HIEREEL
The
water
is
strongly
impregnated
with
alum,
and
the
calcareous
deposit
wliich
it
forms
explains
the
modern
name
Pamlmk-Kalessi
(Cotton
Castle).
Another
sacred
attribute
of
the
city
was
a
hole,
about
the
circumference
of
a
man's
body,
from
which
noxious
vapours
issued:
Strabo
(in
the
time
of
Augustus)
had
seen
sparrows
stifled
by
them.
The
city
owed
all
its
importance
in
NT
times
to
its
religious
character.
It
had
not
been
■visited
by
St.
Paul,
but
derived
its
Christianity
from
his
influence
(cf.
Ac
19'»
and
Col.).
Legend
declares
that
the
Apostles
Philip
and
John
preached
there,
and
this
appears
trustworthy.
The
fight
between
native
superstition
and
the
enlightenment
brought
by
Chris-tianity
must
have
been
very
bitter.
The
city
remained
important
throughout
the
Empire,
and
was
the
birth-place
of
Epictetus,
the
Stoic.
A.
Souteb.
HIEBEEL
(1
Es
92>)
=
Jeliiel
of
Ezr
10".
HIEBEMOTH.—
1.
1
Es
9"
=
Ezr
10i»
Jeremoth.
2
1
Es
9"'=Ezr
10"
Jeremoth
(RVm
'and
Ramoth').
HIEBMAS
(Es
9zs)=Ezr
10»
Bamiah.
HIEBONYUTTS.
—
A
Syrian
officer
in
command
of
a
district
of
Pal.
under
Antiochus
v.
Eupator,
who
harassed
the
Jews
after
the
withdrawal
of
Lysias
in
B.C.
165
(2
Mac
12^).
HIGGAION.—
See
Psalms
(Titles).
HIGH
PLACE,
SANCTXJABY.-Theterm
'sanctuary'
is
used
by
modern
students
of
Semitic
religion
in
two
senses,
a
wider
and
a
narrower.
On
the
one
hand,
it
may
denote,
as
the
etymology
suggests,
any
'holy
place,'
the
sacredness
of
which
is
derived
from
its
association
with
the
presence
of
a
deity.
In
the
narrower
sense
'
sanctuary
'
is
used
of
every
recognized
place
of
worship,
provided
with
an
altar
and
other
apparatus
of
the
cult,
the
special
designation
of
wiiich
in
OT
is
bamah,
EV
'
high
place.'
In
this
latter
sense
'sanctuary'
and
'high
place'
are
used
synonymously
in
the
older
pro-phetic
literature,
as
in
Am
7'
'the
high
places
of
Isaac
shall
be
desolate,
and
the
sanctuaries
of
Israel
shall
be
laid
waste.'
1.
In
the
wider
sense
of
'sanctuary,'
as
above
defined,
any
arbitrarily
chosen
spot
may
become
a
holy
place,
if
tradition
associates
it
with
a
theophany,
or
visible
manifestation
of
a
Divine
being.
Such,
indeed,
was
the
origin
of
the
most
famous
of
the
world's
sanctuaries
(see
2
S
24is8).
On
the
other
hand,
certain
objects
of
nature
—
springs
and
rivers,
trees,
rocks
and,
in
particular,
mountains
—
have
been
regarded
with
special
reverence
by
many
primitive
peoples
as
'
the
homes
or
haunts
of
the
gods.'
Thus
the
beUef
in
the
pecuhar
sacredness
of
springs
and
wells
of
'living
water'
is
one
that
has
survived
to
our
own
day,
even
among
advanced
races.
It
was
to
this
belief
that
the
ancient
sanctuary
of
Beer-sheba
(which
see)
owed
its
origin.
A
similar
belief
in
sacred
trees
as
the
abode
of
superhuman
spirits
or
numirm
has
been
scarcely
less
tenacious.
The
holy
places
which
figure
so
conspicuously
in
the
stories
of
the
patriarchs
are
in
many
cases
tree-sanctuaries
of
immemorial
antiquity,
such
as
'
the
terebinth
of
Moreh,'
at
Shechem,
under
which
Abram
is
said
to
have
built
his
first
altar
in
Canaan
(Gn
12"-;
cf.
IS's).
More
sympathetic
to
the
modern
mind
is
the
choice
of
mountains
and
liills
as
holy
places.
On
mountain-tops,
men,
from
remote
ages,
have
felt
themselves
nearer
to
the
Divine
beings
with
whom
they
sought
to
hold
converse
(cf.
Ps
121').
From
OT
the
names
of
Horeb
(or
Sinai),
the
'mountain
of
God'
(Ex
3'),
of
Ebal
and
Gerizim,
of
Carmel
and
Tabor
(Hos
5'),
at
once
suggest
themselves
as
sanctuaries
where
the
Hebrews
worsiiipped
their
God.
2.
From
these
natural
sanctuaries,
which
are
by
no
means
peculiar
to
the
Hebrews
or
even
to
the
Semitic
family,
we
may
now
pass
to
a
fuller
discussion
of
the
local
sanctuaries
or
'high
places,'
which
were
the
recognized
places
of
worship
in
Israel
until
near
the
HIGH
PLACE,
SANCTUARY
close
of
the
seventh
century
b.c.
