HAZOR hā’ zôr (חָצֹ֣ור, LXX ̓Ασὼ̀ρ, an enclosure). 1. A city in northern Pal. in the territory of Naphtali. It was located five m. SW of Lake Huleh and ten m. NW of the Sea of Galilee. In 1928 it was identified as Tell el-Qedah by John Garstang, after he had made several trial digs. However, systematic excavation was not carried out until 1955-1958 by Yigael Yadin. The site consists of the tell proper, measuring about twenty-five acres and a “camp area” (as Garstang called it), which was actually the lower city, which covers about 180 acres N of the tell (it is 1,000 meters in length by 700 meters in width). The main “tell” was founded in the third millennium, and the lower city was prob. added during the Hyksos period early in the second millennium. The lower city was protected along the western wall by an earthen rampart and a deep moat. The N and E were protected by a deep glacis. Hazor was the largest city ever built in Pal. during the Biblical period, accommodating up to 40,000 inhabitants. Though the city dates back to the third millennium (2700-2500 b.c.), its most flourishing era was during the second millennium. It was the military and political hub of Pal. during this period, which prob. explains the statement in Joshua 11:10, “...for Hazor formerly was the head of all those kingdoms.” Malamat argues its importance as “the western outpost of the fertile crescent” from its mention in the Mari archives. Its strategic importance was due to its location. The Via Maris, which runs along the southern coast of Pal., branches at Megiddo. One branch continues along the northern coastline to Acco and Tyre; the second one turns inland to Hazor and then northward to Abel-beth-maachah, Ijon and the Lebanese Beqa’. At Hazor there was a junction between this N-S road and one which crossed the Jordan River just below Lake Huleh and went to Damascus. Ben-hadad I (c. 885 b.c.) and Tiglath-pileser III (733 b.c.) both invaded Pal. through this N-S route (1 Kings 15:20 and 2 Kings 15:29).
The downfall of the Canaanite Hazor is dated in the 13th cent., corroborating the account in Joshua 11:1-11. Jabin, king of Hazor, formed a coalition with the kings of Madon, Shimron, Achshaph, the kings of the northern hill country and in the Arabah S of Chinneroth and in the lowlands to stop the advance of the Israelites. The coalition was defeated at the waters of Merom, and Joshua took Hazor and burned it. After its destruction, the lower city was never rebuilt, and the Israelite attempts to resettle the city during the 12th and 11th centuries were very poor and limited only to some parts of the tell. Excavations of the lower city have turned up a Canaanite temple and a small shrine. The Bible mentions a second battle between the Israelites and a Jabin of Hazor (a dynastic name?). Deborah and Barak led the troops of Israel against Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, who had 900 chariots of iron. Because of divine aid, Israel defeated the Canaanites and was relieved of the oppression under which they had suffered for twenty years (Judg 4 and 5).
The city was rebuilt in the 10th cent. by Solomon (c. 950 b.c.) as a fortress, evidently to protect the northern entrance to Pal. According to 1 Kings 9:15, he utilized forced labor to build Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer as well as other projects. The great gate found at Hazor has proven to be very similar to those at Megiddo and Gezer, suggesting even the possibility of the same architect. The city was again destroyed by fire, prob. by Ben-hadad I, c. 885 b.c. (cf. 1 Kings 15:20). Over the next two centuries, it was rebuilt and destroyed five different times. The last city of any significance is thought to have been demolished in the campaign of Tiglath-pileser III in 732 b.c. (2 Kings 15:29). In the ash layer of this level a fragment of a wine jar was found bearing the name of Pekah (pqh). There are evidences of further resettlements during the Assyrian, Persian and Hellenistic periods, but the citadels were quite small.
2. A Judean city in the Negeb (Josh 15:23). The site is unknown.
3. Hazor-hadattah (חָצֹ֤ור׃׀ חֲדַתָּה׃֙, New Hazor), a place in southern Judah (15:25).
4. Another name for Kerioth-hezron (15:25). Its site is prob. somewhere in southern Judah.
5. A Benjamite city mentioned in Nehemiah 11:33. It was prob. the modern Khirbet Hazzur.
6. An area located somewhere in the Arabian Desert E of Pal. Jeremiah delivered an oracle concerning their destruction in 598 b.c. (Jer 49:28-33).
Bibliography Preliminary report, IEJ, 6 (1956), 120-125; Y. Yadin, IEJ, 7 (1957), 118-123; 8 (1958), 1-14; 9 (1959), 74-88; Y. Yadin, BA, 21 (1958), 30-47; 22 (1959), 2-20; A. Malamat, JBL, 79 (1960), 12-19.