Seir

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

the Horite, whose dwelling was to the east and south of the Dead Sea, in the mountains of Seir,  Genesis 14:6;  Genesis 36:20;  Deuteronomy 2:12; where at first reigned the descendants of Seir the Horite, of whom Moses gives us a list in  Genesis 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,  Genesis 33:3;  Genesis 33:14;  Genesis 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.]

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Se'ir. (Hairy, Shaggy).

1. We have both "land of Seir,"  Genesis 32:3;  Genesis 36:50, and "Mount Seir."  Genesis 14:6. 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 Gulf. The Horites appear to have been the chief of the aboriginal inhabitants,  Genesis 36:20, 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  Deuteronomy 32:1-8 It had the Arabah on the west,  Deuteronomy 32:1;  Deuteronomy 32:8; it extended as far south as the head of the Gulf of Akabah,  Deuteronomy 32:8; 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. In  Joshua 15:10 only. It lay westward of Kirjath-jearim, and between it and Beth-shemesh. If Kuriel El-Enab is the former, and Ain-shems is 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.

People's Dictionary of the Bible

Seir ( Sç'Ir ). 1. Mount Seir,  Genesis 14:6, or land of Seir,  Genesis 32:3;  Genesis 36:30, the mountainous region lying north of the eastern gulf of the Red Sea.  Deuteronomy 2:1-8. The ragged appearance of the tract as viewed from the mountain generally recognized as Mount Hor, the central and highest peak, 4800 feet high, justifies its name. See Idumæa. 2. Mount Seir,  Joshua 15:10, was a landmark on the northern boundary of Judah, between Kirjath-jearim and Bethshemesh.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

A mountain range (not the Edomite range,  Genesis 32:3 ) lying between the Wady Aly and the Wady Ghurab ( Joshua 15:10 ).

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Seir'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/s/seir.html. 1897.

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

SEIR . 1 . The name of a mountainous district east of the ‘Arabah, peopled by the Edomites. It was originally occupied by Horites or ‘cave-dwellers’ (  Genesis 14:6 ). Mt. Seir is practically synonymous with Edom (cf.   Genesis 32:3 ‘the land of Seir, the field of Edom’). 2 . ‘Mt. Seir’ mentioned in   Joshua 15:10 among the points defining the boundaries of Judah. The name may still be preserved in that of the ruins at Sârîs , S.W. of Kiriath-jearim.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

1. A mountain of Judah, near Kirjath-jearim,  Joshua 15:10 .

2. A Horite, one of the primitive rulers of the country south and southeast of the Dead Sea,  Genesis 36:20   Deuteronomy 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 .

Bridgeway Bible Dictionary

Mount Seir was the chief mountain of the land of Edom. In common usage its name sometimes referred to the nation of Edom in general ( Deuteronomy 2:1;  Deuteronomy 2:4;  Deuteronomy 2:12). (For details see Edom .)

Morrish Bible Dictionary

Ancestor of the Horites who dwelt in Mount Seir and 'the land of Seir.'  Genesis 36:20,21;  1 Chronicles 1:38 .

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Genesis 32:3 Joshua 24:4Edom

Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary

See Mount Seir

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Sei'r', שֵׂעַיר , Hairy [i.e. Rough, by a play upon the name of Esau, see  Genesis 25:25]; Sept. Σηερί , v.r. in No. 1 Σηθίρ , in No. 3 Ἀσσάρ ) , the name of a man and of two mountains.

1. A phylarch or chief of the Horim, who were the former inhabitants of the country afterwards possessed by the Edomites ( Genesis 26:20-21;  1 Chronicles 1:38). B.C. ante 1960. The region doubtless derived its name from him (comp. Josephus, Σαείρα , Ant. 2 , 1,1).

