Seven wells - this is more the story of our people than most of us would want to admit. We are aliens and strangers in a foreign land. We are a wandering people with no place to call home.
Seven wells - this is not our desire; we want a place to call home. The problem is that for most of history, events have prohibited my people from residing in their homeland. It seems that the story of Abram is hardwired within us and we are predestined as a nation to follow along, seemingly due to a genetic-like code. Descendants of Abraham have moved from Israel to Egypt, and back to Israel (Passover begins in two days). They then moved from Israel to Babylon and Persia. During the Second Temple period some people returned to Israel, while others continued the expansion of their influence to India (and beyond), and through Asia Minor and Macedonia to Rome. From 70 AD until 1948 the descendants of Abraham could not lay claim to their land, and even today most are in diaspora.
Abram was born almost 4,000 years ago in the land of Chaldea to the south of Babel. One tradition states that his father, Terah, was a government official. The king (Nimrod) had a dream that Terah’s child would become great, so out of jealousy the family of Nahor was banished from the land.
Terah moved his family up the Euphrates River to Haran, an ancient city which capitalized on its location along major trade routes. Abram spent his years as a young and middle-aged adult in this city. It is said that he met Noah and became a believer in the One God Most High through the stories of Noah.
When Abram was seventy-five years old, God told him to “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” In obedience to God’s words, Abram became a nomad. He journeyed first to Shechem, then to Bethel, and then to the Negev Desert where the ancient and modern cities of Be’er-Sheva are located. Abram, who was re-named Abraham, continued as a nomad without a land of his own for his whole life, living in Egypt for a time and finally being buried in Hebron.
Be’er-Sheva translated literally means “seven wells.” The name of the city bears witness to the nomadic nature of the Patriarchal families of Israel. Both Abraham and his son Isaac dug and claimed wells in this area (water is a valuable resource in the desert). However, these wells were contested. The Bible records treaties made (oath is another meaning of the word sheva) and broken between the fathers of Israel and King Abimelech (translated literally “father king”) of Gerar.
Settlement at Be’er-Sheva dates back to the Iron Age (4,000 BC), and by the time of Abraham the city was a trade center on the Central Ridge Highway, which led south from Israel to the land of Egypt. The city was built in the early Canaanite circular pattern with high visibility from watchtowers and a shape which enabled archers to aim their weapons in any direction.
On a 14 day trip to the Holy Land in May 2018, we will be sightseeing by bus and on foot, and seeing the places where the people of the Bible lived. On May 8th we will visit and spend the night in Be’er-Sheva, a city where Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob lived. An itinerary of our journey can be found online. If you would like to join us on the trip of a lifetime, please sign up by using this link.
