HILL
HIRELING
725
pose cannot be frustrated ; and if the invited guests neglect the call, then others who have hitherto been looked down xipon will take their place. The invitation is to all and sundry, which leads Whedon to say, ' The good are not too good to need the gospel, nor the bad so bad as to have no hope if they will accept it.' It was the poor, the outcast, the hopeless that were to be found on the high- ways : blind Bartiniieus (Mk 10'"') shouting, ' Have mercy on nie,' and such as the lepers who stood afar ofl' (Lk 17'') uttering the same miserable cry. See, further, art. Koads. K. Leggat.
HILL In Lk 3= 233" ilpos is distinguished from
^ow6s, which in LXX commonly stands for njjna, and as representing the lesser eminence, is properly rendered ' hill.' Language like that of 23* is used in hyperbole to-day by Easterns, of preparing a highway for royalty through a practically roadless country. In two cases (Mt S", Lk 4-'-') RV retains AV rendering of 6pos, ' hill.' In Lk 9^' RV rightly substitutes 'mountain.' Perhaps we should read ' mountain ' also in Mt 5". There is nothing to show that any particular city was referred to, but if the words were spoken on any height west of the Lake, Safed, with white walls gleaming in the sun, must have been a striking feature in the landscape. It stands literally 'on a mountain,' to the north, nearly 3500 ft. aljove the Sea of Galilee. Ancient Nazareth, however, was built on the slope of a hill to which ' mountain ' could hardly apply.
Hill country (^ dpuvri, Lk P"- ^^). ri dpeivr] is a frequent LXX equivalent of nnri. The use of Heb. nn closely resembles that of Arab, jnbel, which denotes a single height, but also a whole range, as Jebel Libndn ; or a definite part of a range, as Jebel Ndblus — this indicating that portion of ' the mountain' which is under the government of Nablus. This expression and Jebel el-Kuds the present writer has often heard on Palestinian lips, without any sense of vagueness or confusion. ■\nr\ was ' the mountain ' — the central range as dis- tinguished from the plain and the Shephelah on the west, and the 'Arabah on the east. Jebel el- Kiids, 'mountain of Jerusalem,' is perhaps the nearest modern equivalent of i) dpetvii t^s 'louSaias, that part of ' the mountain ' associated with the tribe of Judah. See, further, art. Mountain.
W. EWING.
HINDEANCE.-The life of comnmnion with God and of obedience to His revealed ^^^ll is regarded as the normal state and right relationship of man made in God's image and for His glory. AH defect and deflection from this standard are the result of external and internal hindrances. The world is an environment of hindrances and causes of stumbling (Mt 18'). Such is the pressure of opposing influ- ences that the entrance into life has to be by a narrow gate (7'^). Instances of these outward and inward difficulties are given in the parable of the Sower (13'8-23), and in that of the Tares their final elimination is predicted {v.'*^).
1. The following hindrances are specially em- phasized : (1) prosperity and iimcer (Mt 4*^ 1!)-^ Lk 16»' 18=3) . (2) self-rigJiteousness and the arrcstiiu, effect of an inferior standard (Mt 5=° 6-- ■■• '" S.')^-^ Lk 18»); {3)favu/i/ elaims and thrir diyi/arinr/ power {UtS-^ 10"); (4) initil of fiill, (Mt 14" 17=" 25==, Lk 223=); ,5) yi„dw's,ofhn,it in its jiro- gressive stages of (a) ignorance (Mt Ki'"', Lk 18'" 233», Jn 17=•^ repeated in Ac 3", 1 Co 2"), (b) in- difference (Lk 7^=),— being the interval of apathy and discouragement that succeeds when ideals once regarded as final cease to fill tlie imagination and satisfj- the heart, and institutions once held to be sacred fail to yield the expected results,— (c) inability to discern and feel (Mt 16'' 23-"), and lastly (d) conscious malignity towards the King-
dom of God (Mt 23" 27'8, Mk 7*, Lk 11'=- =2, cf. Ko P=).
2. Comparative moral values are attached to these hindrances (Mt 8'" IP'-^^ 12^'- *=, Mk 12^'"*', Lk V 17'"). Prayer may be offered for their removal (Mt 2639, similarly 2 Co 128).
3, Christ's relationship to the world-spirit is one of coniplcto opposition (Jn W^ IS**). The victory that can be obtained over all biiidranfes makes a .sanctified cross the (miiLIimh (.1 tin- Cliri-tiiin life
(Mtip, Mk 8-«, Lk ll-l. 11. 1> liuNVrr I,, n^.Tcome,
promised to those \\li(. .iluilc iji (luist (.In l.'i'), is referred to in the Kpistli',., us already a veiilied fact in Christian experience (Ko S-" ■■', I'li 4'-').
Stumbling-block, stumbling-stone {Tp6<xKo/ifia, TTpoaKOTrtj^ also aKafOixKof, ' trap' or 'snare' [Ro IP], and frequently tr. ' offence,' ' offend ' [Mt 16=3 18"-" 2631, Lk 17']). The root-idea is that of encounter- ing an obstacle where such ought not to be, as on a public road. In its fig. sense the offence is most blameworthy where the trust is most implicit and unreserved, as in the confidence of children (Mt 18").
In the East the bridle-path is seldom repaired. Stones may be cast out upon it in clearing the neigh- bouring fields; squared st<jnes tor KuiMinu, ( olleeted at the road-side for transport, .-iie uttcn Mattered over the path ; if a bed of sand suilalile fur mixing with lime be found near it, the path may be dug into and the cavity left unfilled. No harm can arise from it, men say, except to those for whom it is decreed. The people of the village soon come to know of it, and they are under no obligation to strangers. The better jjrepared roads have gener- ally been constructeil for Government purposes and by forced labour, so that the peo]ilp of the locality take little civic interest in (Iumi cnmlition and pre- servation. Hence stnnilJiirj Mu. k-, are frequently met with, and cause lilt!'- mhihIm' or comment.