Biblical Hebrew Forum

[jimstinehart AT aol.com]

George Athas has properly admonished us that in evaluating the geography 
concerning the Beersheba referenced in chapters 21 and 26 of Genesis, we 
should not adopt a view that would “require…a wholesale reinventing of 
ancient world geography”, but rather we should confine ourselves to a theory 
of the case that is “plausible”.
 
At Genesis 26: 17-23, 32-33, Isaac constantly moves away from Abimelek, and 
as such is not changing direction.  Isaac is portrayed as re-digging a series 
of four wells, each spaced about a day’s walk or so from the next.  In 
digging this series of wells, only as to the last one, Beersheba, is Isaac 
said to go “up”:  (LH [here in the form of Y(L].  Genesis 26: 23.  Isaac is 
always moving in the same direction [away from Abimelek], so in that context, 
“up” must mean “at a higher elevation”.  In this context, “up” cannot mean 
“north toward Canaan”, because Isaac is in Canaan at all times, and Isaac has 
not changed directions, suddenly switching to going north, but rather Isaac 
is always moving in the same direction -- away from Abimelek.  [It also would 
not make sense for a ruler named Abimelek, who has many herdsmen and wells 
and lives in a place where Isaac has gotten rich growing wheat, to be thought 
to be living several days’ travel time south of Beersheba of the Negev, in 
the heart of the arid Negev Desert.]  So in context, Genesis 26: 23 is 
explicitly telling us that this Beersheba is at a higher elevation than -- 
“up” from -- where Isaac has been.  
 
That makes perfect sense as to Beersheba of Galilee, which is in the 
foothills of the mountains of Galilee.  Starting from Sur/Tyre on the coast 
[whose ruler in the Amarna Letters is named “Abimelek”, who is always 
complaining about contested access to water], if one slowly proceeded 
southeast, after about four days or so of slow travel, the first place to 
which one would go “up” is precisely Beersheba of Galilee, which is located 
“up” in the foothills of the mountains of GRR/Galilee.  Indeed, Genesis 26: 
17-23, 32-33 seems to have been composed with Beersheba of Galilee in mind, 
as it fits the physical locale of northwest Upper Galilee perfectly in all 
respects.  Moreover, historically these wells near Sur/Tyre were of critical 
importance for Abimelek’s water supply in the Late Bronze Age.  Genesis 26: 
15, 18 tells us that elements hostile to Abimelek, being mercenaries and/or 
habiru and disparagingly called “Philistines” [“invaders”] in the Biblical 
text, had stopped up the wells near Abimelek’s place after Abraham’s death.  
At Amarna Letter EA 146, Abimelek of Sur/Tyre says:  “Now, indeed, the ruler 
of Sidon, Zimredda, is hostile to me.  Daily he does not permit me to fetch 
water: mima.  I cry out.  …There is no water: mima for them to drink.  
…Apiru.”  We see that Amarna Letter EA 146 and Genesis 26: 15, 18 are telling 
the same story about the same ruler with the same name at the same place in 
the same time period with the same problem:  contested access to water wells 
in northwest Upper Galilee, near Beersheba of Galilee.
 
But what about the more famous Beersheba in the Negev?  Could Isaac be said 
to go “up” to the Beersheba in the Negev?
 
If “up” at Genesis 26: 23 means “at a higher elevation”, then it is 
impossible that the Beersheba in chapter 26 of Genesis could be Beersheba of 
the Negev, because so unlike Beersheba of Galilee, Beersheba of the Negev is 
located “down” at the bottom of a drainage “basin”.
 
(1)  Here is a typical old-time modern traveler’s report:  “At last, at last, 
we went over a ridge and down into the oasis of Beersheba.”  Melvin Grove 
Kyle, “Excavating Kirjath-Sepher’s Ten Cities” (1932), at p. 97.  
 
Note that one goes  d-o-w-n  to Beersheba of the Negev, not  u-p .
 
(2)  “Beer-sheba is located in a topographical basin….”  Geoffrey W. 
Bromiley, “International Standard Bible Encyclopedia” (1995), at p. 448.
 
(3)  “Only the northern portion of this region [the Negev] was extensively 
settled in biblical times; therefore the biblical term essentially refers to 
the Beer-sheba drainage basin.  The environment of the Beer-sheba region 
consists of a semi-desert….”  David Noel Freedman, Allen C. Myers, and Astrid 
B. Beck, “Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible” (2000), at p. 955.
 
(4)  “Beersheba resides in a wide basin that is surrounded by low, round 
hills.”  John A. Beck, “Zondervan Dictionary of Biblical Imagery” (2010), at 
p. 26.
 
The reason why Beersheba in the Negev is the only place in that general area 
that has good wells is precisely because it is the lowest place in the area, 
down into which the water drains.  If Beersheba in the Negev were not located 
“down” in the bottom of a drainage “basin”, the world-famous famous wells 
there in that semi-arid region would not exist.  Beersheba of the Negev is 
synonymous with being “down”, not “up”.
 
We see that two words that are closely associated with Beersheba of the Negev 
are “down” and “basin”.  Because Beersheba of the Negev is located “down” at 
the bottom of a drainage “basin”, one would not say that Isaac went “up” to 
Beersheba of the Negev.  Rather, Genesis 26: 23 is telling us that Isaac went 
“up” to Beersheba of Galilee, which is located at a higher elevation than 
where Isaac has just now been:  “up” in the foothills of the mountains of 
Upper Galilee.  Given that Beersheba of the Negev is physically located 
“down” [at the bottom of a drainage “basin”], whereas Beersheba of Galilee is 
physically located “up” [in the foothills of the mountains of Galilee], my 
view that chapter 26 of Genesis is referring to Beersheba of Galilee [not the 
more famous Beersheba of the Negev] is the only “plausible” interpretation of 
this Biblical text.  Unlike the traditional view, it is my view that in fact 
does not “require…a wholesale reinventing of ancient world geography”.  
“Up”/(LH fits Beersheba of Galilee perfectly, but does not fit Beersheba in 
the Negev at all.
 
Jim Stinehart
Evanston, Illinois






-----Original Message-----
From: George Athas <George.Athas AT moore.edu.au>
To: B-Hebrew <b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Fri, Mar 11, 2011 9:32 pm
Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] The meaning of Beersheba


Jim,
I don't see any strength to your five arguments. They are all based on 
oblique 
ossibilities and remain very far from what I would call plausible, and 
require 
uch a wholesale reinventing of ancient world geography that I do not think it 
ctually fits in the real world. Sorry, but that's my honest opinion.

EORGE ATHAS
oore Theological College (Sydney, Australia)
ww.moore.edu.au
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