‘ And out of the tribe of Gad, Ramoth in Gilead with her suburbs, the city of refuge for the manslayer, and Mahanaim with her suburbs, Heshbon with her suburbs, Jazer with her suburbs. Four cities in all.'
Ramoth in Gilead makes up the sixth of the cities of refuge (see Joshua 20:8). It later features regularly in the conflicts with Syria. It is possibly Tell Ramith. Mahanaim means ‘two camps'. It was on the border of Gad with Manasseh (see Joshua 13:30), probably close to the northern bank of the River Jabbok. (Gad extended some kilometres north of the Jabbok). It was where Jacob met the angels of God before meeting Esau (Genesis 32:2). See also 2 Samuel 2:8; 1 Kings 2:8. Heshbon was taken by Sihon of the Amorites from the Moabites and made his capital city (Numbers 21:26). It was in the mountains some miles north east of the Dead Sea. Its site has not been identified. A Tell Hesban contained buildings from the iron age but no trace of an earlier city. But there are late bronze age sites nearby one of which could be the original Heshbon.
Jazer was a group of towns as well as a city and was frequently mentioned (see Joshua 13:25; Numbers 21:32; Numbers 32:1; Numbers 32:3; Numbers 32:35). It fell on the border between the Amorites and the Ammonites. During David's time it furnished ‘mighty men of valour' (1 Chronicles 26:31) and was one of the towns on the route of the census taking (2 Samuel 24:5). In Isaiah 16:6-12 and Jeremiah 48:28-34 it was once more regained by Moab, and even later by Ammon (1Ma 5:4). It may possibly be identified with Khirbet Gazzir on the Wadi Sza‘ib near es-Salt. These were the four levitical cities of Gad.