Ja'asau [some Jad'san] (Heb. Yadsav', Tw"^ Sept. translates tiroir^aav q. d. t-"\ but the margin has YaUsay', ^''^"^, fabricator, otherwise for M^b?.!', made hy. Miovafi, and so Vulg.,/w/), an Israelite of the "sons' of Bani, who renouncecl his Gentile wife after the return from Babylon (Ezra x, 37). B.C. 459.
Jaa'siel (Heb. YaasieV, h'^'^'q-J^, made by God Sept. ' ErT(nt}\ and 'AaiijX ; Vidg. Jasiel), a Jlesobaite, and one of David's bodj'-gnard (1 Chron. xi, 47, where the name is Anglicized " Jasiel") ; probably the same with the sf)n of Abiier and viceroy over Benjamin (1 Chron, xxvii,21). B.C. 1046-1014.
Jaazani'ah (Heb. Yadzanyah', 't^'^'^l'S^, heard by Jehorah ; also in the prolonged form Yadzam/a'/ni. !in^3T";; [2 Kings xxv,23; Ezek. viii, 11] ; sometimes in the contracted form Yezanyah', H^2t% " Jezaniah" [Jer. xlii, 1], or Yezanyahii, liT'ST^ "Jezaniah" [Jer. xl, 8] ; Septuag. '\tZ,oviac, but 'A^apinc in Jer. xlii, i Ynh^.Jezaniax), the name of four men about the time of the Captivity.
1. The son of Jeremiah, and one of the chief Recha- bites (i, e. sheik) whom the prophet tested with the offer of wine (Jer. xxxv,3). B.C. GOG. See Jkhonadab.
2. The son of Shajdian, whom Ezekiel in his vision s-aw standing in the midst of the seventy elders offering idolatrous incense in the " chambers of imagery" at Je- rusalem (Ezek. viii, 11). B.C. .593.
3. The son of Azur, and one of the "princes' among the twenty-tive men seen in vision by the same prophet at the east gate of the Temple, and represented as en- couraging the city in its wicked pride (Ezek. xi, 1). B.C.593 ' '
4. The son of Hoshaiah, a Maachathite, who acted in conjunction with Johanan, the son of Kareah, after the downfall of Jerusalem, tirst in submitting to the Bab- ylonian governor Gedaliah, and, after his assassination, in requesting Jeremiah's advice as to the proper course for the people to pursue (2 Kings xxv, 23 ; Jer. xl, 8 ; xlii, 1). He appears to have assisted in recovering Ish- mael's prey from his clutches (comp. Jer. xli, 11). After that he probably went to Egj'pt with the rest (Jer. xliii, 4, 5). He is doubtless the same person called Azariah, the son of Hoshaiah, who rejected the divine counsel thus asked, and insisted on fleeing into Egypt (Jer. xliii, 1), B.C. 587. See Jeremiah.
Jaa'zer (Hebrew Yadzeyr', ^''TS'", 1 Chron. vi, 81 ; xxvi, 31 ; elsewhere the more abbreviated form "ifJ^, Yazer', helper; Sept. 'laZ,i}() [2 Sam. xxiv, 5, 'EXit^T/p] ; Auth.Vers. "Jaazer"in Numb. xxi,32; xxxii, 35; else- where " Jazer"), a city on the east of the Jordan, taken by the Israelites under Moses from the Amorites (Numb. xxi, 32), and assigned, with other neighboring places of Gilead, to the tribe of Gad (Numb, xxxiii, 1, 3, 35 ; Josh. xiii,25) ; also constituted a Levitical city (Josh, xxi, 39 ; 1 Chron. vi, 81). It must have been a place of impor- tance, for it gave its name to a large section of country. The " land of Jazer" Avas fertile, and its rich pastures at- tracted the attention of the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh (Numb. xxxii, 1). As it is mentioned between Dibon and Nimrah, it appears to have stood on the high plain north of Heshbon (Numb, xxxii, 3). It was allot- ted to the Merarite Levites (Josh, xxi, 39 ; 1 Chron. vi, 81), but in the time of David it would appear to have been occupied by Hebronites, i. e. descendants of Ko- hath (1 Chron. xxvi, 31). It seems to have given its name to a district of dependent or " daughter" towns (Numb, xxi, 32, A.V. "villages;" 1 Mace, v, 8). It is mentioned in connection with the census under David (2 Sam. xxiv, 5 ; 1 Chron. xxvi, 31), and was among the Moabitish places that experienced the desolating march of the Chaldsean invaders (Isa. xvi, 8 ; Jer. xlviii, 32, in which latter passage a " sea of Jazer" is spoken of). In the "burdens" proclaimed over Moab by the prophets, Jazer is mentioned so as to imply that there were vineyards there, and that the cultivation of the vine had extended thither from Sibmah (Isa. xvi, 8, 9 ; Jer. xlviii, 32). After the exile it remained in the hands of the Ammonites (1 Mace, v, 8). According to Eusebius (Onomasf. s. v. 'laZrtp), it lay 10 R. miles west (south-west) of Philadelphia (Rabbatli-Ammon), and 15 from Heshbon. Josephus calls the place Jazonis ('I«- Z,(x)Q6c,Ant. xii, 8, 1), and Ptolemy Gazorus (Pa^ttipoc, v, IG, 9). Seetzen (in Zach's Monatl. Corresp. xviii, 429) thinks it is found in the present ruins called Syr or Sar (Burckhardt's Trai: in Syria, p. 355, 357), but this is too near Rabbah according to Zimmerman's map, which also gives the village of Seir at the head of a wadj' of the same name, at about the proper location to correspond with that of Eusebius. Raumer (I'aldst. p, 254) thinks it is rather the Ain Hazir (Burckhardt, Trar. p. 609) ; but this is in consequence of the statement of Eusebius in another place (Oiwmast. s. v. 'Ajwp), that it lay eight miles from PhiladeliDhia, confounding Jazer with Hazor (see Keil's Commetit. on Josh, xiii, 25). As to the " sea of Jazer" mentioned by Jeremiah (xlviii, 32), which Gesenius {Comvient. on Isa. xvi, 8) thinks an error, Avhile Reland confounds it with the Jabbok {Pal- astina, p. 825), and others with other streams (Biisching, Krdbesch. xi, 389); it is probably (see Hitzig, Comm.zu Jes. p. 196) the Nahr Syr or the above-named wady (see Prof. Stuart, in the Bibl. Repo.i. 1836, p. 157). With this identification Schwarz coincides (Palestine, p. 230). Porter (in Kitto's Cyclop, s. v.) suggests that " the land of Jazer" must have extended to the shore of the Dead Sea, and that "the sea of Jazer" may therefore have been so called by the inhabitants of the district, just as the northern lake took the name of " Tiberias," and " Gen- esaret," and " Chuinereth." But this is uncontirmed by