Shebah
“Seven or oath”
Summary
The well dug by Isaac's servants that gave its name to the city of Beer-sheba, named in connection with the covenant oath between Isaac and the Philistine chieftains.
☩The Well and Its Name
Shebah was the fourth in a series of wells dug by Isaac's servants in the region of Gerar. Isaac named it after the oaths (Hebrew 'yishshabeu') that had been exchanged between himself and the Philistine chieftains Abimelech, Ahuzzath, and Phicol the day before. The name can mean either 'seven' or 'oath,' since oaths were traditionally ratified with sevenfold sacrifices. From this well the city of Beer-sheba ('well of the oath' or 'well of seven') received its name.
☩Relation to Abraham's Well
An earlier narrative records that Abraham also dug a well at this location and named it Beer-sheba after making a covenant with Abimelech. The remarkable parallels between these two accounts—similar circumstances, similar covenants with chieftains bearing the same names, and the same resulting place name—have led scholars to various explanations. Some suggest two distinct wells (there are indeed two large wells at modern Bir es-Seba), while others see the accounts as variant traditions of the same foundational event.
Related Verses1 mention
Genesis· 1 verse
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Shebah," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IX (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.George Morrish, "Shebah," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Shebah," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).