ABSTRACT
Biblical Beersheba is identified with Tell es-Seba∞, a ruin located some 2.5 miles east of the modern Israeli city of Beersheba. In the Bible the name, “Beersheba,” is traced back to two aetiologies associated with the Ancestors, Abraham and Isaac (see Gen. 21: 28-31; 26: 33). The name is usually understood to mean “well of seven” or “well of oath.” However, there are no known Semitic cognates of the word sheva∞ with the meaning “to swear” or “to oath.” Furthermore, there is no obvious connection between “oath” and “seven.”
