What is the meaning of "the boundary of the first ones"? Rav Shmuel bar Nachman said in the name of Rav Yonatan: It is written, "These are the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land" (Genesis 36:20). Now, is everyone else dwellers of the firmament? Rather, they were experts in the settling of the land, for they would say, "This full reed-length is fit for olives, that one for vines." "Horite" (Chori) [is read as related to smelling], because they would smell out the land like a serpent. Why were they called Hivites (Chivi)? Because they would taste the soil to know for what crop it was suited, like the snake whose food is dust. As for "Horite," Rav Acha bar Yaakov said: it means they were made free (benei chorin) of their possessions, as it is written, "and the children of Esau shall dispossess them" (Deuteronomy 2:12), so that they no longer needed to work their own ground.
The Horites Who Tasted the Soil of Seir
Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 139:1
מַאי "גְּבוּל רִאשֹׁנִים", אָמַר רַב שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר נַחְמָן אָמַר רַב יוֹנָתָן דִּכְתִיב אֵלֶּה בְנֵי שֵׂעִיר הַחֹרִי יֹשְׁבֵי הָאָרֶץ, אָטוּ כּוּלֵי עָלְמָא יוֹשְׁבֵי רָקִיעַ נִינְהוּ, אֶלָּא שֶׁהָיוּ בְּקִיאִין בְּיִשּׁוּבָהּ שֶׁל אֶרֶץ, שֶׁהָיוּ אוֹמְרִים מְלֹא קָנֶה זֶה לְזֵיתִים חֹרִי שֶׁמְּרִיחִין אֶת הָאָרֶץ כְּחִוְיָא לָמָּה נִקְרָא שְׁמָם חִוִּי שֶׁטּוֹעֲמִין אֶת הָאָרֶץ לְאֵיזֶה דָּבָר רְאוּיָה, כְּנָחָשׁ שֶׁמַּאֲכָלוֹ עָפָר. חֹרִי, רַב אָחָא בַּר יַעֲקֹב אָמַר, שֶׁנַּעֲשׂוּ בְּנֵי חוֹרִין מִנִּכְסֵיהֶן כְּדִכְתִיב "וּבְנֵי עֵשָׂו יִירָשׁוּם" וְלֹא הִצְרִיכוּ לַעֲבֹד אֶת אַדְמָתָן.