MUSICAL AND SIGNALING INSTRUMENTS

At Joshua 6:5 qeʹren is used for a wind instrument, “the horn of the ram.” (Josh. 6:4) However, the word nearly always employed with reference to an animal’s horn used as a signaling instrument is shoh·pharʹ, as at Joshua 6:5 where it appears in the phrase “sound of the horn.” It has been suggested that qeʹren was a general designation for horns, without reference to the material used, while shoh·pharʹ specified a particular type of qeʹren. The modern shoh·pharʹ is a hollow ram’s horn about fourteen inches (c. 36 centimeters) long, straightened by heat but curved upward at the bell end. It has a separate mouthpiece to facilitate blowing. The shoh·pharʹ of Bible times, it is thought, had no separate mouthpiece and, according to the Talmud, the ram’s horn was not straightened but left crooked.

Some associate shoh·pharʹ with a Hebrew root meaning “bright” or “clear,” a quality of tone particularly qualifying the shoh·pharʹ for its basic use as a signaling instrument. It assembled the Israelite forces, sometimes sounded the “alarm signal” against a city to be attacked and directed other maneuvers in warfare. (Judg. 3:27; 6:34; 2 Sam. 2:28; Joel 2:1; Zeph. 1:16) In case of enemy attack, the shoh·pharʹ gave warning. (Neh. 4:18-20) Being just a signaling instrument in battle, the sound of three hundred of these horns would, under normal circumstances, indicate an army of considerable size. So when the Midianites heard the horns blown by everyone in Gideon’s band of three hundred men, “the whole camp got on the run,” terror-stricken.—Judg. 7:15-22.

In addition to the horn’s announcing every new moon, it proclaimed the year of Jubilee and added to the joyful spirit of other occasions. (Ps. 81:3; Lev. 25:8-10; 2 Sam. 6:15; 2 Chron. 15:14) When Jehovah stated the terms of the Law covenant, the miraculous sound of a horn was one of the features of the spectacle at Mount Sinai. (Ex. 19:16-19; 20:18) To proclaim the beginning and the end of the sabbath with the shoh·pharʹ appears to have been a custom established before the Common Era.

Israelites of all stations seemed to know how to use the shoh·pharʹ. The priests blew it when marching around Jericho and likely were the ones who announced the Jubilee with it. (Josh. 6:4, 5, 15, 16, 20; Lev. 25:8-10) The Levites probably used it on occasion, and its being sounded by Ehud, Gideon and his 300 men and by Joab, all being from non-Levitical tribes, as well as by the watchmen, who were not necessarily Levites, indicates general familiarity with the instrument.—Judg. 3:27; 6:34; 7:22; 2 Sam. 2:28; Ezek. 33:2-6.

At Daniel 3:5, 7, 10, 15, qeʹren appears in Aramaic as part of the Babylonian orchestra.—See TRUMPET.

HORNS OF ALTARS

The horns of both the incense altar and the altar of sacrifice at the tabernacle were hornlike projections extending outward from the four corners. They were overlaid with the same material as the altar, either copper or gold. (Ex. 27:2; 37:25, 26) The altars at Solomon’s temple were probably patterned after those of the tabernacle, the incense altar being specifically described as being of cedarwood overlaid with gold.—1 Ki. 6:20, 22.

It was on the horns of the altar of sacrifice that Moses put some of the blood of the bull of the sin offering at the installation service to “purify the altar from sin.” (Lev. 8:14, 15) According to Jehovah’s direction, the priest was to put the blood of certain sacrifices on the horns of either one altar or the other, depending on the sacrifice offered. (Lev. 4:7, 18, 25, 30, 34; 16:18) Jehovah said that the sins of Judah were engraved “on the horns of their altars” (Jer. 17:1), making the altars unclean and their sacrifices unacceptable; and in Amos 3:14 Jehovah states his purpose to desecrate the altars for calf worship at Bethel by the cutting off of their horns.

These altar horns may have been viewed as a place of protection or of final appeal; but actually this was no protection for a deliberate murderer, such as Joab. (1 Ki. 2:28-34) The statement at Exodus 21:14 may mean that even a priest was to be executed for murder, or that the act of taking hold of the horns of the altar would not shield any willful murderer.

The altars seen in vision by Ezekiel and John had horns.—Ezek. 43:15; Rev. 9:13, 14.

