Bible Encyclopedias
Moreh, Hill of

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

mō´re ( המּורה גּבצת , gibh‛ath ha - mōreh , "hill of the teacher"; Codex Vaticanus Γαβααθαμωρά , Gabaathamōrá ; Codex Alexandrinus, τοῦ βωμοῦ τοῦ Ἀβώρ , toú bōmoú toú Abṓr ): The Hebrew mōreh is derived from the verb yārāh , "to teach," "to direct," and indicates one who directs, or gives oracular answers. We might therefore read "hill of the teacher," the height being associated with such a person who had his seat here. The hill is named only in describing the position of the Midianites before Gideon's attack ( Judges 7:1 ). If the identification of the Well of Harod with ‛Ain Jalūd is correct, Gideon must have occupied the slopes to the East of Jezreel. The Midianite camp was in the valley of Jezreel (Judges 6:33 ). The Hebrew text in Judges 7:1 , which has probably suffered some corruption, seems to mean that the Midianites lay North of the position held by Gideon, their lines running from the hill of Moreh in the plain. The hill can hardly have been other than Jebel ed -Duḥy , often called Little Hermon, which rises boldly from the northern edge of the vale of Jezreel, with Shunem (Sōlam ) lying at its western foot. Moore ("Judges," ICC , 200) would lay the scene in the neighborhood of Shechem, but there is no good reason to doubt the accuracy of the tradition which places it at the eastern end of the plain of Esdraelon.