The Horites (Hebrew : חֹרִיםḤōrīm), were a people mentioned in the Torah (Genesis 14:6, 36:20, Deuteronomy 2:12) inhabiting areas around Mount Seir in Canaan (Genesis 36:2,5). [1]
The Horites (Hebrew : חֹרִיםḤōrīm), were a people mentioned in the Torah (Genesis 14:6, 36:20, Deuteronomy 2:12) inhabiting areas around Mount Seir in Canaan (Genesis 36:2,5). [1]
According to Archibald Sayce (1915), the Horites have been identified with references in Egyptian inscriptions to Khar (formerly translated as Harri), which concern a southern region of Canaan. [2] More recent scholarship has associated them with the Hurrians. [3]
The rabbinical tradition in Genesis Rabbah 42:6 (300-500 CE) says they are called Horites because "they made themselves independent [free]", [4] which assumes the name is cognate with ḥori meaning "free." [5]
The Horites initially appear in the Torah as being members of a Canaanite coalition, who lived near the Sodom and Gomorrah. The coalition rebelled against Kedorlamer of Elam, who ruled them for twelve years. Kedorlamer attacked and subdued them in response (Genesis 14:1–12).
Later, according to Genesis 36, the Horites co-existed and inter-married with the family of Esau, grandson of Abraham through Isaac (Genesis 25:21–25). They were eventually brought under the rule of the descendants of Esau, also then known as Edom.
The ancestry of Seir the Horite is not specified. Some say Seir lived around the time of Terah, father of Abraham. He is also said to be a descendant of Hor who is supposed to have lived around the time of Reu and was a descendant of Hivi, son of Canaan son of Ham.
The pre-Edomite Horite chiefs, descendants of Seir, are listed in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 36:20–29) and 1 Chronicles (1 Chronicles 1:38–42). Two of these chiefs would appear to have been female - Timna and Oholibamah. Timna is infamous for being the progenitor of the Amalekites, the archenemy of the Israelites (Genesis 36:12).
The chiefs who descended from Esau are listed in Genesis 36:40–43.
At some time, certain of these leaders rose to the level of 'kings' over the other chiefs, and the Horite land became known as Edom rather than the land of Seir. One example of these kings is Jobab, son of Zerah, a son of Esau and his wife Basemath, who was Ishmael's daughter (Genesis 36:35). Another is a 'Temanite', Husham (Genesis 36:34), a descendant of Esau's son, Teman (Genesis 36:10,11).
None of these kings' sons became kings after their fathers died. Apparently, there was no familial royal line whereby sons of these post-Horite kings succeeded to the throne, but rather, some other system was in place by which kings were either chosen or won the right to rule (Genesis 36:31–39).
By the time governance of these peoples had been consolidated under kings instead of chiefs, Horites are no longer mentioned as such. According to Deuteronomy 2:22, the Edomites destroyed the Horites and settled in their land. Theologians Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch considered the Horites to be Rephaim, since the verse explicitly compares the Edomite conquest with the Moabite and Ammonite conquests of the Rephaim. [6]
The Book of Numbers is the fourth book of the Hebrew Bible and the fourth of five books of the Jewish Torah. The book has a long and complex history; its final form is possibly due to a Priestly redaction of a Yahwistic source made sometime in the early Persian period. The name of the book comes from the two censuses taken of the Israelites.
Aholibamah, is an eight-time referenced matriarch in the biblical record.
Amalek is described in the Hebrew Bible as the enemy nation of the Israelites. The name "Amalek" can refer to the descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau, or anyone who lived in their territories in Canaan, or North African descendants of Ham, the son of Noah.
According to the Hebrew Bible, the Tribe of Ephraim was one of the tribes of Israel. The Tribe of Manasseh together with Ephraim formed the House of Joseph. It is one of the ten lost tribes. The etymology of the name is disputed.
Esau is the elder son of Isaac in the Hebrew Bible. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis and by the prophets Obadiah and Malachi. The Christian New Testament alludes to him in the Epistle to the Romans and in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
The Hivites were one group of descendants of Canaan, son of Ham, according to the Table of Nations in Genesis 10 (10:17). A variety of proposals have been made, but beyond the references in the Bible to Hivites in the land of Canaan, no consensus has been reached about their precise historical identity.
Mount Seir is the ancient and biblical name for a mountainous region stretching between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba in the northwestern region of Edom and southeast of the Kingdom of Judah. It may also have marked the older historical limit of Ancient Egypt in Canaan. A place called "Seir, in the land of Shasu", thought to be near Petra, Jordan, is listed in the temple of Amenhotep III at Soleb.
