29:9). In the title of Psalm 22, the word probably refers to some tune
bearing that name.
- HINGE (Hebrews tsir), that on which a door revolves. “Doors in the East
turn rather on pivots than on what we term hinges. In Syria, and especially
in the Hauran, there are many ancient doors, consisting of stone slabs with
pivots carved out of the same piece inserted in sockets above and below,
and fixed during the building of the house” (Proverbs 26:14). - HINNOM a deep, narrow ravine separating Mount Zion from the
so-called “Hill of Evil Counsel.” It took its name from “some ancient hero,
the son of Hinnom.” It is first mentioned in Joshua 15:8. It had been the
place where the idolatrous Jews burned their children alive to Moloch and
Baal. A particular part of the valley was called Tophet, or the “fire-stove,”
where the children were burned. After the Exile, in order to show their
abhorrence of the locality, the Jews made this valley the receptacle of the
offal of the city, for the destruction of which a fire was, as is supposed,
kept constantly burning there.
The Jews associated with this valley these two ideas, (1) that of the
sufferings of the victims that had there been sacrificed; and (2) that of filth
and corruption. It became thus to the popular mind a symbol of the abode
of the wicked hereafter. It came to signify hell as the place of the wicked.
“It might be shown by infinite examples that the Jews expressed hell, or
the place of the damned, by this word. The word Gehenna [the Greek
contraction of Hinnom] was never used in the time of Christ in any other
sense than to denote the place of future punishment.” About this fact there
can be no question. In this sense the word is used eleven times in our
Lord’s discourses (Matthew 23:33; Luke 12:5; Matthew 5:22, etc.).
- HIRAM high-born. (1.) Generally “Huram,” one of the sons of Bela (1
Chronicles 8:5).
(2.) Also “Huram” and “Horam,” king of Tyre. He entered into an alliance
with David, and assisted him in building his palace by sending him able
workmen, and also cedar-trees and fir-trees from Lebanon (2 Samuel 5:11;
1 Chronicles 14:1). After the death of David he entered into a similar
alliance with Solomon, and assisted him greatly in building the temple (1
Kings 5:1; 9:11; 2 Chronicles 2:3). He also took part in Solomon’s traffic
to the Eastern Seas (1 Kings 9:27; 10:11; 2 Chronicles 8:18; 9:10).