Hebrew word · H2023

הֹר

hor

(Mount )Hor

"Hor the mountain", the place of Aaron's death on the border of Edom (Num 20:22–29; 33:37–39). The word hōr may be an old by-form of har, "mountain", so the name may mean "the Mount of mountains" or simply "the Mountain".

Appears 12 times in 12 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

§ Hor = "mountain"

the mountain on which Aaron died; situated on the eastern side of the valley of Arabah, the highest of the whole range of sandstone mountains in Edom; on the eastern side is the ancient city of Petra

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Deuteronomy 32:50

Range of meaning

"Hor the mountain", the place of Aaron's death on the border of Edom (Num 20:22–29; 33:37–39). The word hōr may be an old by-form of har, "mountain", so the name may mean "the Mount of mountains" or simply "the Mountain".

Against the English

English versions normalise it to "Mount Hor", which is fine. The Hebrew word order deliberately echoes bāhār ("on the mountain") at the start of the verse.

Used elsewhere in the period

Josephus (Antiquities 4.83) places it near Petra. That is the source of the traditional site Jebel Harun, still marked by a shrine to Aaron. Many modern scholars think it lay nearer Kadesh, because Numbers places it on the route from Kadesh toward Edom. The site is unknown. Rashi, following Sifre, reads the doubling as "a mountain on top of a mountain". Deut 10:6 places Aaron's death at Moserah, a separate itinerary tradition.

From the study of Numbers 34:8

Range of meaning

This is a proper name, 'Hor the mountain.' The Hebrew Bible uses it for two different places. One is a southern mountain on the border of Edom, where Aaron died (Numbers 20:22–29; 33:37–41; Deuteronomy 32:50). The other is this northern landmark (Numbers 34:7–8 only). Many scholars think hor is an archaic or by-form of har, 'mountain'. On that view the name means something like 'the Mountain of mountains', a name for a prominent mass rather than a unique proper noun.

Against the English

Every English version writes 'Mount Hor', so readers naturally connect it with Aaron's mountain. They are hundreds of kilometres apart: one is south of the Dead Sea and this one is north of the Galilee region.

How it drifted

No real drift in the word. The confusion comes from the same English name being used for two places.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Greek Septuagint seems to take both words as common nouns, rendering it roughly 'the mountain, the mountain'. The Aramaic Targums and the rabbinic tradition (Mishnah Sheviit 6:1; Babylonian Talmud Gittin 8a) name the northern limit 'Taurus Amanus', the Amanus range at the far north-eastern corner of the Mediterranean. That pushes the line much further north than most modern scholars place it. Modern proposals include a peak in the northern Lebanon range (often Jebel Akkar, near the Eleutherus/Nahr el-Kebir valley), Ras Shaqqa on the coast, and Mount Hermon.

Where it appears

Numbers · 11

  1. Numbers 20:22 הֹ֥ר Hor

    After they had set out from Kadesh, the whole congregation of Israel came to Mount Hor.

  2. Numbers 20:23 בְּהֹ֣ר at Hor

    And at Mount Hor, near the border of the land of Edom, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

  3. Numbers 20:25 הֹ֥ר Hor

    Take Aaron and his son Eleazar and bring them up Mount Hor.

  4. Numbers 20:27 הֹ֣ר Hor

    So Moses did as the LORD had commanded, and they climbed Mount Hor in the sight of the whole congregation.

  5. Numbers 21:4 מֵהֹ֤ר from Hor

    Then they set out from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, in order to bypass the land of Edom. But the people grew impatient on the journey

    Here: 'From Hor': the mountain where Aaron had just died and been mourned for thirty days (20:22–29). Leaving it means leaving the grave of the first high priest behind.

  6. Numbers 33:37 בְּהֹ֣ר at Hor

    They set out from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, on the outskirts of the land of Edom.

  7. Numbers 33:38 הֹ֥ר Hor

    At the LORD’s command, Aaron the priest climbed Mount Hor and died there on the first day of the fifth month, in the fortieth year after the Israelites had come out of the land of Egypt.

  8. Numbers 33:39 בְּהֹ֥ר on Hor

    Aaron was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor.

  9. Numbers 33:41 מֵהֹ֣ר from Hor

    And the Israelites set out from Mount Hor and camped at Zalmonah.

  10. Numbers 34:7 הֹ֥ר Hor

    Your northern border will run from the Great Sea directly to Mount Hor,

  11. Numbers 34:8 מֵהֹ֣ר from Hor

    and from Mount Hor to Lebo-hamath, then extend to Zedad,

    Here: The prefix 'from' (min) plus the name Hor. This is where the line drawn in verse 7 picks up again. This Hor is in the far north and is not the southern Mount Hor where Aaron died (Numbers 20:22–29).

Deuteronomy · 1

  1. Deuteronomy 32:50 בְּהֹ֣ר on Hor

    And there on the mountain that you climb, you will die and be gathered to your people, just as your brother Aaron died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.

    Here: "On Hor". Hor is the mountain where Aaron died, on the border of Edom (Numbers 20:23). The name may itself be an old form of the word for "mountain".

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.