Within the Hebrew Bible, Hivites are often listed among the inhabitants of
Canaan, promised to the descendants of Abraham. , in the
Masoretic Text, mentions that one of
Esau's wives was "
Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of
Zibeon the Hivite" who is also described as "of the daughters of
Canaan". However, textual evidence from the Septuagint and Genesis 36:20 suggest that Zibeon was originally referred to not as a Hivite, but a Horite. The
Book of Joshua claims that Hivites were one of seven groups living in the land of Canaan when the
Israelites under
Joshua commenced their conquest of the land (). These seven nations were to be exterminated:
Hittites,
Girgashites,
Amorites, Canaanites,
Perizzites, Hivites and
Jebusites. In , Joshua enslaved the Hivites of
Gibeon to be wood gatherers and water carriers for the Temple of
YHWH (see
Nethinim). The Bible records that
David's
census included Hivite cities. During the reign of
Solomon, they are described as part of the slave labor for his many building projects. It is not clear if, when or how they ceased to be a separate group before the Israelite kingdoms came to an end. Medieval Jewish exegetes like
Nachmanides and
Radak have suggested that the Hivvites are the same as the
Rephaim, which explains why the two names never appear together in Biblical lists of Canaanite tribes. Nonetheless, this assumption has been question by later scholars. Others have argued that the Rephaim were not strictly Canaanite, but their land was nonetheless
promised to
Abraham. == See also ==