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Bible Encyclopedias
Hill
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
or is the rendering of the following original words in the Auth. Vers. of the Bible. (See PALESTINE).
1. Gib'ah,', גַּבְעָה, from a root akin to גָּבִע, to be high, which seems to have the force of curvature or humpishness. A word involving this idea is peculiarly applicable to the rounded hills of Palestine, and from it are derived, as has been pointed out under GIBEAH, the names of several places situated on hills. Our translators have been consistent in rendering gib'ah by "hill:" in four passages only qualifying it as "little hill," doubtless for the more complete antithesis to "mountain" (Psalms 65:12; Psalms 72:3; Psalms 114:4; Psalms 114:6). (See TOPOGRAPHICAL TERMS).
2. But they have also employed the same English word for the very different term bar, הִר, which has a much more extended sense than gib'ah, meaning a whole district rather than an individual eminence, and to which our word "mountain" answers with tolerable accuracy. This exchange is always undesirable, but it sometimes occurs so as to confuse the meaning of a passage where it is desirable that the topography should be unmistakable. For instance, in Ezekiel 24:4, the "hill" is the same which is elsewhere in the same chapter (Ezekiel 24:12-13; Ezekiel 24:18, etc.) and book consistently and accurately rendered "mount" and "mountain." In Numbers 14:44-45, the "hill" is the "mountain" of Numbers 14:40, as also in Deuteronomy 1:41; Deuteronomy 1:43, compared with Deuteronomy 1:24; Deuteronomy 1:44. In Joshua 15:9, the allusion is to the Mount of Olives, correctly called "mountain" in the preceding verse; and so also in 2 Samuel 16:13. The country of the "hills," in Deuteronomy 1:7; Joshua 9:1; Joshua 10:40; Joshua 11:16, is the elevated district of Judah, Benjamin, and Ephraim, which is correctly called "the mountain" in the earliest descriptions of Palestine (Numbers 13:29), and in many subsequent passages. The "holy hill" (Psalms 3:4), the "hill of Jehovah" (Psalms 24:3), the "hill of God" (Psalms 68:15). are nothing else than "Mount Zion." In 2 Kings 1:9; 2 Kings 4:27, the use of the word "hill" obscures the allusion to Carmel, which in other passages of the life of the prophet (e.g. 1 Kings 18:19; 2 Kings 4:25) has the term "mount" correctly attached to it. Other places in the historical books in which the same substitution weakens the force of the narrative are as follows: Genesis 7:19; Deuteronomy 8:7; Joshua 13:6; Joshua 18:13-14; Judges 16:3; 1 Samuel 23:14; 1 Samuel 25:20; 1 Samuel 26:13; 2 Samuel 13:34; 1 Kings 20:23; 1 Kings 20:28; 1 Kings 22:17, etc. (See MOUNTAIN).
3. On one occasion the word ma'aleh', מִעֲלֶה, is rendered "hill," viz. 1 Samuel 9:11, where it would be better to employ "ascent," or some similar term. (See MAALEH).
4. In the N.T. the word "hill" is employed to render the Greek word βουνός ; but on one occasion it is used for ὄρος, elsewhere "mountain," so as to obscure the connection between the two parts of the same narrative. The "hill" from which Jesus was coming down in Luke 9:36, is the same as "the mountain" into which he had gone for his transfiguration the day before (comp. Luke 9:28). In Matthew 5:14, and Luke 4:29, ὄρος is also rendered "hill," but not with the inconvenience just noticed. In Luke 1:39, the "hill country" (ἡ ὀρεινή ) is the same "mountain of Judah" to which frequent reference is made in the Old Testament. (See JUDAH, TRIBE OF).
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McClintock, John. Strong, James. Entry for 'Hill'. Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tce/h/hill.html. Harper & Brothers. New York. 1870.
