation which preceded the war,

for the

war itself, Josephus was both at the time and afterwards

a position to be exceptionally well informed but it

must be remembered that, writing for the eyes of the
emperor and his officers, he was under strong temptation
to put things in the way which would be most pleasing

his imperial patrons

and that he had the difficult

task of giving an honourable colour to his own conduct.
We know that Justus charged him with falsifying the
history of the events

i n

Galilee, and the acrimony of

Josephus's reply shows that the shaft had found a
vulnerable spot.

For the earlier part of the work, from Antiochus

Epiphanes to the death of Nero, he used substantially

the same sources as in the parallel books of his Antiqui-

ties.

The

W a r

is composed with considerable

art Josephus had a remarkably dramatic subject, and
he puts his facts together in a highly effective way the
Greek style, in revising which he had expert assistance,

praised by Photius for purity and propriety.

Antiquities.

-Later in life Josephus wrote his

Antiquities,

or, rather,

Archeology

(

the Ancient History of the Jews, in twenty

books.'

The first ten books extend from the creation of the

world to the end of the Babylonian exile (closing with

Daniel). His sources here were the books of the OT,

chiefly in the

LXX

version

but when he affirms

( I

Proem.

106)

that he reproduces exactly the contents

of the sacred books, without addition or omission, he
claims too much-or too little.

The Antiquities was written for Gentile readers, and was

intended not merely to acquaint them with the history of the
Jews, but also to counteract the current prejudice against the
people and its institutions and to exhibit both in a favourable
light. T o this end he

things which might give ground

for censure or ridicule, and embellished the narrative from legend
and midrash. That he used the writings of Hellenistic Jews
who before him had treated the history in the same way (see

above,

is certain the extent to which he was dependent

upon them cannot now be determined.

osephus also often

refers for confirmation or illustration of the

narrative to

foreign authors ;

who are sometimes cited, not a t first hand,

from compilations or other intermediate

For the following period, from Artaxerxes

I . ,

under

whom he puts Esther (the latest book in the OT), the
sources used were of diverse character and
From the middle of the fifth century to the beginning

the second there was no authentic historical tradition
a few stray facts and a mass of legends have to stop the
gap.

From Antiochus Epiphanes to the accession of

Herod, Josephus's chief authority was an unknown

Jewish writer who had combined his Jewish sources

(

Macc., a history of the later

with Greek

writers

the history of Syria

Posidonius,

Strabo). This work probably began with Alexander,
and came down at least to the death

Germanicus ( r g

. D . ) .

T o this Josephus added the fruit of his own

reading in the Greek historians, some Jewish
stories, and

collection of documents authenticating

privileges of the Jews.

For

the life of Herod he drew

directly

Nicolaus of Damascus, with additions from

a Jewish

unfavourable to Herod.

the later

part of the work the narrative becomes fuller and the
sources more numerous

among them information

derived from King Agrippa, and a Roman author
(? Cluvius Rufus) may be recognised.

The history

closes with

Florus

on the eve

the war.

The

which in the manuscripts immediately

follows the

Antiquities, is

not really an autobiography;

it is an apologia, and is chiefly occupied with a relation

The title and the number

of books are

imitation

Dionysius of

The ancients understood as well as the moderns this trick

seeming to he familiar with books they had never seen.

For titles of works on the sources of Josephus, see Schiirer,

Hist.

Of more recent

Die

die

'99, also

and Unger

must be named.

HISTORICAL LITERATURE

and

defence of t h e author’s c o n d u c t

c o m m a n d e r in

Galilee in the earlier stage of the revolt.

I t supple-

m e n t s t h e

b u t is to b e used with even greater

caution.

T h e short work which we c o m m o n l y

call

t h e

Reply t o Apion

b u t of which t h e

t r u e title s e e m s t o b e

On the

Antiquity of

the

Jews’

defence

t h e Jews against their assailants, of whom t h e Alex-
a n d r i a n g r a m m a r i a n a n d polyhistor

is taken

leading

T h e chief value of t h e b o o k ,

a p a r t f r o m the light it throws o n the antisemitism of
t h e times, lies in the copious extracts f r o m p r o f a n e

writers o n Oriental history which a r e incorporated in it.

Josephus

the a u t h o r t h r o u g h whom t h e R o m a n

. a n d , later, for centuries, t h e Christian world g o t m o s t

its knowledge of Jewish history.

H i s works w e r e

translated into L a t i n

Greek a b r i d g m e n t of t h e

v o l u m i n o u s

Antiquities

w a s m a d e

t h e mediaeval

H e b r e w

J o s i p p o n ’ professes to b e the work of

Josephus, from whose writings t h e material is largely
d r a w n ; in m o d e r n times Josephus h a s been translated
into all the l a n g u a g e s

E u r o p e .

H i s authority

historian stood very high, his writings were a p p e a l e d

with a l m o s t

m u c h confidence

t h e

itself.

recent times, o n t h e contrary, h e h a s not infre-

q u e n t l y been j u d g e d with unjust severity.

T h e gravest

faults of t h e

Antiquities

a r e those which i t shares with

t h e Jewish Hellenistic historiography in general, a n d

i n d e e d with n o small p a r t of t h e profane history

t h e

Alexandrian a g e , not t h e individual sins of Josephus.

To expect critical history of these writers is to look for

fiqs

a n thistles.

The business of the historian is to interest

readers

;

an effective story carries it off over all dry investiga-

tions; and legends which redounded to the glory of the race
were accepted without impertinent question.

is not to he

charged as a crime to Josephus that in these respects he is an

author of his time

his people. On the other hand the care-

lessness and lack of

with which the latter part of’tbe

particularly is worked out

fairly he laid a t his door

;

wearies of his long task before it is completed.

W e h a v e n o extensive historical

in H e b r e w

A r a m a i c t o s e t beside t h e productions of t h e G r e c i a n

S o m e works

particular

have perished, o r , like I Macc.

a n d Josephus’s

reached

o n l y i n

G r e e k

garb.

T h e chief motive of the Hellenistic a u t h o r s

for retelling t h e ancient history

their people- to b r i n g

t o t h e knowledge of foreigners- was lacking.

T h e i r

o w n need

was

satisfied b y t h e S a c r e d Books them-

selves, interpreted

a n d Midrash.

