Easton's Bible Dictionary

(Kiana) #1

  • BEER-ELIM well of heroes, probably the name given to Beer, the place
    where the chiefs of Israel dug a well (Numbers 21:16; Isaiah 15:8).

  • BEERI illustrious, or the well-man. (1.) The father of Judith, one of the
    wives of Esau (Genesis 26:34), the same as Adah (Genesis 36:2). (2.) The
    father of the prophet Hosea (1:1).

  • BEER-LAHAI-ROI i.e., “the well of him that liveth and seeth me,” or, as
    some render it, “the well of the vision of life”, the well where the Lord met
    with Hagar (Genesis 16:7-14). Isaac dwelt beside this well (24:62; 25:11).
    It has been identified with ‘Ain Muweileh, or Moilahhi, south-west of
    Beersheba, and about 12 miles W. from Kadesh-barnea.

  • BEEROTH wells, one of the four cities of the Hivites which entered by
    fraud into a league with Joshua. It belonged to Benjamin (Joshua 18:25). It
    has by some been identified with el-Bireh on the way to Nablus, 10 miles
    north of Jerusalem.

  • BEEROTH OF THE CHILDREN OF JAAKAN (Deuteronomy 10:6). The
    same as Bene-jaakan (Numbers 33:31).

  • BEERSHEBA well of the oath, or well of seven, a well dug by Abraham,
    and so named because he and Abimelech here entered into a compact
    (Genesis 21:31). On re-opening it, Isaac gave it the same name (Genesis
    26:31-33). It was a favourite place of abode of both of these patriarchs
    (21:33-22:1, 19; 26:33; 28:10). It is mentioned among the “cities” given to
    the tribe of Simeon (Joshua 19:2; 1 Chronicles 4:28). From Dan to
    Beersheba, a distance of about 144 miles (Judges 20:1; 1 Chronicles 21:2; 2
    Samuel 24:2), became the usual way of designating the whole Promised
    Land, and passed into a proverb. After the return from the Captivity the
    phrase is narrowed into “from Beersheba unto the valley of Hinnom”
    (Nehemiah 11:30). The kingdom of the ten tribes extended from Beersheba
    to Mount Ephraim (2 Chronicles 19:4). The name is not found in the New
    Testament. It is still called by the Arabs Bir es-Seba, i.e., “well of the
    seven”, where there are to the present day two principal wells and five
    smaller ones. It is nearly midway between the southern end of the Dead
    Sea and the Mediterranean.

  • BEETLE (Hebrews hargol, meaning “leaper”). Mention of it is made only
    in Leviticus 11:22, where it is obvious the word cannot mean properly the
    beetle. It denotes some winged creeper with at least four feet, “which has

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