the Fourth Week of Advent
Click here to join the effort!
Bible Encyclopedias
Jaazer
The 1901 Jewish Encyclopedia
or A city east of the Jordan, in or near Gilead (Numbers 32:1,3; c.), and inhabited by the Amorites. It was taken by a special expedition sent by Moses to conquer it (Numbers 21:32). From the Septuagint, which reads á¼¸Î±Î¶Î®Ï for 
in Numbers 21:24, it appears that Jaazer was on the border of Ammon. As an important city it gave its name to the whole of the surrounding territory (ib. 32:1). Even a "sea of Jaazer" is mentioned in Jeremiah 48:32 (but comp. the Septuagint rendering ÏÎ¿Î»Î¹Ï ÎαζήÏ, probably due to reading 
instead of 
).
Jaazer is stated to have been a fertile land fit for the raising of cattle (ib.) and a place having many vineyards (Isaiah 16:8,9; Jer. c.). It was occupied by the children of Gad (Joshua 13:25; 1 Chronicles 26:31), by which tribe it was allotted to the Merarite Levites (Joshua 21:39; 1 Chronicles 6:66 [A. V. 81]). In the time of David it seems to have been occupied by the Hebronites, who were descendants of Kohath (1 Chronicles 26:31). It was chosen as one of the stations by David's officers who were sent to number the children of Israel (2 Samuel 24:5).
According to Josephus ("Ant." 12:8, § 1), Jaazer was captured and burned by Judas Maccabeus. The site of Jaazer was defined by Eusebius and Jerome ("Onomasticon," s. "Azor") 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 (e.g., S. Merrill; see Hastings, "Dict. Bible," s.) with the modern Khurbat Ṣar on the road from 'Iraḳ al-Amir to Al-Salt; but this identification has been rejected by Cheyne (Cheyne and Black, "Encyc. Bibl." s.).
These files are public domain.
Singer, Isidore, Ph.D, Projector and Managing Editor. Entry for 'Jaazer'. 1901 The Jewish Encyclopedia. https://www.studylight.org/encyclopedias/eng/tje/j/jaazer.html. 1901.
