Hiel

AI summary: Hiel matters because his single cross reference gives personal form to the enduring seriousness of God's earlier word through Joshua. The tragedy attached to his rebuilding of Jericho shows that covenant history is not merely symbolic but carries real consequence across generations. Taken together, the material presents Hiel as a cautionary figure illustrating the cost of disregarding divine warning.¹

Life of (i.e., from) God, a native of Bethel, who built (i.e., fortified) Jericho some seven hundred years after its destruction by the Israelites. There fell on him for such an act the imprecation of Joshua (6:26). He laid the foundation in his first-born, and set up the gates in his youngest son (1 Kings 16:34), i.e., during the progress of the work all his children died. ³