Aroer

Aroer, 1

Aro´er, a town on the north side of the river Arnon, and therefore on the southern border of the territory conquered from the Amorites, which was assigned to the tribes of Reuben and Gad (Deu 2:36; Jos 12:2; Jos 13:9). The Amorites had previously dispossessed the Ammonites of this territory; and although in the texts cited the town seems to be given to Reuben, it is mentioned as a Moabitish city by Jeremiah (Jer 48:19). Burckhardt found the ruins of this town under the name of Araayr, on the edge of a precipice overlooking the river. Aroer is always named in conjunction with ’the city that is in the midst of the river;’ whence it has been conjectured that, like Rabbath Ammon [RABBATH-AMMON], it consisted of two parts, or distinct cities; the one on the bank of the river, and the other in the valley beneath, surrounded, either naturally or artificially, by the waters of the river.

Aroer, 2

Aroer, one of the towns ’built,’ or probably rebuilt, by the tribe of Gad (Num 32:34). Burckhardt, in journeying from Szalt towards Rabbath Ammon, notices a ruined site, called Ayra, as ’one of the towns built by the tribe of Gad.’ It is about seven miles south-west from Szalt. Aroer of Gad is also mentioned in Jdg 11:33, and 2Sa 24:5.

Aroer, 3

Aroer, a city in the south of Judah, to which David sent presents after recovering the spoil of Ziklag (1Sa 30:26; 1Sa 30:28). At the distance of twenty geographical miles S. by W. from Hebron, there is a broad valley called Ararah, in which are evident traces of an ancient village or town. The identity of name shows that this was the Aroer of Judah.

1. An ancient city on the north side of the Arnon, in the southern border of the tribe of Reuben, Deu 2:36 4:48 Jos 13:9 . It was in the territory of the Amorites, Jos 12:2, but seems to have fallen at a later day into the hands of Moab, Jer 48:19 . See ARNON.\par 2. A town in the tribe of God, probably east of Rabbath-Ammon, Jos 13:25, and perhaps on the Jabbok, 2Sa 24:5 . It is mentioned in Jdg 11:33 \par 3. A town of Judah, to which David sent presents, 1Sa 30:28 1Ch 11:44 . Robinson found traces of it about sixteen miles south by west from Hebron.\par

Ar’oer. (ruins).

1. A city on the torrent Arnon, the southern point of the territory of Sihon king of the Amorites and afterwards of the tribe of Reuben, Deu 2:36; Deu 3:12; Deu 4:48; Jos 12:2; Jos 13:9; Jos 13:16; Jdg 11:26; 2Ki 10:33; 1Ch 5:8, but later again in possession of Moab. Jer 48:19. It is the modern Ara’ir, upon the very edge of the precipitous north bank of the Wady Mojeb.

2. Aroer, "that is ’facing’ Rahbah" (Rabbah of Ammon), a town built by and belonging to Gad. Num 32:34; Jos 13:25; 2Sa 24:5. This is probably the place mentioned in Jdg 11:33 which was shown in Jerome’s time.

3. Aroer, in Isa 17:2 if a place at all, must be still farther north than either of the two already named.

4. A town in Judah, named only in 1Sa 30:28 perhaps Wady Ar’arah, on the road from Petra to Gaza.

("ruins, places with the foundations laid bore".) (See ARNON.)

1. The city taken from Sihon, king of the Amorites, and assigned to Reuben (Deu 2:36; Jos 13:9; Jos 13:16). Afterward in Moab’s possession (Jer 48:19), though Aroer may there be regarded as only lying in Moab’s way, when fleeing into the desert, and as asking the cause of Moab’s flight. With Aroer is associated some "city that is in the midst of the river." Mr. Grove suggests that at the Arnon junction with the Lejum, one hour E. of Arair or Aroer, the hill with ruins on it may be the site of the city in question; no city could have stood in such a position immediately near Aroer.

2. Aroer facing Rabbbah of Ammon: "built," i.e. restored and enlarged, by Gad (Num 32:34; Jdg 11:33); now perhaps Ayra. Isa 17:2 refers to this Aroer with its dependent "cities," then "forsaken" through Tiglath Pileser’s having carried away the inhabitants (2Ki 15:29).

3. A town in Judah (1Sa 30:28) to which David sent portions after his victory over the Amalekites at Ziklag. In the wady Ararah, 20 geographical miles S. of Hebron, on the road from Petra to Gaza.

(Heb. Aroer’, עֲרוֹעֵר[once עִרְעוֹר, Jdg 11:26], ruins, as in Jer 48:6, "heath;" Sept. Α᾿ρωήρ and Α᾿ροήρ), the name of three places. In Isa 17:2, "cities of Aroer" are mentioned; which some think should be translated " ruined cities," as Aroer was not a metropolis, but the name probably stands as a representative of the two towns in that region.

