Smith's Bible Dictionary

(Frankie) #1

possibly a pan or brazier of charcoal. From this we see that the significance of the Hebrew words
translated hearth is not the same as with us.
Heath
(Jeremiah 17:6) was some species of juniper, probably the savin, a dwarf, stunted juniper which
grows in the most sterile parts of the desert.
Heathen
[Gentiles]
Heaven
There are four Hebrew words thus rendered in the Old Testament which we may briefly notice.
•Raki’a, Authorized Version, firmament. [Firmament]
•Shamayim. This is the word used in the expression “the heaven and the earth,” or “the upper and
lower regions.” (Genesis 1:1)
•Marom, used for heaven in (Psalms 18:16; Isaiah 24:18; Jeremiah 25:30). Properly speaking it
means a mountain as in (Psalms 102:19; Ezekiel 17:23)
•Shechakim, “expanses,” with reference to the extent of heaven. (33:26; Job 35:5) St. Paul’s
expression “third heaven,” (2 Corinthians 12:2) had led to much conjecture. Grotius said that the
Jews divided the heaven into three parts, viz.,
•The air or atmosphere, where clouds gather;
•The firmament, in which the sun, moon and stars are fixed;
•The upper heaven, the abode of God and his angels, the invisible realm of holiness and happiness
the home of the children of God.
Heber
(alliance).
•Grandson of the patriarch Asher, (Genesis 46:17; Numbers 26:45; 1 Chronicles 7:31) from whom
came the Heberites. (Numbers 26:45)
•The patriarch Eber. (Luke 3:35) [Eber]
•The father of Socho; a Judite. (1 Chronicles 4:18)
•A Benjamite. (1 Chronicles 8:17)
•A Benjamite. (1 Chronicles 8:22)
•A Gadite. (1 Chronicles 5:13)
•The husband of Jael, who slew Sisera by driving a nail into his temple. (Judges 4:21,22)
Hebrew
This word first occurs as given to Abram by the Canaanites, (Genesis 4:13) because he had
crossed the Euphrates. The name is also derived from Eber, “beyond, on the other side,” Abraham
and his posterity being called Hebrews in order to express a distinction between the races east and
west of the Euphrates. It may also be derived from Heber, one of the ancestors of Abraham. (Genesis
10:24) The term Israelite was used by the Jews of themselves among themselves; the term Hebrew
was the name by which they were known to foreigners. The latter was accepted by the Jews in their
external relations; and after the general substitution of the word Jew, it still found a place in that
marked and special feature of national contradistinction, the language.
Hebrew Language
The books of the Old Testament are written almost entirely in the Hebrew language. It is a
branch of the Shemitic language, one of the three great divisions into which all languages have

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