Jazer (or Jaazer) was a city east of the Jordan River, in or near Gilead,[1] and inhabited by the Amorites. It was taken by a special expedition sent by Moses to conquer it.[2] From the Septuagint,[3] it appears that Jazer was on the border of Ammon. As an important city it gave its name to the whole of the surrounding territory.[4] Even a "sea of Jazer" is mentioned in Jer. 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 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 Josephus,[12] Jazer was captured and burned by Judas Maccabeus. 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 Khurbat Ṣar on the road from `Iraq al Amir to Al-Salt; but this identification has been rejected by Cheyne.[15]