2. Mount Seir ( הִר שֵׂעַיר ,  Genesis 14:6 sq.), or Land Of Seir ( אֶרֶוֹ שֵׂעַיר , 32:3; 36:30), was the original name of the mountain ridge extending along the east side of the valley of Arabah, from the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf. The name (==" the shaggy") was probably in the first instance derived from Seir the Horite, who appears to have been the chief of the aboriginal inhabitants (36:20), and then, secondarily, by a paronomasia frequent in such cases, from the rough aspect of the whole country. The view from Aaron's tomb on Hor, in the center of Mount Seir, is enough to show the appropriateness of the appellation. The sharp and serrated ridges, the jagged rocks and cliffs, the straggling bushes and stunted trees, give the whole scene a sternness and ruggedness almost unparalleled. In the Samaritan Pentateuch, instead of שעיר , the name, גבלה is used; and in the Jerusalem Targum, in place of "Mount Seir" we find טורא דגבלא , Mount Gabla. The word Gabla signifies "mountain," and is thus descriptive of the region (Reland, Paloest. p. 83). The name Gebala, or Gebalene, was applied to this province by Josephus, and also by Eusebius and Jerome (Josephus, Ant. 2 , 1, 2; Onomast. s.v. "Idumaea"). The northern section of Mount Seir, as far as Petra, is still called Jebal, the Arabic form of Gebal. The Mount Seir of the Bible extended much farther south than the modern province, as is shown by the words of  Deuteronomy 2:1-8. In fact, its boundaries are there defined with tolerable exactness. It had the Arabah on the west ( Deuteronomy 2:1;  Deuteronomy 2:8); it extended as far south as the head of the Gulf of Akabah ( Deuteronomy 2:8); its eastern border ran along the base of the mountain range where the plateau of Arabia begins. Its northern border is not so accurately determined. The land of Israel, as described by Joshua, extended from "the Mount Halak that goeth up to Seir, even unto Baal Gad" ( Joshua 11:17). As no part of Edom was given to Israel, Mount Halak must have been upon its northern border. Now there is a line of "naked" (Halak signified "naked") white hills or cliffs which runs across the great valley about eight miles south of the Dead Sea, forming the division between the Arabah proper and the deep Ghor north of it. The view of these cliffs, from the shore of the Dead Sea, is very striking. They appear as a line of hills shutting in the valley, and extending up to the mountains of Seir. The impression left by them on the mind of the writer was that this is the very "Mount Halak, that goeth up to Seir" (Robinson, Bib. Res. 2, 113, etc.; see Keil on  Joshua 11:17). The northern border of the modern district of Jebal is Wady el- Ahsy, which falls into the Ghor a few miles farther north (Burckhardt, Syria, p. 401).

In  Deuteronomy 33:2, Seir appears to be connected with Sinai and Paran; but a careful consideration of that difficult passage proves. that the connection is not a geographical one. Moses there only sums up the several glorious manifestations of the divine majesty to the Israelites, without regard either to time or place (comp.  Judges 5:4-5).

Mount Seir was originally inhabited by the Horites, or "troglodytes," who were doubtless the excavators of those singular rock dwellings found in such numbers in the ravines and cliffs around Petra. They were dispossessed, and apparently annihilated, by the posterity of Esau, who "dwelt in their stead" ( Deuteronomy 2:12). The history of Seir thus early merges into that of Edom. Though the country was afterwards called. Edom, yet the older name, Seir, did not pass away: it is frequently mentioned in the subsequent history of the Israelites ( 1 Chronicles 4:42;  2 Chronicles 20:10). Mount Seir is the subject of a terrible prophetic curse pronounced by Ezekiel (Ezekiel 35), which seems now to be literally fulfilled: "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. I will lay thy cities waste,... . when the whole earth rejoiceth I will make thee desolate... . I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall not return, and ye shall know that I am the Lord."

The southern part of this range now bears the appellation esh-Sherah, which seems no other than a modification of the ancient name. In modern times these mountains were first visited and described by Burckhardt (Syria, p. 40), but they have often since been visited by other travelers, among whom Dr. Robinson has perhaps furnished the best description of them (Bib. Res. 2, 551, 552). At the base of the chain are low hills of limestone or argillaceous rock; then lofty masses of porphyry, which constitute the body of the mountain; above these is sandstone broken into irregular ridges and grotesque groups of cliffs; and again, farther back, and higher than all, are long elevated ridges of limestone without precipices. Beyond all these stretches off indefinitely the high plateau of the great eastern desert. The height of the porphyry cliffs is estimated by Dr: Robinson at about 2000 feet above the Arabah (the great valley between the Dead Sea and Elanitic Gulf); the elevation of Wady Musa above the same is perhaps 2000 or 2200 feet; while the limestone ridges farther back probably do not fall short of 3000 feet. The whole breadth of the mountainous tract between the Arabah and the eastern desert above does not exceed fifteen or twenty geographical miles. These mountains are quite different in character from those which front them on the other (west) side of the Arabah. The latter seem to be not more than two thirds as high as the former, and are wholly desert and sterile; while those on the east appear to enjoy a sufficiency of rain, and are covered with tufts of herbs and occasional trees. The valleys are also full of trees and shrubs and flowers, the eastern and higher parts being extensively cultivated, and yielding good crops. The general appearance of the soil is not unlike that around Hebron, though the face of the country is very different. It is, indeed, the region of which Isaac said to his son Esau, "Behold, thy dwelling shall be [far] from the fatness of the earth, and the dew of heaven from above" ( Genesis 27:39). (See Idumea).