1. A town "by the brink," or "on the bank of" (both the same expression-- Heb. "on the lip"), or "’by," i.e. on the north side of the torrent Arnon (Deu 4:48; Jdg 11:26; 2Ki 10:33; 1Ch 5:8), and therefore on the southern border of the territory conquered from Sihon, which was assigned to the tribes of Reuben and Gad (Deu 2:36; Deu 3:12; Jos 12:2; Jos 13:9). The Amorites had previously dispossessed the Ammonites of this territory; and although the town seems to be given to Reuben (Jos 13:16), it is mentioned as a Moabitish city by Jeremiah (Jer 48:19). According to Eusebius (Onomast. s.v. Α᾿ροήρ) it stood " on the brow of the hill." Burckhardt (comp. Macmichael, Journey, p. 242) found the ruins of this town, under the name of Araayr, on the edge of a precipice overlooking Wady Mojeb (Travels in Syria, p. 372). They are also mentioned under the name Arar in Robinson’s Researches (App. to vol. iii, p. 170, and Map). Schwarz places it 15 miles from the Dead Sea (Palest. p. 226). Aroer is always named in conjunction with " the city that is in the midst of the river;" whence Dr. Mansford (Script. Gaz.) conjectures that, like Rabbath Ammon (q.v.), it consisted of two parts, or distinct cities; the one on the bank of the river, and the other in the valley beneath, surrounded, either naturally or artificially, by the waters of the river. For another explanation, SEE ARNON.

2. One of the towns "built," or probably rebuilt, by the tribe of Gad (Num 32:34). It is said in Jos 13:25, to be "before (עִלאּפְּנֵי) Rabbah" [of Ammon]; but, as Raumer well remarks (Palistina, p. 249), this could not possibly have been in the topographical sense of the words (in which before means east of), seeing that Aroer, as a town on the eastern border of Gad, must have been west of Rabbah; while to a person in Palestine proper, or coming from the Jordan, Aroer would be before Rabbah in the ordinary sense. It is (see Ritter, Erdk. 15:1130) apparently the place discovered by Burckhardt (Syria, p. 335), who, in journeying toward Rabbath Ammon, notices a ruined site, called Ayra, about seven miles south-west from es-Salt; probably the same with the Array el-Emir visited by Legh (p. 246) on his way from Heshbon to es-Salt (comp. Schwarz, Palest. p. 231). It is also called Aireh in Robinson’s Researches (iii, App. p. 169). Aroer of Gad is also mentioned in Jdg 11:33, and 2Sa 24:5, in which latter passage it is stated to have been situated on the ’ river" (brook) of Gad, i.e. apparently on the Wady Nimrin (and not the Arnon, see Reland, Palsest. p. 533). Keil (Comment. on Joshua p. 339), approved by Van de Velde (Memoir, p. 288), fixes upon Kulat Zeska Gadda, as lying in a wady and east of Rabbah; but the passage in 2 Samuel (" and they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city, that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad. and toward Jazer") can only signify [if, indeed, the word אֲשֶׁר, which, do not signify here merely "to wit," or rather be not altogether spurious] that the party of Joab encamped just across the Jordan, in the bed of one of the brooks of Gad (the Wady Nimrin), south of Aroer and not far from Jaazer. Jerome speaks of it as Aruir (Euseb. Α᾿ρουεί), a village still found on a hill 20 Roman miles south of Jerusalem (Onomast. s.v.); but this, if correct, can only mean south-east.

3. A city in the south of Judah (i.e. in Simeon), to which David sent presents after recovering the spoil of Ziklag (1Sa 30:26; 1Sa 30:28). It appears to have been the native city of two of David’s warriors (1Ch 11:44). At the distance of twenty geographical miles south by west from Hebron, Dr. Robinson (Researches, ii, 618) came to a broad wady where there are many pits for water, which are called Ararah, and which gave name to the valley. In the valley and on the western hill are evident traces of an ancient village or town, consisting only of foundations of unhewn stones, now much scattered, but yet sufficiently distinct to mark them as foundations. Small fragments of pottery are also everywhere visible. The same identification is proposed by Schwarz, who calls the place "the modern village Arar, two and a half English miles south of Moladah" (Palest. p. 113).

Aroer.

SEE HEATH.

Aroer (ăr’o-er, or a-rô’er), ruins, or juniper. 1. A city on the northern bank of the Arnon. Its ruins are still called Araʾir. If Aroer be meant by "the city in the midst of the river," Jos 13:9, it may have originated in the circumstance that the city stood partly on the bank, and partly extending into the river. Deu 2:36; Deu 3:12; Deu 4:48; Jos 12:2; Jos 13:16; Jdg 11:28; Jer 48:19. 2. Another city, situated farther north, over against Rabbah of Ammon, on a brook of Gad, a branch of the Jabbok. The site is still called Ayra, Num 32:34; Jos 13:25; 2Sa 24:5; Isa 17:2; but possibly another city near Damascus. 3. A city of the south of Judah; the inhabitants were called "Aroerites." The ruins are still called Arʾarah. 1Sa 30:28; 1Ch 11:44.

[Aro’er]

1. City ’before Rabbah,’ that is, near Rabbath Ammon, in the valley of the Jabbok, built or rebuilt by the tribe of Gad. Num 32:34; Jos 13:25; 2Sa 24:5.

