Zo'ar (Heb. Tso'ar,'-\'^^1 [fully "i3?i:r, Gen. xix, 22, 1Z,i(f\, smallness ; Sept. S(/ywp, Zoyiip, or Zoyopa ; Jo- sephus Zoiip, Ta Xoapa or Zaiapa ; Vulg. Segor"), one of the cities of the Jordan and Dead-Sea valley, and ap- parently, from the way in which it is mentioned, the most distant from the western highlands of Palestine (xiii, 10). Its original name was Bkla, and it was still so called at the time of Abram's first residence in Canaan (xiv, 2, 8). It was then in intimate connec- tion with the cities of the " plain of Jordan" — Sodom, Gomorrah, Ailmah, and Zeboiim (see also xiii, 10; but not X, 19) — and its king took part with the kings of those towns in the battle with the Assyrian host which ended in their defeat and the capture of Lot. The change is thus explained in the narrative of Lot's es- cape from Sodom. When urged by the angel to flee to the mountain, he pointed to Bela, and said, "This city is near to fiee unto, and it is a little one (li'S'C). Oh, let me escape thither (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live." The angel consented ; and the in- cident proved a new baptism to the place — "Therefore the name of tlie city was called Zoar," that is, " little"' (v, 22). This incident further tends to fix its site, at least relatively to Sodom. It must have been nearer than the mountains, and yet outside the boundary of the plain or vale of Siddim, which was destroyed dur- ing the conflagration. It would seem from ver. 30 that it lay at the foot of the mountain into which Lofsub- sequently went up, and where he dwelt. That moun- tain was most probabl_v the western declivity of Moab, overlooking the Dead Sea. In Deut. xxxiv, 3 there is another slight indication of the position of Zoar. From the top of Pisgah Moses obtained his view of the Prom- ised Land. The east, the north, and the west he viewed, and lastly " the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, unto Zoar." This is not quite definite ; but, con- sidering the scope of the passage, it may be safely con-
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eluded that the gener- al basin of the I )eu<l Sea is meant, and that Zoar was near its soutliern end. Isaiah reckons Zoar among the cities of Moab, but does not describe its position. It woul<l seem, liowever, from tlie way in which ii is mentioned, that it uuist have been on the utmost b()rder(Isa.xv,
.^_^____^__ '')• Jeremiah is the
only otluT sacred writ- er who mentions it, and his words are less definite than those of Isaiah (Jer. xlviii, 34).
In early Christian times Josephus says that it retained its name (Zoi.'ip) to his day (.1 nt. i. 11, 4), that it was at the farther end of the Asplialtic Lake, in Arabia— by which he means the country lying southeast of the lake, whose capital was I'etra ( War, iv, 8, 4 ; A nt. xiv, 1, 4). The notices of Eusebius are to tlie same tenor: the Dead Sea extended from Jericho to Zoar (Zoopwv; Ono- mast. s. V. BtiXarrrra 1) aXvKt'j). Ph,T?no lay between Pe- tra and Zoar (ibid. s. v. ito'wi/). It still retained its name (Z(iiajOrt),lay close to {TrapctKiiiikvi}) the Dead Sea, was crowded with inhabitants, and contained a garrison of Roman soldiers; tlie palm and the balsam still flourish- ed, and testified to its ancient fertility {ihiil. s. v. liaXa). To these notices of Eusebius, Jerome adds little or noth- ing. Paula, in her journey, beliolds Scgor (wliich Je- rome gives on several occasions as the Hebrew form of the name, in opposition to Zoora. or Zoara, tlie Syrian form) from Caphar Hanicha (possibly IJcni Nairn, near Hebron), at the same time with Kngedi, and the land where once stood the four cities; but tlic terms of the statement are too vague to allow of any inference as to its position (^Epiist. c\ii\, § 11). In his commentary on Isa. XV, 5, Jerome says that it was " in the boiuidary of the Moabites, dividing them from the land of the Phi- listines," and thus justifies his use of the word vectis to translate nni"i3 (A. V. "his fugitives," marg. "bor- ders ;" Gesen. FUichtlinge). The terra Philislhiiin, un- less the words are corrupt, can only mean the land of Palestine — i. e. (according to the inaccurate usage of later times) of Israel — as opposed to Jloab. In his Qiuestiones /febraicre, on Gen. xix, 30 (comp. xiv. 3), Jerome goes so far as to affirm the accuracy of the .Jew- ish conjecture, that the later name of Zoar was Shali- sha — " Bale primum et postea Salisa appellata" (comp. also his comment on Isa. xv, 5). Bu^ this is probal)ly grounded merely on an interpretation of shalishit/ih in Isa. XV, 5, as connected with bila, and as denoting the " third" destruction of the town by "earthc|uakes."
Zoar was included in the province of Palcsiina Tor- tia, which contained also Kerak and Areopolis. It was an episcopal see, in the patriarchate of .lerusalem and archbishopric of Petra; at the Council of Clialcedon (A.D. 451) it was represented by its bisliop. Musonius and at the Synod of Constantinople (A. I). 530) by.Iohn (Le Quien, Oriens Christ, iii. 743-746).