Hormah

Destruction, Num 21:1-3 ; also called Zephath; a city in the extreme south of Canaan, near which the rebellious Hebrews were defeated, in the second year after leaving Egypt, Num 14:45 ; it was afterwards laid waste, Jdg 1:16,17 . The Simeonites repeopled it, Jos 19:4, and David sent them some of his spoils taken from the Amalekites, 1Sa 30:30 .\par

Hor’mah. (a place laid waste), or Zephath, Jdg 1:17, was the chief town of a king of a Canaanitish tribe, on the south of Palestine, which was reduced by Joshua, and became a city of the territory of Judah, Jos 15:30; 1Sa 30:30, but apparently belonged to Simeon. 1Ch 4:30. See Zephath.

Joshua (Jos 12:14) struck its king. In ancient times, Zephath (Jdg 1:17). Capital of a Canaanite tribe in S. Palestine. Taken by Judah and Simeon (Jdg 1:17). Judah appropriated it (Jos 15:30; 1Sa 26:30). But Simeon’s territory was so blended with that of Judah that elsewhere it is enumerated among Simeon’s towns (1Ch 4:30). In Num 14:45 it is called Hormah by anticipation. After Israel’s unbelief, consequent on the spies’ report, and subsequent presumptuous advance toward Canaan, in defiance of the Lord who no longer would go with them since they had refused to go when He invited them, the Amalekites from the hill "smote them and discomfited them even unto Hormah" Then followed the wandering in the wilderness for 38 years.

Then they came again to Hormah (Num 21:3), i.e. the place under the ban (Lev 27:28-29), devoted to destruction. "Zephath" is compared with es Safah on the S.E. frontier of Canaan, the pass by which Israel probably ascended from the Et Tih desert and the Arabah. Rowlands however identifies it with Sebatah where are extensive ruins, and near is a ruined fortress El Meshrifeh, the presumed site of the "watchtower." The site suggested in the Speaker’s Commentary is some miles E. of Sebatah, namely, Rakhmah, an anagram of Hormah, the more permanent name. Israel marching N.N.W. from the Arabah, past Rakhmah or Hormah, would come to the wide plain, es Sir, the "Seir" of Deu 1:44.

Twenty miles’ further march would have brought them to Arad royal city (Num 21:1); but before they could reach it the king drove them back to Hormah Numbers 15-19 belong to the dreary period of the 38 years’ wandering after a year spent at Sinai; Numbers 20 presents them at the same point they started from 38 years before, Kadesh, in the 40th year; Numbers 21 introduces Arad assailing Israel and taking prisoners, then defeated by Israel in answer to prayer, and Hormah utterly destroyed. Israel not wishing to remain there marched S.E.

The Canaanites reoccupied the place and restored it under the old name Zephath. Not until northern Canaan was subdued did Israel reach it again in the extreme S., and Joshua conquered the king. Finally under the judges Judah and Simeon consummated the ban of Moses and his contemporaries on it, so that henceforth its name was permanently Hormah. This sets aside the objection to Num 14:45 and Num 21:3 as if these passages were post-Mosaic because of Jdg 1:17.

[Hor’mah]

The name signifying ’utter destruction’ given to ZEPHATH in the far south when conquered by Judah and Simeon. Num 14:45; Num 21:3; Deu 1:44; Jos 12:14; Jdg 1:17;

1Sa 30:30; 1Ch 4:30. Identified by some with ruins at S’baita, 30° 52’ N, 34° 42’ E.

( = "inviolable," "asylum"; in Biblical folk-etymology it is explained as signifying "under the ban ["ḥerem"]," "devoted to destruction"):

By: Emil G. Hirsch

Name of a city, usually found without the article, but in Num. xiv. 45 (Hebr.) written "ha-Ḥormah." It is not certain whether only one, or more than one, place is represented by the name, though the latter is more probable. Hormah is mentioned between Chesil and Ziklag in the list of the "uttermost cities" of Judah, toward the territory of Edom "southward," in the Negeb (Josh. xv. 21, 30-31). It is also among the places allotted to Simeon, and is mentioned between Bethul and Ziklag (Josh. xix. 4-5; I Chron. iv. 30).

