Jazer

Jazer (or Jaazer) was a city east of the Jordan River, in or near Gilead,[1] inhabited by the Amorites. It was taken by a special expedition sent by Moses to conquer it towards the end of the Israelites' Exodus journey from Egypt.[2] From the Septuagint (which reads Ἰαζήρ for עז in Numbers xxi. 24) it appears that Jazer was on the border of Ammon.[3] As an important city it gave its name to the whole of the surrounding territory[4]—a "Sea of Jazer" is mentioned in Jeremiah xlviii. 32.[5]

Jazer is stated to have been a fertile land fit for the raising of cattle[6] and a place having many vineyards.[7] It was occupied by the children of Gad,[8] by which tribe it was allotted as a Levitical city to the Merarite Levites.[9] In the time of David it seems to have been occupied by the Hebronites, who were descendants of Kohath.[10] It was chosen as one of the stations by David's officers who were sent to number the children of Israel.[11]

According to 1 Maccabees and Josephus (paraphrasing 1 Maccabees, most likely), Jazer was captured and burned by Judas Maccabeus during the Maccabee campaigns of 163 BC.[12] The site of Jazer was defined by Eusebius and Jerome[13] as being 8 or 10 Roman miles west of Philadelphia, and 15 miles north of Heshbon, and as the source of a large river falling into the Jordan. It is identified by some scholars[14] with the modern Khirbet es-Sar on the road from Iraq al-Amir to Al-Salt; but this identification has been rejected by Cheyne.[15]

  1. ^ Num. xxxii. 1, 3; I Chron. l.c.
  2. ^ Numbers xxi. 32
  3. ^ Numbers 21 in Brenton Septuagint Translation
  4. ^ Numbers 32:1
  5. ^ But comp. the Septuagint rendering πολις Ιαζήρ, probably due to reading (Hebrew in JE) instead of (Hebrew in JE)
  6. ^ Numbers 32:1
  7. ^ Isaiah xvi. 8, 9; Jeremiah xlviii. 32
  8. ^ Josh. xiii. 25; I Chron. xxvi. 31
  9. ^ Josh. xxi. 39; I Chron. vi. 66 [A. V. 81]
  10. ^ I Chron. xxvi. 31
  11. ^ II Sam. xxiv. 5
  12. ^ "Ant." xii. 8, § 1
  13. ^ "Onomasticon," s.v. "Azor"
  14. ^ e.g., S. Merrill; see Hastings, "Dict. Bible," s.v.
  15. ^ Cheyne and Black, "Encyc. Bibl." s.v.