The meaning of Horite; Horim in the Bible
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)
ho'-rit, ho'-rim (chori, chorim; Chorraioi): Denoted the inhabitants of Mt. Seir before its occupation by the Edomites (Deuteronomy 2:12). Seir is accordingly called Horite in Genesis 36:20, Genesis 36:30, where a list of his descendants is given, who afterward mixed with the invading Edomites. Esau himself married the daughter of the Horite chieftain Anah (Genesis 36:25; see Genesis 36:2, where "Hivite" must be corrected into "Horite"). The "Horites" in their "Mt. Seir" were among the nations defeated by the army of Chedorlaomer in the age of Abraham (Genesis 14:6). The Hebrew Horitc, however, is the Khar of the Egyptian inscriptions, a name given to the whole of Southern Palestine and Edom as well as to the adjacent sea. In accordance with this we find in the Old Testament also traces of the existence of the Horites in other parts of the country besides Mt. Seir. In Genesis 34:2; Joshua 9:7, the Septuagint (Cod. A) more correctly reads "Horite" instead of "Hivite" for the inhabitants of Shechem and Gibeon, and Caleb is said to be "the son of Hur, the first-born of Ephratah" or Bethlehem (I Chronicles 2:50; I Chronicles 4:4). Hor or Horite has sometimes been explained to mean "cave-dweller"; it more probably, however, denotes the "white" race. The Horites were Semites, and consequently are distinguished in Deuteronomy 2:12 from the tall race of Rephaim.
A. H. Sayce
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