T h e o n l y

comprehensive H e b r e w work o n Jewish history

which

we k n o w a n y t h i n g is t h e b a l d chronological e p i t o m e
k n o w n

D o w n t o t h e Persian period

it follows t h e O T with occasional midrashic episodes,
a n d with

m i n u t e determination of t h e chronology

-which is evidently t h e

of the

T h e

s i x centuries a n d m o r e f r o m N e h e m i a h t o t h e

war

u n d e r

H a d r i a n a r e comprised in t h e second half of chap.

30.

T h e lack of a n y continuous historical tradition is here

.again o b v i o u s ; t h e chronology of the Persian, t h e

G r e e k , t h e

a n d the

partly in consequence of corruption of the text- is far

-out of the way.

T h e w o r k , which enjoys T a l m u d i c

authority, is attributed t o

Jose b e n H a l a p h t a

(circa

p r o b a b l y because h e

cited in i t

a n authority.

I t h a s u n d o u b t e d l y been more t h a n

o n c e worked over b y later

E. Schrader, art. Geschichtskunde

den

Del. ‘Die Formenreichthum der israelitischen

Geschichtsliteratur

24.

Geschichtsschreibung

(‘73)

Kittel, Die

der

‘96 (Rektoratsrede); B. Duhm,

Die

des

‘97;

Apion died ahont fifty years before Josephus wrote.
Cp the Alexandrian chronologist Demetrius

;

and note

also

Azaria de Rossi,

chap.

19.

chronology

HITTITES

See also

(94); and C. Wacbsmuth,

der

HITTITES

n a m e which occurs rather

frequently i n t h e O T , a n d

often connected with regions

.G.

s o m e w h a t

f r o m o n e another,

The name is given to one of the groups of

inhabitants of Southern Pales-

tine, whose

full

name is B’ne

;

2746.

single member of the

Gen.

and

from the form the group is commonly referred to as ha-Hitti

the

throughout Ex.,

Nu.,

Dt., Josh., Judg.,

Ezra and Neh and also

K .

Ch. 87). The references

given

to the earlier period of Hebrew history,

definite steps had been taken leading to the formation of the
kingdom ; but Hittites are mentioned also in the later period
in the days of Saul

David

and a parallel passage

Ch.

Sblomon

om. A]

[L]

7 6

parallel passage Ch.

Thk

term

occurs more rarely- only twice for the earlier

period’ Josh.

(BA om.), Judg.

[A]

‘

of the Hittites

and three times for

later

K .

a parallel passage

Ch.

‘kings of

Hittites’). The persistent occurrence of Hettites in the Greek
transliteration in place of Hittites should not be overlooked.

t h e genealogical table, G e n .

is introduced

a son

of C a n a a n ; b u t t h e mention of H e t h

h e r e

evidently

gloss- though

old

one- tacked

t o ‘ S i d o n , t h e

firstborn of C a n a a n . ’

T h e Greek translators, perceiving the incongruity of the

for the nation alongside of

etc. changed

We may

the view of Ball

and others, and

the introduction of all the nations mentioned in

as a

addition suggested by the gloss

;

hut this will

affect the question of the inference about HEth to

the passage. For the entire section, Gen.

is an

ndependent fragment (taken from some genealogical list of

belonging to the same stratum of tradition as that

in the song, Gen.

according to which the three

iivisions of mankind were Canaan, Shem, and Japheth. This

sense of Canaan

accords well with certain passages

n the

(see

ANA

which make Canaan

term

the whole district between the Jordan, the Mediterranean, the

wilderness in the

and the Lehanonrange in the

; but it is

be poted that

contradiction to the morecommon

of the term in the Hexateuch and in passages like

35 Ezra91

Neh. 98-dependent

Hexateuch-where the Canaanites are merely one of
or seven divisions into which the district defined is divided.

it is furthermore considered that in this enumeration the

are assigned not always the first place-at times the

(Ex. 2328

the third (Dt.

Josh.

the fourth

(Ex.

is evident that no value is to he

the assignment of Heth as a ‘son’

Canaan. One conclusion, however, may be drawn from the

in nomenclature

a t one time the Canaanites were

pread over a much larger area than was the case when the

sraelites entered the country. To Israel the Canaanites still

oomed up large enough; hut the tradition which made them
he ancestors of all the other groups occupying the highlands
.nd valleys to the west of the Jordan, and which regarded them

one of the three great divisions of mankind, belongs to a

remote age.

W e conclude, then, t h a t t h e Hittites of t h e

OT, as

ethnic

group,

d o n o t necessarily stand

closer

relation to t h e C a n a a n i t e s t h a n t o the
Amorites, Hivites, Perizzites, or a n y
of the pre- Israelitish inhabitants

Palestine.

Hittites’

Hebron

HITTITES

view is to be found in Josh.

14,

where the whole district

of Israel‘s prospective possessions, from the wilderness
in the

to the Lebanon in the

N.,

and eastward to the

Euphrates, is designated

‘the whole land of the

Hittites.’

is true that these words are

gloss, and

perhaps

late one, since they are not contained in

alone inserts). Their value is not impaired, how-

by this circumstance ; in the opinion

the scribe

who added them, Hittite was

term covering

very

large territory.

Judg.

1 2 6

is perhaps another in-

stance of the vague use of the phrase ‘land of the
Hittites,’ though here we have to reckon with the possi-
bility of a redactional insertion referring to

Hittite

empire established in

NE.

Syria, of which we hear much

in the inscriptions of Assyrian monarchs (see below,

6 ) ,

just

this empire is referred to in

7 6 ,

and probably

Again, when Ezekiel tells Jerusalem,

Thy father was an Amorite and thy mother

Hittite’

(Ezek.

1 6 3 4 5

[om.

he is using both terms in a

vague and comprehensive sense for the pre-Israelitish
inhabitants of Palestine.

From such usage it follows that there is

necessary

connection beyond the name between the southern

Hittites and those whom the Israelites encounter
Central Palestine. Indeed one might be inclined t o

regard thegrouping

Hittites

Amorites,

etc., as a conventional enumeration without any decided
reference to actual conditions ; but such

passage as

Josh.

is against this view.

Since the older inhabitants of Palestine were not

exterminated, it is not surprising to find a Hittite-the

The question confronts

here, whether in all cases

where the O T mentions Hittites, the

people is

meant? T o put it more precisely, are the B n e Heth,
of whom an interesting incident

recorded in Gen.

identical with the group called ha-Hitti

and enumerated among the pre- Israelitish inhabitants
of Palestine, and are these Hittites the same

those

found in the days of Saul, David, and Solomon?

