H E B
685
II E C
of any figure : 5 1 tsade expresses contiguity and close succession :
(s koph expresses a circuit or ambit: 1 rcsh expresses the egressof any thing, as also the exterior part of a thing, and the extremi-ty or end of any thing) x> shin signifies the number three, or thethird degree, or the utmost perfection of any thing: n tail expressesa sequel, continuation, succession, of any thing. According to thisexplication, as the several particular letters of the Hebrew alphabetseparately signify the ideas of motion, matter, space, and severalmodifications of matter, space, and motion, it follows, that a lan-guage, the words of which are composed of such expressive cha-racters, must necessarily be of all languages the most perfect andexpressive, as the words formed of such letters, according to theirdeterminate separate signification, must convey the idea of all thematters contained in the sense of the several characters, and be atonce a name and a definition, or succinct description of tire subject,and all things material as well as spiritual, all objects in the naturaland moral world, must be known as soon as their names are known,and their separate letters considered. Urim and Thummim are thuseasily explained, and found, perhaps the most apposite and ex-pressive words that were ever formed. See that article.
Hebrew Language, Rabbinical, or the Modern Hebrew ,is the language used by the rabbins in their writings. The basis orbody hereof is the Hebrew and Chaldee, with divers alterations inthe words of these two languages, the meanings whereof they haveconsiderably enlarged and extended. Abundance of things theyhave borrowed from the Arabic : the rest is chiefly composed ofwords and expressions from the Greek; some from the Latin : andothers from the other modern tongues; particularly that spokenin the place where each rabbin lived or wrote. The rabbinicalHebrew must lie allowed to be a very copious language. M. Si-mon, in his Hist. Crit. du Yieux Testam. liv. iii. ch. 27, observes,that there is scarce any art or science but the rabbins have treatedthereof in it. They have translated most of the ancient philoso-phers, mathematicians, astronomers, and physicians; and havewritten themselves on most subjects: they do not want even ora-tors and poets. This language, notwithstanding it is so crowdedwith foreign words, has many beauties in the works of those whohave written well in it.
Hebrews, or Epistle to the Hebrews , a canonical book ofthe New Testament. Though St. Paul did not prefix his namefo this epistle, the concurrent testimony' of the best authors, an-cient and modern, alford such evidence of his being the author ofit, that the objections to the contrary are of little or no weight.11 is mentioning himself in it, as lately a prisoner in Italy , and bispromise to visit the Hebrews, together with Timothy, who hadbeen released from imprisonment, both denote the writer, and thetime of bis writing this epistle, that it was just after the deliveranceof St. Paul from his first trial at Rome. The Hebrews, to whomthis epistle was written, were the believing Jews of Palestine, and itsdesign was to convince them, and, by their means, all the Jewish converts, wheresoever dispersed, of the insufficiency and abolish-ment of the ceremonial and ritual law. In order to which he un-dertakes to shew, first, the superior excellency of Christ’s personabove that of Moses : secondly, the superiority of Christ’s priest-hood above the Levitical: thirdly, the mere figurative nature, andutter insufficiency of the legal ceremonies and sacrifices: anti,fourthly, that to forsake the Mosaicallaw, was not, as the Jews holdly asserted, to apostatize from God , blit was their indispensableduty and obligation. These particulars are intermixed with pro-per inferences and exhortations, all tending to shew the Jewish Christians the unreasonableness, tolly, and danger, ot relapsinginto Judaism .
HEBRIDES, JEBUD.E, or WESTERN ISLANDS , the■general name of some islands, ly ing to the N. W . of Scotland , ofwhich kingdom they constitute a part. '1 hey are situated between55° and 5y° lat. N. are supposed to he about 300 in number, andto contain 48,000 inhabitants. The principal are Skye, Mull,I lay, Arran, St. Kilda, N. and S. List, Cannay, Stafla, Jura,Lew is, and Harris. See these articles.
Hebrides, New, a duster of islands in the Pacific Ocean , sonamed by Captain Cook , who explored the wbole ( luster, and,besides ascertaining the extent and situation of these islands, addedthe knowledge of several others. r l hey extend 375 miles, fromN. N. \Y. to S. S. E. The natives are civil and hospitable-; of a
vol. n.— no. 102.
slender make, and dark colour, and have mostly frizzled hair.The productions are cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, plantains, sugar-canes, yams, &c. The whole cluster consnts of the followingislands; some of which have received names from the differentEuropean navigators, others relain the names which they bearamong the natives; viz. Tierra del Espiritn Santo, Mallicoilo, St.Bartholomew, Isle of Lepers, Aurora, Whitsuntide, Ambrym ,linmer, Apee, Three Hills, Sandwich,- Montagu, Ilinchinbrook,Shepherd, Erromanga, Erronan, Anattom, and Tanna. They aresituated between 16i>°40'and 170° 21' Lon. E. and between 14**25' and 20° 4' Lat. S.
