Beer
בְּאֵר/BEER/
“A well (artificially dug), distinguished from 'en' which means a natural spring”
Summary
The Hebrew word for 'well,' used as a place name for two locations in the Old Testament—a station during Israel's wilderness wanderings and a town in Judah.
☩Wilderness Station
Beer was one of Israel's encampments in the wilderness near the end of their forty years of wandering, located beyond the Arnon in Moab. Here the princes and nobles dug a well with their staves, and Israel sang a celebratory song: 'Spring up, O well; sing to it! The well that the princes dug, that the nobles of the people bored, with the scepter and with their staves.' This joyful occasion contrasted sharply with the murmuring at earlier water crises. It may be the same as Beer-elim mentioned in Isaiah.
Key verses:Numbers 21:16-18Isaiah 15:8
Related Verses38 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Beer," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. I (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Beer," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).