The Horites ( ''Ḥōrīm''), were a people mentioned in the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

(, ) inhabiting areas around Mount Seir in

Canaan CanaanThe current scholarly edition of the Septuagint, Greek Old Testament spells the word without any accents, cf. Septuaginta : id est Vetus Testamentum graece iuxta LXX interprets. 2. ed. / recogn. et emendavit Robert Hanhart. Stuttgart : D ...

().

Name

According to

Archibald Sayce Archibald Henry Sayce (25 September 18454 February 1933) was a pioneer British Assyriologist and linguist, who held a chair as Professor of Assyriology at the University of Oxford from 1891 to 1919. He was able to write in at least twenty anci ...

(1915), the Horites have been identified with references in

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

inscriptions to ''Khar'' (formerly translated as ''Harri''), which concern a southern region of

. More recent scholarship has associated them with the

Hurrians The Hurrians (; ; also called Hari, Khurrites, Hourri, Churri, Hurri) were a people who inhabited the Ancient Near East during the Bronze Age. They spoke the Hurrian language, and lived throughout northern Syria, upper Mesopotamia and southeaste ...

. The rabbinical tradition in

Genesis Rabbah Genesis Rabbah (, also known as Bereshit Rabbah and abbreviated as GenR) is a religious text from Judaism's classical period, probably written between 300 and 500 CE with some later additions. It is an expository midrash comprising a collection of ...

42:6 (300-500 CE) says they are called Horites because "they made themselves independent ree, which assumes the name is cognate with ''ḥori'' meaning "free."

Hebrew Bible

The Horites initially appear in the Torah as being members of a Canaanite coalition, who lived near the

Sodom and Gomorrah In the Abrahamic religions, Sodom and Gomorrah () were two cities destroyed by God for their wickedness. Sodom and Gomorrah are repeatedly invoked throughout the Hebrew Bible, Deuterocanonical texts, and the New Testament as symbols of sin, di ...

. The coalition rebelled against Kedorlamer of

Elam Elam () was an ancient civilization centered in the far west and southwest of Iran, stretching from the lowlands of what is now Khuzestan and Ilam Province as well as a small part of modern-day southern Iraq. The modern name ''Elam'' stems fr ...

, who ruled them for twelve years. Kedorlamer attacked and subdued them in response (). Later, according to , the Horites co-existed and inter-married with the family of

Esau Esau is the elder son of Isaac in the Hebrew Bible. He is mentioned in the Book of Genesis and by the minor prophet, prophets Obadiah and Malachi. The story of Jacob and Esau reflects the historical relationship between Israel and Edom, aiming ...

, grandson of

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

through

Isaac Isaac ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the three patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in wh ...

(). They were eventually brought under the rule of the descendants of Esau, also then known as

Edom Edom (; Edomite language, Edomite: ; , lit.: "red"; Akkadian language, Akkadian: , ; Egyptian language, Ancient Egyptian: ) was an ancient kingdom that stretched across areas in the south of present-day Jordan and Israel. Edom and the Edomi ...

. 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 The Book of Genesis (from Greek language, Greek ; ; ) is the first book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. Its Hebrew name is the same as its incipit, first word, (In the beginning (phrase), 'In the beginning'). Genesis purpor ...

() and

1 Chronicles The Book of Chronicles ( , "words of the days") is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Chronicles) in the Christian Old Testament. Chronicles is the final book of the Hebrew Bible, concluding the third section of the Jewish Tan ...

(). 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 (). The chiefs who descended from Esau are listed in . 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

and his

wife A wife (: wives) is a woman in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until their marriage is legally dissolved with a divorce judgment; or until death, depending on the kind of marriage. On t ...

Basemath, who was

Ishmael In the Bible, biblical Book of Genesis, Ishmael (; ; ; ) is the first son of Abraham. His mother was Hagar, the handmaiden of Abraham's wife Sarah. He died at the age of 137. Traditionally, he is seen as the ancestor of the Arabs. Within Isla ...

daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state, condition or quality of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show r ...

(). Another is a 'Temanite', Husham (), a descendant of Esau's son, Teman (). 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 (). By the time governance of these peoples had been consolidated under kings instead of chiefs, Horites are no longer mentioned as such. According to , the Edomites destroyed the Horites and settled in their land. Theologians

Carl Friedrich Keil Johann Friedrich Karl Keil or Carl Friedrich Keil (26 February 1807 – 5 May 1888) was a conservative German Lutheran Old Testament commentator. Keil was appointed to the theological faculty of Dorpat in Estonia where he taught Bible, New ...

and

Franz Delitzsch Franz Delitzsch (23 February 1813, in Leipzig – 4 March 1890, in Leipzig) was a German Lutheran theologian and Hebraist. Delitzsch wrote many commentaries on books of the Bible, Jewish antiquities, Biblical psychology, as well as a history of J ...

considered the Horites to be

Rephaim In the Hebrew Bible, as well as non-Jews, Jewish ancient texts from the region, the Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic term Rephaite or Repha'im (cf. the plural word in ; , ) refers either to a people of greater-than-average height and ...

, since the verse explicitly compares the Edomite conquest with the Moabite and

Ammonite Ammonoids are extinct, (typically) coiled-shelled cephalopods comprising the subclass Ammonoidea. They are more closely related to living octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish (which comprise the clade Coleoidea) than they are to nautiluses (family N ...

conquests of the Rephaim.

References

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