HERES

(Heʹres) [sun].

1. A mount (Heb., har) where Amorites kept dwelling despite Israel’s conquest of Canaan. It is associated with the territory of the tribe of Dan. (Judg. 1:34, 35) Most scholars consider it the equivalent of Ir-shemesh (which is evidently the same as Beth-shemesh on the boundary of Judah and Dan) mentioned at Joshua 19:41. They base this view on the fact that both “Heres [Hheʹres]” and “Shemesh [Sheʹmesh]” mean “sun,” while “har” (mountain) could be a scribal error for “Ir” (city).—See BETH-SHEMESH No. 1.

2. Gideon returned from warring against the Midianites by “the pass that goes up to Heres.” This place is unknown outside the Biblical reference at Judges 8:13. Some scholars therefore suggest that the Hebrew text may have originally read “before the sun [hheʹres] was up,” or “from up in the mountains,” instead of “the pass that goes up to Heres.”