In the settlement of the tribes of Israel, after the conquest
of Canaan, Caleb, one of the heroes of Judah, "took possession
of the territory round the famous old city of Hebron, and
thereby gained for his tribe a seat held sacred from
Patriarchal times. … Beginning with Hebron, he acquired for
himself a considerable territory, which even in David's time
was named simply Caleb, and was distinguished from the rest of
Judah as a peculiar district. … Hebron remained till after
David's time celebrated as the main seat and central point of
the entire tribe, around which it is evident that all the rest
of Judah gradually clustered in good order."
_H. Ewald,
History of Israel,
book 2, section 3, A._
"Hebron was a Hittite city, the centre of an ancient
civilization, which to some extent had been inherited by the
tribe of Judah. It was undoubtedly the capital of Judah, a
city of the highest religious character full of recollections
and traditions. It could boast of fine public buildings, good
water, and a vast and well-kept pool. The unification of
Israel had just been accomplished there. It was only natural
that Hebron should become the capital of the new kingdom [of
David]. … It is not easy to say what induced David to leave
a city which had such ancient and evident claims for a hamlet
like Jebus [Jerusalem], which did not yet belong to him. It is
probable that he found Hebron too exclusively Judahite."
_E. Renan,
History of the People of Israel,
book 2, chapter 18._
See, also, ZOAN;
and JEWS: THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL IN EGYPT.
HECANA, Kingdom of.
One of the small, short-lived kingdoms of the Angles in early
England, its territory was in modern Herefordshire.
_N. Stubbs,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 7, section 70._
See ENGLAND: A. D. 547-633.