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Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

AROER

1. Transjordanian city existing from Moses’ time until the fall of Jerusalem (586 BC). It was among the cities that Israel conquered from Sihon the Amorite and Og the Bashanite in an area assigned to the tribes of Gad and Reuben and to half of Manasseh’s tribe. Aroer was on the southern border of that territory (Jos 13:9), on the northern rim of the large Arnon Canyon (Dt 2:36; 3:12; 4:48; Jos 13:9). Evidently the city was rebuilt after Israel destroyed it (cf. Jos 12:2; Nm 32:34).

Aroer was the hub city for a number of villages (Jgs 11:26) and was the city from which the census began under King David (2 Sm 24:5). The Moabites gained control of it during the later monarchy and kept it until the time of Jeremiah (Jer 48:19). King Hazael of Damascus captured Aroer, assuring Syrian control of Transjordan (2 Kgs 10:33).

Aroer has been identified with a mound beside the village ’Ara’ir, about three miles (4.8 kilometers) southeast of Dibon on the east side of the ancient north-south Transjordan highway.

2. City assigned to Gad’s tribe (Jos 13:25), mentioned as a point of reference in Jephthah’s victory over the Ammonites (Jgs 11:33). This Aroer has been tentatively placed in the area northwest of Amman and east of Rabbah.

3. City in the Negev Desert area of Judah. Aroer was one of the villages receiving spoil taken in David’s victory over the Amalekites (1 Sm 30:28). Two of David’s “mighty men” were sons of Hotham the Aroerite (1 Chr 11:44). This Aroer has been identified with Khirbet ’Ar’areh, located about 12 miles (19 kilometers) southeast of Beersheba.

4. City near Damascus (Is 17:2). The Hebrew text reads “the cities of Aroer,” but the Septuagint (ancient Greek OT) has “her cities for ever” (a reading adopted by the rsv).