View source for Horites

{{Short description|People, mentioned in the Torah, who lived around Mount Seir}}
[[File:MACCOUN(1899) p061 MT.HOR TO RIVER ARNON - ARABIA PETRAEA IN THE SOUTH COUNTRY.jpg|thumb|right|Map of Horites lands]]

The '''Horites''' ({{langx|he|{{Script/Hebrew|חֹרִים}}}} ''Ḥōrīm''), were a people mentioned in the [[Torah]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis 14:6, 36:20|multi=yes}}, {{bibleverse|Deuteronomy|2:12}}) inhabiting areas around [[Mount Seir]] in [[Canaan]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis 36:2,5|multi=yes}}).<ref>[http://biblehub.com/topical/h/horite.htm  Horites] at International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.</ref>

==Name==
According to [[Archibald Sayce]] (1915), the Horites have been identified with references in [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] inscriptions to ''[[Khor|Khar]]'' (formerly translated as ''Harri''), which concern a southern region of [[Canaan]].<ref>James Orr, "[http://www.biblestudytools.com/encyclopedias/isbe/horite-horim.html Horites]", in ''The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia,'' (1915) page 1421.</ref> More recent scholarship has associated them with the [[Hurrians]].<ref name="Freedman2000">{{cite book|author=Lawrence A. Sinclair|editor=David Noel Freedman|title=Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible|chapter=Horites|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=P9sYIRXZZ2MC&pg=PA607|year=2000|publisher=W.B. Eerdmans|isbn=978-0-8028-2400-4|page=607}}</ref>

The rabbinical tradition in [[Genesis Rabbah]] 42:6 (300-500 CE) says they are called Horites because "they made themselves independent [free]",<ref>the brackets are in the original text of the translation</ref> which assumes the name is cognate with ''ḥori'' meaning "free."<ref>{{cite book |author=Freedman, H. |author2=Simon, Maurice|year=1939|title=Midrash Rabbah, Translated into English|volume=1|page=348|url=https://archive.org/stream/RabbaGenesis/midrashrabbahgen027557mbp#page/n395/mode/2up|quotation=note 6: ''Hori'' is derived from ''ḥeruth'', freedom, and ''ḥori'', free.}}</ref>

==Hebrew Bible ==
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 [[Chedorlaomer|Kedorlamer]] of [[Elam]], who ruled them for twelve years. Kedorlamer attacked and subdued them in response ({{bibleverse|Genesis|14:1-12}}).

Later, according to {{bibleverse|Genesis|36}}, the Horites co-existed and inter-married with the family of [[Esau]], grandson of [[Abraham]] through [[Isaac]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis|25:21-25}}). They were eventually brought under the rule of the descendants of Esau, also then known as [[Edom]].

[[File:Mount Hor, seen from the cliffs near Petra. Coloured lithogr Wellcome V0049431.jpg|thumb|right|Mt Hor, seen from cliffs near Petra, from [[The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia]]]]
[[File:Mthor.jpeg|thumb|right|Mt Hor]]
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]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis|36:20-29}}) and [[1 Chronicles]] ({{bibleverse|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 ({{bibleverse|Genesis|36:12}}).

The chiefs who descended from Esau are listed in {{bibleverse|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 ben Zerah|Jobab, son of Zerah]], a son of [[Esau]] and his [[wife]] [[Basemath]], who was [[Ishmael]]'s [[daughter]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis|36:35}}). Another is a 'Temanite', Husham ({{bibleverse|Genesis|36:34}}), a [[Lineal descendant|descendant]] of Esau's son, [[Teman (Edom)|Teman]] ({{bibleverse|Genesis 36:10,11|multi=yes}}).

None of these kings' sons became kings after their fathers died. Apparently, there was no [[Primogeniture|familial royal line]] whereby [[son]]s 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 ({{bibleverse|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 {{Bibleverse|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 [[Rephaite|Rephaim]], since the verse explicitly compares the Edomite conquest with the [[Moab|Moabite]] and [[Ammon|Ammonite]] conquests of the Rephaim.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Deuteronomy 2: Keil and Delitzsch OT Commentary |url=https://biblehub.com/commentaries/kad/deuteronomy/2.htm |website=Biblehub}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Edom]]
[[Category:Hebrew Bible nations]]
[[Category:Ancient peoples of the Near East]]
[[Category:Arab ethnic groups]]
[[Category:History of Palestine (region)]]
[[Category:Ancient history of Jordan]]
[[Category:Ancient Israel and Judah]]
[[Category:Book of Genesis]]
[[Category:Book of Deuteronomy]]
[[Category:Rephaites]]