Beersheba

“ The soil of the valley where there is some moisture is exceedingly rich and is rudely cultivated by the natives, and in the tracks around Beersheba the Bedouin find ample pasturage for their flocks and herds which in the evening assemble around the wells as they did 3,000 years ago. The desert of Beersheba is very beautiful in spring and early summer when the surface is carpeted with herbage and flowers ”

“ The hill country immediately to the south of Judah is fairly fertile. Cultivated fields are found in the valleys and terraces on the hillsides, even as far as the Wady Sheba and the famous desert sanctuary of Beersheba. To the south and west of Beersheba are found the ruins of many cities, which evidently enjoyed high prosperity during the later Roman period. Here, as throughout most of the South Country, rain falls during the winter season, so that where the water is stored, irrigation is possible. ”

“ For how should the prophet be nourished except by mystical food? At evening flesh was supplied. Understand what you read, for Cherith means “understanding,” Horeb signifies “heart” or “as a heart,” Beersheba also is interpreted “the well of the seventh,” or “of the oath.”
78. Elijah went first to Beersheba, to the mysteries and sacraments of the divine and holy Law, next he is sent to the brook, to the stream of the river which makes glad the City of God. [112] You perceive the two Testaments of the One Author; the old Scripture as a well deep and obscure, whence you can only draw with labour ”

“ The fertile plain of Esdraelon or Megiddo separates the mountains of the north from those of the south. These last form a broken plateau between the Jordan and the Dead Sea on the one side and the Plain of Sharon and the sea-coast of the Philistines on the other, until they finally slope away into the arid desert of the south. Here, on the borders of the wilderness, was Beersheba the southern limit of the land in the days of the monarchy, Dan, its northern limit, lying far away to the north at the foot of Hermon, and not far from the sources of the Jordan. ”

“ It was at this point that General Allenby made a successful thrust when he first took command in Palestine, and from that day to this he has never looked back. The Anzacs and the Australian Mounted Division in this attack made a wide turning movement, outflanked Beersheba, burst suddenly in upon Tel el Saba, some three miles to the east of it, galloped the Turkish trenches, and poured into Beersheba at one end in a whirlwind of dust and storm while the Turks skedaddled out of it as fast as ever they could run from the other end, and made for the shelter of the foothills towards Hebron. ”

“ Dan was in the region assigned to the tribe of Naphtali.
4. Beersheba was exactly 148 miles south-southwest of Dan. Here the only remains consist of two very ancient large wells. The site still bears the ancient name and is twenty-seven miles southwest from Hebron. The wells contain excellent water and show the rope-grooves of many centuries in the massive stones with which they are lined and curbed.
5. The introduction of Saul to the full possession of the kingly office and authority was after his first battle, near a place east of the Jordan, called Jabesh-gilead. ”

“ The first blow of the campaign was to be launched at the defences of Beersheba, which were facing west and extended both north and south of the Wadi Saba. They occupied a commanding position and were continuously wired. The main attack was to be pushed home south of the Wadi Saba by the 74th and 60th Divisions, and at the same time the enemy’s extreme left flank was to be turned by the cavalry, who were to make a wide detour through very difficult and waterless country and attack Beersheba from the east, and, if possible, cut off the retreat of the garrison of the Beersheba area. ”

“ Abraham came to mourn for Sarah - From [1011] of the preceding chapter it appears that Abraham had settled at Beer-sheba; and here we find that Sarah died at Hebron, which was about twenty-four miles distant from Beersheba. For the convenience of feeding his numerous flocks, Abraham had probably several places of temporary residence, and particularly one at Beer-sheba, and another at Hebron; and it is likely that while he sojourned at Beersheba, Sarah died at Hebron; and his coming to mourn and weep for her signifies his coming from the former to the latter place on the news of her death. ”

“ They must be amongst the oldest in the world. For thirty-seven centuries there has been water at Beersheba, since, in fact, Abraham sank the wells in the neighbourhood, and these have known many vicissitudes. When he died the Philistines came and rendered them all useless by filling them up with sand: a precedent, you will have noticed, [194] much favoured by the Turks, though their methods were more modern. Years after came Isaac and excavated the wells again ”

