Hill; Hill Country

HILL, HILL-COUNTRY.—These terms in RV [Note: Revised Version.] represent Heb. (gib’ah, har) and Greek names for either an isolated eminence, or a table-land, or a mountain-range, or a mountainous district. Gib’ah denotes properly ‘the large rounded hills, mostly bare or nearly so, so conspicuous in parts of Palestine, especially in Judah.’ Cf. ‘Gibeah of Saul,’ ‘of Phinehas,’ ‘of the foreskins,’ ‘of Moreh,’ ‘of Hachilah,’ ‘of Ammah,’ ‘of Gareb,’ and ‘of Elohim.’ har is to gib’ah as the genus is to the species, and includes not merely a single mound, but also a range or a district. It is usually applied to Zion. It is especially the description of the central mountainous tract of Palestine reaching from the plain of Jezreel on the N. to the Negeb or dry country in the S.; the Shephçlah or lowlands of the S. W.; the midbar or moorland, and the ’arabah or steppes of the S. E. The best-known har—or hill-country in Palestine is the ‘hill-country of Ephraim,’ but besides this we hear of the ‘hill-country of Judah’ (e.g. in Jos 11:21), the ‘hill-country of Naphtali’ (Jos 20:7), the ‘hill-country of Ammon’ (Deu 2:37), and of Gilead (Deu 3:12). Among the eminences of Palestine as distinct from hill-districts are Zion, the hill of Samaria, the triple-peaked Hermon, Tabor, and Carmel.

W. F. Cobb.

hil´kun-tri: The common translation of three Hebrew words:

(1) גּבעה, gibh‛āh, from root meaning “to be curved,” is almost always translated “hill”; it is a pecuIiarly appropriate designation for the very rounded hills of Palestine; it is never used for a range of mountains. Several times it occurs as a place-name, “Gibeah of Judah” (Jos 15:20, Jos 15:57); “Gibeah of Benjamin” or “Saul” (Jdg 19:12-16, etc.); “Gibeah of Phinehas” (Jos 24:33 margin), etc. (see GIBEAH). Many such hills were used for idolatrous rites (1Ki 14:23; 2Ki 17:10; Jer 2:20, etc.).

(2) הר, har, frequently translated in the King James Version “hill,” is in the Revised Version (British and American) usually translated “mountain” (compare Gen 7:19; Jos 15:9; Jos 18:15 f, and many other references), or “hillcountry.” Thus we have the “hill-country of the Amorites” (Deu 1:7, Deu 1:19, Deu 1:20); the “hill-country of Gilead” (Deu 3:12); the “hill-country of Ephraim” (Jos 17:15, Jos 17:16, Jos 17:18; Jos 19:50; Jos 20:7, etc.); the “hill-country of Judah” (Jos 11:21; Jos 20:7; Jos 21:11; 2Ch 27:4, etc.; and (ἡ ὀρεινή, hē oreinḗ) Luk 1:39, Luk 1:65); the “hill-country of Naphtali” (Jos 20:7). For geographical descriptions see PALESTINE; COUNTRY; EPHRAIM; JUDAH, etc.

(3) עפל, ‛ōphel, is translated by “hill” in 2Ki 5:24; Isa 32:14; Mic 4:8, but may possibly mean “tower” or “fort.” In other passages the word occurs with the article as a place-name. See OPHEL.