Beersheba

Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the center of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most populous Israeli city with a population of 209,687, and the second-largest city.

• "The wilderness of Beer-sheba.—As yet this region had no name (see Genesis 21:31). It lay about twenty Roman miles or more below Hebron, and was the most southerly part of Palestine, while beyond it lay the vast desert of Et-Tih, of which the wilderness of Beer-sheba formed a part." Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers.

The Hebrew name Beersheba is a combination of the words beʾer, which may mean "well", and the word shevaʿ, which may mean an "oath" or "seven" but the word seven can have another meaning.

In the Old Testament it is mentioned as a place but is said to represent an idea of "well of the sevenfold oath" or a place where one does not to deal falsely or take something that is not rightfully theirs.

In Genesis 46:1 Jacob "offered (וַיִּזְבַּ֣ח wayyizbaḥ, VavYodZaynBeitMem) sacrifices (זְבָחִ֔ים zə-ḇā-ḥîm, ZaynBeitHeyYodMem)" at what is called Beersheba the "well of satisfaction".

Jacob was called Israel for a reason. He understood sacrifice. Only the freewill sacrifice which comes from fervent charity bestows "satisfaction".

The forced offering compelled by rulers ho exercise authority do not only degenerate the masses, take their liberty, make them merchandise, and curse their children but are a snare and a trap.

Hagar had wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba by way of anticipation.

The statement "Beersheba, and is said 'by way of anticipation'" refers to Genesis 21:14, where it is mentioned that Abraham and Hagar traveled to the wilderness of Beersheba, which is later named Beersheba in Genesis 21:31

That satisfaction comes from a sacrifice by the way of the Yod of righteousness, the divine spark and revelation of God. Jacob had to accept the will of the God of his fathers over his own will to become Israel.

A well is a source of water. In John 4:13 "Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: 14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. 15 The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.

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Appearances

Genesis 21:14 And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and took bread, and a bottle of water, and gave [it] unto Hagar, putting [it] on her shoulder, and the child, and sent her away: and she departed, and wandered in the wilderness of Beersheba.

• Genesis 21:31 Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them. 32 Thus they made a covenant at Beersheba: then Abimelech rose up, and Phichol the chief captain of his host, and they returned into the land of the Philistines. 33 And [Abraham] planted a grove in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the LORD, the everlasting God.

• Beersheba means well of seven or well of the oath. (Genesis 21:21-34) As the son of Abraham Israel cannot "not deal falsely with ... descendants" of Abimelech. Genesis 21:23 Now, therefore, swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or descendants. Show to me and to the country in which you reside the same kindness that I have shown to you.”

Genesis 22:19 So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba.

Genesis 26:23 And he went up from thence to Beersheba.

Genesis 26:33 And he called it Shebah: therefore the name of the city [is] Beersheba unto this day.

Genesis 28:10 And Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.

Genesis 46:1 And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.

Genesis 46:5 And Jacob rose up from Beersheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

Joshua 15:28 And Hazarshual, and Beersheba, and Bizjothjah,

Joshua 19:2 And they had in their inheritance Beersheba, or Sheba, and Moladah,

Judges 20:1 Then all the children of Israel went out, and the congregation was gathered together as one man, from Dan even to Beersheba, with the land of Gilead, unto the LORD in Mizpeh.

1 Samuel 3:20 And all Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel [was] established [to be] a prophet of the LORD.

1 Samuel 8:2 Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: [they were] judges in Beersheba.

2 Samuel 3:10 To translate the kingdom from the house of Saul, and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba.

2 Samuel 17:11 Therefore I counsel that all Israel be generally gathered unto thee, from Dan even to Beersheba, as the sand that [is] by the sea for multitude; and that thou go to battle in thine own person.

2 Samuel 24:2 For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which [was] with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.

2 Samuel 24:7 And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, [even] to Beersheba.

2 Samuel 24:15 So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

1 Kings 4:25 And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

1 Kings 19:3 And when he saw [that], he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beersheba, which [belongeth] to Judah, and left his servant there.

2 Kings 12:1 In the seventh year of Jehu Jehoash began to reign; and forty years reigned he in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name [was] Zibiah of Beersheba.

2 Kings 23:8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had burned incense, from Geba to Beersheba, and brake down the high places of the gates that [were] in the entering in of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which [were] on a man’s left hand at the gate of the city.

1 Chronicles 4:28 And they dwelt at Beersheba, and Moladah, and Hazarshual,

1 Chronicles 21:2 And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know [it].

2 Chronicles 19:4 And Jehoshaphat dwelt at Jerusalem: and he went out again through the people from Beersheba to mount Ephraim, and brought them back unto the LORD God of their fathers.

2 Chronicles 24:1 Joash [was] seven years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also [was] Zibiah of Beersheba.

2 Chronicles 30:5 So they established a decree to make proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba even to Dan, that they should come to keep the passover unto the LORD God of Israel at Jerusalem: for they had not done [it] of a long [time in such sort] as it was written.

Nehemiah 11:27 And at Hazarshual, and at Beersheba, and [in] the villages thereof,

Nehemiah 11:30 Zanoah, Adullam, and [in] their villages, at Lachish, and the fields thereof, at Azekah, and [in] the villages thereof. And they dwelt from Beersheba unto the valley of Hinnom.

Amos 5: 5 "But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pass not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.

Amos 8:14 "They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Thy god, O Dan, liveth; and, The manner of Beersheba liveth; even they shall fall, and never rise up again."

• In Hebrew, "the sin of Samaria" (שְׁוֹמְרִים, Shomerim) refers to the idolatry which is often a rebellion against God through covetous practices which characterized the northern kingdom of Israel, centered in the city of Samaria, and is often associated with institutions like the golden calf which does away with or encroaches upon the Just weights and and measures including the worship initiated by King Jeroboam.