zoar Summary and Overview

small, a town on the east or south-east of the Dead Sea, to which Lot and his daughters fled from Sodom (Gen. 19:22, 23). It was originally called Bela (14:2, 8). It is referred to by the prophets Isaiah (15:5) and Jeremiah (48:34). Its ruins are still seen at the opening of the ravine of Kerak, the Kir-Moab referred to in 2 Kings 3, the modern Tell esh-Shaghur.

(smallness), one of the most ancient cities of the land of Canaan. Its original name was BELA. #Ge 14:2,8| It was in intimate connection with the cities of the "plain of Jordan" --Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, See also #Ge 13:10| but not Gene 10:19 In the general destruction of the cities of the plain Zoar was spared to afford shelter to Lot. #Ge 19:22,23,30| It is mentioned in the account of the death of Moses as one (of the landmarks which bounded his view from Pisgah, #De 34:3| and it appears to have been known in the time both of Isaiah, #Isa 15:5| and Jeremiah. #Jer 48:34| These are all the notices of Zoar contained in the Bible. It was situated in the same district with the four cities already mentioned, viz. in the "plain" or "circle" of the Jordan, and the narrative of #Ge 19:1|... evidently implies that it was very near to Sodom. vs. #Ge 19:15, 23:27| The definite position of Sodom is, and probably will always be, a mystery; but there can be little doubt that the plain of the Jordan was at the north side of the Dead Sea and that the cities of the plain must therefore have been situated there instead of at the southern end of the lake, as it is generally taken for granted they were. [SODOM] (But the great majority of scholars from Josephus and Eusebius to the present of the Dead Sea.)

ZO'AR (smallness),one of the "cities of the plain," Gen 13:10; originally called "Bela." Gen 14:2, 1 Kgs 15:8. This "little city" was spared from the destruction which overtook Sodom and the other cities, and made a refuge for Lot. Gen 19:20-30. Zoar was included in the view Moses had from Pisgah. Deut 34:3. The prophets Isaiah, Isa 15:5, and Jeremiah, Jer 48:34, reckon Zoar among the cities of Moab. Situation. - The situation of Zoar, like that of the other cities of the plain, has been much discussed. The great majority of scholars, from Ptolemy, Josephus, Eusebius, and Jerome to the present time, have located it near the southeastern shore of the Dead Sea. The shore of the bay, which extends from the Dead Sea into the Lisan Peninsula, has been regarded as a probable site for Zoar. For the general discussion as to the relative merits of the sites at the northern and at the southern ends of the Dead Sea, see Siddim and Sodom. Tristram was confident that he had discovered the site of Zoar at Ziara, some 3 miles north-west of Nebo and 11 miles west of the northern end of the Dead Sea. Among the points he urges for this special identification are the strong resemblance of the names and the fact that this place would be in plain view of Moses from Nebo. Deut 34:3. He cites also several arguments for putting all the cities at the upper end of the Dead Sea. This seems to be among the mountains, and too far from the other to be a likely position for Zoar. Merrill suggests, as the site for Zoar, Tell Ektauu, in the Shittim plain, north-east of the Dead Sea, near to the mountains of Moab, although it cannot be reckoned as one of the foot-hills. There are ruins here of great age, and the name Ektauu, which has no meaning in Arabic, appears to be the Hebrew word Katan, which means "little," or "the little one." The site would be in the direction Lot would naturally take in hastening to the neighboring city, and its distance from other mounds in the Shittim plain (which Dr. Merrill would identify with the plain in which stood Sodom and Gomorrah) corresponds well with the time allowed the fugitive - namely, from dawn to sunrise. Conder, who would place the lost cities at the north "end" of the Dead Sea, suggests Tell esh-Shaghai as the site of Zoar. It is at the foot of the eastern mountains, immediately north of the Dead Sea, and about 6 miles south of Nimrin.

Originally Bela; still called so when Abram first settled in Canaan (Genesis 14:2; Genesis 14:8; Genesis 14:10). Connected with the cities of the plain, Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim (Genesis 13:10). The southern division of the Dead Sea (apparently of comparatively recent formation), abounding with salt, and throwing up bitumen, and its shores producing sulphur and nitre, answers to the valley of Siddim, "full of slime pits," and to the destruction of the cities by fire and brimstone, and to the turning of Lot's wife into a pillar of salt. The S. bay is probably the vale of Siddim. Scripture does not say the cities were buried in the sea, but overthrown by fire from heaven (Deuteronomy 29:23; Jeremiah 49:18; Jeremiah 50:40; Zephaniah 2:9; 2 Peter 2:6). Josephus speaks of Sodomitis as burnt up and as adjoining the asphaltite lake (B. J., 4:8, Section 4). All ancient testimony favors the position of the cities being at the southern end. The traditional names of Usdum, etc., the traditional site of Zoar (called by Josephus, Ant. 1:11, Section 4, Zoar of Arabia), the hill of salt traditionally made Lot's wife, all favor their site being within or around the shallow southern bay. Tristram however identifies Zoar with Zi'ara at the northern end. Jerome (ad Joshua 15, and Quaest. in Genesis 14) and Theodoret (in Genesis 19) say Zoar was swallowed up by an earthquake probably after Lot had left it. So Wisdom (Wisdom of Solomon 10:6) says five cities were destroyed; so Josephus (B. J. 4:8, Section 4). But Deuteronomy 29:23 mentions only four; and Eusebius says Bela or Zoar was in his day garrisoned by Romans. It is the point to which Moab's fugitives shall flee (Isaiah 15:5; Jeremiah 48:34). Lot's view from the mountain E. of Bethel between Bethel and Ai (Genesis 13:3; Genesis 13:10; Genesis 12:8) is not to be pressed as though he could see all the plain of Jordan as far as to the S. of the Dead Sea; he saw only the northern end, but that sample assured him of the well watered character of the whole. From Pisgah or Nebo (Deuteronomy 34:3) Moses saw from "the plain of the valley of Jericho" southward as far as "unto Zoar"; not that Zoar was near Jericho, for Jehovah showed him "all the land of Judah and the South." It was probably on the S.E. side of the Dead Sea, as Lot's descendants, Ammon and Moab, occupied that region as their original seat. Tristram's statement that the ground of Zi'ara falls in terraces for 3,000 ft. to the Jordan valley is at variance with Lot's words, "I cannot escape to the mountain: behold this city (evidently not a place so hard to get up to as 3,000 ft. elevation) is near to flee unto, and it is a little one"; its inhabitants are so few that their sins are comparatively little, and so it may be spared. (Rashi.) Subsequently Lot fearing Zoar was not far enough from Sodom, nor high enough to be out of danger, fled to the mountains to which the angel originally urged his flight (Genesis 19:17-23; Genesis 19:30). God's assurance "I will not overthrow this city ... for the which thou hast spoken" ought to have sufficed to assure Lot; his want of faith issued in the awful incest of the mountain cave; compare the spiritual lesson, Jeremiah 3:23. Abulfeda spells it Zoghar. Fulcher, the crusading historian (Gesta Dei, 405), found Segor at the point of entrance to the mountains of Arabia, S. of the lake; probably in the wady Kerak, the road from the S. of the Dead Sea to the eastern highlands. Irby and Mangles found extensive ruins in the lower part of this wady, which they name Dera'ah, perhaps corrupted from Zoar.