BEERSHEBA, be-er'sh-b9 (Ha). beer, well sheba, oath, or seven), the modern BIR-ES SEBA. One of the Simeonite towns in Southern Judah (Joshua xix. 2), so called because here Abraham entered into an alliance with Abime lech, King of Gerar, which he ratified with an oath and a gift of seven ewe lambs. Two stories are told in explanation of the origin of the place and of the name. According to the one (Gen. xxi. 22-31), the place received its name as the 'well of oath,' because of the alliance formed here between Abraham and Abimelech, King of Gerar, which was ratified by a gift of seven ewe lambs from Abraham to Abimelech as a witness of the fact that the well was dug by Abraham. In further commemoration of the event, Abra ham is said to have planted a tamarisk at the place, and to have invoked the name of Yahweh. The other account (Gen. xxvi. 26-33) ascribes the name-giving to Isaac,and apparently explains it as the well of 'seven.' Beersheba was situated in the extreme south of Palestine, about 52 miles southwest of Jerusalem. Its position led to the phrase 'from Dan to Beersheba' as comprising Hebrew territory from north to south. Various interesting events are recorded by biblical tradi tion as having taken place at Beersheba. It was
here that Abraham received the command to sac rifice Isaac (Gen. xxii.). In later days Isaac sojourned here. Esau was robbed of his birth right and blessing here ( ib. xxviii. 10), and here Jacob sacrificed to Yahweh on his journey into Egypt (ib. xlvi. 1) ; the sons of Samuel were judges here (I. Sam. viii. 2), and it was from hence that Elijah was forced to flee into the desert from Jezebel's wrath (I. Kings xix. 3). Leaving aside these traditions, it is clear that Beersheba was the site of an ancient sanctuary to which importance was attached by the He brews as late as the days of Amos (Amos v. 5). As to the name, the sanctity attaching among the Semites to the number seven makes it more plausible to explain the name as the 'seven wells' in the sense of the 'sacred well,' rather than as the 'well of oath,' which appears to rest upon a play on the name. After the captivity, Beersheba was occupied by the Jews. Two circu lar wells of fine pure water—the larger being 44 feet deep, the smaller 23—and a heap of ruins now mark the spot of Beersheba.