the Third Week of Advent
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Horn
Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible
or HORN (Heb. qeren , Gr. keras ). Sometimes horns were wrought into vessels in which oil was stored ( 1 Kings 1:39 ) or carried ( 1 Samuel 16:1 ). Probably with some dainty ornamentation, they were used to hold eye-paint ( Job 42:14 , Keren-happuch ). Of rams’ horns a kind of trumpet was made Joshua 6:4 ); see Music, 4 (2) ( e ). ‘Horns’ in poetry symbolized strength ( Deuteronomy 33:17 etc.). ‘Horn’ in Psalms 18:2 = 2 Samuel 22:3 stands for offensive weapons, as ‘shield’ for defensive (Perowne). To ‘exalt one’s born,’ or ‘cause it to bad’ (grow), is to strengthen and prosper him ( 1 Samuel 2:1 , Ezekiel 29:21 etc.). For one to ‘lift his horn’ is to be arrogant ( Psalms 75:4-5 ). To crush or weaken one is to ‘break or cut off his born’ ( Jeremiah 48:25 , Lamentations 2:3 ). In prophetic symbolism borns stand for kings and military powers ( Daniel 7:8; Daniel 8:21 etc.). The altar borns ( Exodus 27:2 ), to which fugitives seeking asylum clung ( 1 Kings 1:50 etc.), were projections at the four corners, and apparently peculiarly sacred ( Exodus 30:10 etc.); but their significance and use are now unknown.
W. Ewing.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Hastings, James. Entry for 'Horn'. Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdb/h/horn.html. 1909.
