Bible Dictionary
Zareth-shahar
Zareth-shahar was a city allotted to the tribe of Reuben, situated in the mountainous region of the valley east of the Dead Sea.
Definition
Zareth-shahar was a city allotted to Reuben, located in the mountainous region of the valley east of the Dead Sea. The name means “the splendour of the dawn.”
Biblical Usage
It appears in the catalogue of cities assigned to the tribe of Reuben.
Historical Background
The site has been identified with ruins called Zara near the mouth of the Wady Zerka Main. Only broken basaltic columns, pieces of wall, and a ruined fort were reported there.
Scripture References
Historical Bible Dictionaries
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The splendour of the dawn, a city “in the mount of the valley” (Josh. 13:19). It is identified with the ruins of Zara, near the mouth of the Wady Zerka Main, on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea, some 3 miles south of the Callirrhoe. Of this town but little remains. “A few broken basaltic columns and pieces of wall about 200 yards back from the shore, and a ruined fort rather nearer the sea, about the middle of the coast line of the plain, are all that are left” (Tristram’s Land of Moab).