also noted for the deep booming or pumping sound they make by expelling air from their gullets, the head and neck being violently contorted at the same time.

The egrets are among the most graceful and beautiful birds of the heron family, often having pure white plumage. Somewhat larger than other herons, with a length of up to four feet (1.2 meters), egrets are common in Palestine and are frequently found in association with grazing cattle, feeding on available insects.

HESED

(Heʹsed) [loving-kindness, or, loyal love].

An Israelite whose son was one of Solomon’s twelve deputies, each being responsible to provide the king and his household with food one month in the year.—1 Ki. 4:7, 10.

HESHBON

(Heshʹbon) [intelligence; stronghold].

A place identified with modern Hesban, a ruined city situated about 15.5 miles (c. 25 kilometers) E of the Jordan River at a point almost parallel with the N coast of the Dead Sea. It lies nearly midway between the Arnon and Jabbok Rivers. (Josh. 12:2) The ruins of Heshbon, occupying two hills, date primarily from Roman times. A large ruined reservoir is located a short distance to the E of Heshbon, and about 600 feet (c. 183 meters) below the city there is a fountain that has formed a succession of pools.—Compare Song of Solomon 7:4; see BATH-RABBIM.

The Amorite king Sihon captured Heshbon from the Moabites and made it his royal residence. The Moabite defeat even provided the basis for a taunting proverbial saying, either of Amorite or Israelite origin. In the event this saying stemmed from the Amorites, it mocked the Moabites and memorialized King Sihon’s victory. But, if originating with the Israelites, it signified that just as Sihon had wrested Heshbon from the Moabites, so Israel would take this and other cities from the Amorites. The taunt would then be that the victory of Sihon paved the way for the Israelites to take possession of land to which they would otherwise not have been entitled.—Num. 21:26-30; Deut. 2:9.

When King Sihon refused to allow the Israelites under Moses to pass peacefully through his land and prepared to battle against them, Jehovah gave his people the victory over Sihon. Amorite cities, undoubtedly including Heshbon, were devoted to destruction. (Deut. 2:26-36; 3:6; 29:7; Judg. 11:19-22) Afterward the Reubenites rebuilt Heshbon (Num. 32:37), it being included among the cities that Moses gave to them. (Josh. 13:15-17) As a border city between Reuben and Gad, Heshbon later became a part of Gad’s territory and is named as one of the four Gadite cities assigned to the Levities.—Josh. 21:38, 39; 1 Chron. 6:77, 80, 81.

At a later period Heshbon evidently came under Moabite control, as indicated by the fact that both Isaiah and Jeremiah mention it in their pronouncements of doom against Moab. (Isa. 15:4; 16:7-9; Jer. 48:2, 34, 45) Jeremiah also refers to this city in a pronouncement against Ammon. (Jer. 49:1, 3) Some commentators understand this to indicate that Heshbon had by then come into Ammonite hands. Others suggest that this may mean either that Heshbon of Moab would share the same fate as Ai or that a different Heshbon in the territory of Ammon is intended.

According to the Jewish historian Josephus, Heshbon was in the possession of the Jews in the time of Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 B.C.E.). (Antiquities of the Jews, Book XIII, chap. XV, par. 4) Later, Herod the Great had jurisdiction over the city.—Antiquities of the Jews, Book XV, chap. VIII, par. 5.

HESHMON

(Heshʹmon) [possibly, fruitfulness].

A city in the southern part of Judah (Josh. 15:21, 27), the location of which is now unknown.

HESHVAN

See CALENDAR.

HETH

[perhaps, terror, dread].

The second-listed son of Canaan and great-grandson of Noah through Ham. (Gen. 10:1, 6, 15; 1 Chron. 1:13) Heth was ancestral father of the Hittites (1 Ki. 10:29; 2 Ki. 7:6; see HITTITES), one branch of which settled in the hill country of Judah. (Ex. 3:8) It was in the vicinity of Hebron that Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite the field of Machpelah, and the cave therein, as a burial place. (Gen. 23:2-20; 25:8-10; 49:32) Of its fourteen occurrences, the name Heth appears ten times in connection with the “sons of Heth.” Two of Esau’s wives were from among the “daughters of Heth” (also called “daughters of Canaan”), these wives being a source of grief to his parents.—Gen. 26:34, 35; 27:46; 28:1, 6-8.

HETHLON

(Hethʹlon).

A site, the approach to which lay on the northern border of the land of Israel, as seen in Ezekiel’s vision. (Ezek. 47:13, 15; 48:1) Some geographers tentatively identify Hethlon with modern-day Heitela, about twenty miles (32.2 kilometers) NE of Tripoli.

HEZEKIAH

(Hez·e·kiʹah) [Jehovah has strengthened].

1. King of Judah, 745-716 B.C.E. He apparently became king when his father Ahaz died, in the “third year of Hoshea” king of Israel (perhaps meaning Hoshea’s third year as tributary king under Tiglath-pileser III), counting his reign officially from Nisan of the following year (745 B.C.E.). (2 Ki. 18:1; see CHRONOLOGY, Chart of Kings and Prophets.) Prophets contemporary with Hezekiah’s reign were Isaiah, Hosea and Micah. (Isa. 1:1; Hos. 1:1; Mic. 1:1) Hezekiah was outstanding as a king who “kept sticking to Jehovah,” doing what was right in Jehovah’s eyes and following his commandments. From the beginning of his reign he proved himself zealous for the promotion of true worship, not only in Judah, but in all the territory of Israel. In following the ways of Jehovah as David his forefather had done, it could be said of Hezekiah that “after him there proved to be no one like him among all the kings of Judah, even those who had happened to be prior to him.” For this “Jehovah proved to be with him.”—2 Ki. 18:3-7.

LITERARY CONTRIBUTIONS

Hezekiah is also known for his interest in compiling some of the Proverbs of Solomon, as the introduction to the section now known as chapters 25-29 of Proverbs reads: “These also are the proverbs of Solomon that the men of Hezekiah the king of Judah transcribed.” (Prov. 25:1) He wrote the song of thanksgiving recorded at Isaiah 38:10-20 after Jehovah healed him for his deadly sickness. In it he mentions “my string selections.” (Vs. 20) Some believe that Hezekiah wrote Psalm 119. If correct, it would seem that this Psalm was written when Hezekiah was a prince, not yet the king.

SITUATION AT HEZEKIAH’S ACCESSION

When Hezekiah came to the throne, the kingdom of Judah was under God’s disfavor, for Hezekiah’s father Ahaz had committed many detestable acts before Jehovah and had let the false worship of pagan gods run unrestrained in Judah. Therefore, Jehovah had permitted the land to suffer at the hands of its enemies, particularly the second world power, Assyria. Ahaz stripped the temple and the palace to provide a bribe for the king of Assyria. Worse yet, he cut up the utensils of the temple, closed its doors, and made altars for himself “at every corner in Jerusalem,” sacrificing to other gods. Ahaz, by an alliance, placed his kingdom under the protection of the king of Assyria during his reign. (2 Ki. 16:7-9; 2 Chron. 28:24, 25) But Hezekiah, early in his reign, “proceeded to rebel against the king of Assyria.”—2 Ki. 18:7.

At Hezekiah’s accession to the throne of Judah, the