2. Moabite city on the north bank of the Arnon. Deu 2:36; Jos 13:9; Jos 13:16; Jdg 11:26; 2Ki 10:33. Identified with Arair , 31° 27’ N, 35° 43’ E.

3. District near Damascus. Isa 17:2.

4. City in Judah, S.E. of Beersheba. 1Sa 30:28. Identified with Ararah, 31° 11’ N, 34° 56’ E.

By: Morris Jastrow, Jr., John Dyneley Prince

A name probably meaning "bushes of dwarf juniper" (Lagarde, "Sem." i. 30), which is applied in the Old Testament to three distinct localities.

1. "Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of Arnon" (Deut. ii. 36, R. V.), is probably represented by the present ruins of 'Arzā'ir on the north bank of the Arnon ravine, about eleven miles from the mouth of the river (Tristram, "Moab," pp. 129-131). The city was still standing in the time of Eusebius. This place was usually described by its situation, in order to distinguish it from other localities of the same name (Deut. iii. 12, iv. 48; Josh. xii. 2, xiii. 9; Judges xi. 26; II Sam. xxiv. 5). It appears first as having been captured by the Amorite king Sihon from Moab (compare Num. xxi. 26). It should be noted that in the Mesha inscription, l. 26, it is mentioned as having been built by the Moabites. After Israel's attack on the Amorites, it was assigned as part of the territory of the tribe of Reuben, whose southern frontier it marked. This is the city mentioned in Num. xxxii. 34, with the southern towns, as having been built by the children of Gad before the distribution of the land. When Hazael and his Syrians took from Israel the territory across the Jordan, Aroer is given as its southern limit (II Kings x. 33). It is clear, from Jer. xlviii. 19, that the Moabites ultimately recovered it from the Israelites.

2. A city in the territory of the tribe of Judah (I Sam. xxx. 28, and probably Josh. xv. 22). It has been identified with the ruins of 'Ar'āra, twenty miles south of Hebron and twelve miles southeast from Beer-sheba. David sent to the elders of this city a share of the booty taken from the Amalekites who had attacked Ziklag (I Sam. xxx. 28).

3. A town east of Rabbath-Ammon (Josh. xiii. 25) in the territory of the tribe of Gad, originally an Ammonite city (Judges xi. 33). It has not yet been identified. According to Jerome ("Onomasticon Sacrum," 96, 5), it was on a mountain, twenty Roman miles north of Jerusalem.

The reading "the cities of Aroer are forsaken" (Isa. xvii. 2) is probably incorrect, as it presents many geographical difficulties, occurring as it does in connection with "the burden of Damascus." While it is possible that there may have been another Aroer near Damascus, it is more likely that the passage should be rendered "the cities thereof shall be forsaken." This emendation, proposed by Lagarde, has been quite generally accepted by modern scholars.

The Gentile name from Aroer is Aroerite (I Chron. xi. 44).

AROER.—Three distinct places. 1. ‘Aroer which is by the brink of the river Arnon’ (Deu 2:36) is probably the ruin ‘Arâ‘ir, on the north bank of the Wady Mojib (Arnon). In such a position it necessarily became a frontier town, and as such is mentioned (cf. Deu 2:36, 2Ki 10:33 etc.). It was captured by Sihon, king of the Amorites (Deu 2:36; Deu 4:48, Jos 12:2; Jos 13:9, Jdg 11:26); when conquered by Israel it was assigned to Reuben (Deu 3:12); it was taken by Hazael, king of Syria (2Ki 10:33), and apparently later on by Moab (Jer 48:19). 2. A city of Judah (1Sa 30:28), perhaps the ruin ‘Ar‘âra, 12 miles east of Beersheba. 3. A city of Gad near Rabbah, i.e. ‘Amman (Jos 13:25, Jdg 11:33). The site is unknown.

E. W. G. Masterman.

a-rō´ẽr (ערוער, ‛ărō‛ēr; Ἀροήρ, Aroḗr):

(1) A city of the Amorites which stood on the northern edge of the Arnon (Deu 2:36, etc.). Taken by Israel, it shared the vicissitudes of the country north of the river, and when last named (Jer 48:19) is again in the hands of Moab. It is one of the cities which Mesha claims to have built, i.e. fortified. It was within the territory allotted to Reuben, yet its building (fortification) is attributed to Gad (Num 32:34). Thus far came the Syrian, Hazael, in his raid upon Israel (2Ki 10:33). The Roman road across the valley lay about an hour to the West of Khirbet ‛Arā‛ir.

(2) A city in Gilead described as “before Rabbah,” on the boundary between Gad and the Ammonites (Jos 13:25). No name resembling this has yet been recovered in the district indicated.

(3) A city in the territory of Judah named only in 1Sa 30:28. Probably however in Jos 15:22 we should read ‛ar‛ārāh instead of ‛adh‛ādhāh, which may be the same city, and may be identical with ‛Ar‛āra, a site with cisterns and some remains of ancient buildings about 14 miles Southeast of Beersheba.