Hag´rits
The name of a tribe with whom the eastern Israelite tribes of Reuben and Gad and the eastern half-tribe of Manasseh fought and whom they eventually defeated in the time of Saul (ca. 1000 BCE). Their territory lay east of the Jordan beyond Gilead in northern Arabia (1Chr 5:10; 1Chr 19-20:10). The similarity between the tribal name Hagrite and the personal name Hagar suggests to some scholars that the early Jewish historians saw some connection between this tribe and the Ishmaelites; however, such a connection is not certain. The Hagrites are listed with the traditional enemies of Israel, including the Ishmaelites (Ps 83:6), although Jaziz the Hagrite was the overseer of the royal flocks under David (1Chr 27:30 [v. 31 in some versions]), and another Hagrite may have fought with David (1Chr 11:38, although “Gadite” in 2Sam 23:36).
