Gerar
“Circle, region, or lodging-place”
Summary
An ancient Philistine city and district on the southern borders of Palestine where both Abraham and Isaac sojourned.
☩Location
Gerar was situated on the southernmost borders of Palestine, in the country of the Philistines not far from Gaza. The region lay between Kadesh and Shur, on the fertile plain that served as a buffer between the two deserts. The site is probably in one of the branches of Wady Sheri'a, identified with ruins at Umm Jerrar or possibly Tel-Jema, southwest of Gaza.
☩Abraham and Isaac at Gerar
Abraham visited Gerar after the destruction of Sodom, where he encountered Abimelech the king and experienced the episode concerning Sarah. Later, Isaac also sojourned there during a famine, entering into similar dealings with a king also called Abimelech, a title that appears to have been hereditary among Philistine rulers. The interactions of the Hebrew patriarchs with the people of Gerar form a significant portion of patriarchal history, revealing early relations between Israel's ancestors and the Philistines.
☩Later History
Gerar appears again in the account of King Asa's pursuit of the Cushite army under Zerah, when the defeated forces fled 'unto Gerar' and the Israelites destroyed the cities around it. In the early Christian centuries, Gerar was the seat of a bishopric, and its bishop Marcian attended the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Gerar," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. III (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Gerar," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 3.James Orr (ed.), "Gerar," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 4.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Gerar," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).