rulership. Whether this was Hophra or whether he had been killed beforehand and another king ruled in his place, as Herodotus relates, is uncertain.

HOR

[mountain; hence Mount Hor literally means “mount of the mountain,” that is, an outstanding mountain, “the mountain”].

1. The mountain near Moserah on the border of Edom where Aaron died shortly before Israel’s entry into the Promised Land. With the assembly of Israel watching, Aaron, Moses and Aaron’s son Eleazar ascended Mount Hor. On the mountaintop Moses removed Aaron’s priestly garments and clothed Eleazar with them. After this, Aaron died, and Moses and Eleazar probably buried him there.—Num. 20:22-29; Deut. 32:50; compare Deuteronomy 10:6.

According to the historian Josephus, Mount Hor was one of the high mountains encompassing the Edomite city of Petra. (Antiquities of the Jews, Book IV, chap. IV, par. 7) Tradition has linked it with Jebel Harun (“Mountain of Aaron”), a twin-topped, red sandstone mountain having an elevation of some 4,800 feet (1,463 meters) and situated less than three miles (5 kilometers) W-SW of Petra. However, Jebel Harun does not seem to fit the Biblical description of Israel’s coming from Kadesh (Kadesh-barnea) to Mount Hor “on the frontier of the land of Edom.” (Num. 33:37-39, 41) Jebel Harun is not on Edom’s border, but within that country. Thus for Israel to have reached this traditional site would have meant trespassing on Edom’s territory. But this could not have occurred, since the Israelites had previously been denied passage through Edom. (Num. 20:14-22; Deut. 2:5-8) Hence, many scholars favor as a possible identification isolated, steep-sided white chalk Jebel Madurah, a mountain about twenty-six miles (c. 42 kilometers) SW of the Dead Sea.

2. A mountain marking the northern extremity of Canaan. (Num. 34:7, 8) No certain identification can be made. Some scholars believe that this Mount Hor (Heb., hor ha-harʹ) may be the same as Mount Hermon. Others suggest that hor ha-harʹ perhaps designates the entire Lebanon range or a prominent peak thereof.

HORAM

(Hoʹram) [elevated].

King of Gezer; one of the thirty-one kings defeated by the Israelites under the leadership of Joshua during the conquest of the Promised Land. Horam and all his host were killed when they came to the aid of Lachish at the time of Joshua’s campaign against that city.—Josh. 10:33; 12:7, 8, 12, 24.

HOREB

(Hoʹreb) [drought, desert).

“The mountain of the true God,” apparently the same as Mount Sinai. (1 Ki. 19:8; Ex. 33:6) Generally, though, Horeb seems to designate the mountainous region around Mount Sinai, otherwise called the Wilderness of Sinai. (Deut. 1:6, 19; 4:10, 15; 5:2; 9:8; 18:16; 29:1; 1 Ki. 8:9; 2 Chron. 5:10; Ps. 106:19; Mal. 4:4; compare Exodus 3:1, 2; Acts 7:30.) At Horeb, Jehovah’s angel appeared to Moses in the midst of the burning thornbush, commissioning him to lead Israel out of Egypt. (Ex. 3:1-15) Later, while at Rephidim, the liberated Israelites complained about having no water to drink. Thereupon, at Jehovah’s direction, Moses, accompanied by some of the older men of Israel, went to a rock in Horeb, evidently the mountainous region of Horeb, and struck the rock with his rod. Water miraculously began issuing forth from this rock. (Ex. 17:1-6; compare Psalm 105:41.) Centuries afterward, the prophet Elijah fled from vengeful Queen Jezebel to Horeb by way of Beer-sheba.—1 Ki. 19:2-8; see SINAI.

HOREM

(Hoʹrem) [sacred].

A fortified city of Naphtali. (Josh. 19:35, 38, 39) Its location is unknown today.

HORESH

(Hoʹresh) [wooded place].

A site in the wilderness of Ziph where David hid from Saul. Here also Jonathan acknowledged David as the next king of Israel and the two men “concluded a covenant” of mutual support. (1 Sam. 23:15-19) Horesh is usually identified with modern-day Khirbet Khoreisa, about five and a half miles (8.8 kilometers) S-SE of Hebron.

HOR-HAGGIDGAD

(Hor-hag·gidʹgad).

An Israelite wilderness camping site. As discussed under the heading BENE-JAAKAN, a comparison of Numbers 33:31-33 with Deuteronomy 10:6, 7 seems to indicate that the Israelites passed through this same region twice, Hor-haggidgad being called “Gudgodah” on the later trip. (See GUDGODAH.) The exact location cannot be determined with certainty. Most scholars, however, tentatively identify Hor-haggidgad (Gudgodah) with a site on the Wadi Ghadaghed, about forty-two miles (68 kilometers) N-NW of the Gulf of Aqabah.

HORI

(Hoʹri) [possibly, cave dweller].

