The Horites (Hebrew: Horim, חרים), were a people mentioned in the Torah (Genesis 14:6, 36:20Template:Bibleverse with invalid book, Deuteronomy 2:12Template:Bibleverse with invalid book) inhabiting areas around Mount SeirinCanaan (Genesis 36:2,5Template:Bibleverse with invalid book).[1]
According to Archibald Sayce (1915), the Horites have been identified with references in Egyptian inscriptions to Khar (formerly translated as Harri), which concern a southern region of Canaan.[2] More recent scholarship has associated them with the Hurrians, with the biblical name "Hivite" being a reference to this same group.[3]
The first mention of the Horites in the Torah was when they were defeated by a coalition of Eastern kings led by KedorlaomerofElam (in modern Iran). These kings had come through the Horite territory to subdue a rebellion by a coalition of other 'kings' of peoples whom they had ruled for twelve years, who were living near the Dead Sea and Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 14:1–12Template:Bibleverse with invalid book).
Later, according to Genesis 36Template:Bibleverse with invalid book, the Horites co-existed and inter-married with the family of Esau, grandson of Abraham through Isaac (Genesis 25:21–25Template:Bibleverse with invalid book). They were eventually brought under the rule of the descendants of Esau, also then known as Edom.
The ancestry of Seir the Horite is not specified. Pre-Edomite Horite chiefs, descendants of Seir, are listed in the Book of Genesis (Genesis 36:20–29Template:Bibleverse with invalid book) and 1 Chronicles (1 Chronicles 1:38–42Template:Bibleverse with invalid book). One of these chiefs, Zibeon, is also described as a Hivite. Esau's wife Oholibamah was his granddaughter (Oholibamah bat Anah bat Zibeon ben Seir; see Genesis 36:2,24,25Template:Bibleverse with invalid book). Their three sons all became 'chiefs,' although unlike other sons of Esau, they are not called chiefs "in Edom" (compare Genesis 36:16–18Template:Bibleverse with invalid book). This may indicate a transition time in which only certain Horite areas were becoming known as Edom.
The chiefs who descended from Esau are listed in Genesis 36:40–43Template:Bibleverse with invalid book. Two of these chiefs would appear to have been female - Timna and Oholibamah.
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 Esau and his wife Basemath, who was Ishmael's daughter (Genesis 36:35Template:Bibleverse with invalid book). Another is a 'Temanite', Husham (Genesis 36:34Template:Bibleverse with invalid book), a descendant of Esau's son, Teman (Genesis 36:10,11Template:Bibleverse with invalid book).
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 (Genesis 36:31–29Template:Bibleverse with invalid book).
By the time governance of these peoples had been consolidated under kings instead of chiefs, Horites are no longer mentioned as such. The land of Seir had become known as Edom.
