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What is a Horn?
        HORN
     This word is employed in the O.T. as an emblem of power, honor, or glory. Deut 33:17; Job 16:15; Lam 2:3. "To exalt the horn" was the same as to prosper; so "to cut off" the horn," Jer 48:25; Lam 2:3, is to render worthless, to ruin. "To defile the horn in the dust" is to humble most deeply, Job 16:15. The horn was likewise the symbol of victory. Hence its use by the false prophet Zedekiah, 1 Kgs 22:11, and in the Revelation of John, Rev 5:6. So elsewhere. It is also frequently employed in prophetic visions instead of "kings" and "kingdoms," Dan 7:20-24; Zech 1:18. Horns were used as vessels for liquids, especially oil and perfumes, 1 Sam 16:1; 1 Kgs 1:39, and also for trumpets, Josh 6:8, Lev 6:13. It is not necessary to think they were always actual horns, but rather hornshaped articles. The horn being the chief defence and strength of many beasts, to break or cut off the horn of a king or people is to abridge or destroy their power, and to raise or exalt the horn is to establish or increase power and prosperity. So also among the aborigines of this country a like custom prevailed. The chief of the council which negotiated the treaty with William Penn Horns worn as head-ornaments by modern Orientals. opened the business by placing on his own head a crown with a horn in it, significant of supreme authority, by which the covenants of the treaty were made binding. Dr. Livingstone describes how the natives of South Africa ornament their heads with buffalo-horns. The married women of the Druses of Mount Lebanon formerly wore on their head horns, originally of paste-board or pottery, but, through pride and rivalry, from a few inches they became of enormous length and the material was of greater cost, until the Druse rich women "sported gold horns decked with jewels, and so long that a servant had to spread the veil over them." Horns of the Altar. See Altar.


Bibliography Information
Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'horn' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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