View source for Hur

'''Hur''' ({{Hebrew Name|חור|Khūr}}; "[[Name means::white linen]]") (ca. [[Born::2428 AM]]&ndash;[[Died::2553 AM]]) was the most famous son of [[Caleb (son of Hezron)|Caleb]], the son of [[Hezron]], in the [[tribe of Judah]]. He stood beside [[Moses]] in the first major battle that the nation of [[Israel]] had to fight, and his grandson made one of the finest and most spiritually significant collections of artifacts in history.

== Genealogy ==
{{treeHur}}

The most important descendant of Hur is his grandson [[Bezaleel]], the master craftsman of the [[Tabernacle]]. Bezaleel's father was Hur's son [[Uri]]. ({{Bible ref|book=1_Chronicles|chap=2|verses=20}}) Hur had at least three other sons, and these men, or their descendants, were the founders of [[Kiriath-jearim]], [[Bethlehem]], and [[Beth-gader]].<ref name=Hirsch>Hirsch EG, Seligsohn M, Jacobs J, and Ginzberg L, "[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=974&letter=H Hur]," ''The Jewish Encyclopedia'', 1906. Accessed January 15, 2009.</ref> ({{Bible ref|book=1_Chronicles|chap=2|verses=50-51}})

[[Flavius Josephus]] stated that [[Miriam]] married Hur.<ref name=Josephus>Josephus, ''Antiquities'', 3.2.4</ref> The [[Bible]] does not corroborate this, but Miriam and Hur were almost the same age, so such a marriage would have been possible and reasonable. It would also have had a precedent, because [[Aaron]] married Elisheba, who was Hur's first cousin once removed. Yet Aaron, and not Hur, interceded for Miriam when she was struck with leprosy for making rebellious statements against Moses. ({{Bible ref|book=Numbers|chap=12}}) Hur, as her husband, would have been expected to make the intercession, unless he were already dead (see below).

Some rabbinical commentaries state that Miriam was the same as Ephrath, the mother of Hur, and not his wife.<ref name=Hirsch/> No other source corroborates this, and the chronology would not permit it.<ref name=Jones>Jones, Floyd N., ''The Chronology of the Old Testament'', Green Forest, AR: Master Books, 2004, Chart 3b.</ref>

== Date of Birth ==
[[Floyd Nolen Jones]] estimates that Hur was born 85 years before the [[Exodus of Israel]]. Though the [[Bible]] does not give Hur's age at that time, he is of the same generation as [[Moses]] and [[Aaron]] and probably was born within a few years of those men's birthdays.<ref name=Jones/>

== Career ==
In the first year of the [[Exodus of Israel]], some [[Amalek]]ites attacked the Israelites from the rear. [[Joshua]] chose some men to fight them, and [[Moses]], [[Aaron]], and Hur climbed a high hill to watch the battle. As long as Moses could hold his staff high, the Israelites could prevail, so Aaron and Hur held Moses' arms high, one on each side. Thus the Israelites won their first major battle. ({{Bible ref|book=Exodus|chap=17|verses=10-12}})

When Moses climbed [[Mount Sinai]] to receive the Tablets of Law containing the [[Ten Commandments]], and the designs for the [[Tabernacle]] and its associated artifacts, he left Aaron and Hur behind, with full authority to hear all legal matters. ({{Bible ref|book=Exodus|chap=24|verses=14}}) That Hur failed to stop the building of the [[golden calf]] was a dereliction of duty almost as serious as that of Aaron. But the rabbinical literature, as quoted by Hirsch ''et al.'', suggests that Hur reprimanded the people for even thinking to build such an idol, and they murdered him and thus intimidated Aaron.<ref name=Hirsch/>

If Hur did not die in the [[golden calf]] incident, then he probably died in the last year before the invasion of [[Canaan]], along with every other adult at the time of the first scout of Canaan by [[Joshua]], [[Caleb]] the Kenizzite, and their colleagues.

== See Also ==
* [[Aaron]]
* [[Moses]]
* [[Golden calf]]
* [[Tabernacle]]

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== References ==
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[[Category:Old Testament person]]
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