According to Gen.

Abraham purchases

at Mamre from the B n e

who are

represented

settled population with Hebron as a

of centre.

The antiquity of the tradition is hardly open to question

though the details such

the formal deed of purchase

have been supplied by the fancy

a much later age, to

Abraham had already become

favourite subject for Midrashic

elaboration. That the Hebrew tradition regards the Hittites
of

identical with those mentioned elsewhere follows

from the introduction of Heth in Gen.

as well as from

the qualification ha-Hitti’added to the name ’of

the chief of the B’ne

These Hittites extended as far south

the edge of

the desert, since we find Edomitic clans, settled around
Gerar and Beersheba (Gen.

2634

[E]),

entering upon matrimonial alliances with Hittites.

The opposition of Isaac and Rebecca to

marriages with

Hittite women

reflects the later sentiments ex-

pressed in the Hexateuchal prohibition (Dt.

whereas the

tradition itself clearly points to there being a t an early period
friendly relationships between Hebrew and Edomitic clans

the one side and Hittites on the other.

Bearing these two features in

)

the settlement

of the

B’ne

in the extreme south of Palestine, and

the friendly relations between them

and the clans which constitute the

an-

cestors of at least a section of the later

Israelitish confederacy--it is certainly not

without significance that the Hittites mentioned in the
O T outside of the book of Genesis dwell in the centre
or extreme north of Palestine, and that they are viewed

the bitter enemies of the Israelites. True, in the

days

Saul and David, we find Hittites joining their

fortunes with David

( I

and a Hittite occupies

prominent place in David‘s army

( 2

2339)

(see

below,

Solomon enters into matrimonial alliances

with Hittite princesses

( I

K. 11

)

(see below,

but

these are exceptional incidents. T h e Hittites, together
with the Canaanites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites,
Jebusites, and

hold the various parts of

Palestine proper against the Hebrew invaders, and

contest every advance.

The chief passages are

Ex.

Dt.

Josh.

128

(om.

Judg.

35.

important indication

of the distribution of the various groups is furnished by
Josh.

1 1 3 .

The Canaanites are settled both in the

and in the

Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, and

sites in the mountains, and the Hivites at the foot of Mt.
Hermon in the

the positions of the Hivites

and Hittites are exchanged but the gloss in
is

support for

M T

see H

IVITES

)

Here, then,

we find the Hittites settled in the mountainous districts
of Central Palestine contesting the encroachments of the

Hebrews.

is,

of course, not impossible that the

southern Hittites were gradually forced northward
through circumstances of which we are ignorant but

solution of the problem more in keeping with the con-
ditions of O T nomenclature is to suppose an inexactness
and vagueness in the use of the term Hittites, similar to
that which characterises the use of such terms

Canaan-

ites, Amorites, and even Philistines. A support for this

Bu.

Mey. and

Che., art.

‘arequitesure that in this

of the name “Hittites for the population of the land (cp

also

2746

with 28

the Priestly narrator,

deplorably wrong (Di.

ironically).]

Also

according to the Samaritan version.

The order in which these nations are enumerated varies, and

a t times one or other-Girgashites, Perizzites, or Hivvites-
is omitted, though the Greek translators usually supplied the
deficiency by inserting them.

- -

Hittites

famous Urial-among the chiefs that

constituted the following of David

Ch.

The position

occupied by Uriah points to

partial assimilation

between

and Hittites, and similarly the

strange tale of David and Bathsheba (Uriah’s wife),

related in

11,

embodies a distinct recollection of

close alliance at one time between the two groups.
The unfavourable light

which David‘s act is placed is

due to an age which regarded it

heinous crime for

any Hebrew to marry

was not a worshipper

the age of David is still far removed from

the spirit which animates Deuteronomy and the Priestly
Code on this point.

There is no objection against

regarding these Hittites as the descendants of those
whom we encounter in the days of Abraham.

The case is different, however, when we come

Solomon, whose marriages with Hittite princesses

solemnize political alliances, just as does.
the enlargement of his harem through

Ammonitish, Edomitish, a n d

Sidonian concubines. Solomon but imi-

tated the example set by the kings of Egypt, who had long
been in the habit of adding to their harems representa-
tives of the various nations whom they had conquered
or with whom they had entered into political alliances.
The king’s harem in ancient days in a measure took the
place of the diplomatic corps of

times. These

Hittites cannot possibly be identical with those we-

encounter in the days of David ; there

no room in t h e

days of Solomon for a Hittite empire or principality

Southern Palestine,

The Hittite district must have.

been

clearly defined, however, as that of the Moabites,

Ammonites, Edomites, and Sidonians

( I

) .

That

there was a Hittite empire, and that it was important, is.
implied by the statement

( I

that Solomon

imported horses from Egypt for ‘all the kings of
Hittites

’

(see H

ORSE

, §

IZRAIM

The same.

Hittite power is referred to in

7 6 ,

where the juxta-

position

‘

kings

the Hittites

’

with

kings

Egypt

’

may be taken

measure. of the importance of this.

power. This reference alone might be sufficient warrant
for concluding that the Hittite district is to be sought
in the

N .

of Palestine, the purport

the passage being

to imply that Aram was attacked simultaneously from

2096

HITTITES

the

and the

more definite conclusion, however,

may be drawn from

246.

Despite the corruptness

of the passage, one may be certain that it contains a
reference to the land of the Hittites.’

The reference

is to a land lying

of Gilead, and we are thus brought

to the region where, as we know from other sources to
be mentioned presently, an extensive Hittite empire
flourished as early at least as

In a study of the Hittites of the

we must therefore

take into consideration the

use of the term.

HITTITES

number of principalities, and

does not follow that the

rulers and inhabitants of these principalities were even
of one and the same linguistic or ethnic stock.

