avim Summary and Overview

a people dwelling in Hazerim, or "the villages" or "encampments" on the south-west corner of the sea-coast (Deut. 2:23). They were subdued and driven northward by the Caphtorim. A trace of them is afterwards found in Josh. 13:3, where they are called Avites.

(ruins), A'vims or A'vites. 1. A people among the early inhabitants of Israel, whom we meet with in the southwest corner of the seacoast, whither they may have made their way north-ward from the desert, #De 2:23| probably the same as the Hivites. 2. The people of Avva, among the colonists who were sent by the king of Assyria to reinhabit the depopulated cities of Israel. #2Ki 17:31|

A'VIM (ruins), a city of Benjamin, Josh 18:23; probably near Bethel.

Avims, Avites. 1. Properly AVVIM (Deuteronomy 2:28). They had dwelt in Hazerim ("the villages," or nomad encampments, chatzerim), even unto Azzah (Gaza), i.e. S.W, of Israel, the S. part of the shephelah or lower hills of Judah (possibly having come thither from the southern desert). The Caplitorim out of Caphtor (i.e. the Philistines, Amos 9:7) supplanted them; and the latter appear in the plain of Sharon, just N. of the shephelah. Compare the order of enumeration from S. to N. (Joshua 13:2-3.) Gesenius interprets the name Avvim, "ruin." A trace of them may be in Avvim, a city of Benjamin (Joshua 18:23), whither they may have been driven when the took refuge in the hills of Bethel. The Septuagint and Jerome identify them with the Hivites, in whose district was situated the Avvim city just mentioned. Compare Joshua 9:7; Joshua 9:17 with Joshua 18:22-27. 2. The people of AVVA who were planted by Assyria in Samaria; their idols were Nibhaz and Tartak (2 Kings 17:81).