Hamor
Etymology
- An ass
- Clay
- Dirt
Background
- Some of the Shechemites are called “men of Hamor”; this is compared to “sons of Hamor”, which in the ancient Middle East referred to people who had entered into a covenant sealed by the sacrifice of a hamor, an ass.
- “Children of Hamor” or “sons of Hamor” itself appears in Genesis and Joshua, in both of which, as in Judges, Hamor is called the father of Shechem.
- Genesis features a man named Hamor who ruled in the area of Shechem and had a son named Shechem.
- Hamor was the leading citizen of the town of Shechem in the time of the patriarch Jacob.
- Hamor and his son were killed by Simeon and Levi in revenge for Shechem’s dishonoring of their sister Dina (Genesis 34:26)
- The city of Shechem was plundered and destroyed afterwards.
- The name Hamor is associated with the dwellers of Shechem in the days of Abimelech.
- Hamor was a Hivite from whom Jacob purchased the plot of ground in which Joseph was afterwards buried (Genesis 33:19).
- Hamor is called “Emmor” in Acts 7:16
- His son Shechem founded the city of that name which Simeon and Levi destroyed because of his crime in the matter of Dinah, Jacob’s daughter ( Genesis 34:20 ).
- Hamor and Shechem were also slain (Genesis 34:26)