Bozrah

Botsra, Botzrah, Bozrah (Arabic: بصرة‎,Hebrew: בצרה‎) is an ancient biblical city in southern modern-day Jordan, adjacent to the modern town of Bouseira (alternatively Buseirah or Busheira.) It is located in the mountains of Jordan 20 km to the south of Tafilah (between Tafilah (Tophel) and Shoubak and closer to the latter.)

History

Bozrah was the capital city of Edom. According to the Old Testament, the city was the homeland of Jacob's twin brother, Esau. Bozrah means "sheepfold" and was a pastoral city in Edom southeast of the Dead Sea.

The prophets Amos, Isaiah, and Jeremiah predicted Bozrah's destruction.

According to Isaiah 63:1-6, the Lord will come from Edom (modern-day Jordan) and Bozrah on the day of vengeance and the year of redemption (cf. Revelation 19:13).

"I swear by myself," declares the Lord, " that Bozrah will become a ruin and a curse, an object of horror and reproach; and all its towns will be in ruin forever." (Jeremiah 49:13)

According to one Christian interpretation of Micah 2:12-13, Bozrah, (or a place the Bible cryptically refers to as Bozrah), will also be the scene of a magnificent "break-out" of God's covenant people. According to this interpretation the deliverance will come at an Edomite controlled place of exile and incarceration in the End times. This epic event referred to in Micah 2:12-13 has been referred to by Dr G Finley as "the Bozrah deliverance". Bozrah is in the Hebrew, but most translators render it as "fold" - sheep in the fold. This "break-out" could be tied to Zechariah 14:1-5, when Yahweh fights against the nations, stands on the Mount of Olives (east of Jerusalem), and splits the Mount in two as a valley, so that the remnant of Israel trapped in Jerusalem can escape those who would kill them. If so, Micah 2:12-13 would not relate to the locale of Bozrah.

Bozrah, Connecticut

Bozrah is a town in New London County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 2,627 at the 2010 census. Bozrah contains three villages: Fitchville, the town center; Leffingwell, a crossroads on Route 82; and Gilman, a mill village along Fitchville Road.

History

The area that became Bozrah was first settled as part of the original "nine-miles-square" of Norwich as well as part of the Parish of West Farms. The area became its own parish, called "New Concord" or the "Fourth Society of Norwich", in 1737.

A legend about the origin of the town's name

Bozrah is the name of a pastoral community mentioned several times in the Old Testament, sometimes with pleasing connotations, sometimes not. The town name may have resulted from the happy connotations connected with Micah chapter 2, verse 12: "I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold; they shall make a great noise by reason of the multitude of men."