Hamor in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE

ha'-mor (chamor, "an ass"; Emmor): Hamor was the father of Shechem from whom Jacob bought a piece of ground on his return from Paddan-aram for one hundred pieces of silver (Gen 33:19), and the burial place of Joseph when his body was removed from Egypt to Canaan (Josh 24:32). "The men of Hamor" were inhabitants of Shechem, and suffered a great loss under Abimelech, a prince over Israel (Jdg 9:22-49). Dinah, Jacob's daughter, was criminally treated by Hamor, who requested her to be given to him in marriage, in which plan he had the cooperation of his father, Shechem. The sons of Jacob rejected their proposition and laid a scheme by which the inhabitants of the city were circumcised, and in the hour of helplessness slew all the males, thus wreaking special vengeance upon Hamor and his father Shechem. It is mere conjecture to claim that Hamor and Dinah were personifications of early central Palestinian clans in sharp antagonism, and that the course of Simeon and Levi was really the treachery of primitive tribes. Because the word Hamor means "an ass" and Shechem "a shoulder," there is no reason for rejecting the terms as designations of individuals and considering the titles as mere tribal appellations. Byron H. Dement