March 22 - Beersheva is the largest city in the Negev Desert. It is a new and modern city of about 200,000 inhabitants. Beersheba is, you might say, the last well before entering the harsh Negev. The ruins of the walled city lie about five miles east of the tall buildings that make up the modern metropolis. After touring the ruins, we spent the night at Arad, mentioned in Joshua 1:16.
Genesis 21:22 - "And it came to pass at that time, that Abimelech and Phichol the chief captain of his host spake unto Abraham, saying, God is with thee in all that thou doest: Now therefore swear unto me here by God that thou wilt not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son: but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me, and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. And Abraham said, I will swear. And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. And Abimelec said, I wot not who hath done this thing; neither didst thou tell me, neither yet heard I of it, but to day. And Abraham took sheep and oxen, and gave them unto Abimelech; and both of them made a covenant. And Abraham set seven ewe lambs of the flock by themselves. And Abimelech said unto Abraham, What mean these seven ewe lambs which thou hast set by themselves? And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shalt thou take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have digged this well. Wherefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they sware both of them. 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."
The reconstructed Well of the Oath just outside the city walls of Beersheva
Looking across the walled city of Beersheva from west to east.
This shows the gate of the old city, with the stones of the ancient road
The storehouses of the old city
These steps lead down to a series of large underground cisterns.
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