Hor

Mount Hor is where Aaron died. Israel had camped near the land of Edom when the LORD told Moses to take Aaron and his son Eleazar up the mountain. There Moses stripped Aaron of his priestly garments and put them on Eleazar, and Aaron died on the top. The whole congregation mourned for thirty days. Aaron was a hundred and twenty-three years old. Hor also marks a boundary on Israel’s northern border in Numbers 34. Numbers 20:22-29 tells the story plainly, and it is a quiet picture of leadership passing from one generation to the next.

14 verses

Numbers

Numbers 20:22

And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto mount Hor.

Numbers 20:23

And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying,

Numbers 20:24

Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.

Numbers 20:25

Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor:

Numbers 20:26

And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there.

Numbers 20:27

And Moses did as the LORD commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.

Numbers 20:28

And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount.

Numbers 20:29

And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

Numbers 21:4

And they journeyed from mount Hor by the way of the Red sea, to compass the land of Edom: and the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way.

Numbers 33:38

And Aaron the priest went up into mount Hor at the commandment of the LORD, and died there, in the fortieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the first day of the fifth month.

Numbers 33:39

And Aaron was an hundred and twenty and three years old when he died in mount Hor.

Numbers 34:7

And this shall be your north border: from the great sea ye shall point out for you mount Hor:

Numbers 34:8

From mount Hor ye shall point out your border unto the entrance of Hamath; and the goings forth of the border shall be to Zedad:

Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 32:50

And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

Mountain. (1.) One of the mountains of the chain of Seir or Edom, on the confines of Idumea (Num. 20:22-29; 33:37). It was one of the stations of the Israelites in the wilderness (33:37), which they reached in the circuitous route they were obliged to take because the Edomites refused them a passage through their territory. It was during the encampment here that Aaron died (Num. 33:37-41). (See AARON.) The Israelites passed this mountain several times in their wanderings. It bears the modern name of Jebel Harun, and is the highest and most conspicious of the whole range. It stands about midway between the Dead Sea and the Elanitic gulf. It has two summits, in the hallow between which it is supposed that Aaron died. Others, however, suppose that this mountain is the modern Jebel Madurah, on the opposite, i.e., the western, side of the Arabah.

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(2.) One of the marks of the northern boundary of Palestine (Num. 34:7, 8). Nowhere else mentioned. Perhaps it is one of the peaks of Lebanon.

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(mountain), Mount.

(1.) The mountain on which Aaron died. (Numbers 20:25,27) It was "on the boundary line," (Numbers 20:23) or "at the edge," ch. (Numbers 33:37) of the land of Edom. It was the halting-place of the people next after Kadesh, ch. (Numbers 20:22; 33:37) and they quitted it for Zalmonah, ch. (Numbers 33:41) in the road to the Red Sea. ch. (Numbers 21:4) It was during the encampment at Kadesh that Aaron was gathered to his fathers. Mount Hor is situated on the eastern side of the great valley of the Arabah , the highest and most conspicuous of the whole range of the sandstone mountains of Edom, having close beneath it on its: eastern side the mysterious; city of Petra. It is now the Jebel Nebi-Harim "the mountain of the prophet Aaron." Its height is 4800 feet above the Mediterranean; that is to say, about 1700 feet above the town of Petra, 4800 above the level of the Arabah, and more than 6000 above the Dead Sea. The mountain is marked far and near by its double top, which rises like a huge castellated building from a lower base, and is surmounted by a circular dome of the tomb of Aaron, a distinct white spot on the dark red surface of the mountain. The chief interest of Mount Hor consists in the prospect from its summit, the last view of Aaron --that view which was to him what Pisgah was to his brother.

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(2.) A mountain, entirely distinct from the preceding, named in (Numbers 34:7,8) only, as one of the marks of the northern boundary of the land which the children of Israel were about to conquer. This Mount Hor is the great chain of Lebanon itself.