the Kaaba at Mecca, and which, like that, would appear to be the object of great devotion (Martineau, p. 419 sq.). The chief interest of IVIount Hor will always consist in the prospect from its summit — the last view of Aaron — " that view which was to him what Pisgah was to his brother" (Ortlob, De Morte Aaronis, IJps. 1704). It is described at length by Irby (p. 134), Wilson (i,' 292-9), Martmeau (p. 420), and is well summed up by Stanley in the following Avords: "We saAV all the main points on which his eye must haA-e rested. He looked over the valley of the Arabah countersected by its hundred watercourses, and beyond, oA-er the Avhite mountains of the Avilderness tliey had so long traversed ; and at the northern edge of it there must have been visible the heights through which the Israelites had A-ainly at- tempted to force their Avay into the Promised Land. This Avas the Avestern vicAv. Close around him on the east A^'ere the rugged mountains of Edom, and far along the horizon the Avide downs of Mount Seir, through which the passage had been denied by the wild tribes of Esau who hunted oA-er their long slopes." On the north lay the mj'sterious Dead Sea, gleaming from the depths of its profound basin (Stephens, Incident s). "A dreary moment and a dreary scene — such it must have seemed to the aged priest. . . . The peculiarity of tlie vicAv is the combination of wide extension Avith the scarcity of marked features. Petra is shut out by inter- vening rocks. But the survey of the Desert on one side, and the mountains of Edom on the other, is com- plete ; and of these last the great feature is the mass of red, bald-headed sandstone rocks, intersected, not by val- leys, but by deep seams" {S. and Pal. p. 87). Though Petra itself is entirely shut out, one outlying building — if it may be called a building— is visible, that Avhich goes by the name of the Deir, or Convent. Professor Stanley has thrown out a suggestion on the connection between the tAvo which is well Avorth further investiga- tion. (See Pvobinson,7tep«;T/(e«,ii. 548, 579,051.) The impression received on the spot is that Aaron's death took place, in the small basin betAveen the tAvo peaks, and that the people Avcre stationed either on tlie plain at the base of the peaks, or at that part of the wady A hu-Kusheyheh from Avhich the top is commanded. Jo- sephus says that the ground Avas sloping downAvards {KaravTtQ fiv to xwpiov ; A nt. iv, 4, 7). But this may be the mere general expression of a man AA-ho had never been on the spot. — Smith. (See Bertou, Le mont Jlor, Par. 1860.)
HOR^ CANONICI
337
HORCH
2. A mountain entirely distinct from the preceding, named in Numb, xxxiv, 7, 8, only as one of the marks of the northern boundary of the land which the children of Israel were about to conquer. By manj' it has been regarded as a designation of Mount Casius, but this is rather the northern limit of Syria. The Targum Pseu- dojon. renders Mount Ilor by Umanos, probably intend- ing Amana. The latter is also the reading of the Tal- mutl (Gitfin, 8, quoted by Flirst, s. v.), in which it is connected with the Amana named in Cant, iv, 8. But the situation of this Amana is nowhere indicated b}' them. It cannot have any connection with the Amana or Abana river which flowed through Damascus, as that is quite away from the position required in the passage. Schwarz (Palest, p. 25), after Parchi (iu Benj. of Tude- la, p. 413 sq.), identifies it with Jebel Nuria, south of Tripoli, but on frivolous gromids ; nor was the moimt in question on the Mediterranean, and Palestine did not extend so far north. The original is ^tltl "in, mount of the mountain, i. e. by a common Hebrew idiom, the Jlountain, by way of eminence, i. q. the lofty momitain ; Sept. TO upoQ, Vulg. mons aUissimus ; and therefore probably only denotes the prominent mountain of that vicinity, i. e. Lebanon, or at most iMount Hermon, which is an offshoot of the Lebanon range. It can hardly be regarded here as a proper name. The northern boun- dary started from the sea; the first point in it was IMount Hor, and the second the entrance of Hamath. Since Sidon was subsequently allotted to the most north- ern tribe — Asher, and was, as far as we know, the most northern town so allotted, it would seem probable that the northern boundary would commence at about that point; that is, opposite to where the great range of Leb- anon breaks down to the sea. The next landmark, the entrance to Hamath, seems to have been determined by Mr. Porter as the pass at Kalat el-Husn, close to Hums, the ancient Hamath — at the other end of the range of Lebanon. Siurely "Mount Hor," then, can be nothing else than the great chain of Lebanon itself. Looking at the massive character and enormous height of the range, it is very difficult to suppose that any individual peak or mountain is intended and not the whole mass, which takes nearly a straight course between the two points just named, and includes below it the great jilain of the Buka'a, and the whole of Palestine properly so called. — Smith.