FIGURATIVE USAGE

An animal’s horn is a formidable weapon and was used Biblically quite often in a figurative sense, especially in the Hebrew Scriptures. Rulers and ruling dynasties, both the righteous and the wicked, were symbolized by horns, and their achieving of conquests was likened to pushing with the horns.—Deut. 33:17; Dan. 7:24; 8:2-10, 20-24; Zech. 1:18-21; Luke 1:69-71; Rev. 13:1, 11; 17:3, 12; see BEASTS, SYMBOLIC.

In one instance Jehovah, in assuring victory to his people, said he would ‘change the horn of the daughter of Zion to iron.’ (Mic. 4:13) Whereas Jehovah raised up or caused the horn of his people to be exalted, the wicked are warned not to lift up their horn arrogantly, for the horns of the wicked will be cut down. (1 Sam. 2:10; Ps. 75:4, 5, 10; 89:17; Amos 6:12-14) In expression of his feeling of complete abandonment, Job sorrowfully states: “I have thrust my horn in the very dust.”—Job 16:15.

“Horn” may also be used to describe an article shaped like a horn. At Ezekiel 27:15, the “horns of ivory” probably refer to elephant tusks. At Isaiah 5:1 the Hebrew phrase “a horn the son of oil [or, fatness]” evidently refers to “a fruitful hillside,” the “horn” being used to represent the upward slope of the hill.—NW, ftn. a, 1958 ed.

HORONAIM

(Hor·o·naʹim) [possibly, two caves, holes].

A place in Moab included among those against which Jehovah’s judgment was directed. (Isa. 15:1, 5; Jer. 48:1, 3, 5, 34) Its exact location is uncertain. However, the possible meaning of its name (“two caves, holes”) has led some geographers to identify Horonaim tentatively with el-ʽArak (“cave”), situated more than 1,600 feet (488 meters) below the level of the Moabite plateau and some eight miles (13 kilometers) E of the southern end of the Dead Sea. Horonaim may be the same as the “Hauronen” mentioned in the Moabite Stone as having been taken in battle by Mesha the king of Moab. It may also correspond to the “Orone” that Alexander Janneus took from the “Arabians.”—Antiquities of the Jews, Book XIV, chap. I, par. 4.

HORONITE

(Horʹo·nite).

A designation applied to Sanballat, one of the men opposing the work of Nehemiah. (Neh. 2:10, 19) Some scholars think that Sanballat may have been from the Moabite city of Horonaim (Isa. 15:5; Jer. 48:3) and, in support of this, call attention to his being mentioned with Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arabian. But the view generally favored is that “Horonite” probably means a native or inhabitant of Beth-horon. Both Upper and Lower Beth-horon were located in territory originally assigned to Ephraim.—Josh. 16:1, 3, 5.

HORSE

This familiar quadruped, with its hard hoofs (Isa. 5:28), flowing mane and tail (Job 39:19), has, from ancient times, been closely associated with man, who has used the bridle and the whip to control it. (Ps. 32:9; Prov. 26:3; Jas. 3:3) Jehovah, the Creator of this animal, when reproving Job, described some of the horse’s principal characteristics: its great strength, its snorting with its large nostrils, its pawing the ground in impatience, its excitement at the prospect of battle, and its not being terrified by the clashing of weapons.—Job 39:19-25.

The first specific mention of the horse in the Bible is with reference to Joseph’s administration in Egypt, when he accepted from the famine-stricken people horses and other livestock in exchange for grain. (Gen. 47:17) Twice the Scriptural record reports that the Egyptians experienced a blow to their horses. First there was the divinely sent pestilence on the livestock (Ex. 9:3-6), and then, at the time of the exodus, Pharaoh’s hosts, ‘horse and rider,’ were drowned in the Red Sea.—Ex. 14:9; 15:1.

MILITARY USE

In ancient times the horse was used mainly in warfare (Prov. 21:31; Isa. 5:28; Jer. 4:13; 8:16; 46:4, 9), though it was also employed for transportation and in hunting. The use of the horse for purposes other than battle is generally mentioned in Scripture in connection with kings, princes and state officials, or rapid communication systems.—2 Sam. 15:1; Eccl. 10:7; Esther 6:7, 8; 8:14; Jer. 17:25; 22:4.

Horses, however, do not lend themselves well for military use in mountainous, rough terrain. (Amos 6:12) Hence, when King Ahab of Israel defeated the army of Syria, Ben-hadad’s servant offered the excuse that it was because the God of Israel was a “God of mountains” and not of the level plains, where horses and chariots operate to advantage. Nevertheless, Jehovah gave Israel the victory even in the plains.—1 Ki. 20:23-29.

