HAMOR (
):
A Hivite prince; father of Shechem, whose defilement of Dinah caused the destruction of a whole city, including his own family (Gen. xxxiii. 19, xxxiv. 2, and passim). Hamor had great influence over the Shechemites; for on his advice they circumcised all their males (Gen. xxxiv. 24). As the inhabitants of Shechem are called "the children [sons] of Hamor" (ib. xxxiii. 19; Josh. xxiv. 32), and "the men of Hamor" (Judges ix. 28), it would seem that Hamor was the founder of Shechem, and that the expression "the father of Shechem" is applied to him just as "the father of Bethlehem" (I Chron. ii. 51) and "the father of Tekoa" (ib. iv. 5) are applied to the founders of those cities respectively.
