Zer
Zer is an ancient city mentioned in the Old Testament, located in the region of Phoenicia in modern-day Israel. Known today as Tyre. It appears across 1 verse in Scripture.
Biblical History
Zer appears in the Old Testament in Joshua 19:35 as one of the fortified cities within the tribal territory of Naphtali in the Upper Galilee region. The list in Joshua 19:35–38 enumerates the cities given to Naphtali as part of the post-conquest apportionment of the land, and Zer appears among a cluster of Galilean settlements including Hammath, Rakkath, Chinnereth, Adamah, and Ramah. The proposed identification of Zer with the general area of Tyre (modern Sur in Lebanon) is significant if accurate, as it would suggest that Naphtali's allotment at its northwestern extreme bordered on or overlapped with the Phoenician coastal zone. However, this identification is debated, and some scholars prefer to locate Zer at a site closer to the Sea of Galilee. In any case, Naphtali's territory in the Upper Galilee was a region that saw significant interaction between Israelite and Canaanite/Phoenician populations throughout the Iron Age. The fortified character attributed to Zer and its companion cities in the Joshua list reflects the strategic importance of the Upper Galilee, a crossroads of major trade routes connecting the Jordan Valley, the Jezreel Valley, and the Phoenician coast.
Archaeological & Historical Notes
The identification of Zer with the ancient city of Tyre (modern Sur, Lebanon) is one proposed solution to locating this otherwise obscure Naphtalite city, based partly on the phonetic similarity between the names. Tyre itself is among the most extensively documented cities of the ancient Near East, attested in Egyptian, Assyrian, and biblical sources from the second millennium BC onward. The island city was a major Phoenician commercial and cultural center, famous for its purple dye industry, cedar trade, and seafaring enterprise. Archaeological work at ancient Tyre has been limited by the modern city's continuous occupation, but excavations have revealed Phoenician, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine remains. If Zer is indeed Tyre, it represents the northwestern limit of Naphtali's claimed territory.
Verse Appearances (1)
Josh
Sources: ISBE Encyclopedia · OpenBible Geocoding (CC BY) · Pleiades Gazetteer View all →