HIVITES (hr vites), (Hebrew always in the form htzkh-iv-vee',"the llivite").
One of thc nations of Canaan, which occu pied Palestine before the Israelites (Gen. x :17; t Citron. i :15; Exod. iii :8, 17; xxiii :23 ; Josh. iii: to). They occupied the northern and northeast ern part of the country. In Judg. iii :3, it is stated that 'the Hivites dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Ham ath ;' and in Josh. xi :3, the Hivites are described as living 'under Hermon in thc land of Mizpeh.' The 'cities of the Hivites' are mentioned in 2 Sam. xxiv :7, and, from being associated with Sidon and Tyre, must have been in the northwest. A rem nant of the nation still existed in the time of Solo mon, who subjected them to a tribute of personal labor, with the remnants of other Canaannish na tions which thc Israelites had been unable to ex pel 0 Kings ix :20). A colony of this tribe was also found in Northern Palestine, occupying the towns of Gideon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kir jath-jearim ; and these obtained from Joshua a treaty of pcace by stratagem (Josh. ix :3-17; xi:
19)• The Hivite form of government is not described, but the mention of "our elders and all the in habitants of our country" (Josh. ix :it ) certainly indicates one in which the people had consider able voice, since the sending of an embassy of unconditional peace is one of the highest acts of sovereignty. So Hamar and Shechem "com muned with the men of their city" (Gen. xxxiv 2o-24), and reasoned, but did not attempt to com mand.
The scarcity of Ilivite names prevents our judg ing of their language; but it was in 'all probability like that of the other Canaanite tribes, quite near the Hebrew. It is not probable that they were the sante with the KADMOXITES (which see), since these, as their name implies, are more likely to have been "children of the East," Bene-kedem; nor with the Avim, since these had been destroyed hy the Caphtorint (Rev. NV. Haskell, Barnes' Bib. Diet.)