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]

• Isaiah 16

•  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.