Our knowledge of the early history of Babylonia and

of the rise of the Assyrian power is still too uncertain to

We must

the Hittites

settled around Hebron (who maintain
their identitvdown to the davs of David)

from

(6)

the

conventional’ Hittites whom tradition

enumerated with other groups a s opponents whom the

Hebrew invaders in

severe and protracted struggle

dispossessed of their land; and both these divisions
must be kept separate again from (c) an extensive

Hittite power (divided up into principalities) situated
in the north-eastern part

Syria, beyond the confines

of Palestine proper and, lastly, there is the vague and
indefinite use of the term which makes Hittite almost
synonymous with

( d )

all Palestine and Syria, and thus

adds another complicating element.

far as the evidence goes, there is nothing to warrant

any connection (beyond the name) between the Hittites

(6)

who form part of the pre-Israelitish population of

southern Palestine, and the Hittites (c) whose alliance
is sought by Solomon. I t is the latter Hittites who
play much the more prominent part in the ancient
history of the East.

Thotmes

I.,

the third king of the eighteenth dynasty,

began about

an -extended

Asiatic

campaigns which eventually brought about
the subjection of Palestine and Syria to
the pharaohs of Egypt. Among the more

formidable enemies enumerated by the Egyptian rulers
is a people whose name

appears

be identical

with the term

Hetti of the OT.

This people

occupied the mountainous districts of northern Syria,
and extended to the E. as far as the Orontes, indeed
at times beyond it to the Euphrates.

stronghold of

the H-ta which is prominently mentioned in the inscrip-
tions of Thotmes

1500

.c.)

is Kedesh. The

Ht-a did not confine themselves, however,

their

mountain recesses.

Joining. arms with the various

nationalities of northern Palestine and the

district,

they advanced as far as Megiddo to meet the Egyptian
armies.

pharaohs found their task difficult,

and, even after many campaigns had been waged, the
subjection of the H-ta was not definitely accomplished.
The kings of Egypt advanced

Carchemish, Tunep,

Hamath, and

.to have laid siege to these places

but again and again armies had to be sent into northern
Syria and the Taurus region.

Marash, at the extreme

of Cilicia, appears to have resisted all attempts at

conquest. The Egyptians at one time found a valuable
ally in

-king of Mitanni-a district to the

NW.

of Assyria.

This alliance between Egypt and

seems to have kept the H-ta in check; but it

was not long before the H-ta of Marash, Carchemish,

Hamath, and

regained

independ-

ence.

In the fourteenth century the hold of Egypt

upon her Asiatic possessions was loosened, and about

century later her control practically comes to an end.

It is clear from the way in which the H-ta are spoken

of in the Egyptian records that the prevailing notions
about them were vague.

assume that there was at

this time an extensive Hittite empire is a theory that
meets with serious difficulties. The district embraced
by the Egyptian rulers under the designation H - t a
appears to have been divided up among a varying

Read

and see further

This is the

now adopted by Egyptologists.

The character of the vowel following tcannot be definitely deter-

mined, T h e spelling adopted here

(after WMM).

say when the inhabitants

of the Euphrates valley first came into
contact with the Hittites.

The

dynasty, which maintained its sway over Babylonia for
upwards of

500

years, was of an aggressive character,

and in the fifteenth century we find Babylonia joined
with Egypt in a close alliance.

The use of the

Babylonian script and language at this time as the
medium

diplomatic interchange between the court

of Egypt and officials stationed in Palestine and Syria
under Egyptian control points to a predominating
Babylonian influence and an earlier

Babylonian

supremacy, during which the Babylonian language
was introduced into the district in question.

T h e text containing an account of the western exploits

Sargon

[see B

ABYLONIA

(whose date is provisionally

fixed a t

.c.)

is of a very late date, and cannot therefore be

relied upon as confirming the general tradition of a n early con-
quest of Syria on the part of Babylonian rulers. (The name

Hittite does not appear

the text referred to, the lands to t h e

embraced under the general designation of ‘Amorite

country.

As the Asiatic campaigns of Egypt begin in the

eighteenth century

we must assume that the Baby-

lonian control of Syria and Palestine belongs to an

earlier time. W e know enough of the history of the

dynasty in Babylonia to say that it was probably

during the period of its ascendency that the control of
Babylonia over the western districts was most effective,
and the testimony of the Egyptian inscriptions warrants

in assuming that the Hittites were then the most

powerful federation against whom the Babylonians had
to contend.

It is to be noted, however, that the term

On this point see C

ANAAN

Hittite,

Hatti, which appears to be

identical with it, does not make its

appearance in cuneiform literature till the days

Tiglath-pileser

I.,

ahout

Then it means a

distinctly defined kingdom lying along the Orontes (with
Carchemish as one of its important centres) and extend-
ing well into the Taurus range. Against these
the Assyrian ruler waged

fierce campaign.

According

to his account it ended

a complete triumph for the

Assyrian arms.

reality, however, the conquest was

far from complete. The successors of
were much harassed by the troublesome

and it

not until the reign of Sargon

.c.)

that they

finally disappear from the horizon of Assyrian history.

Curiously enough, we encounter in the Assyrian in-

scriptions the same vagueness in the use of the term

that is characteristic of O T usage Sennacherib

and other Assyrian rulers, when they speak of the land
of Hatti,’ have in mind the entire region to the

the Euphrates, embracing the Phcenician coast and in-
cluding apparently Palestine (see C

ANAAN

, §

Still,

there can be no doubt that the Assyrians distinguished
the Hatti proper from the other principalities of Syria
and Palestine and if the testimony of the comparatively
late Assyrian inscriptions could only be used for the
earlier periods, the ethnic and geographical problems
involved would be considerably simplified.

Fortunately, as an aid to the solution

these problems,

we have

considerable number of monuments left

the Hittites themselves, and although the
date of these monuments does not carry

back to a5 early a period as the Egyptian

campaigns in Western Asia, they help

to a clearer

understanding of the earlier history of the Hittites.

Carcheniish and Hamath have been found remains of
sculptures accompanied by inscriptions, and elsewhere
in this region; as at

there are abundant traces

of Hittite art. Quite recently (August,

has been found at Babylon, transported from

Hittite

HITTITES

centre by an Assyrian monarch.

This art

is so

distinctly

based upon Assyrian and Babylonian models

as to

decide definitely the influences at work in producing the

civilisation in this region.

In addition to this,

Paphlagonia, Lycaonia, and Phrygia abound in

remains of edifices and of works of art showing the same
types and the same general traits as those of Carchemish
and Hamath, whilst the inscriptions found with the

edifices belong likewise to the same class.

