Jeruel

Easton's Bible Dictionary

2 Chronicles 20:16,20

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

JERUEL . The part of the wilderness of Judæa that faces the W. shore of the Dead Sea below En-gedi. It was here that Jehoshaphat encountered a great host of the children of Moab, Ammon, and other trans-Jordanic tribes ( 2 Chronicles 20:16 ).

Morrish Bible Dictionary

A wilderness where Jehoshaphat was to find his enemies, the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the inhabitants of Mount Seir, who destroyed one another. 2 Chronicles 20:16,23 . Doubtless in some part of the wilderness west of the Dead Sea, but it is not definitely identified.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Jer'uel. (founded by God). The wilderness of Jeruel. The place in which Jehoshaphat was informed by Jahaziel, the Levite, that he should encounter the hordes of Ammon, Moab and the Mehunims. 2 Chronicles 20:16. The name has not been met with.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

jē̇ - roo´el , jer´oo - el ( ירוּאל , yerū'ēl , "founded by El"): Jahaziel prophesied that King Jehoshaphat should meet the hordes of Moabites and Ammonites, after they had come up by the "ascent of Ziz," "at the end of the valley (i.e. wâdy ), before the wilderness of Jeruel" ( 2 Chronicles 20:16 ). The particular part of the wilderness intended, is unknown. Cheyne ( Encyclopedia Biblica ) thinks this may be an error for the Jezreel of Judah, mentioned in Joshua 15:56 , etc. See Jezreel .

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Yeruel', יַרוּאֵל , founded by God, otherwise fear of God; (See Jeriel); Sept. Ι᾿εριήλ ), a desert (מדְבָּר, i.e. open common) mentioned in the prediction by Jahaziel of Jehoshaphat's victory over the Moabites and Ammonites, where it is described as being situated on the ascent from the valley of the Dead Sea towards Jerusalem, at the foot of the valley leading towards the cliff Ziz (2 Chronicles 20:16). The "desert" was probably so called as adjoining some town or village of the same name. From the context it appears to have lain beyond the wilderness of Tekoa (2 Chronicles 20:20), in the direction of Engedi (2 Chronicles 20:2), near a certain watchtower overlooking the pass (2 Chronicles 20:24). It appears to correspond to the tract el- Hussasah, sloping from Tekoa to the precipice of Ain-Jidy, described by Dr. Robinson as fertile in the northwestern part (Researches, 2, 212), but sterile as it approaches the Ghor (p. 243), and forming part of the Desert of Judaea. The invading tribes, having marched round the south of the Dead Sea, had encamped at Engedi. The road thence to Jerusalem ascends from the shore by a steep and terrible pass" (Walcott, Bib. Sac. 1, 69), and thence leads northward, passing below Tekoa (Robinson, Bib. Res. 1, 501, 508). The valley ("brook," 2 Chronicles 20:16), at the end of which the enemy were to be found, was probably the wady Jehar, which, with its continuation wady el-Ghar, traverses the southern part of this plateau (Robinson's Res. 2, 185); and its upper end appears to have been the same through which the triumphant host passed on their return. and named it BERACHAH (See Berachah) (q.v.), i.e. blessing, in commemoration of the victory (2 Chronicles 20:26).