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Bible Dictionaries
Horn
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
or qeren . Trumpets were perhaps at first merely horns perforated at the tip. In Joshua 6:4-5, instead of "trumpets of rams' horns," translated "Jubilee trumpets." Rams' horns would scarcely have been effective enough. Hajobeel, from jabal "to stream violently with noise," is the name for a long wind instrument like a horn. Used for summoning to war, or for public proclamations (Judges 3:27; Judges 7:18). The horn was also used for a flask to contain oil (1 Samuel 16:1); also to contain stibium or antimony to beautify the eyelashes and eyelids of women; from whence Job's daughter drew her name Keren-happuch, "horn of stibium," in contrast to Job's "horn defiled in the dust" formerly (Job 16:15).
The "horn" being the instrument of the oxen's strength is the symbol of power (1 Kings 22:11). The "horns of the (See ALTAR" were simply projections from the four corners. The peak of a hill is called a horn. Isaiah 5:1, "a very fruitful hill" Hebrew "a horn of the son of oil," as the Swiss Shreckhorn, Wetterhorn, Celtic cairn. In Habakkuk 3:4, "He had horns coming out of His hand" means, He had the emblems of power wielded by His hand (L. de Dieu), or else rays" (i.e. lightnings): Psalms 18:8 (Maurer). So Exodus 34:29-30; Exodus 34:35, qaaran , "to horn," is used in the sense to emit rays. Livingstone mentions a horn-shaped cap as worn by Africans; married Druse women wear silver horns on their heads.
The ram with two horns (Daniel 8:3) represents the Medo-Persian double power. The "notable horn" of the "he goat" (Daniel 8:5) is Alexander the Great who on coins is represented with horns. The four horns in Zechariah 1:18 represent the four ruling powers of the world, to be superseded finally by Messiah's kingdom: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. (On "the little horn" of the third and of the fourth world powers (Daniel 7:8; Daniel 8:9). (See ANTICHRIST.) On Egyptian and Roman coins, and in Assyrian sculptures, are figures of gods with horns, symbolical of power. "A horn of salvation" means mighty instrument of salvation (Luke 1:69).
These files are public domain.
Fausset, Andrew R. Entry for 'Horn'. Fausset's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/fbd/h/horn.html. 1949.
