Where could someone run when a life had been taken by accident? Bezer was one answer. Moses named three cities east of the Jordan for this: Bezer in the wilderness for Reuben, Ramoth in Gilead for Gad, and Golan in Bashan for Manasseh (Deuteronomy 4:43). Joshua 20:8 repeats the three, and Joshua 21:36 counts Bezer among the cities given to the tribe of Reuben, with the open land around it. In 1 Chronicles 7:37 the same name belongs to a man in Asher’s family. Joshua 20 shows how the arrangement worked.
4 verses
Namely, Bezer in the wilderness, in the plain country, of the Reubenites; and Ramoth in Gilead, of the Gadites; and Golan in Bashan, of the Manassites.
And on the other side Jordan by Jericho eastward, they assigned Bezer in the wilderness upon the plain out of the tribe of Reuben, and Ramoth in Gilead out of the tribe of Gad, and Golan in Bashan out of the tribe of Manasseh.
And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with her suburbs, and Jahazah with her suburbs,
Bezer, and Hod, and Shamma, and Shilshah, and Ithran, and Beera.
Matthew George Easton, 1897
Ore of gold or silver. (1.) A city of the Reubenites; one of the three cities of refuge on the east of Jordan (Deut. 4: 43; Josh. 20:8). It has been identified with the modern ruined village of Burazin, some 12 miles north of Heshbon; also with Kasur-el-Besheir, 2 miles south-west of Dibon.
(2.) A descendant of Asher (1 Chr. 7:37).
William Smith, 1884
(gold ore), son of Zophah, one of the heads of the houses of Asher. (1 Chronicles 7:37)