The "elders of Judah . . . which were in Hormah" were included by David among those that shared in the distribution of the spoils captured from the Amalekites (I Sam. xxx. 30). Situated in the south-western part of the Judean Negeb, this Hormah can not well be held to be identical with the Hormah described as being in Seir, though modern critics suggest the emendation "mi-Se'ir" = "from Seir," in the account of the repulse the invading Israelites met at the hands of the Canaanites (Deut. i. 44). This Hormah must have been situated not far from Kadesh (Num. xiv. 45). It is not plain to which of these two localities (if they are distinct) the narrative that is twice given to account for the name (Num. xxi. 1-3; Judges i. 17) refers. The first passage suggests that the older native name was "Arad"; with the neighboring cities the place was destroyed by the Israelites during their earlier wanderings, as a punishment for the hostilities of its king. Hence the new name, "devoted to destruction." The second passage (Judges i. 17) gives "Zephath" as the original appellation; Judah aiding Simeon to destroy it, it came to be known as "Hormah." Some critics (among them Johannes Bachmann) have contended that the city was twice destroyed; others explain that Num. xxi. 3 narrates by anticipation the destruction of the town by Judah and Simeon.

Arad and Zephath must then also be held to be identical, which raises new difficulties. For this reason the change of "Zephath" into "Arad" in the reading of Judges i. 17 has been suggested, while Moore ("Judges," p. 36) would omit the words "melek Arad" in Num. xxi. 1 (Hebr.) as an interpolation. This would leave the two passages without any connection, except in that they both contain explanations of the name "Hormah." Robinson connects Zephath with the pass Nakb al-Ṣafa, south-east of Kurnub ("Researches," 2d ed., ii. 18l). Rowlands identifies it with Sebata or Sebaita (see Williams, "Holy City," 2d ed., i. 464), and is supported by Palmer ("The Desert of the Exodus," pp. 371 et seq.). Moore (l.c.) rejects both identifications. Cheyne ("Encyc. Bibl.") solves the difficulties by the transposition of the consonants of the name to read , which, of course, is then brought into relation with the Jerahmeelites.

HORMAH (‘devoted’ or ‘accursed’) was a city, apparently not far from Kadesh, where the Israelites were overthrown, when, after the death of the ten spies, they insisted on going forward (Num 14:45, Deu 1:44). At a later time it was taken and destroyed by Israel (Num 21:3, Jos 12:19), this feat being attributed in Jdg 1:17 to Judah and Simeon. There we learn that the former name was Zephath. Possibly the memory of the previous disaster here led to its being called ‘Accursed.’ It was one of ‘the uttermost cities of Judah, towards the borders of Edom in the south,’ and is named between Chesll and Ziklag (Jos 15:30), also between Bethul (or Bethuel) and Ziklag (Jos 19:4, 1Ch 4:30), in the territory occupied by Simeon. It was one of the towns to which David sent a share of the booty taken from the Amalekites who had raided Ziklag in his absence (1Sa 30:30). There is no need to assume with Guthe (Bibelwörterbuch, s.v.) that two cities are so named. Probably, as in so many other cases, the old name persisted, and may be represented by the modern es-Sebaitâ, 23 miles north of ‘Ain Kadîs, and 26 miles south of Beersheba. The probability is increased if Ziklag is correctly identified with ‘Aslûj, 14 miles north of es-Sebaitâ. On the other hand, Naqb es-Safâ agrees better with the position of Arad; but it seems too far from Kadesh, being more than 40 miles to the north-east (Robinson, BRP [Note: RP Biblical Researches in Palestine.] ⁹ ii. 181).

W. Ewing.

hôr´ma (חרמה, ḥormāh): A city first mentioned in connection with the defeat of the Israelites by the Amalekites and the Canaanites, when, after the ten spies who brought an evil report of the land had died of plague, the people persisted, against the will of Moses, in going “up unto the place which Yahweh hath promised” (Num 14:45; Deu 1:44). after the injury done them by the king of Arad, Israel took the city, utterly destroyed it, and called it Hormah, i,e. “accursed” (Num 21:3). To this event probably the reference is in Jdg 1:17; where Judah and Simeon are credited with the work. In Jos 12:14 it is named between Geder and Arad; in Jos 15:30 between Chesil and Ziklag, among the uttermost cities toward the border of Edom in the South; and in Jos 19:4 between Bethul and Ziklag (compare 1Ch 4:30). To it David sent a share of the spoil taken from the Amalekites who had raided Ziklag (1Sa 30:30). The city must have lain not far from Kadesh, probably to the Northeast. No name resembling Hormah has been recovered in that district. The ancient name was Zephath (Jdg 1:17). It is not unlikely that in popular use this name outlived Hormah: and in some form it may survive to this day. In that case it may be represented by the modern eṣ-Ṣabaitā between el-Khalaṣa in the North and ‛Ain Ḳadı̄s in the South, about 23 miles from the latter. If we may identify Ziklag with ‛Aslūj, about 14 miles North of eṣ-Ṣabaitā, the probability is heightened. Robinson (BR, III, 150) compares the name Zephath with that of Naḳb eṣ-Ṣafā, to the North of Wādy el-Fiḳrah; but this appears to be too far - about 40 miles - from Kadesh.