Whatever
may
be
the
precise
etymological
significance
of
the
term
bamah
(plur.
bamBth),
there
can
be
no
doubt
that
'high
place'
is
a
sufficiently
accurate
rendering.
Repeatedly
in
OT
the
worshippers
are
said
to
'go
up'
to,
and
to
'come
down'
from,
the
high
places.
The
normal
situation
of
a
high
place
relative
to
the
city
whose
sanctuary
It
was
Is
very
clearly
brought
out
in
the
account
of
the
meeting
of
Samuel
and
Saul
at
Ramah
(1
S
gi'-ss).
It
is
important,
however,
to
note
that
a
local
sanctuary,
even
when
it
bore
the
name
bamdh,
might
be,
and
pre-sumably
often
was,
mfftin
the
city,
and
was
not
necessarily
situated
on
a
height.
Thus
Jeremiah
speaks
of
'high
places'
(bameth)
in
the
valley
of
Topheth
at
Jerusalem
(7"
19i>
BV;
cf.
Ezk
6=),
and
the
high
place,
as
we
must
call
it,
of
the
city
of
Gezer,
presently
to
be
de-scribed,
lay
in
the
depression
between
the
two
hills
on
which
the
city
was
built.
With
tew
exceptions
the
high
places
of
OT
are
much
older,
as
places
of
worship,
than
the
Hebrew
conquest.
Of
tills
the
Hebrews
in
later
times
were
well
aware,
as
is
shown
by
the
endeavour
on
the
part
of
the
popular
tradition
to
claim
their
own
patriarchs
as
the
founders
of
the
more
famous
sanctuaries.
Prominent
among
these
was
the
'
king's
sanctuary'
(Am
7"
RV)
at
Bethel,
with
its
companion
sanctuary
at
Dan;
scarcely
less
important
were
those
of
Gilgal
and
Beersheba,
and
'the
great
high
place'
at
Gibeon
(1
K
3').
In
the
period
of
the
Judges
the
chief
sanctuary
in
Ephraim
was
that
consecrated
by
the
presence
of
the
ark
at
Shiloh
(Jg
21",
1
S
1'
etc.),
which
was
succeeded
by
the
sanctuary
at
Nob
(1
S
21').
But
while
these
and
others
attracted
worshippers
from
near
and
far
at
the
time
of
the
great
festivals,
it
may
safely
be
assumed
that
every
village
throughout
the
land
had,
like
Ramah,
its
local
bamSh.
3.
In-
taking
over
from
the
Canaanites
the
high
places
at
which
they
worshipped
Baal
and
Astarte,
the
Hebrews
made
little
or
no
change
in
their
appearance
and
appoint-ments.
Our
knowledge
of
the
latter
gleaned
from
OT
has
of
late
years
been
considerably
extended
by
ex-cavations
and
discoveries
in
Palestine.
By
these,
indeed
,
the
liistory
of
some
of
the
'
holy
places
'
of
Canaan
has
been
carried
back
to
the
later
Stone
Age.
Thus
the
excavations
at
Gezer,
Taanach,
and
elsewhere
have
laid
bare
a
series
of
rock
surfaces
fitted
with
cup-marks,
which
surely
can
have
been
intended
only
for
the
reception
of
sacrificial
blood.
The
sanctuary
of
the
Gezer
cave-dwellers
measures
90
by
80
feet,
and
'the
whole
surface
is
covered
with
cup-marks
and
hollows
ranging
from
a
few
inches
to
5
or
6
feet
in
diameter.'
From
one
part
of
this
primitive
altar
—
a
similar
arrange-ment
was
found
at
Taanach
—
a
shoot
or
channel
had
been
constructed
in
the
rock
for
the
purpose
of
con-veying
part
of
the
blood
to
a
cave
beneath
the
rock,
in
which
was
found
a
large
quantity
of
the
bones
of
pigs
(.PEFSt,
1903,
317
£E.;
1904,
1
12
f.;
Vincent,
Canaan
d'ajrris
V
exploration
recente,
1907,
92
fl.).
This
cave
was
evidently
regarded
as
the
abode
of
chthonic
or
earth
deities.
The
excavations
at
Gezer
have
also
furnished
us
with
by
far
the
most
complete
example
of
a
liigh
place
of
the
Semitic
invaders
who
took
possession
of
the
country
about
the
middle
of
the
third
millennium
B.C.,
and
whose
descendants,
variously
named
Canaanites
and
Amorites,
were
in
turn
partly
displaced
by,
partly
incorporated
with,
the
Hebrews.
The
high
place
of
Gezer
consists
of
a
level
platform
about
33
yards
in
length,
lying
north
and
south
across
the
middle
of
the
tell.
Its
most
characteristic
feature
is
a
row
of
standing
stones,
the
pillars
or
mazzlbahs
of
OT,
of
which
eight
are
still
in
situ.
They
range
in
height
from
5
ft.
5
in.
to
10
ft.
6
in.,
and
are
all
'
unhewn
blocks,
simply
set
on
end,
supported
at
the
base
by
smaller
stones.'
The
second
and
smallest
of
the
series
is
regarded
by
Mr.
Macalister
as
the
oldest
and
most
sacred,
inasmuch
as
