Hivites

The Hivites were one of the pre-Israelite peoples of Canaan, listed among the nations to be displaced as Israel settled the land. Descended according to the table of nations from Canaan son of Ham (Genesis 10:17), they occupied the central mountain region and northern territories—from Hermon and Lebanon in the north to Gibeon in the south. The name has been interpreted as meaning wicked or life-giver, though the etymology remains uncertain.

Three significant Hivite encounters shape the biblical narrative. At Shechem, the Hivite prince Hamor (Emmor) negotiated with Jacob's sons for the marriage of Shechem to Dinah, ending catastrophically in the massacre by Simeon and Levi (Genesis 34). The Gibeonites, who deceived Joshua into a peace treaty through their famous ruse of worn-out sandals and moldy bread, were Hivites, and their treaty was honored even at great cost throughout the period of the monarchy. The Hivites of the Lebanon region provided Solomon's labor conscription for temple construction, suggesting a continued Hivite presence in the north well into the monarchic period.