The horse was such a formidable part of an effective fighting force that the mere sound of a large number of horses and chariots was enough to inspire fear and cause an army that considered itself outnumbered to resort to panicky flight. (2 Ki. 7:6, 7) The military might of Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Medo-Persia and other nations largely depended on horses. (Isa. 31:1, 3; Jer. 6:22, 23; 50:35, 37, 41, 42; 51:27, 28; Ezek. 23:5, 6, 23; 26:7, 10, 11; Nah. 3:1, 2; Hab. 1:6, 8) Repeatedly, horses, equipped with bridles, reins, head ornaments, saddlecloths and other trappings, are depicted on ancient monuments.

God’s chosen people of ancient times, the Israelites, though, were not to be like the Egyptians and other contemporary nations that considered horses and chariots indispensable to safety and independence. Israel’s kings were forbidden to increase horses for themselves. (Deut. 17:15, 16) Rather than trusting in military might, horses and chariots, the Israelites were to look to Jehovah for help and never become fearful of the war equipment of their foes.—Deut. 20:1-4; Ps. 20:7; 33:17; Hos. 1:7.

King David of Israel was mindful of Jehovah’s prohibition against multiplying horses. In his victory over Hadadezer of Zobah, David could have added many horses to his army, but, instead, he kept only the number he deemed sufficient for his immediate purposes and ordered the remainder to be hamstrung. (2 Sam. 8:3, 4; 1 Chron. 18:3, 4) This was also in keeping with the divinely authorized procedure followed by Joshua at the time of the conquest of the Promised Land.—Josh. 11:6, 9; see HAMSTRING.

FROM SOLOMON TO THE RETURN FROM EXILE

However, David’s son and successor, Solomon, began to accumulate thousands of horses. (1 Ki. 4:26 [here “forty thousand stalls of horses” is generally believed to be a scribal error for “four thousand”]; compare 2 Chronicles 9:25.) From Egypt as well as other lands King Solomon received horses (2 Chron. 9:28), and horses were among the gifts brought by those desiring to hear his wisdom. (1 Ki. 10:24, 25; 2 Chron. 9:23, 24) The animals were stabled in special chariot cities and also at Jerusalem. (1 Ki. 9:17-19; 10:26) The barley and straw furnished as fodder for the horses were supplied by the regional deputies in charge of providing food for the royal table.—1 Ki. 4:27, 28.

During Solomon’s reign, royal merchants trafficked in horses and chariots. The price of a horse was 150 silver pieces ($71.25, if the silver pieces were shekels) and that of a chariot 600 silver pieces ($285.00, if shekels). Some commentators believe that the price of a chariot may have included a team of horses, but there is no way of determining this.—1 Ki. 10:28, 29; 2 Chron. 1:16, 17.

In later years kings of Judah and Israel used horses in warfare. (1 Ki. 22:4; 2 Ki. 3:7) With reference to Judah, the prophet Isaiah stated that the land was filled with horses. (Isa. 2:1, 7) Although at times in Israel’s history conditions of drought, famine and military reverses greatly reduced the number of horses (1 Ki. 17:1; 18:1, 2, 5; 2 Ki. 7:13, 14; 13:7; Amos 4:10), the people still put their confidence in horses and looked to Egypt for military assistance. (Isa. 30:16; 31:1, 3) Wicked kings of Judah even dedicated certain horses to the pagan cult of the Sun, bringing them within the sacred precincts of the temple of Jehovah. (2 Ki. 23:11) The last Judean king, Zedekiah, rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and then sent to Egypt for horses and military aid. (2 Chron. 36:11, 13; Ezek. 17:15) As a result, in fulfillment of prophecy, Judah went into exile.—Ezek. 17:16-21; Jer. 52:11-14.

Horses are mentioned among the beasts of burden that would bring God’s scattered people to Jerusalem. (Isa. 66:20) It is therefore notable that in the first fulfillment of the restoration prophecies the returning Jews brought back 736 horses.—Ezra 2:1, 66; Neh. 7:68.

ILLUSTRATIVE USE

In Scripture, the horse figures repeatedly in an illustrative setting. The adulterous sons of faithless Jerusalem are likened to “horses seized with sexual heat.” (Jer. 5:7, 8) The stubborn, unrepentant attitude of an apostate people is compared with the impetuous manner of a horse dashing into battle without regard for the consequences. (Jer. 8:6) Unfaithful Jerusalem prostituted herself to the rulers of the pagan nations, lusting after them in the style of concubines belonging to those of inordinate sexual capacity, likened to male horses.—Ezek. 23:20, 21.

