Hazeroth
Haz'eroth
[many Haze'roth] (Heb. Chatseroth', חֲצֵרוֹת, villages; Sept. Α᾿σηρώθ, but Αὐλών in De 1:1), the sixteenth station of the Israelites, their third after leaving Sinai, and either four or five days' march from that mountain towards Canaan (Nu 11:35; Nu 12:16; Nu 33:17-18; De 1:1; comp. Nu 10:33). It was also the first place after Sinai where the camp remained for a number of days. Here Aaron and Miriam attempted to excite a rebellion against Moses; and here the guilty Miriam was smitten with leprosy (Numbers 12). Burckhardt suggested (Travels, p. 495) that it is to be found in Ain el-Iludhera, near the usual route from Sinai to the eastern arm of the Red Sea; an identification that has generally been acquiesced in by subsequent travelers. It is described by Dr. Robinson as a fountain of tolerably good water, the only perennial one in that region, with several low palm-trees around it; he also remarks that the identification of this spot with Hazeroth is important as showing the route of the Israelites from Sinai to the Arabab, which, if it passed through this place, must have continued down the valley to the Red Sea, and could not have diverged through the high western plateau of the wilderness (Researches, 1, 223). SEE EXODE. Its distance from Sinai accords with the Scripture narrative, and would seem to warrant us in identifying it with Hazeroth. There is some difficulty, however, in the position. The country around the fountain is exceedingly rugged, and the approaches to it difficult. It does not seem a suitable place for a large camp. Dr. Wilson mentions an undulating plain about fifteen miles north of Sinai, and running 'a long way to the eastward,' called el-Hadherah; and here he would locate Hazeroth (Lands of the Bible, 1, 256). Stanley thinks that the fountain called el-'Ain, some distance north of the fountain of Hudherah, ought rather to be regarded as the site of Hazeroth, because 'Ain is the most important spring in this region,' and must therefore have attracted around it any nomadic settlements, such as are implied in the name Hazeroth, and such as that of Israel might have been' (Sinai and Pal. p. 82). The approach to 'Ain is easy; the glens around it possess some good pastures; and the road from it to the AElanitic Gulf, along whose shore the Israelites appear to have marched, is open through the sublime ravine of Wetir. Still, those familiar with the East know with what tenacity old names cling to old sites; and it seems in the highest degree probable that the old name Hazeroth is retained in Hudherah. But probably the name may have been given to a wide district (Porter; Handbook for Sinai and Pal. 1, 37 sq.). Schwarz, however (Palest. p. 212), regards the site as that of Ais el-Kudeirah, a large fountain of sweet running water at some distance beyond the ridge which bounds the western edge of the interior plateau of the desert et-Tih (Robinson's Researches, 1, 280); a position far too northward.
