Zered
Ze'red (Heb. id. זֶרֶד [in pause Za'red, זָרֶד Deuteronomy 2"13; "Zared,"Nu 21:12], osier-brook; Sept. Ζαρέδ v.r. Ζαρέτ and Ζαρέ), the name of a brook or valley (נִחִלִ) on the border between Moab and Edom (De 2:13), where the Israelites encamped before crossing the Arnon (Nu 21:12). It seems to be the same with the Wady el-Ahsy, which runs into the Dead Sea near its S.E. corner (Robinson, Bibl. Res. 2, 157). Laborde, arguing from the distance, thinks that the source of the Wady Ghuirundel in the Arabah is the site, as from Mount Hor to el-Ahsy is by way of Ezion-geber sixty-five leagues, in which only four stages occur; a rate of progress quite beyond their power. This argument, however, is feeble, since it is clear that the march stations mentioned indicate not daily stages, but more permanent encampments. He also thinks the palm trees of Wady Ghuruindel would have attracted notice, and that Wady Jethum (el-Ithm) could not have been the way consistently with the precept of De 2:3. "The camping station in the catalogue of Numbers 23, which corresponds to the "pitching in the valley of Zered" of 21:12, is probably Dibon-gad, as it stands next to Ije-abarim (comp. 33:44, 45 with 21:12). The Wady el-Ahsy forms the boundary between the districts of Jebal and Kerak. Taking its rise near the castle of el-Ahsy, on the route of the Syrian Haj, upon the high eastern desert, it breaks down through the whole chain of mountains (:Burckhardt, Travels, p. 400) in a very deep ravine, and contains a hot spring which the Arabs call the "Bath of Solomon son of David" (Irby, May 29). The Israelites doubtless crossed it near its upper end, where it would present no difficulty. SEE EXODE.
The Jewish interpreters translate the name in the first case "osiers," and in the second "baskets" (Targum of Pseudo-Jonathan), which recalls the "brook of the willows" of Isaiah (Isa 15:7). The name Sufsaf (willow) is attached to the valley which runs down from Kerak to the Dead Sea; but this appears to be too far north for the Zered. SEE WILLOWS, BROOK OF THE.