The special attention and ornamentation lavished on a royal steed is the figure used to represent Jehovah’s turning his favorable attention to his repentant people, making them like a victorious war horse.—Zech. 10:3-6.

When Jehovah, through the prophet Joel, foretold a grievous plague to come upon those professing to be his people but who were in fact apostates, he described devouring pests having “the appearance of horses.” (Joel 2:1-4) The apostle John received a similar vision of a great locust plague, with locusts ‘resembling horses prepared for battle.’—Rev. 9:7.

Jehovah’s invisible heavenly war equipment is represented by fiery horses and chariots. (2 Ki. 2:11, 12) Elisha, on one occasion, prayed for the eyes of his terrified attendant to be opened to see that “the mountainous region was full of horses and war chariots of fire all around Elisha” to protect him from the surrounding forces of Syrians sent out to capture him.—2 Ki. 6:17.

Centuries later Zechariah received a vision involving four chariots, the first with red horses, the second with black horses, the third with white horses and the fourth with speckled, parti-colored horses. These are identified as the “four spirits of the heavens.”—Zech. 6:1-8; see also Zechariah 1:8-11.

Zechariah’s prophecy about those doing military service against Jerusalem indicated that Jehovah would come to the rescue of his people and bring destruction upon the enemy and their horses. (Zech. 14:12-15; see also Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.) As one of the blessed results of that action, no more would the horse be used in warfare. Rather, it would be employed as an instrument of service to God’s glory, as implied by the words: “There will prove to be upon the bells of the horse ‘Holiness belongs to Jehovah!’” (Zech. 14:20; compare Exodus 28:36, 37.) Also, the cutting off of war chariot and horse denotes a restoration of peace.—Zech. 9:10.

In the apostle John’s symbolic vision, the glorified Jesus Christ is depicted as riding a white horse and as accompanied by an army, all of whose members are seated on white horses. This vision was revealed to John as representing the righteousness and justice of the war that Christ will wage against all enemies on behalf of his God and Father, Jehovah. (Rev. 19:11, 14) Earlier, Christ’s taking kingly action and the calamities that follow are represented by different horsemen and their mounts.—Rev. 6:2-8.

John also saw armies of cavalry to the number of two myriads of myriads (200,000,000) empowered to execute the destructive judgments of God. The horses had death-dealing power in both their heads and their tails. All these horses apparently were under the direction of the four angels that had been bound at the Euphrates River.—Rev. 9:15-19.

HORSE GATE

See GATE, GATEWAY.

HOSAH

(Hoʹsah) [refuge].

1. A Merarite gatekeeper for the tent in which the ark of the covenant was put by David. (1 Chron. 16:1, 37, 38) He and his sons made up a division of gatekeepers assigned to the Shallecheth gate on the W of the sanctuary.—1 Chron. 26:10-19.

2. A city in Asher apparently near Tyre, but otherwise unknown.—Josh. 19:24, 29, 30.

HOSEA

(Ho·seʹa) [literally, Ho·sheʹa (Masoretic text), meaning “salvation; deliverance”].

Hebrew prophet and writer of the Bible book of Hosea; identified merely as the son of Beeri. Hosea served as Jehovah’s prophet during the reigns of Kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah of Judah and Jeroboam II (son of Joash) of Israel, in the late ninth century and the first part of the eighth century B.C.E. (Hos. 1:1) Prophets of the same general period included Amos, Isaiah and Micah.—Amos 1:1; Isa. 1:1; Mic. 1:1.

Hosea may be identified as a prophet (and probably a subject) of the ten-tribe northern kingdom of Israel. That kingdom was the principal object of the declarations in the book of Hosea. Whereas Judah was named therein only fifteen times, and its capital city, Jerusalem, not even once, the book contains more than forty references to Israel, thirty-seven to Ephraim (Israel’s dominant tribe), and six to Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom. Most of the other locations mentioned in the book were either a part of the northern kingdom or were on its borders.—1:4, 5; 5:1, 8; 6:8, 9; 10:5, 8, 15; 12:11; 14:6, 7.

Hosea, nevertheless, apparently attached primary importance to the kings of Judah, mentioning all four who reigned there during his ministry, while listing only the one ruling in Israel when he began his work. (Hos. 1:1) But, rather than indicating that the prophet came from, or was born in, Judah, this factor may show that Hosea, like other prophets of God, regarded only the Judean kings of David’s family as rightful rulers over God’s people, viewing the northern kingdom of Israel as a general religious and civil apostasy from Jehovah. Of course, this listing of rulers in both kingdoms facilitates more accurate dating of Hosea’s prophetic activity.—See HOSEA, BOOK OF.

