Reference: Seir
American
1. A mountain of Judah, near Kirjath-jearim, Jos 15:10.
2. A Horite, one of the primitive rulers of the country south and southeast of the Dead Sea, Ge 36:20; De 2:12.
3. A mountainous tract lying between the southern extremity of the Dead Sea and the eastern gulf of the Red Sea. Mount Hor formed part of Seir, and is the only part that retains its original name. See IDUMEA.
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Easton
rough; hairy. (1.) A Horite; one of the "dukes" of Edom (Ge 36:20-30).
(2.) The name of a mountainous region occupied by the Edomites, extending along the eastern side of the Arabah from the south-eastern extremity of the Dead Sea to near the Akabah, or the eastern branch of the Red Sea. It was originally occupied by the Horites (Ge 14:6), who were afterwards driven out by the Edomites (Ge 32:3; 33:14,16). It was allotted to the descendants of Esau (De 2:4,22; Jos 24:4; 2Ch 20:10; Isa 21:11; Eze 25:8).
(3.) A mountain range (not the Edomite range, Ge 32:3) lying between the Wady Aly and the Wady Ghurab (Jos 15:10).
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Hastings
1. The name of a mountainous district east of the 'Arabah, peopled by the Edomites. It was originally occupied by Horites or 'cave-dwellers' (Ge 14:6). Mt. Seir is practically synonymous with Edom (cf. Ge 32:3 'the land of Seir, the field of Edom'). 2. 'Mt. Seir' mentioned in Jos 15:10 among the points defining the boundaries of Judah. The name may still be preserved in that of the ruins at S
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Morish
Ancestor of the Horites who dwelt in Mount Seir and 'the land of Seir.' Ge 36:20-21; 1Ch 1:38.
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Smith
Se'ir
(hairy, Shaggy),
1. We have both "land of Seir,"
and "Mount Seir."
It is the original name of the mountain range extending along the east side of the valley of Arabah, from the Dead Sea to the Elanitic, Golf. The Horites appear to have been the chief of the aboriginal inhabitants,
but it was ever afterward the possession of the Edomites, the descendants of Esau. The Mount Seir of the: Bible extended much farther south than the modern province, as is shown by the words of
De 2:1-8
It had the Arabah on the west, vs. 1 and 8; it extended as far south as the head of the Gulf of Akabah, ver. 8; its eastern border ran along the base of the mountain range where the plateau of Arabia begins. Its northern, order is not so accurately determined. There is a line of "naked" white hills or cliffs which run across the great valley about eight miles south of the Dead Sea, the highest eminence being Mount Hor, which is 4800 feet high.
2. Mount Seir, an entirely different place from the foregoing; one of the landmarks on the north boundary of the territory of Judah.
only. It lay westward of Kirjath-jearim, and between it and Beth-shemesh. If Kuriel el-Enab be the former and Ain-shems the latter of these two, then Mount Seir cannot fail to be the ridge which lies between the Wady Aly and the Wady Ghurab. In a pass of this ridge is the modern village of Seir.
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Watsons
SEIR, the Horite, whose dwelling was to the east and south of the Dead Sea, in the mountains of Seir, Ge 14:6; 36:20; De 2:12; where at first reigned the descendants of Seir the Horite, of whom Moses gives us a list in Ge 36:20-30; 1 Chronicles 38, 39, &c. The posterity of Esau afterward were in possession of the mountains of Seir, and Esau himself dwelt there when Jacob returned from Mesopotamia, Ge 33:3,14; 36:8-9.
SEIR, MOUNT, a mountainous tract, extending from the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, to the Gulf of Acaba, or Ezion-Geber. The whole of this tract was probably before called Mount Hor, and was inhabited by the Horites, the descendants, as it is thought, of Hor, who is no otherwise known, and whose name is now only retained in that part of the plain where Aaron died. These people were driven out from their country by the Edomites, or the children of Esau, who dwelt there in their stead, and were in possession of this region when the Israelites passed by in their passage from Egypt to the land of Canaan. The country had, however, been previously overrun, and no doubt very much depopulated, by the invasion of Chedorlaomer, king of Elam. At what time the name of Hor was changed to that of Seir cannot be ascertained. Mount Seir rises abruptly on its western side from the valleys of El Ghor and El Araba; presenting an impregnable front to the strong country of the Edomite mountaineers, which compelled the Israelites, who were unable (if permitted by their leader) to force a passage through this mountain barrier, to skirt its western base, along the great valley of the Ghor and Araba. and so to "compass the land of Edom by the way of the Red Sea," that is, to descend to its southern extremity at Ezion-Geber, as they could not penetrate it higher up. To the southward of this place Burckhardt observed an opening in the mountains, where he supposed the Israelites to have passed. This passage brought them into the high plains on the east of Mount Seir, which are so much higher than the valley on the west, that the mountainous territory of the Edomites was every where more accessible: a circumstance which perhaps contributed to make them more afraid of the Israelites on this border, whom they had set at defiance on the opposite one. The mean elevation of this chain cannot be estimated at less than four thousand feet. In the summer it produces most of the European fruits, namely, apricots, figs, pomegranates, olives, apples, and peaches; while in winter deep snows occasionally fall, with frosts, to the middle of March. The inhabitants, like those of most mountainous regions, are very healthy. Burckhardt says, that there was no part of Syria in which he saw so few invalids: a circumstance which did not escape the observation of the ancients; who denominated it, Palaestina tertia sive salutaris. [Palestine the third or the healthy.]