Chayei Sarah, Chaye Sarah, Ḥayye Sarah, or Ḥayyei Sara, is the fifth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 23:1–25:18. The parashah tells the stories of Abraham's negotiations to purchase a burial place for his wife Sarah and his servant's mission to find a wife for Abraham's son Isaac.
Toledot, Toldot, Toldos, or Toldoth is the sixth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. The parashah tells of the conflict between Jacob and Esau, Isaac's passing off his wife Rebekah as his sister, and Isaac's blessing of his sons.
Vayishlach or Vayishlah is the eighth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. In the parashah, Jacob reconciles with Esau after wrestling with a "man." The prince Shechem rapes Dinah, whose brothers sack the city of Shechem in revenge. In the family's subsequent flight, Rachel gives birth to Benjamin and dies in childbirth.
Vayeshev, Vayeishev, or Vayesheb is the ninth weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. The parashah constitutes Genesis 37:1–40:23. The parashah tells the stories of how Jacob's other sons sold Joseph into captivity in Egypt, how Judah wronged his daughter-in-law Tamar who then tricked him into fulfilling his oath, and how Joseph served Potiphar and was imprisoned when falsely accused of assaulting Potiphar's wife.
Vayigash or Vaigash is the eleventh weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading. It constitutes Genesis 44:18–47:27.
Chukat, HuQath, Hukath, or Chukkas is the 39th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the sixth in the Book of Numbers. The parashah sets out the laws of corpse contamination and purification with the water of lustration prepared with the Red Cow. It also reports the deaths of Miriam and Aaron, the failure of Moses at the Waters of Meribah, and the conquest of Arad, the Amorites, and Bashan. The parashah comprises Numbers 19:1–22:1. The parashah is the shortest weekly Torah portion in the Book of Numbers, and is made up of 4,670 Hebrew letters, 1,245 Hebrew words, 87 verses, and 159 lines in a Torah Scroll.
Devarim, Dvarim, or Debarim is the 44th weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the first in the Book of Deuteronomy. It comprises Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22. The parashah recounts how Moses appointed chiefs, the episode of the Twelve Spies, encounters with the Edomites and Ammonites, the conquest of Sihon and Og, and the assignment of land to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh.
V'Zot HaBerachah, VeZos HaBerachah, VeZot Haberakha, V'Zeis Habrocho, V'Zaus Haberocho, V'Zois Haberuchu, Wazoth Habborocho, or Zos Habrocho is the 54th and final weekly Torah portion in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading and the 11th and last in the Book of Deuteronomy. It constitutes Deuteronomy 33:1–34:12. The parashah sets out the farewell Blessing of Moses for the 12 Tribes of Israel and concludes with the death of Moses.
Edom was an ancient kingdom in Transjordan, located between Moab to the northeast, the Arabah to the west, and the Arabian Desert to the south and east. Most of its former territory is now divided between present-day southern Jordan and Israel. Edom appears in written sources relating to the late Bronze Age and to the Iron Age in the Levant.
Lotan, the eldest son of Seir the Horite, was the first-listed of seven chief of the Horites in the land of Seir in Genesis 36, a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. He had two sons, Hori and Hemam. Esau's son Eliphaz married Lotan's sister Timna, who gave birth to Amalek.
1 Chronicles 1 is the first chapter of the Books of Chronicles in the Hebrew Bible or the First Book of Chronicles in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The book is compiled from older sources by an unknown person or group, designated by modern scholars as "the Chronicler", and had the final shape established in late fifth or fourth century BCE. The content of this chapter is the genealogy list from Adam to Israel (=Jacob) in the following structure: Adam to Noah ; Noah's descendants from his three sons Shem, Ham, and Japheth: the Japhethites, Hamites, Semites ; the sons of Abraham ; the sons of Isaac. This chapter belongs to the section focusing on the list of genealogies from Adam to the lists of the people returning from exile in Babylon.
Joshua 24 is the twenty-fourth chapter of the Book of Joshua in the Hebrew Bible or in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. According to Jewish tradition the book was attributed to the Joshua, with additions by the high priests Eleazar and Phinehas, but modern scholars view it as part of the Deuteronomistic History, which spans the books of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, attributed to nationalistic and devotedly Yahwistic writers during the time of the reformer Judean king Josiah in 7th century BCE. This chapter records Joshua's final address to the people of Israel, that ends with a renewal of the covenant with YHWH, and the appendices of the book, a part of a section comprising Joshua 22:1–24:33 about the Israelites preparing for life in the land of Canaan.
note 6: Hori is derived from ḥeruth, freedom, and ḥori, free.