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]

See also

• Isaiah 16

References

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.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "JAAZER". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.