Habor
“Possibly from chabar meaning to join (the united stream) or from Persian meaning with beautiful banks”
Summary
Habor was a river of Mesopotamia, an affluent of the Euphrates, to which Israelites were deported during the Assyrian captivity.
☩Location and Identification
The Habor is identified beyond reasonable doubt with the famous affluent of the Euphrates called Aborrhas and Chaboras by ancient writers, and now known as the Khabour. It rises in the highlands, flows in a general south-southwest direction, and joins the Euphrates at ancient Circesium. The entire length of the stream is not less than 200 miles. The name Habor has been found on ancient Assyrian monuments dating to the 9th century B.C.
☩The Israelite Captivity
Scripture records that the kings of Assyria deported Israelites to this region. Tilgath-pilneser carried away the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh to "Halah and Habor" among other locations. Later, Shalmaneser took Samaria and placed Israelites "in Halah and in Habor, the river of Gozan." The phrase "river of Gozan" indicates Habor flowed through the province of Gozan (Gauzanitis in Ptolemy), which lay around the Khabour in Mesopotamia. Remarkably, large Jewish communities remained on the banks of the Khabour as late as the 12th century A.D.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Habor," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IV (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.George Morrish, "Habor," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 3.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Habor," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Habor," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).