1. A descendant of Seir the Horite through Lotan.—Gen. 36:20-22; 1 Chron. 1:39.

2. A Simeonite whose son Shaphat was one of the twelve spies sent out by Moses from the Wilderness of Paran.—Num. 13:2, 3, 5.

HORITE

(Hoʹrite).

A people inhabiting the mountains of Seir in patriarchal times. They are called in the Bible “the sons of Seir the Horite.” (Gen. 36:20, 21, 29, 30) The Edomites “proceeded to dispossess them and to annihilate them from before them and to dwell in their place.”—Deut. 2:12, 22.

At Genesis 36:2, in the Masoretic text, the grandfather of one of Esau’s wives is called “Zibeon the Hivite.” At verses 20 and 24, however, he is shown to be a descendant of Seir the Horite. There are two ways of resolving this apparent discrepancy. One is, that Horite may mean merely “cave dweller,” from Hebrew hohr, “cave” or “hole.” This would make Zibeon a Hivite. Or, the copyist could have confused the Hebrew letters rehsh (====) and waw (====), which are very similar in appearance. This would explain why “Hivite” appears instead of “Horite” at Genesis 36:2. The latter explanation seems more likely, in that the Horites, living in Seir originally, seem to be distinct from the Hivites, whom the Bible locates mainly in the Lebanon Mountains, with one group, the Gibeonites, holding cities near Jerusalem.—2 Sam. 24:7; Josh. 9:17.

At Joshua 9:7 the Septuagint Version calls the Gibeonites “Chorrean” (Horites) instead of “Hivites,” but this seems to be an error, in view of the fact that the Gibeonites were considered as belonging to one of the seven Canaanite nations devoted to destruction (the Horites were not). The Masoretic text has “Hivites.”—Josh. 9:22-27; Deut. 7:1, 2.

HURRIANS

Many modern scholars now believe that the Horites are actually a people whom they call “Hurrians.” This conclusion is based primarily on linguistic similarities, particularly similarities in proper names, in ancient tablets discovered in recent times over a wide area reaching from modern Turkey into Syria and Palestine. So they hold that the “Hurrians” came to be called Horites. But note E. A. Speiser’s comments in The World History of the Jewish People. He first advances this argument:

“Moreover, the Biblical Jebusites, too, proved to be Hurrians in disguise. They were of foreign stock (Jud. 19:12), a description borne out by the Jebusite personal name Awarnah (II Sam. 24:16, K^ethib). A 14th century ruler of Jerusalem, or Jebus, bore a name containing the attested Hurrian element Hepa. Thus Jebusites and Hivites alike—two of the featured pre-Israelite nations—were merely subdivisions of the wide-spread Hurrian group. . . .” But then he adds:

“The above conclusion, however, must now be modified in one significant respect. The required change detracts nothing from the position of the local Hurrians in early Biblical times; but It does affect the automatic identification of Hurrians with Horites. . . . there is no archaeological evidence whatever for a Hurrian settlement in Edom or Transjordan. It follows therefore, that the Biblical term Hōrî—much in the same manner as Cush—must have been used at one time in two distinct and unrelated meanings.”—P. 159.

Therefore, though the scholars wish to use a name not found in the Bible to apply to a widespread people who, they say, include the Horites, Hivites and Jebusites, they admit that, for example, there is no evidence of Hurrian population in Edom or Transjordan. The Bible, then, in calling the pre-Edomite inhabitants of Seir “Horites” evidently restricts the name to that group in Seir.

From the foregoing we may conclude that it is unsafe to draw conclusions based on supposed derivations of proper names, especially when the Bible’s reliable history makes distinctions such as it does between the Hivites and the Jebusites. It lists them as separate nations, though, of course, they had common origin in their forefather Canaan.—Gen. 10:15-17; see HIVITES.

HORMAH

(Horʹmah) [a devoting (to destruction)].

While certain texts definitely apply the name Hormah to a city in the southern part of the territory of Judah (1 Chron. 4:30), it is possible that the name is applied to more than one site, the other being perhaps a place or region.

Following the return of the twelve Israelite spies to Kadesh (Num. 13:26), the Israelites at first refused to attempt an invasion of Canaan. Then, following Jehovah’s condemnation of their rebellious attitude and lack of faith, they decided to attempt it contrary to his instructions. They “got up early in the morning” to go up to the place that Jehovah mentioned. The record speaks of their endeavoring to “go up to the top of the mountain.” (Num. 14:40) However, their statement about going up to “the place that Jehovah mentioned” may indicate the “mountainous region of the Amorites” referred to by Moses in his restatement of the events, rather than a particular mountain. (Deut. 1:19-21, 41-43) The record does not indicate how far they traveled, nor does it specifically indicate whether the actions described took place during one day or not; but the text seems to indicate events occurring within a relatively short space of time.

