Jahaz, Jahaza

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JAHAZ, JAHAZA

JAHAZ, JAHAZA (Heb. יַהְצָה ,יַהַץ), city in Moab where Sihon the Amorite was decisively defeated by the Israelites (Num. 21:23; Deut. 2:32ff.; Judg. 11:20). Jahaz was included in the territory of the tribe of Reuben and was a levitical city of the family of Merar (Josh. 13:18; i Chron. 6:63). After being lost to Moab for a time, it was seized by Omri and later apparently by Ahab who fortified it. Mesha king of Moab recaptured the city and annexed it to Dibon (Mesha Stele, 18, 19, 20). From this time Jahaz remained a Moabite city and is mentioned as such in the Bible (Isa. 15:4; Jer. 48:34). It has been proposed to identify it with Khirbat Islandar (by Abel) or with several other sites in the vicinity of the Wadi al-Wāla, southeast of Heshbon.

bibliography:

Abel, Geog, 2 (1938), 354; Glueck, in: aasor, 18–19 (1939), 144ff.; Noth, in: zaw, 60 (1944), 40–41, 45; em, 3 (1965), 571–2.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]

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