Thanks to the researches of Jensen it may now be

regarded as certain that the inscriptions cover the period

and it has also been made probable that

the spread of the Hittites was gradual from the region

of Cilicia to the

N.,

NE., and

nearly to the

borders of the Euxine, and W. to the

fair

presume that the language of all the so-called

Hittite inscriptions is the same, although it may be

added that several styles of Hittite characters may be

distinguished, some being pictorial, others branching

off

into conventional forms with a strong tendency

towards becoming linear.

These varieties, which are

quite paralleled by the styles of writing in the Egyptian

and Babylonian-Assyrian inscriptions, do not affect the

question of the language; and, this being the case, we

can understand the vagueness in the geographical use

of the term Hittites among the ancients. At what
period the extension of Hittite settlements began it is as
yet impossible to say but the indications are that we

must go back several centuries beyond

B.C.

for

the date.

On the other hand, whilst in general the

Hittite traits are clearly defined on the monuments,

there are good reasons for assuming several ethnic types
among those grouped under the term.

From an anthro-

pological point of view, the Mongolian, or to speak
more definitely the Turanian, type seems to prevail;
but, whatever the ground-stock of the Hittites of Asia

Minor may have been, there is a clear indication of
Semitic admixture.

The decipherment of the Hittite inscriptions which

would throw

much needed light on the ethnic prob-

lems, is now being vigorously

After several attempts on the

part of Sayce, Peiser, and

which

cuted.

constituted an opening wedge, Jensen has recently struck
out on a new path which gives promise of leading, ere

long, to a satisfactory solution of the mystery.

With

great ingenuity he has determined much of the general

character of the inscriptions.

He has identified ideo-

graphs and sign-groups for the names of countries and

gods, some of which appear to be established beyond
reasonable doubt.

Passing beyond those limits,

Jensen is fully convinced that the language of the in-
scriptions belongs to the Aryan stock-is in fact the

prototype of the modern Armenian. This rather startling

result, although it has received the adherence of some
eminent scholars, cannot he said to be definitely assured,

and for the present remains in the category of

theory

be further tested. The proof furnished by Jensen

for the Aryan character of the Hittite language is not

sufficiently strong to overcome the objection that many
of the Hittite proper names occurring both in the
Egyptian and in the Assyrian inscriptions are either
decidedly Semitic

can be accounted

for on

the

assumption of their being Semitic, whilst the evidence
which can be brought to bear upon the question from O T

references points in the same direction.

Again,

if,

a s Jensen believes, and as seems

the Hittite

characters are to be regarded as showing a decided
resemblance to Egyptian hieroglyphs-so much so,
indeed, as to suggest a connection between the two
systems-there would be another presumption for ex-
pecting to find an affiliation between the Hittite language

Koldewey,

Die

(Leips.

near Smyrna,

is sculptured on a rock the

picture

a Hittite warrior with

a few Hittite characters.

and the Semitic stock, if not indeed,

in Egyptian, a

Semitic substratum.

valid conclusion

drawn from the unquestionable relationship of the
Cypriote characters to the Hittite signs, since the
Cypriote syllabary is clearly the more simplified of the
two, and is presumably, therefore, a derivative of the
former. What we know of early Semitic influences in
the proto-Grecian culture and religion of Asia Minor,
speaks against an Aryan civilisation flourishing

the

region covered by the Hittite monuments.

These suggestions are thrown out with all due reserve,

for the problem is too complicated to warrant at present
anything like a decided tone. So far as Jensen’s de-
cipherment has gone, the inscriptions-some thirty in
all-contain little beyond the names and titles of rulers,
lands and gods, with brief indications of conquests.
Valuable as such indications would be if definitely estab-
lished, it does not seem likely that our knowledge of
Hittite history would be much advanced by the complete
decipherment of the meagre material at our command.
On the other hand, there is every reason to believe that

excavations in Hittite centres will increase the material,
and we may also look forward to finding a bilingual
inscription of sufficient length to settle definitely the still
uncertain elements in the decipherment,’ and clear the
field of the many hypotheses that have been put forward.
Meanwhile, bearing in mind the necessarily tentative
character of all conclusions until excavations on a large
scale shall have been carried on in centres of Hittite
settlements, we may sum up

our

present knowledge as

follows :

Among the pre-Israelitish inhabitants of Palestine

there was a

group

settled in southern Palestine, known

the

Egyptians began their conquest of Syria,
Hittites formed one of their most formid-

able adversaries, and continued to be prominent through-
out the several centuries of Egyptian supremacy in Syria
and Palestine. The chief seat of these Hittites was in
the extreme

of Palestine and extended well into Syria.

The further extension of Hittite settlements brings under
control not merely the district to the W. of the Taurus
range, but a considerable portion of western Asia Minor
(including Cilicia and Cappadocia) extending to the
Euxine Sea on the

and the

the

The

north-eastern boundary is uncertain but it may have
reached to Lake Van. After the withdrawal of the

Egyptians from Asia Minor the Assyrians engage in

frequent conflicts with the Hittite kingdom in the region
of the Orontes,

is not until the eighth century that

they are finally reduced to a condition where they could
no longer offer any resistance.

The vagueness in the use of the term Hittite, in the

O T as well as in the Egyptian and Assyrian records,
makes it difficult to decide whether all Hittites are to be
placed in one group.

The evidence seems to show that

the sons

settled around Hebron at an earlyperiod,

have nothing in common (beyond the name) with the

Hittites of central and northern Palestine, and have
nothing

do, therefore, with the Hittites of Syria and

of regions still farther

The Hittites of Hebron were

Semites and spoke a Semitic tongue; the Hittites of
northern Palestine and Syria were probably not Semitic
but became mixed with Semites at

comparatively early

period. Their language, likewise, appears to contain
Semitic elements, and may indeed have

Semitic sub-

stratum. The Hittite script appears to have been taken
over from the Egyptian hieroglyphics, and in any case
has strong affinities with it, though it seems also certain
that it contains elements which are either original

derived from some source that

still unknown.

the Hettites or Hittites.

and Chipiez,

Hist.

Sardinia, etc., vol.

The only bilingual as yet

found

a small silver

boss

(of

containing a rather obscure Assyrian inscription

accompanied

by eight Hittite characters.

2100

HIVITEB

HODESH

whether the simple mode ‘of life of the Rechabites
really dates back only to the age of Jehu, and whether
the Rechabites at that time really adopted a new

father or founder different from the reputed father’

of the Kenites.

so,

we may suppose Hobab

a corruption either of Jehonadab (or Nadab) or else
of Jehobab

which is probably the fuller form of

OBAB

[g.

v.].