3. An entirely different mountain from the foregoing formed one of the landmarks on the north boundary of the territory of Judah ( Joshua 15:10 only). It lay westward of Kirjath-jearim, and between it and Beth- shemesh. If Kuriet 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 (Robinson, Bib. Res. 3, 155). A village called Saris stands on the southern side of this ridge, which Tobler (Dritte Wanderung, p. 203) and Schwarz (Palest. p. 97) with great probability identify with Seir, notwithstanding considerable difference in the names. The Sa'irah, on the south of the Wady Surar (Robinson, 1st ed. 2, 364), is nearer in orthography, but not so suitable in position.

It is possibly the Σωρής , which, in the Alex. MS., is one of the eleven names inserted by the Sept. in  Joshua 15:59. The neighboring names agree. In the Vat. MS. it is Ε᾿Ωβής

How the name of Seir came to be located so far to the north of the main seats of the Seirites we have no means of knowing. Perhaps, like other names occurring in the tribe of Benjamin, it is a monument of an incursion by the Edomites which has escaped record. See Ophni etc. But it is more probable that it derived its name from some peculiarity in the form or appearance of the spot. Dr. Robinson (3, 155), apparently without intending any allusion to the name of Seir, speaks of the "rugged points which composed the main ridge" of the mountain in question. Such is the meaning of the Hebrew word Seir. Whether there is any connection between this mountain and Seirath (q.v.), or has-Seirah, is not so clear. The name is not a common one, and it is not unlikely that it may have been attached to the more northern continuation of the hills of Judah which ran up into Benjamin — or, as it was then called, Mount Ephraim.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

sē´ir  :

(1) ( שׂעיר הר , har sē‛ı̄r , "Mt. Seir" (  Genesis 14:6 , etc.), שׂעיר , 'erec sē‛ı̄r ( Genesis 32:3 , etc.); τὸ ὄρος Σηείρ , tó óros Sēeı́r , γῆ Σηείρ , gḗ Sēeir ): In  Genesis 32:3 "the land of Seir" is equated with "the field of Edom." The Mount and the Land of Seir are alternative appellations of the mountainous tract which runs along the eastern side of the Arabah, occupied by the descendants of Esau, who succeeded the ancient Horites (  Genesis 14:6;  Genesis 36:20 ), "cave-dwellers," in possession. For a description of the land see Edom .

(2) ( שׂעיר הר , har sē‛ı̄r  ; Codex Vaticanus Ἀσσάρ , Assár  ; Codex Alexandrinus Σηείρ , Sēeı́r ): A landmark on the boundary of Judah (  Joshua 15:10 ), not far from Kiriath-jearim and Chesalon. The name means "shaggy," and probably here denoted a wooded height. It may be that part of the range which runs Northeast from Sārı̄s by Karyat el - ‛Anab and Biddu to the plateau of el - Jı̂b . Traces of an ancient forest are still to be seen here.

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Se´ir (hairy)

A phylarch or chief of the Horim, who were the former inhabitants of the country afterwards possessed by the Edomites.

Seir, Mount. The mountainous country of the Edomites, extending from the Dead Sea to the Elanitic Gulf. The name is usually derived from the Seir above mentioned, and as he was a great chief of the original inhabitants, it is difficult to reject such a conclusion. These mountains were first inhabited by the Horim ; then by Esau (;; ) and his posterity (;; ). The northern part of them now bears the designation of Jebal, and the southern that of esh-Sherah, which seems no other than a modification of the ancient name. The whole breadth of the mountainous tract between the Arabah (the great valley between the Dead Sea and Elanitic Gulf) and the eastern desert above is about 15 or 20 geog. miles. These mountains are quite different in character from those which front them on the other (west) side of the Arabah. The latter seem to be not more than two-thirds as high as the former, and are wholly desert and sterile; while those on the east appear to enjoy a sufficiency of rain, and are covered with tufts of herbs and occasional trees. The valleys are also full of trees and shrubs and flowers, the eastern and higher parts being extensively cultivated, and yielding good crops. It is indeed the region of which Isaac said to his son Esau, 'Behold, thy dwelling shall be of the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above' .

A mountain in the territory of Judah .