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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

HOR, Mount

1. Mountain located at the border of the land of Edom (Nm 20:23; 33:37). Mt Hor was the first place to which the Israelites came (Nm 20:22) after wandering nearly 40 years (Dt 2:14). Moses’ brother, Aaron, would not be permitted to enter Canaan because he had refused to carry out the Lord’s instructions at Meribah (Nm 20:7-13, 24). Stripped of his priestly garments, which were then put on his son Eleazar, Aaron died on the top of Mt Hor (Nm 20:25-29) at the age of 123. A similar punishment was later meted out to Moses, whose death on Mt Nebo is compared to Aaron’s death on Mt Hor (Dt 32:49-51). According to Deuteronomy 10:6, Aaron died and was buried at Moserah (probably the Moseroth of Nm 33:30-31), a place that must have been very close to (or perhaps a part of) Mt Hor.

The location of Mt Hor remains uncertain. The traditional site, Jebel Nebi Harun (which means “the mountain of the prophet Aaron”) is almost 4,800 feet (1.5 kilometers) high and is the tallest mountain in Edom. The Muslims claim that a small building on its summit is the tomb of Aaron. But Jebel Nebi Harun is located near Petra—in the middle of Edom—and too far east of Kadesh. A more likely location is Jebel Madeira, situated on the northwest border of Edom about 15 miles (24 kilometers) northeast of Kadesh. In any event, the Hebrew word hor probably means “mount” (as in Gn 49:26), so that “Mt Hor” perhaps means simply “mountain of mountains” or “high mountain” rather than being a proper name.

2. Another mountain located in the far north (Nm 34:7-8). Generally identified as either Mt Hermon or Jebel Akkar, it too was perhaps simply an unusually high mountain.