The latter alternative is the easier

accepting it, we shall proceed to emend Jehonadab and

Jonadab in

into Jehobab

and Jobab

respectively.

Thus Jehobab the father-in-law of

Moses becomes the father and legislator of the Kenites
or Kechabites.

has

in Judg.,

in Nu.:

readings in Swete., We.

compares Hobab with Ar.

‘

serpent

but

most connect the name with

‘to love’; cp Nab.

‘beloved.’

T. K.

the point to which Abraham pursued

and his allies

was on

the left hand

on the

N.)

of Damascus.

In the

Tablets,

139

146

rev.

mentioned; once, to define Damascus, ‘ D . in the
land of Ubi’

63). On the edge of the Syrian

desert, between Damascus and Palmyra, there is

spring called

which is still famous in the songs of

the Bedouin. Wetzstein (in Del.

561 )

identi-

fies this with

The objection is the distance

from Dan, where Abraham is said to have set upon
the kings and defeated them.

From Dan

( T e l l

to Damascus is fifteen hours’ journey, from

Damascus to

more than twenty. This is not

decisive, however

the narrator (if he knew the dis-

tance) may have wished

the unwearied

energy of Abraham.

It is likely that in ancient times

excellent a spring was even more frequented than

now; for then, like other important springs on the
verge of the desert, it probably had

village beside it.

HOBAIAH

Neh. 763 RV, AV H

ABAIAH

HOD

perhaps shortened from

[BA],

[L]), in a genealogy of

Ch.

HODAVIAH

praise

ODIAH

and

[BAL]).

Head of a father’s house belonging to Manasseh

(

Ch. 5

h. Hassenuah, an ancestor of

(

Ch. 9 7

in Neh. 11 9, Judah

;

b. Senuah is

doubtless the same person.

a descendant of Zerubbabel

(

Ch.

3 24

Kt.,

Kr., AV

;

Levitical family in great post-exilic list (see

2 4 0

the

is a

the preceding

43,

Hodeiah

Kt.,

Kr. ;

Esd.

T o this family the b‘ne Jeshua

and’ Kadmiel apparently belonged (cp also

where

Hodaviah gives place to Judah, as in no.

see

3).

Since however, Jeshua, Kadmiel, and

are

mentioned

in Neh.

it is better to emend Ezra 2 40

etc. and read ‘the b’ne Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, and
viah.’

already in

Esd. 5

Kadmiel and Bannas, and

Sudias. From a comparison of the lists i d Neh. it is probable
that Hodaviah is the same as Hodiah in Neh.

etc. and Judah

in Neh. 12

See

ODIAH

S .

‘born at the feast of the new

name in a genealogy of B

ENJAMIN

(

Ch.

perhaps

a corruption of Ahishahar (see

6).

identifies it with B

AARA

scribe read

instead

(the first time), and inserted

That letters not

only

fell

out,

but were inserted by editors,

is certain.

Le.,

ENAAH

2102

‘The Hittites’

; Sayce The

Hittites

(‘88)

Wright

The

the

14.

Literature.

Jensen,

and articles in

48.

HIVITES,

RV ‘the H

IVITE

’

‘the

Hivvites’

[BAL]), named in the lists of

tribes driven out of Palestine by the b’ne
Israel (Ex. 3 8

also Is.

where, however, Cheyne now holds the reading to be
impossible).

The origin of the name and even its existence (see below) in

the true text have been disputed (see

RITE

Some critics

explain from the Ar.

‘family,’ as if

people who live

Bedawin encampments (see

OVERNMENT

Wellhausen

343)

suggests that the name is

derived from

Eve (on the meaning of which name see A

DAM

36). I t is a t any rate possible that, if the reading

is correct, the early interpreters in the

were

right in connecting it with

16464,

etc.), and that

were originally the Snake’

clan

(so, doubtfully, Moore,

In Gen.

Ch.

B om.,

[L])

the

Hivites are reckoned among the sons of Canaan. Moore

thinks they were a petty people of Central

Palestine

(Judges,

79);

so,

the

textual and critical difficulties in passages which would
otherwise he

value, render it impossible to fix

upon

their locality.

In Josh.

the Gibeonites are spoken of as Hivites

‘

the Hivites the inhabitants of

om.

cp Bennett,

As we know,

remained for

long time in the possession of

Israelites, but whether they were Hivites, Horites (as

or Amorites (cp

is un-

certain.

may, however, be right in reading Horite

for Hivite in Gen. 34 (see S

HECHEM

ORITE

), and the same emendation is required in

362

(see

ASHEMATH

, Z

IBEON

Another error occurs in Josh.

113,

where the Hittites

must certainly be referred to in the geographical loca-
tion, ‘under Hermon in the land of Mizpah’

the

Hivites (om.

and Hittites,

shows, have acci-

dentally exchanged places (cp Meyer,

1126,

Bu.

Ri.

n., Moore,

see H

ITTITES

4).

again in Judg.

33,

for the Hivites who dwell in

Mt. Lebanon, etc., and who are named after the
Zidonians, we should most probably read Hittites (cp
Moore,

It is difficult to decide whether Hivites

[L])

is correct. The ‘cities of the

Hivites and the Canaanites are enumerated after Zidon

and Tyre, and by adopting the reading Hittites

(so

Pesh.

)

the geographical details will agree substantially

with the above-quoted passages. On the other hand,
the words in question may be a gloss based on the lists
in

Ex.

etc., and it is noteworthy that the Pesh. goes

step further and adds Jebusites.’

HIZKI

Ch. 817 RV, AV H

EZEKI

HIZKIAH

Zeph.

AV, RV H

EZEKIAH

HIZKIJAH

Neh.

AV, RV

See A

TER

HQBAB

son of R

EUEL

Moses’ father-

in-law

(Nu.

1029 Judg. 411 [a gloss? see Moore], and

probably Judg.

[emended text: cp

[A],

he is repre-

sented as

411 as a Kenite.

Elsewhere (except in

Ch.

see

DAB

or Jehonadab, is called the founder

the

Rechabites, and we may doubt (but see R

ECHABITES

)

Read

with Lowth,

Lag. etc. (cp

Cheyne now reads

(see

(in sing.). Vg.

either

corruption from ad

or points to the reading

which

perhaps the more probable alternative.