Whatever was the case, the record shows that they were met by the Amalekites and Canaanites (at Deuteronomy 1:44, “Amorites,” a term used to refer to the people of Canaan in general; compare Genesis 48:22; Joshua 24:15), and these defeated the Israelites, scattering them “as far as Hormah.” (Num. 14:45) The account in Deuteronomy 1:44 says they were scattered “in Seir as far as Hormah.” Seir was the territory of the Edomites, and their dominion then seems to have extended W of the Wadi Arabah into the Negeb region. (Compare Numbers 20:14, 16; Joshua 11:17.) Following this defeat, the Israelites returned to Kadesh.—Deut. 1:45, 46.

Their wandering period having ended, the Israelites again advanced toward Canaan and were attacked by the Canaanite king of Arad, a city located at Tell ʽArad about twenty miles (32 kilometers) E-NE of Beer-sheba. (See ARAD No. 2.) Again we do not know how far to the S the king of Arad advanced before engaging in combat with the Israelites, but the Israelites, following a vow to Jehovah, gained the victory over this king and ‘devoted his cities to destruction,’ thereafter naming the place “Hormah.” (Num. 21:1-3) While Moses had already employed this name in the earlier account of the Canaanites’ victory over Israel, it is probable that he did so in an anticipatory way, intending to refer to it later in the record, showing the origin of the name. The Israelites did not settle in the region then, however, but traveled around Edom and turned N, eventually making their entry into Canaan by crossing the Jordan N of the Dead Sea.—Num. 21:4; 22:1.

At Joshua 12:14 the “king of Hormah” is listed next to the king of Arad among the thirty-one kings defeated by Joshua. It seems unlikely that this refers to the victory gained earlier while Moses was yet alive and Joshua served as military commander, since these victories are listed as though gained after Israel’s crossing the Jordan into Canaan. (Josh. 12:7, 8) Though this victory by Joshua is not specifically described, it may be included in the statement at Joshua 10:40-42. This would indicate that, after Israel’s departure from that region in order to travel around the land of Edom, the Canaanites resettled the territory. While Joshua is shown to have defeated the king of Hormah, the record does not state that the Israelites then occupied the city of Hormah.—Compare the case of Gezer at Joshua 12:12; Judges 1:29.

The city was included in the list of towns “at the extremity of the tribe of the sons of Judah toward the boundary of Edom in the south.” (Josh. 15:21, 30) However, it was assigned to the tribe of Simeon as an “enclave” or isolated city within Judah’s territory. (Josh. 19:1, 2, 4; compare 16:9.) Since the record only shows that Joshua defeated Hormah’s king (not mentioning any conquest of the city), the tribes of Judah and Simeon thereafter combined their forces to “strike the Canaanites inhabiting Zephath and to devote it to destruction. Hence the name of the city was called Hormah.” (Judg. 1:17) Their naming of the city here simply may have been a confirmation or restatement of the name applied to it earlier. The use of the name “Hormah” back in Moses’ time is considered by some to have been with reference to the entire district or region, rather than the one city of Zephath, thereby declaring that entire district as ‘under ban’ or declared to be devoted to destruction, whenever that destruction should eventually be accomplished.—Compare Keil and Delitzsch, Commentaries on the Old Testament, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, page 256.

The location of Hormah is uncertain. Many authorities, viewing it as identical with Zephath, identify it either with certain sites E of Beer-sheba (Tell es-Seba or Tell el Milh) or with Tell esh-Sheriʽah NW of Beer-sheba. However, since these sites are all forty miles (64 kilometers) or more N of Kadesh-barnea, from which the Israelites initially started out “early in the morning” (Num. 14:40), and since Hormah is stated to be the point to which they were scattered in defeat, evidently fleeing back toward Kadesh, such positions so far to the N would hardly seem to fit the Biblical account. Some suggest the es-Sufa pass on the road from Petra to the hill country of Judah, but this is as far as the other sites, though to the NE of Kadesh-barnea. The site that would seem most suitable to the Biblical account, though not presently popular among modern scholars, is that of Sebata or Sebaita, over twenty miles (32 kilometers) N-NE of Kadesh-barnea. (See The Jewish Encyclopedia [1910], Vol. VI, page 462; Keil and Delitzsch, Commentaries on the Old Testament, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, pages 128, 256.) The ancient ruins there are quite extensive, lying on the western slope of a tableland of considerable height.

Though still a Simeonite city in David’s time, Hormah was one of the places he visited during his exile as a fugitive and one of the cities to which he later sent gifts.—1 Sam. 30:26-31; 1 Chron. 4:24, 28-31.—See DEVOTE; ZEPHATH.

HORN

[Heb., qeʹren, shoh·pharʹ; Gr., keʹras].

Animal horns were used in Israel as vessels for oil and for drinking, as inkhorns and containers for cosmetics and as musical or signaling instruments.—1 Sam. 16:1, 13; 1 Ki. 1:39; Ezek. 9:2; see RECORDER’S INKHORN.