‘ And out of the tribe of Reuben, Bezer with her suburbs, and Jahaz with her suburbs, Kedemoth with her suburbs, and Mephaath with her suburbs. Four cities.'
These verses are not in the Massoretic Text but are included in many Hebrew MSS and in versions. (See also 1 Chronicles 6:78-79. Thus they are Scripture whether included here or not). The four cities are required to make up the twelve in Joshua 21:40.
Bezer was a city of refuge, the fifth to be mentioned (see Joshua 20:8). All six were necessarily levitical cities. For Jahazah (Jahaz, Jahzah), Kedemoth and Mephaath see Joshua 13:18. Jahaz is well known as being where Israel defeated Sihon, the Amorite king (Numbers 21:23; Deuteronomy 2:32; Judges 11:20). It was later lost to Moab but Omri reconquered the land ‘as far as Jahaz'. According to the Moabite Stone it was again lost to Israel when Mesha, king of Moab, drove out the Israelites and reclaimed it. Kedemoth gave its name to a nearby desert area (Deuteronomy 2:26). It is probably ez-Za‘feran, about sixteen kilometres north of the Arnon, near the Amorite's eastern border. For Mephaath Tell el-Yawah has been suggested