4. The high priest in the days of King Josiah; son of Shallum and father of Azariah; apparently a forefather of Ezra the copyist. (2 Ki. 22:3, 4; 1 Chron. 6:13; Ezra 7:1, 2, 6) Hilkiah, as high priest, figured prominently in the restoration of true worship undertaken by Josiah. During the course of the temple repair work, Hilkiah found the very “book of Jehovah’s law by the hand of Moses.” What made the find outstanding was most likely the manuscript’s being the original book written by Moses. Hilkiah gave it to Shaphan the secretary, who took the manuscript to the king. Upon hearing Shaphan read the book, King Josiah dispatched a delegation headed by High Priest Hilkiah to Huldah the prophetess to inquire of Jehovah in his behalf and in behalf of the people.—2 Ki. 22:3-14; 2 Chron. 34:14.

5. Father of Jeremiah the prophet; a priest in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin.—Jer. 1:1.

6. Father of the Gemariah whom King Zedekiah sent along with Elasah to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.—Jer. 29:3.

7. A Levite priest who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel.—Neh. 12:1, 7.

8. One of those standing at Ezra’s right hand on the occasion of his reading the Law to the people.—Neh. 8:2-4.

9. The name of a priestly paternal house in the days of Nehemiah the governor.—Neh. 12:12, 21, 26.

HILL

A natural elevation of earth’s surface, lower than a mountain. The Hebrew word for hill, giv·ʽahʹ, appears to be derived from a root meaning convex, projecting, high. Rounded hills are especially noticeable in Judea, though also found in other parts of Palestine.

On occasion hills served as burial places and places for concealment. (Josh. 24:33; 1 Sam. 23:19; 26:1) Homes and towns were frequently built on them, as was the house of Abinadab where the Ark was kept for some seventy years. (1 Sam. 7:1, 2) It was often on hills that the Israelites, in imitation of the Canaanites, carried on idolatrous worship. (Deut. 12:2; 1 Ki. 14:23; 2 Ki. 17:9, 10; Isa. 65:7; Jer. 2:20; 17:1-3; Ezek. 6:13; 20:28; Hos. 4:13) This explains the prophetic response to the appeal for Israel to return to Jehovah: “Here we are! We have come to you, for you, O Jehovah, are our God. Truly the hills as well as the turmoil on the mountains belong to falsehood.”—Jer. 3:22, 23.

Most appropriately, therefore, both Isaiah and Micah foretold that the “mountain of the house of Jehovah” would become firmly established above the top of the mountains and would be lifted up above the hills. (Isa. 2:2; Mic. 4:1) In sharp contrast with this, those not doing Jehovah’s will at the time of his executional work will “say to the mountains, ‘Cover us!’ and to the hills, ‘Fall over us!’”—Hos. 10:8; Luke 23:30; compare Isaiah 2:19; Revelation 6:16, 17.

In highlighting the greatness of the Almighty, the prophet Isaiah shows that Jehovah can, in effect, ‘weigh the hills in the scales.’ (Isa. 40:12) Even greater permanence is ascribed to God’s loving-kindness and covenant of peace than to the mountains and hills, which are described as “eternal” and “indefinitely lasting.”—Isa. 54:10; Gen. 49:26; Deut. 33:15.

Before undertaking a journey, Eastern rulers would often send out men to prepare the way before them by removing stones, filling up depressions, smoothing out rough places and, at times, even leveling hills. In a figurative sense, the hills were leveled in making possible the unhindered return of the Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem in 537 B.C.E. This was also prophetic of the preparatory work done by John the Baptist before the appearance of the Messiah.—Isa. 40:4; Luke 3:1-6.

HILLEL

(Hilʹlel) [he has praised].

A Pirathonite, an inhabitant of the town of Pirathon in Ephraim. Hillel’s son Abdon judged Israel for eight years.—Judg. 12:13-15.

