Genesis 36:20

The sons of Seir. The original inhabitants of the land, the Horites, were not cave dwellers as some earlier commentators suggested. Until comparatively recent times it was thought that the word translated “Horite” was derived from chor, “cave,” or “hole.” Horite would thus mean “cave man.” In recent years, however, the Hurrians (Horites), known not only to the Bible writers but also to Egyptian (Charu), Hittite (Charri), and Mesopotamian (Churm) scribes, have been rediscovered as a nation. They were scattered far and wide wife over the ancient East during the second millennium B.C. The Mitannian kingdom of the upper Euphrates region was allied by Humans in the time of Moses. Their language has recently been deciphered, and considerable is now known about Human culture and history.

In the early part of the second millennium B.C. Hurrians must have taken possession of Mt. Seir, where they first appear in the Bible as a people (ch. 14:6). Later, they were partly exterminated and partly subjugated by the descendants of Esau (Deut. 2:12, 22).

Seven sons of Seir, the “Horite,” or Human, are listed once as tribal princes, and again as “dukes.” Seir’s grandsons and two granddaughters, Timna (v. 22) and Aholibamah (v. 25), are also named. Timna was probably the same as the concubine of Eliphaz (v. 12), and Aholibamah was the second wife of Esau (see v. 2).