Zoar (Bela) was one of the “cities of the plains” that joined forces with Sodom, Gomorrah, Adbah, and Zeboiim to fight the forces of Shedolaomer in the first war of the Bible (Genesis 14:2, 8). Although the confederation of three other kings of Chedorlaomer was victorious against them, they were soon defeated by Abraham (Genesis 14). Prior to the large archaeological excavations that took place at Zoara in the 1980s and 1990s, scientists suggested that several sites in the Khirbet Sheikh `Isa and al-Naq` area offered additional evidence of Zoara`s location and history. Further information about Zoara at various historical periods has been obtained from descriptions by Arab geographers suggesting that Zoara served as an important station on the trade route from Aqaba to Jericho, and from Eusebius` statement that the Dead Sea lay between Zoar and Jericho. Scholars who have studied ancient texts portray Zoara as a city built in the middle of a thriving oasis irrigated by rivers descending from the high mountains of Moab to the east. The sweet dates that grew abundantly on the palm trees around Zoara are also mentioned in some historical texts. [ref. needed] The Syrian chronicles of Michael the Syrian (12th century) and Bar Hebraeus (thirteenth century) contain obscure traditions about the founding of some of the “cities of the plain”. According to these accounts, during the lifetime of Nahor (Abraham`s grandfather), a certain Canaanite named Armonius had two sons named Sodom and Gomorrah, after whom he named two newly built cities and a third (Zoara) after their mother. Zoara, which means “small” or “insignificant” in Hebrew (a “small” as Lot called it), was a town in eastern Jordan in the Siddim Valley, near the Dead Sea.
Along with Sodom, Gomorrah, Adbah, and Zeboim, Zoar was one of the 5 cities to be destroyed by God. but Zoar was spared as a refuge at Lot`s request (Genesis 19:20–23). Segor is the Septuagint form of “Zoar”. A zoar is mentioned in Isaiah 15:5 in relation to the nation of Moab. This connection with Moab would be compatible with a location near the lower level of the Dead Sea. However, the news hovered over Little Zoar`s gossip. Because of the water descending from the Moab Mountains, Zoara was considered a thriving oasis where balsam, indigo and date palms bloomed abundantly. [6] Robinson would place it at the northeast corner of el-Lisan, on the border of the Kerak River, but this was done only for theoretical reasons, which would also be filled in at the place indicated above, and which are generally determined by the authors who consider the Siddim Valley to be at the southern end of the Dead Sea. Conder, who vigorously asserts that the Siddim Valley lies at the northern end of the Dead Sea, views favorably on W.H.
Birch`s theory that the site is represented by present-day Tell Shaghur, a white rocky hill at the foot of the Moab Mountains, one mile east of Beth-haram (Tell er-Rameh), 7 miles northeast of the mouth of the Jordan River. a place notable for its stone monuments and well-stocked springs, but he acknowledges that the name resembles the Christian Segor rather than the original Zoar. We first hear about Zoar when Lot decided to live in the Jordan Valley, which was like YHWH`s garden before the destruction, like Egypt coming to Zoar (Genesis 13:10). But before he was known as Zoar, his name was Bela, and at one point his suspicious nameless king joined a coalition of five kings and went to war with four Assyrian kings (Genesis 14:2; 14:8). All five lost out of the four, and what was left of Bela became Lots Zoar. Lot did not stay in Zoar because he left for another obscure reason and still took his daughters to the mountains (Genesis 19:30). The name Bela, meaning “destruction” (#H1106 of Strong), is the original name for the city of Zoar (see Genesis 14:2–8). During the Crusader period, he took the name Palmer or Paumier. William of Tyre (XXII, 30) and Fulcher of Chartres (Hist. hierosol., V) left descriptions, as did the Arab geographers who praise the sweetness of its dates. [6] It is not known when the city disappeared; [11] Zoar still existed at the time of the invasion of Canaan. Shortly before Moses` death, the Lord allowed him to see the Promised Land from Mount Nebo (also known as Pisgah or Abarim) and gazed at the Promised Land to Zoar (Deuteronomy 34:3).
And the Lord said unto him, This is the land that I swear to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was originally called Bela (14:2, 8) and was located in the valley of Siddim. Zoara, the biblical Zoar, formerly called Bela (Genesis 14:8), was one of the five “cities of the plain”[1] – a pentapolis later called by Abram or Abraham at that time, it was a very fertile valley apparently located along the lower Jordan Valley and the Dead Sea plain and mentioned in the book of Genesis. It is said that the “brimstone and fire” that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah were spared to serve as a refuge for Lot and his daughters. [2] He is mentioned by Josephus; [3] by Ptolemy (V, xvi, 4); and Eusebius and St. Jerome in the Onomasticon. [4] [5] The name Zoar is changed to 1. Moses 19:22 and 19:30 צוער and everywhere else צער.