2101

HODIAH

HODIAH

my glory,’ cp

wife was a sister of

Ch.

however, has the better reading ‘his wife Hodiah’

Thus we see that Hodiah and Ha-Jehudijah are really

the same genealogical person, who is called in v. 19 mother
of

the father of K

EILAH

and E

SHTEMOA

’

and

was the wife of

corrupt form

emendation.

mentioned in lists of priests, teachers, and

Levites, Neh. 8 7 9 5

(om.

in both passages),

Esd.

UTEAS

;

Neh.

[L]). ’ H e is

the same as

(4).

T h e

name a parently recurs in

Esd. 5

under the corrupt form

RV) ;

see

HOGLAH (

‘

partridge,’ 68

[BL],

[AF],

in Josh.

[A]), the third of the

five daughters of Z

ELOPHEHAD

(Nu.

2633

Josh.

Though

place-

name Hoglah is possible (see

yet some

better known name is more probable for a daughter

Perhaps

is a corruption of

e . ,

Abel-meholah.

See

makes Hodiah the brother of Naham.

HOHAM

king

Hebron, defeated by

Joshua (Josh.
ing to Hommel

223

the

is identical

with the

Hauhum.

See H

ORAM

HOLD.

A stronghold

citadel, used especially with

reference to David‘s retreat in the cave

[but see

;

Both words are employed to denote the fortress of Zion

Ch. 11 7), and in a general sense are used of any place

refuge

or safety. See

ORTRESS

(beg.).

T h e legitimacy of the rendering ‘hold for

(AV ‘high places

Judg. 9 46 49 (EV) is not certain.

T h e

rock-hewn or

which the

word

in Nabataean (see

Gloss.,

suitable in

(cp

‘hole ’), but appears less satisfactory

in Judg.

where (unless some underground chamber,

the reputed

god B

AAL

BERITH

be intended)

the rendering ‘tower (as in Sabaean) seems preferable (cp
Moore, ad

See Dr. (Sam.

Moore Eu. ad

and for

cp Earth,

’97, p.

(with lit. kited).

HOLM

TREE.

Is.

om.

;

Theod.,

[in

YPRESS

mentioned in

with the

characteristic paronomasia ‘the

God waiteth with the

sword to cut thee

[Theod.],

see

and Theod.] (cp Theophr.

Hist.

iii.

and Aq. in Gen. 14

the adj.

Aq. in Ezek.

27 5) is intended probably

and

(Houghton). Similarly, a Syriac

gloss

Low,

treats it as a species

of oak

T h e

however, may be corrupt.

HOLOFERNES

[Syr.]), the name given to the Assyrian general in the
legendary book of Judith.

The name, also pronounced

Orofernes, was borne by two Cappadocian princes, the
one,

young

son

of Ariamnes, and the other a son of

the daughter of Antiochus the Great, and, at

one time, the friend of Demetrius

The latter has

been identified with Holoferues by Ewald

and

independently by

Hicks

Ball, however, prefers to identify him with

Nicanor the Syrian general overcome by Judas the
Maccabee, and Gaster with Scaurus, the general

by Pompey into Syria

According to Winckler

I f the termination is genuine we may compare Artaphernes

Dataphernes, Tissaphernes, and

two

Median princes of the

of Esar-haddon, viz.

and

Ball,

ad Zoc

and cp the Syr. form

See

OOK OF,

and

Willrich,

HONEY

HOLON

town in the hill-country

Judah, assigned to

the Levites (Josh.

[B].

[L]).

,It

mentioned between

and Giloh. The site

unknown.

658

(43)

ILEN

[B],

[A],

[L]),

for which there is a

Hilez

the Soncino edition of the Prophets).

According to Klo. in

(see

ALLEY

Possibly, too,

intended

)

= Holon.

in Judith 154

;

see C

OLA

town of Moah Jer.

HOLY

Ex.

1 9 6 ;

HOLINESS

Ex.

See C

LEAN

HOLY

GHOST

Mt.

See

PIRIT

, and cp P

ARACLETE

ENTECOST

PIRITUAL

IFTS

HOMAM

Ch.

139.

HONEY

same order of root letters in

Aram. and

Ar.

Ass.

honey,’

‘ a sweet drink’

The word

has three

distinct senses :

(

)

the honey of the wild bee,

the

honey

the domesticated hee, and ( 3 ) manufactured

honey,

syrup, the

of modern Syria.

In the sense of ‘wild honey’ the word is

frequent occurrence.

Honey out of the rock’ is

mentioned in Dt.

and Ps.

and Canaan

even described, and

similarly Goshen

as a land

flowing with milk and honey’

(Ex. 3 8

passim;

Dt.

Jer.

Theories attaching either

of the two other significations to the term

used in this phrase, have no adequate justification.
It was, further, the honey of the wild bee which Sam-

son

found in the carcase of the lion (Judg.

;

see

), and of which Jonathan partook

(

by dipping his staff into the honey-comb
cp Cant.

51)

and wild honey

was the

fare of John the Baptist

(Mk.

Mt.

4).

There is no direct reference to domestic bee-

keeping in the

(see

Nevertheless, it

would be strange, in view of the antiquity of the
domestication of the bee in the East

( A m . Tab.

speaks of honey and oil in Syria), if the Hebrews were

I n E V invariably

‘honey,’ except in

Ch.

where

has dates.

I n the latter passage Lag.,

Gr.,

We., Che. read, ‘With

droppings

for

honey’; note the parallelism.

[The phrase ‘ a land flowing

with milk and honey’ is

more poetical than its context seems to justify.

It was already

conventional

the time of J E .

is a reasonable supposi-

tion that it comes from ancient poetry; and, since ancient
poetry is always tinged with mythology, it is not improbable
that the phrase in question had a mythological origin. I f it
were

we should not doubt it. But the more sober

Semitic mythology does not appear to have spoken of the sun
a s a cow and the moon as a bee (Goldziher

Mythology

Nor was it imagined

the

that the Milk;

Way was specially the abode of the Sun-gad (as

the Egyptians

Maspero,

Probably the phrase alludes to

the idealised past of human history. In the time of

Manetho (Muller,

Hist. Gv. 2

the Nile

flowed with honey for fifteen days.