“ In such a case, the more earnest and thoughtful people from Simeon, as well as from Ephraim and Manasseh, may have gone to Jerusalem to the sacrificial festival prepared by Asa. In favour of this last supposition we may adduce the fact that the prophet Amos, Amo 5:5; Amo 4:4; Amo 8:14, mentions Beersheba, along with Bethel and Gilgal, as a place to which pilgrimages were made by the idolatrous Israelites. ”

“ The Offering of Isaac. (Gen. 22.) From Beersheba Abraham took his son Isaac, at God's command, to offer him as a burnt offering in "the land of Moriah." Some authorities accept the Samaritan tradition, that this place was Mount Gerizim; but we see no sufficient reason to dissent from the general view, that it was Mount Moriah, at Jerusalem, ten centuries afterward the site of the Temple. After this sublime token of his faith in God, the patriarch returned to his tent at Beersheba.
8. The Burial of Sarah. (Gen. 23.) We find Abraham again at Hebron, in his old age. ”

“ BEERSHEBA, a place midway between Gaza and Hebron (28 m. from each) , frequently referred to in the Bible as the southern limit of Palestine (“Dan to Beersheba,” Judg. xx. i, &c.) Its foundation is variously ascribed to Abraham and Isaac, and different etymologies for its name are suggested, in the fundamental documents of Genesis (xxi. 22, xxvi. 26) . It was an important holy place, where Abraham planted a sacred tree (Gen. xxi. 23) , and where divine manifestations were vouchsafed to Hagar (Gen. xxi. 17) , Isaac (xxvi. 24) , Jacob (xlvi. 2) and Elijah (1 Kings xix. 5) . ”

“ As we rolled onward historical places cropped up every few miles and kept us spellbound with interest. Beersheba was away thirty miles to the east, and we hoped in good time to see Dan; meanwhile the Shephelah downs ran parallel to us, ending up with Mount Gezer where David won a victory over the Philistines. This hill was well known to every invading force that has passed through Palestine, and around its base gallant men of many nations have fallen. ”

“ Moreover, even the preparation for this passover demanded more time than from the seventeenth day of the first month to the fourteenth day of the second. The calling of the whole people together, “from Dan to Beersheba” (2Ch 30:5) , could not be accomplished in three weeks. Even if Hezekiah's messengers may have gone throughout the land and returned home again in that time, we yet cannot suppose that those invited, especially those of the ten tribes, could at once commence their journey, so as to appear in Jerusalem at the time of the feast. ”

“ So—on, through the night; generally at the walk, occasionally trotting; hearing, at one point, intermittent rifle-fire (on the left flank) , and, with now and then, "Very Lights" being put up. Later on, a white stone building was passed (apparently unoccupied) called "Ibn Said".
After several hours' marching, a road and a narrow gauge Turkish railway were crossed, both of which were understood to lead to Beersheba. At length, the position was reached on Itwail El Semin, 7 miles [20] south of Beersheba, just before daybreak, where the transport ("A" Echelon) soon found us. ”

“ Very frequent night marches by compass, combined with digging in, and followed by an attack or advance at dawn. In fact, we were put through a very practical training for the task which we were later to undertake.
In order to minimise the chance of anything going wrong with the plans for the concentration and attack on Beersheba, many officers were given the chance of making a reconnaissance as near as possible to the Turkish positions. [60] This was done from Gamli, a place on the Wadi Ghuzzeh about fifteen miles inland and about eleven from us. ”

“ Other places connected with this period are Kirjath-jearim, where the ark was long kept; Mizpeh, the place where the active rule of Samuel both began and ended; Bethel and Gilgal, where also he exercised the functions of judge; and Beersheba, in the south of Judah, where his sons ruled for a time as deputies in his name. ”

“ There are no springs in this region, but the water, where not contained in tanks and cisterns, sinks through the porous rocks, and runs in the valleys below the surface of the ground. On the south another step leads down to the white marl desert of Beersheba; on the west are the Philistine plains; on the east, 300 feet below, is the dreary Jeshimon, or “solitude.” The plateau has only two inhabited villages on it, but is covered with ruins. It is dry and treeless, but rich in flocks and herds. ”