HOSEA, BOOK OF

A book of the Hebrew Scriptures written by “Hosea the son of Beeri.” (Hos. 1:1) In it the writer’s domestic life is paralleled with God’s relationship to Israel. (Chaps. 1-3) The book shows that mere formal religious ceremony does not find acceptance with Jehovah. (6:6) It also highlights God’s mercy and loving-kindness.—2:19; 11:1-4; 14:4.

TIME AND PLACE OF COMPOSITION

Hosea began serving as a prophet at a time when Judean King Uzziah (829-777 B.C.E.) and King Jeroboam II of Israel (c. 844-803 B.C.E.) were contemporaries, and thus no later than 803 B.C.E., the apparent end of Jeroboam’s reign. (Hos. 1:1) Hosea’s prophetic ministry continued into the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah, who began to rule about 746 B.C.E. Hence, it spanned no less than fifty-seven years, though it doubtless covered some time in the reigns of Jeroboam and Hezekiah, thus being somewhat longer. Although Hosea recorded a prophecy concerning Samaria’s destruction (Hos. 13:16), he did not report its fulfillment, which he probably would have done if the writing of the book had extended to 740 B.C.E., the date of Samaria’s fall. Therefore, the book of Hosea was evidently written in the district of Samaria and completed sometime between 746 and 740 B.C.E.

SETTING

The book of Hosea is concerned primarily with the northern ten-tribe kingdom of Israel (also called “Ephraim” after its dominant tribe, the names being used interchangeably in the book). When Hosea began to prophesy during King Jeroboam’s reign, Israel enjoyed material prosperity. But the people had rejected knowledge of God. (Hos. 4:6) Their wicked practices included acts of bloodshed, stealing, fornication, adultery and the veneration of Baal and calf idols. (Hos. 2:8, 13; 4:2, 13, 14; 10:5) After King Jeroboam’s death, prosperity ceased and frightful conditions came into existence, marked by unrest and political assassination. (2 Ki. 14:29–15:30) Faithful Hosea also prophesied amid these circumstances. Finally, in 740 B.C.E., Samaria fell to the Assyrians, bringing the ten-tribe kingdom to its end.—2 Ki. 17:6.

HOSEA’S WIFE AND THE CHILDREN

At Jehovah’s command, Hosea took to himself “a wife of fornication and children of fornication.” (Hos. 1:2) This does not necessarily mean that the prophet married a prostitute or an immoral woman already having illegitimate children. It may indicate that the woman would become adulterous and have such children after her marriage to the prophet. Hosea married Gomer, who “bore to him a son,” Jezreel. (1:3, 4) Gomer later gave birth to a daughter, Lo-ruhamah, and thereafter to a son named Lo-ammi, both possibly being fruits of her adultery, as no personal reference is made to the prophet in connection with their births. (1:6, 8, 9) Lo-ruhamah means “she was not shown mercy,” and the meaning of Lo-ammi is “not my people,” these names indicating Jehovah’s disapproval of wayward Israel. On the other hand, the name of the firstborn child “Jezreel,” meaning “God will sow seed,” is applied to the people favorably in a restoration prophecy.—2:21-23.

After the birth of these children, Gomer apparently abandoned Hosea for her paramours, but it is not said that the prophet divorced her. Evidently she was later forsaken by her lovers and fell into poverty and slavery, for Hosea 3:1-3 seems to indicate that the prophet purchased her as though she was a slave and took her back as a wife. His relationship with Gomer paralleled that of Jehovah with Israel, God being willing to take back his erring people after they repented of their spiritual adultery.—2:16, 19, 20; 3:1-5.

Some Bible scholars have viewed Hosea’s marriage as visionary, as a trance or a dream never carried into action. However, the prophet did not say or indicate that a vision or a dream was involved. Others have considered the marriage to be an allegory or a parable. But Hosea did not use symbolical or figurative terminology when discussing it. Viewing this as an account of the actual marriage of Hosea to Gomer and of Gomer’s literal restoration to the prophet gives force and significance to the application of these things historically and factually to Israel. It does not strain the plain Biblical account and it harmonizes with Jehovah’s choosing of Israel, the nation’s subsequent spiritual adultery and the people’s restoration to God upon their repentance.

STYLE

Hosea’s writing style is concise, even abrupt at times. There are rapid changes of thought. The book contains expressions of great feeling and power in the form of rebuke, warning and exhortation, as well as