So,

Hebrew Golden

it may have been said, with perfect sincerity, that the land

I t is to such a myth that a n

Assyrian poet may allude, when he wishes for his king, besides
the protection of the Sun-god and the Moon-god that God may
cause to flow into his channels

‘honey (and)

curdled

Del., G.

Gee.).

See

flowed with milk and honey.

T. K.

The text

and

here admitted to he corrupt.

According to We

should

run ‘and there was

honeycomb on

field.’ ‘This is

best

that can be done’ (H. P. Smith). But how is

be accounted for? The continuation is,

caah

omits caah

as a bad gloss

and corrects

into

with this

result (which he too boldly adppts), ‘Now

district

was occupied with bee-keeping.

[But

may have come

in in a corrupt

from the transliterated Heb. column of a

Hexaplar text and have represented

HONEY

HOOK

acquainted only with wild honey,

this be

reconciled with the mention

honey as well as other

products of cultivation in

Ch.

Apiculture is first mentioned by Philo, who says that the

Essenes were fond of it

ed. Maugey). I n the Mishna

references to it abound. T h e hive

was either of straw

or of wicker

doubtless plastered over, as a t

the present day, to keep out the excessive heat (see description

.of modern hives under B

). T h e technical term for removing

the combs when filled was

(lit. to scrape, see Levy

with quotation from Rashi see also Moore’s note

on Judg.

1 4 9

where alone in O T the word occurs). The

it would

were first stupefied by the smoke of charcoal and dung

kindled in front of the hive on the

(see

Surenhusius, with Maimonides’ commentary).

When the

were removed in this way, a t least two had

he left in the hive a s food for the bees during winter

5 3).

3. In later Hebrew certainly, and in the O T possibly,

is also used to denote certain artificial prepara-

tions made from the juice of various

by inspissation,

like the modern

Reference has already been

-made to the theory that the honey’ with which the
land of Canaan was said

flow

’

was this inspissated

:syrup; it has also been held that at least the honey

intended for transport (Gen.

and export

17)

must be

understood.

The former view

to the latter, if Cheyne’s emendation

.of

Ezek.

be accepted (see

no objection

need be offered. Stade

(Gesch.

true,

thinks that grape-syrup was unnecessary in the land

which flowed with milk and honey.’ The early inhabit-
ants of Canaan, however, as Bliss appears to have shown,
were certainly acquainted with this manufacture.

His

excavations at Tell el-Hesy (Lachish) revealed t w o
wine-presses, with apparatus (as he judged) for boiling

the filtered juice (inspissation) into grape syrup.’

The first unmistakable Jewish reference to it is in Josephus

(the date-syrup of Jericho; see

ALM

REE

);

Tg.

Dt.

88)

also mentions it. I n the Mishna it is called

and we may infer that in the Mishnic period dates were

the chief source of the manufacture. Since the spread of Islam,
which forbids

the grapes of Syria have been

mainly diverted to the

The pure grape

juice is drawn off into a stone

vat

(see description of press under

INE

), and allowed to settle, after which

is conveyed to a

large copper cauldron

Pro-

etc.,

three

’in the win;-press

close a t hand (cp Bliss’s illustration, above). After

the juice has

for a short time it is returned to the vat

which in the interval has been thoroughly cleaned and allowed

t o

cool. The process of boiling and cooling is repeated, after

which the juice is boiled for the third and last time, the yellow

syrup

constantly stirred and lifted u p by means of a large

erforated wooden spoon with a long handle (the

T h e boiling is a n affair of much skill, and

every village with large vineyards has several experts, who

.superintend the process and from the colour consistency and

manner of boiling

moment

the

completed. T h e inspissated syru is now hurriedly

t o a

clean stone cistern within the

and allowed to cool

before being put into vessels for conveyance to the owner’s
house.

‘ T h e final stage of the process is to beat

with

stick and draw it out to make it of a firmer consistency, and

somewhat lighter in colour. I t is of a dark golden
like ma le molasses, and its taste is intensely sweet like honey

Mackie,

to whom the writer is indebted

for most of the above details). Both Greeks and Romans were
alike familiar with this process of inspissation, the products
being variously known a s

The first three, according to Pliny, were prepared

boiling

down the must to one-third its bulk, ‘when must is boiled down

to one-half only, we give it the name of
Burckhardt also states that three

of grapes

a r e

calculated to yield a hundredweight of

Wellstedt

found the

using the pods of the caroh-tree (cp H

USKS

)

for the manufacture of

practice still followed in Syria (Post,

Flora,

Among ‘the principal things for the whole use of

man’s life’ Ben

fitly assigns

place to honey

It was ‘eaten alone

a delicacy,

by Samson and Jonathan (cp

also

and

as a

relish with other

‘ A

piece of broiled fish and of an

articles of food.

Bliss,

Cities, 69-71,

with diagram.

honeycomb ( d a b

was

doubtless

familiar combination, although absent from the best

MSS

of Lk.

(and RV). But curdled milk and

honey alone

(EV

‘butter and honey’ Is.

7 1 5 2 2 )

was

very poor diet (see M

ILK

). It was as a sweetener of

food that, before the introduction of sugar, honey was
everywhere in demand

the bee is little, but her fruit

is the chief of sweet things (Ecclus.

3).

In particular

it was used for all sorts of sweet cakes

(Ex.

Document Outline

Title
Key to Signatures in Volume II
Maps in Volume II
Contributors to Volume II
Eagle - Eglath-Shelishiyah
Eglon - Egypt
Egypt, River of - Enos
En-Rimmon - Essau
Eschatology
Esdraelon - Evil-Merodach
Exact - Ezra-Nehemiah
Ezra, the Greek - Flint
Flock, Tower of the - Gaius
Galatia - Gallery
Galley - Geography
Geography - Gilgal
Giloh - Goshen
Gospels part 1
Gospels part 2
Gospels part 3
Gotholias - Hamu or Hami, names with
Hamuel - Heath
Heathen - Hermon
Hermonites - Hippopotamus
Hirah - Horonaim
Horonite - Inn
Inscriptions - Isle, Island
Israel
Issachar - Javan
Javelin - Jeremiah (book)
Jeremiah, Epistle of - Jerusalem
Jerusalem - Job (book)
Jobab - John, Son of Zebedee
Joiada - Jotham
Jozabad - Kedesh
Kedeshah - Kushaiah

Encyclopedia Biblica Vol 2 Hirah Horonaim

Document Outline