mount Hor

AI summary: Mount Hor's significance is concentrated but substantial. It is remembered above all as the place where Aaron was taken up the mountain, stripped of his priestly garments, and died in view of the people, with Eleazar succeeding him. That scene gives the mountain a distinctive place in Israel's wilderness memory as a site of loss, succession, and leadership transition. The cross references present Mount Hor as a border mountain marked by priestly death and continuity.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. ³