“ As the defeated army was pouring in from the south, I decided to leave Beersheba and go home. The roads and the fields were covered with dead camels and horses and mules. Hundreds of soldiers were straggling in disorder, many of them on leave but many deserting. Soon after the defeat at the Canal several thousand soldiers deserted, but an amnesty was declared and they returned to their regiments.
When I arrived at Jerusalem I found the city filled with soldiers. Djemal Pasha had just returned from the desert, and his quarters were guarded by a battery of two field guns. ”

“ The portion of the enemy's force that had withdrawn into the hills towards Hebron now made a descent from the hills to the Plain. Their object was to threaten the flank of our pursuing cavalry, create a diversion, and thus relieve the pressure from their main body. From Hebron, a couple of difficult tracks wind down the mountains to the village of Beit Jibrin, where they join a road coming from Bethlehem and Jerusalem. This latter road reaches the Plain and Beersheba railway at Arak el Menshiyeh. ”

“ Hosea, on the other hand, whose ministry commenced at the very earliest when that of Amos was drawing to a close, and probably not till the last five years of Jeroboam's reign, bears witness to, and like Amos condemns, the participation in the Ephraimitish worship, into which Judah had been drawn under Uzziah-Jotham. But with him Beersheba is not referred to any more as an Israelitish seat of worship (Amo 5:5) ; Israel does not interfere any longer with the soil of Judah, as in the time of Amos, since Judah has again become a powerful and well-fortified kingdom (Hos 8:14, cf., Hos 1:7) . ”

“ He and his brother Joel judged at Beersheba. Their misconduct was made by the elders of Israel a pretext for demanding a king (1 Sam. viii. 4) . (3) A son of Jeroboam I., king of Israel; he died young (1 Kings xiv. 1 ff., 17) . ”

“ This brought them into a confederacy with the tribe of Judah (Judg. i. 3) , and afterwards was a happy occasion of the adherence of many of this tribe to the house of David, at the time of the revolt of the ten tribes to Jeroboam. 2 Chron. xv. 9, out of Simeon they fell to Asa in abundance. It is good being in a good neighbourhood.
II. The cities within their lot are here named. Beersheba, or Sheba, for these names seem to refer to the same place, is put first. Ziklag, which we read of in David's story, is one of them. ”

“ Abraham takes as wife (but concubine, 1 Chron. i. 32 seq.) Keturah (“incense”) and becomes the father of various Arab tribes, e.g. Sheba and Dedan (grandsons of Cush in x. 7) .
After “the generations of Ishmael” (xxv. 12 sqq.) the narrative turns to “the generations of Isaac” (xxv. 19 sqq.) . The story of the events at the court of Abimelech (xxvi.) finds a parallel in the now disjointed xx., xxi. 22-34; note the new explanation of Beersheba, the reference in xxvi. 1 to the parallel story in xii., the absence of allusion to xx., and the apparent editorial references to xxi. in vv. 15, 18. ”

“ The inhabitants of Berber are Arabs of the tribe of Meyrefab (ميريفاب) . In common with all the different Arab tribes who inhabit the Nile valley, from Upper Egypt to Sennaar, they report that their origin is from the Sherk, or east (من الشرق) , meaning Arabia. The name of Meyrefab however does not appear to be from an Arabic root, and bears more resemblance to the Bisharein language. None of the tribes who live on the banks of the Nile are large, and each district is seldom more than one day’s march in length. The territory of the Arabs Sheygyai [11] is the largest. ”

“ No doubt to a great extent the moral character of the Berbers is due to the fact that their women are allowed entire liberty, do not veil their faces, and mix on almost all occasions with the men. One of the first things that struck me on my arrival at Dads was the good-humoured and innocent chaff that passed between the men and the girls of the tribe, even in the streets of the ksar, and still more when they brought us our food to the minzah on the house-top. The women are distinctly pretty, with very fair skins and clear complexions ”