Jeremiah 48:33-34And joy and joy are taken from the rich field and land of Moab; and I (God) have dropped the wine of the presses: let no one cry out; Their cries should not be screams. From Heshbon`s cry to Elealeh and even Jahaz, they said their voices, from Zoar even to Horonaim, like a three-year-old heifer; for the waters of Nimrim shall also be devastated. Genesis 19:20, 22, 30Behold, this city is about to flee, and it is a small city: O let me flee there (isn`t it a little one?) and my soul will live. small town east or southeast of the Dead Sea where Lot and his daughters fled Sodom (Genesis 19:22; Moses 19:23). He was originally called Belah (Genesis 14:2; Genesis 14:8). He is mentioned by the prophets (Isaiah 15:5) and (Jeremiah 48:34). Its ruins can still be seen at the opening of the Kerak gorge, the Kir-Moab, which was built in the 2nd century. Kings 3, the modern Tell esh-Shaghur. Isaiah 15:5My heart will cry out to Moab; his fugitives will flee to Zoar, a three-year-old heifer; for by the ascent of Luhi weeping, they will ascend; for on the way to Horonaïm they will utter a cry of destruction. (Kleinheit), one of the oldest cities in the land of Canaan. Its original name was BELA.
(Genesis 14:2 Genesis 14:8) It was closely related to the cities of the “plain of the Jordan” – Sodom, Gomorrah, Adbah and Zeboiim, See also (Genesis 13:10) but not Genesis 10:19 In the general destruction of the cities of the plain, Zoar was spared to give the protection of Lot. (Genesis 19:22 Genesis 19:23 Genesis 19:30) He is mentioned in the account of Moses` death as one of the landmarks that limited his view of Pisgah (34:3), and it seems that he was known both in the time of Isaiah (Isaiah 15:5) and Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 48:34) These are all Zoar communications contained in the Bible. It was located in the same district as the four cities already mentioned, namely in the “plain” or “circle” of the Jordan and the narration of (Genesis 19:1). obviously suggests that he was very close to Sodom. vs. (Genesis 19:15; 23:27) Sodom`s final position is and probably always will be a mystery; but there is little doubt that the plain of the Jordan was on the north side of the Dead Sea, and that the cities of the plain must therefore be situated there and not at the southern end of the lake, as is generally taken for granted. [SODOM] (But the vast majority of scholars of Josephus and Eusebius have the presence of the Dead Sea.) 1.
Moses 14:1-3And this happened in the time of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellazar, the Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and king of the tidal nations; It was as old, if not older, than Damascus and was built seven years before Zoar in Egypt. It became a diocese and is included in the list of titular sees of the Catholic Church. [14] In the years 1986-1996, several excavations were carried out in this area. The ruins of a basilisk church discovered at the site of Deir `Ain` Abata (“monastery at the source of Abata” in Arabic) have been identified as the sanctuary of Agios (Saint) Lot. An adjacent cave is attributed as the place where Lot and his daughters took refuge during the destruction of Sodom. About 300 grave markers carved in the Khirbet Sheikh `Isa neighborhood of Ghor es-Safi were found in 1995. Most of the tombstones were inscribed in Greek, thus attributed to Christian burials, while several stones were inscribed in Aramaic, suggesting that they belonged to Jewish burials. Among these, two inscriptions show the origin of the deceased as Jews from Ḥimyar (present-day Yemen) and are funerary inscriptions from 470 and 477 AD, written in the combined Hebrew, Aramaic and Sabaean scriptures. In one of them, it was noted that the deceased had been brought from Ẓafār, the capital of the kingdom of Ḥimyar, to be buried in Zoar. [17] These tombstones have all been traced from the fourth to fifth centuries CE, when Zoara was an important Jewish center.
Unusually, Christians and Jews were buried in the same cemetery. [18] zo`-ar (tso`ar; the Septuagint usually Segor, Zogora): Genesis 13:10 And many looked up and saw the whole plain of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere, before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah, yes, as the garden of the Lord, as the land of Egypt, as you come to Zoar. The name Zoar belongs to a city located at the southern end of the salt sea, and roughly represents the high water mark of the destruction of the cities of the plain.
