- SEIR rough; hairy. (1.) A Horite; one of the “dukes” of Edom (Genesis
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 (Genesis 14:6), who
were afterwards driven out by the Edomites (Genesis 32:3; 33:14, 16). It
was allotted to the descendants of Esau (Deuteronomy 2:4, 22; Joshua
24:4; 2 Chronicles 20:10; Isaiah 21:11; Exek. 25:8).
(3.) A mountain range (not the Edomite range, Genesis 32:3) lying between
the Wady Aly and the Wady Ghurab (Joshua 15:10).
- SEIRATH woody district; shaggy, a place among the mountains of
Ephraim, bordering on Benjamin, to which Ehud fled after he had
assassinated Eglon at Jericho (Judges 3:26, 27). - SELA =Se’lah, rock, the capital of Edom, situated in the great valley
extending from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea (2 Kings 14:7). It was near
Mount Hor, close by the desert of Zin. It is called “the rock” (Judges
1:36). When Amaziah took it he called it Joktheel (q.v.) It is mentioned by
the prophets (Isaiah 16:1; Obad. 1:3) as doomed to destruction.
It appears in later history and in the Vulgate Version under the name of
Petra. “The caravans from all ages, from the interior of Arabia and from the
Gulf of Persia, from Hadramaut on the ocean, and even from Sabea or
Yemen, appear to have pointed to Petra as a common centre; and from
Petra the tide seems again to have branched out in every direction, to
Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, through Arsinoe, Gaza, Tyre, Jerusalem, and
Damascus, and by other routes, terminating at the Mediterranean.” (See
EDOM [2].)
- SELAH a word frequently found in the Book of Psalms, and also in
Habakkuk 3:9, 13, about seventy-four times in all in Scripture. Its meaning
is doubtful. Some interpret it as meaning “silence” or “pause;” others,
“end,” “a louder strain,” “piano,” etc. The LXX. render the word by
daplasma i.e., “a division.” - SELA-HAMMAHLEKOTH cliff of divisions the name of the great gorge
which lies between Hachilah and Maon, south-east of Hebron. This gorge
is now called the Wady Malaky. This was the scene of the interview