HIN

A liquid measure (Ex. 30:24; Num. 28:14; Ezek. 45:24; 46:5, 7, 11); also used with reference to the container for measuring a hin. (Lev. 19:36) According to the Jewish historian Josephus, a hin equaled two Athenian choas; a bath equaled seventy-two sextarii. (Antiquities of the Jews, Book III, chap. VIII, par. 3; Book VIII, chap. II, par. 9) Since other sources indicate that two Athenian choas amounted to twelve sextarii, the hin may be reckoned at one-sixth of a bath measure (c. 23.24 quarts; 22 liters) or about 3.87 quarts (3.67 liters). The Scriptures also mention fractions of a hin: a half (c. 1.9 quarts; c. 1.8 liters) (Num. 15:9, 10), a third (c. 1.3 quarts; c. 1.2 liters) (Num. 15:6, 7; Ezek. 46:14), a fourth (c. 1.9 pints; c. .9 liter) (Ex. 29:40; Lev. 23:13; Num. 15:4, 5; 28:5, 7) and a sixth (c. 1.3 pints; c. .6 liter), this last being the daily water ration allowed Ezekiel when depicting the severe condition to come upon Jerusalem under siege.—Ezek. 4:11.

HIND

The female deer or hind is a slender, graceful creature, timid, surefooted and swift. When heavy with young the hinds retire to the recesses of the forest to give birth, and then continue in seclusion, tenderly caring for and protecting the fawns until such time as they can care for themselves.—Job 39:1; Ps. 29:9.

The gentle, graceful hind figures in the vivid imagery of the Bible. (Prov. 5:18, 19; Song of Sol. 2:7; 3:5; see GAZELLE.) Allusion is made to the animal’s swiftness and surefootedness, enabling it to escape from its enemies. (2 Sam. 22:1, 34; Ps. 18:32, 33; Hab. 3:19) Possibly with reference to skillfulness and swiftness in warfare, Jacob prophetically described the tribe of Naphtali as “a slender hind.” (Gen. 49:21) The psalmist, when deprived of free access to the sanctuary, compares his longing for God to the hind’s yearning for water streams. (Ps. 42:1-4) The picture of a hind forsaking her newborn fawn, so contrary to her well-known solicitude for her offspring under normal conditions, indicates the severity of the droughts upon Judah.—Jer. 14:1, 2, 5.

HINNOM, VALLEY OF

[Heb., gehʼ Hin·nomʹ].

Also known as “the valley of the son(s) of Hinnom” and the “Valley,” as in the expression “Valley Gate.” (Josh. 15:8; 2 Ki. 23:10; Neh. 3:13) Possibly called “the low plain of the carcasses and of the fatty ashes” at Jeremiah 31:40. The individual after whom the valley may have been named is unknown, as is also the meaning of the name “Hinnom.” The valley is located on the W and SW of Jerusalem and runs S from the vicinity of the modern Jaffa Gate, turns sharply E at the SW corner of the city and runs along the S to meet the Tyropean and Kidron valleys at a point near the city’s SE corner. At the point just above its convergence with these valleys it widens out. Here was probably the location of Topheth. (2 Ki. 23:10) On the S side of the valley near its E extremity is the traditional site of Akeldama, the “Field of Blood,” the potter’s field purchased with Judas’ thirty pieces of silver. (Matt. 27:3-10; Acts 1:18, 19) Farther up, the valley is quite narrow and deep, with many sepulcher chambers in its terraced cliffs.

The Valley of Hinnom formed a part of the boundary between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, Judah’s territory being to the S, placing Jerusalem in Benjamin’s territory, as outlined at Joshua 15:1, 8; 18:11, 16. The valley is now known as the Wadi er-Rababi.

Apostate King Ahaz of Judah made sacrificial smoke and burned his sons in the fire in this valley. (2 Chron. 28:1-3) His grandson King Manasseh exceeded Ahaz, promoting wickedness on a grand scale, also making “his own sons pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom.” (2 Chron. 33:1, 6, 9) King Josiah, Manasseh’s grandson, put an end to this