- HORNET Hebrews tsir’ah, “stinging”, (Exodus 23:28; Deuteronomy
7:20; Joshua 24:12). The word is used in these passages as referring to
some means by which the Canaanites were to be driven out from before
the Israelites. Some have supposed that the word is used in a metaphorical
sense as the symbol of some panic which would seize the people as a
“terror of God” (Genesis 35:5), the consternation with which God would
inspire the Canaanites. In Palestine there are four species of hornets,
differing from our hornets, being larger in size, and they are very abundant.
They “attack human beings in a very furious manner.” “The furious attack
of a swarm of hornets drives cattle and horses to madness, and has even
caused the death of the animals.” - HORONAIM two caverns, a city of Moab to the south of the Arnon,
built, apparently, upon an eminence, and a place of some importance
(Isaiah 15:5; Jeremiah 48:3, 5, 34). - HORONITE the designation of Sanballat (Nehemiah 2:10, 19), a native of
Horonaim, or of one of the two Beth-horons, the “upper” or the “nether,”
mentioned in Joshua 16:3,5. - HORSE always referred to in the Bible in connection with warlike
operations, except Isaiah 28:28. The war-horse is described Job 39:19-25.
For a long period after their settlement in Canaan the Israelites made no
use of horses, according to the prohibition, Deuteronomy 17:16. David
was the first to form a force of cavalry (2 Samuel 8:4). But Solomon, from
his connection with Egypt, greatly multiplied their number (1 Kings 4:26;
10:26, 29). After this, horses were freely used in Israel (1 Kings 22:4; 2
Kings 3:7; 9:21, 33; 11:16). The furniture of the horse consisted simply of
a bridle (Isaiah 30:28) and a curb (Psalm 32:9). - HORSE-GATE a gate in the wall of Jerusalem, at the west end of the
bridge, leading from Zion to the temple (Nehemiah 3:28; Jeremiah 31:40). - HORSE-LEECH occurs only in Proverbs 30:15 (Hebrews ‘alukah); the
generic name for any blood-sucking annelid. There are various species in
the marshes and pools of Palestine. That here referred to, the Hoemopis, is
remarkable for the coarseness of its bite, and is therefore not used for
medical purposes. They are spoken of in the East with feelings of aversion
and horror, because of their propensity to fasten on the tongue and nostrils
of horses when they come to drink out of the pools. The medicinal leech
kiana
(Kiana)
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