Biblical Hebrew Forum

[JimStinehart AT aol.com]

Yitzhak Sapir:
 
You wrote:  “But Se(ir is not Ya(zer.”
 
Yes it is.  
 
An old scholarly article notes that the ruins of Jazer are called Seir:  “
Jazer and Its Site.  …Jazer, according to Eusebius, [was located] six hours 
north of Heshbon.  There can be no doubt that it corresponds to the present 
ruins of Seir.  These ruins are called to-day Hirbet Sar or –Sar.”  L. 
Gruenhut, “Jazer and Its Site”, Center for Advanced Judaic Studies, 
University 
of Pennsylvania (1911), at p. 241.
http://www.jstor.org/pss/1451024  
 
Another source comments:  “Numbers 32:1 speaks of "the Land of Jazer and of 
Gilead." "Jazer," or "Jaazer" (Numbers 21:32) was a town on the way between 
Heshbon in the south and Bashan in the north. It gave its name to the 
district, and was probably specially mentioned by the Reubenites as perhaps 
the 
township east of Jordan nearest to the camp of Israel. It is supposed to be 
the modern Seir - almost in a line with Jericho, east of the Jordan.”  
_http://philologos.org/__eb-bhot/vol_III/ch03.htm9_ 
(http://philologos.org/__eb-bhot/vol_III/ch03.htm9)  
 
That’s why Jacob, at his meeting at Penuel on the northern edge of southern 
Gilead, can make this believable statement to Esau:
 
“‘Let my lord [Esau] pass on ahead of his servant [Jacob], and I [Jacob] 
will lead on slowly, at the pace of the livestock that are ahead of me and at 
the pace of the children, until I come to my lord [Esau] in Seir.’"  
Genesis 33: 14 (ESV)
 
Esau expected that Jacob would likely be heading for the Jerusalem area.  
In that case, it would make perfect sense for Jacob to go south from Penuel 
to Seir/Shar/Jazer, before turning west to head on into Canaan.
 
That city and district in the well-wooded hill country of Gilead was (i) 
Seir/Shar in the Bronze Age, and (ii) Jazer in the 1st millennium BCE.  It’s 
the same place, with a related name.  It’s very well-attested as Seir or Shar 
in the Late Bronze Age, effectively being the most important city in the 
well-wooded hill country of Gilead.  If it’s a place on the east bank of the 
Jordan River that is referenced both on the Thutmose III list and in the 
Amarna Letters, then of course we would expect it to be in chapter 14 of 
Genesis.  And there it is, at Genesis 14: 6.  In the truly ancient 
Patriarchal 
narratives, it’s naturally referenced with its Late Bronze Age name, Seir, 
not 
the much later 1st millennium BCE name, Jazer.  But it’s one and the same 
place.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois