E'zem (Heb. E'tsem, O^X), a less incorrect mode (1 Chron. iv, 29) of Anglicizjing the name Azem (q. v.), as elsewhere (Josh, xix, 3).
Ezen. See Eznite.
E'zer (Heb. E'tser, "liSX, treasure; Sept. 'A(T«p, Vulg. Eser), one of the sons of Seir, and native princes of Mount Hor (Gen. xxxvi, 21, 27, 30 ; 1 Chron. i, 42, 38, in which last verse the name is Anglicized " Ezar""). B.C. cir. 1927.
E'ZER (Heb. E'zer, TTS?, "iTI? [in pause, A'zer, It"], help), the name of five men. See also Romam-
TI-EZER ; EbEX-EZER.
1. (Sept. 'E^tp V. r. 'A^fp,Vulg. Ezer.) A person named with Elead (q. v.) as a son (or descendant) of Jlphraim, who was slain by the aboriginal inhabitants of Gath while engaged in a foray on their cattle (1 Chron. vii, 21). Ewald {Gesch. Isr. i, 490) assigns this occurrence to the pre-Egyptian period. B.C. ante 1658.
2. (Sept. 'E^'sp v. r. ra^z/p, Vulg. Ezer.) The father of Hushah, one of the posteritv of Hur, of the tribe of Judah (1 Chron. iv, 4). B.C.'cir. 1658. In ver. 17 he appears to be called Ezra, but no such son occurs among the list of'those there attributed to him.
3. (Sept. 'K'i-p V. r. 'Aid, Vulg. Ezer.) The first- named of the Gittite champions who repaired to David at Ziklag (1 Chron. xii, 9). B.C. 1054.
4. (Sept. 'Ai,ip V. r. 'Ai^oj'p, Vulg. Azer.) Son of Jeshua, and ruler of Mizpah, who repaired part of the city wall near the armory (Neh. iii, 19). B.C. 446.
5. (Sept. 'It4'oi'p,Vulg. Ezer.) One of the priests ■who made the circuit of the newly-finished walls of Jerusalem (Neh. xii, 42). B.C. 446-.
Ezeri'as (o Estpi'ac v. r. Zfxpinf,Vulg. Azarias), the son of llekhiah and father of Saraias, in the ances-
try of Esdras (1 Esdr. viii, 1) ; evidently the highc priest AzAKiAii (q. v.) of the Heb. text (Ezra vii, 1).
Ezi'as (o 'E'Ciaq V. r. 6 'O^iocVulg. Aznhel), the son of Meremoth and father of Amarias in the same genealogy (1 Esdr. viii, 2) ; evidenth' the correspond- ing AzAiiiAH (q. v.) of the Hebrew list (Ezra vii, 3). Comp. AziEi.
E'ziou-ge'ber (Heb. Etsyon'-Ge'ber, 'n^i.""'!''^? [in this form only at 1 Kings ix, 26 ; 2 Chron. viii, 17], i. q. giant's bach-hone ; Sept. Taauov [in Deut. Vtai- iov] VajitQ [in Chron. Fa/itp], but in 1 Kings 'Aaiwv VdjiiQ ; Vulg. Asiongaber) or E'ZION-GA'BER (being "in pause," Heb. Etsyon'-Ga'ber, "^35 "''S'J [in 1 Kings XX, 49; 2 Chron. xx, 36, fully V"!"^^"], so found also at Numb, xxxiii, 35, 36 ; Deut. ii, 8 ; but AngU- cized " Ezion-geber" in 1 Kings xxii, 48 [49]), a very ancient city near Elath (q. v.), on the eastern arm of the Red Sea. Jonathan's Targum, following a false etymology, defines the name as i. q. "castle of the cock" (see Buxtorf, Lex. Chald. col. 384 ; Beck, Chron. Chald.paraphr. ii, 101). It is first mentioned in Numb, xxxiii, 35 as one of the stations where the Hebrews halted in their journej'ings through the desert, being the'last there named before they came to " the wilder- ness of Zin, which is Kadesh," and the point where thej' afterwards turned from the 'Arabah to Elath, to- w^ards "the wilderness of Moab" (Deut. ii, 8). See ExODE. From its- harbor it was that Solomon (1 Kings ix, 26) sent the fleet which he had there built to the land of Ophir. See Commerce. Here also Je- hoshaphat (1 Kings xxii, 47 ; 2 Chron. xx, 35) built a fleet "to go to Ophir ;" but because he had joined him- self with Ahaziah, " king of Israel, who did wickedly," "the ships were. broken that thej^ were not able to go to Tarshish," being probably destroyed on the rocks which lie in "jagged ranges on each side" (Stanlej', Sinai and Palestine, p. 84). Biisching {Erdheschr. V, i, 620) erroneously locates it at Shurni, a port at the southern end of the gulf (Geogr. A'ub. iii, 5). AVellsted {Travels, ii, 153) would find it in the modern Dahoh, but this is the ancient Dizahab (q. v.) ; Laborde (Com- mentaire Geogr. p. 124) seeks it in the rocky island el-Kureiyah, which is hardly adequate in extent or position; and Riippel (Arab. p. 252) locates it at the mouth of'wady Einrag, i. e. el-Murah, which is liable to the same objection. Josephus (Ant. viii, 6, 4) says that Ezion-geber (^ A<r(noyyd(3ctpoc) was also called Berenice, and that it lay not far from ^lath. It is probably the same with the once-populous city ' Asynn (Burckhardt, Syria, p. 511). Robinson (Biblicid Re- searches, i, 250) saj'S, ' ' No trace of Ezion-geber seems now to remain, unless it be in the name of a small wad}' with brackisli water, el-Ghudyan, opening into el-'Arabah from the western mountain, some distance north of Akabah." It is doubtful, however, whether the sea ever extended so far up the 'Arabah as this. It was probably situated at the point where the Haj route strikes the 'Arabah at the north-west point of the gulf (Robinson, ib. i, 239). Yet the town may have given name to this the nearest spring, for Ghndynn in Arabic corresponds in all the essential letters to Ezion in Heb., which is identical with the later Wsynn. By comparing 1 Kings ix, 26, 27, with 2 Chron. viii, 17, 18, it is probable that timber was floated from Tyre to the nearest point on the Mediterranean coast, and then conveyed over land to the head of the Gulf of Akabah, where the ships seem to have been built ; for there can hardly have been adequate forests in the neigh- borhood. Dr. "Wilson noticed fragments of an old car- avan route part way up the hill-side in this vicinity (Lands of the Bible, i, 284). See Wilderxess of the SVandering.