HEBRON, in ancient geography, a city sealed in the hillycountry of the tribe of Judah to the south. Its more ancient-name was Kirjatb-Arba, or Cariath-Arba. In antiquity it viedwith the more ancient cities of Egypt , being seven years prior toZoan, translated Tanis by the LX X. Josephus makes it not onlyolder than 'Pattis, but even than Memphis . Ilebron is twenty-onemiles S. of Bethlehem, and twenty-four S. W. of Jerusalem .
HEBRUS, in ancient geography, the largest river of Thrace ,which rises from mount Scombrus, and falls by two mouths intothe Aegean Sea .
HEllUDAi, IIEBUDES, orrEBUD/E, in ancient geography,islands on the W. of Scotland, now called the Western Isles , andHebrides .
IIECATrEA, [‘ExoAvik,] in antiquity, stalues erected to thegoddess Hecate , who, the Athenians believed, was the overseer oftheir families, and the protectress of their children.
H EC ATE, in the mythology, a name of Diana. She was call-ed Luna in heaven, Diana on earth, and Hecate or Proserpine inhell; whence her name of Diva Triformis, Tcrgemina, Triceps.She was supposed to preside over enchantments. She was gene-rally represented like a woman, with the head of a horse, a dog,or a boar; and sometimes she appeared with three different bodies,and three faces, with one neck.
Hecate , in fabulous history, a queen of Taurica Chersonesus,daughter of Perses and Asteria, who poisoned her father.
IlECATESlA, [‘ExYlena,] in antiquity, an annual solemnityobserved by the Stratonicensians, in honour of Hecate .
IIECA'l'OMB, iu antiquity, was a sacrifice of 100 beasts ofthe same kind, at 100 altars, and by 100 priests or sacrificers. TheGreek word, (xrclcfx/S,,, properly signifies a magnificent sacrifice.Others derive it Iron) (lie Greek txuray, a hundred, and &r, a bul-lock ; others from (Verov and n«r, afoot; on which principle theyhold, that the hecatomb might consist of only twenty-live four-footed beasts; and that it did not matter what kind of beasts werechosen for victims, provided there were but 100 feet. Pythagoras is said to have sacrificed a hecatomb to the Muses of 100 oxen, ingratitude for discovering the demonstration of the forty-seventhproposition of Euclid- Strabo relates that there were 100 cities inLaconia, and that each city used to sacrifice a bullock every yearfor the common safety of the country; whence the institution ofhecatombs. Others refer the origin of hecatombs to a plague, where-with the 100 cities of Peloponnesus were afflicted ; for the removal,whereof, they jointly contributed to do so splendid a sacrifice.
HECATOMB.EON, [‘Ex-ilofA&nwv,] in chronology, the firstmonth of the Athenian year. It consisted of thirty days, and be-gan on the first new moon after the summer-solstice ; answering lothe latter part of June and beginning of July. The Boeotians call-ed it Hippodromes, and the Macedonians Lotis, (a orSee Month. The word is derived from the Greek ix-kG-;, ahecatomb, because of the great number of hecatombs sacrificedin it.
11 EC'ATOMPOLIS, a surname of Crete , from its 100 cities.
J-l ECKLE bee Ei.ax-dkessing, and ILvtchel.
HECEA, a volcano of Iceland , and one of the most furious inthe world, bee Iceland . It was visited in 1772 hv Dr. VanTroil, a Swedish gentleman, along with Mr. (now Sir Joseph)Banks, Dr. Solander, and Dr. James J.ind of Edinburgh . Ontheir first landing they found a tract of land sixty or seventy milesin extent entirely ruined by lava, which appeared to have been inthe highest state of liquefaction. Having undertaken a journey tothe top of the mountain, they travelled from 300 to 3(30 Englishmiles over an uninterrupted tract of lava; and had at length thepleasure of being the first who hatl arrived at the summit of themountain. Ilecla, according to their accounts, is situated in the8 M S. part