("God liveth".) Native of Bethel. Rebuilt, i.e. restored as a fortified town, Jericho in Ahab's reign, who hoped through fortifying it (for Hiel was Ahab's profane and reckless tool) to have on his borders a city securing to himself the passage of Jordan. In Hiel was fulfilled Joshua's curse on the rebuilder of Jericho (Joshua 6:26), "he shall lay the foundation in (i.e. at the price of) his firstborn (Abiram), and in (i.e. at the price of) his youngest son (Segub) shall he set up the gates of it." The builder paid for its restoration by the loss of all his Sons, from the firstborn to the youngest.
        The Benjamites, by Joshua's allotment (Joshua 18:21), inhabited it, and it is called "the city of palms" (Judges 3:13; 2 Samuel 10:5); but not until Ahab's time, when men cast off all fear of Jehovah, was Joshua's curse fulfilled, when Hiel presumed to fortify it (1 Kings 16:34). The walls had been miraculously cast down, and it was against their being rebuilt that the curse was leveled. The sin marks how deeply Israel had fallen; the curse how God will not let His word be transgressed with impunity.