BEERSHEBA, bi-er-sheba (now Bnt-za Seam, ((the well of the oath))), the place where Abraham made a covenant with Abimelech, King of the Philistines, and planted a tamarisk by the well that he dug. The alliance was re newed by Isaac, who, it would appear, dug a second well (Gen. xxxvi, 23, 28, 32, 33). Beer sheba is often mentioned as the southern boundary of Palestine, or the land of Israel (Judges xv, 1, etc.), and was given to Judah (Jos. xv, 28) and later to Simeon (Jos. xix, 2). Here Samuel's sons were judges (I Sam. viii, 2). It was in the negebh, or °dry° country and Elijah here slept under the desert broom bush (I Kings xix, 3., 5). It was probably an idolatrous centre in the time of Josiah (II Kings 8), and condemned as such (Amos v, 5; yin, 14). It was reoc cupied by descendants of Judah after the cap tivity (Neh. xi, 27, 30). The site, now called Bir es Seba, is at the foot of the Hebron hills, 50 miles southwest of Jerusalem, in the open pastoral plateau, which is covered with grass in spring, and supports flocks of goats and cattle. There are two wells, with a constant supply of good water even in autumn, cut in rock in the bed of the boundary valley which runs west to Gerar. There is also a thtrd well,
now dry. The largest well is over 12 feet in diameter, is lined with masonry to a depth of 28 feet, and has water at 37 feet. The masonry in the 15th course bears an Arabic tablet with a date (505 A.H.) answering to the year 1112 of our era. The second well is five feet in di ameter and 40 feet to the water; the stones are cut to the arc of the circle. Ruins of a Byzan tine town, or village, including the foundations of a church, exist north of the wells. In Roman days a garrison was stationed here and Beersheba was the seat of a bishopric. The place gradually declined and was totally de serted toward the end of the 13th century. In modern times a new town has sprung up to the southwest of the ruins of the old. Under Ot toman rule it was the seat of a kaimakom. It has a mosque, a telegraph station and several shops. The population is about 1,600. The town was taken from the Turks by the British on 1 Nov. 1917. (See WAR, EUROPEAN - TURK ISH CAMPAIGN). Consult Baedeker, K., (Palestine and Syria' (Leipzig 1912).