Jahaz
Ja'haz (Heb. Yat'hats, יִהִוֹ, trodden down, Isa 15:4; Jer 48:34; Sept. Ι᾿ασσά; also with ה local and in pause, י הצָה, Yach'tsah, Nu 21:23, Sept. εἰς Ι᾿ασσά; De 2:32, Sept. εἰς Ι᾿ασά; and this even with a prefix, בּי הצָה, Jg 11:20, Sept. εἰς Ι᾿ασσά; but likewise with ה paragogic, יִהצָה, Yah'tsach, Sept. Ι᾿ασσά, Jos 13:18; A. Vers. "Jahaza;" Ι᾿ασά, Jer 48:21, "Jahazah;" Ι᾿ασσά, Jos 21:36, "Jahazah;" ῾Ρεφάς v.r. Ι᾿ασσά, 2Ch 6:42, "Jahzah"), a town beyond the Jordan, where Sihon was defeated, in the borders of Moab and the region of the Ammonites (Nu 21:23; De 2:32; Jg 11:20); situated in the tribe of Reuben (Jos 13:18), and assigned to the Merarite Levites (Jos 21:36; 1Ch 6:78). In Isa 15:4; Jer 48:21, it appears as one of the Moabitish places that suffered from the transit of the Babylonian conquerors through the "plain country' (i.e. the Mishor. the mod. Belka). The whole country east of the Dead Sea had originally been given to the Moabites and Ammonites (Ge 19:36-38; De 2; De 19-22); but the warlike Amorites from the west of the Jordan conquered them, and expelled them from the region north of the river Amon. From the Amorites the Israelites took this country, but subsequently the Ammonites claimed it as theirs (Jg 11:13), and on the decline of Jewish power the Moabites and Ammonites again took possession of it. Hitzig (Zu Jesa. ad loc.) regards Jahaz and Jahzah as different places (so Keil on Joshua ad loc., urging that they are distinguished in the passages of Jeremiah); but this is unnecessary (so Winer, Real. s.v. Jahaz), and at variance with the philology. It appears to have been situated on the- edge of the desert (see Raumer, Zug dc. Isr. — p. 53; Hengstenberg, Bileame, p. 239). See Exodus. 'From the terms of the narrative in Numbers 21 and Deuteronomy 2 we should expect that Jahaz was in the extreme south part of the territory of Sihon, but yet north of the River Arnon (see De 2:24,36; and the words in verse 31, "begin to possess"), and in 'exactly this position a site named Jazaze is mentioned by Schwarz (Palest. p. 227, "a village to the south-west of Dhiban"); but this lacks confirmation, especially as Eusebius and Jerome (Ozomnasf s. Ι᾿εσσά, Jassa) place it between Medeba (Μηδαμών) and Dibon (Διβούς,'Deblathaim); and the latter states that "Jahaz lies opposite the Dead Sea, at the boundary of the region of Moab." These requirements are met by supposing Jahaz to have been situated in the open tract at the head of wady Waleh, between Arnun on the east, and Jebel Humeh on the west.
