Jazer
“Jehovah helps”
Summary
A city of the Amorites east of the Jordan, captured by Moses and assigned to the tribe of Gad, known for its fertile pasture-lands.
☩Conquest and Settlement
Jazer (also spelled Jaazer) was a city of the Amorites east of the Jordan taken by Moses along with its dependent villages (Numbers 21:32). The country was very fertile, and its spacious pasture-lands attracted the flock-masters of Gad, to whom the territory was assigned (Numbers 32:1, 35). The southern border of Gad's territory was marked by Jazer (Joshua 13:25). It was designated a Levitical city assigned to the Merarite Levites (Joshua 21:39; 1 Chronicles 6:81).
☩Later History
The place was reached by Joab when taking David's census (2 Samuel 24:5). In the fortieth year of King David, mighty men of valor were found here to whom he entrusted oversight in Reuben and Gad 'for every matter pertaining to God, and for the affairs of the king' (1 Chronicles 26:32). The fruitfulness of the region is alluded to by the prophets Isaiah (16:8-9) and Jeremiah (48:32). The city was later taken from the Ammonites by Judas Maccabeus and burned (1 Maccabees 5:7-8).