What is the…
city of Jazer and the Sea of Jazer

also known as: Jaazer

Hebrew: יַעֲזֵיִר —transliteration: Yazer —meaning: he will help —occurrences: 13

The book of Numbers reports that…

…the border of the sons of Ammon was Jazer. —Numbers 21:24

This place also had a lake, now represented by some ponds in the high valley in which the ancient city of Jazer was located.

As an important city, it gave its name to the whole surrounding territory. This is why the large lake at Jazer is called the “Sea of Jazer” by the prophet Jeremiah.

More than the weeping for Jazer
I will weep for you, O vine of Sibmah!
Your branches stretched across the sea,
They reached to the sea of Jazer;
Upon your summer fruits and your grape harvest
The destroyer has fallen. —Jeremiah 48:32 LSB

The Israelites conquered this Jazer near the end of their long Exodus from Egypt.

And Moses sent to spy out Jazer, and they captured its towns and dispossessed the Amorites who were there. —Numbers 21:32 LSB

The tribes of Reuben and Gad found this fertile land especially attractive for their needs. It was noted for its fine pasture lands and vineyards (Joshua 21:39; 1 Chronicles 6:81).

Now the sons of Reuben and the sons of Gad had an exceedingly large number of livestock. And they saw the land of Jazer and the land of Gilead, that it was indeed a place suitable for livestock —Numbers 32:1

The Tribe of Gad was awarded this area.

Moses also gave an inheritance to the tribe of Gad, to the sons of Gad, according to their families. And their territory was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the sons of Ammon, as far as Aroer which is before Rabbah; and from Heshbon as far as Ramath-Mizpeh and Betonim, and from Mahanaim as far as the border of Debir; and in the valley, Beth-haram and Beth-nimrah and Succoth and Zaphon, the rest of the kingdom of Sihon king of Heshbon, with the Jordan as a border, as far as the lower end of the Sea of Chinnereth beyond the Jordan to the east. This is the inheritance of the sons of Gad according to their families, the cities and their villages. Joshua 13:24-28 LSB

Mighty men of valor

As for the Hebronites, Jerijah the chief (these Hebronites were investigated according to their generations and fathers’ households, in the fortieth year of David’s reign, and mighty men of valor were found among them at Jazer of Gilead) and his relatives, men of valor, were 2,700 in number, heads of fathers’ households. And King David made them overseers of the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of the Manassites concerning all the affairs of God and of the king. —1 Chronicles 26:31-32 LSB

The prophet Isaiah also mentions the city of Jazer.

For the fields of Heshbon have languished, the vines of Sibmah as well;
The lords of the nations have trampled down its choice clusters
Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered to the deserts;
Its tendrils spread themselves out and passed over the sea. —Isaiah 16:8 LSB

Levitical city

Jazer also became a Levitical city, as recorded in Joshua 21 and 1 Chronicles 6:77-81.

Ruins of Jazer

Two early church fathers (Eusebius and Jerom) indicate that Jazer was 8-10 Roman miles west of the city of Philadelphia, and 15 miles north of Heshbon, and its lake was the source of a large river falling into the Jordan River.

Various scholars say that the ruins of this city today are called Sar (aka Khirbet es-Sar). This is east of the Jordan River.

More information

Article Version: June 28, 2024