• Horite
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • 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
    Aid to Bible Understanding

    • 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.