1 Samuel 3:20

from Dan even to Beer-sheba The regular formula to denote the whole extent of the land of Israel. It is first found in Judges 20:1, and is common in the books of Samuel, but naturally disappears after the Division of the Kingdoms, occurring only once again, and that after the fall of the northern kingdom (2 Chronicles 30:5).

Danoriginally Leshem or Laish, a Sidonian colony was captured, colonized, and re-named by a band of Danites (Joshua 19:47; Judges 18). It was the northernmost town of the Holy Land, and stood upon a hill from the base of which springs one of the main sources of the Jordan, to flow through a rich and fertile plain towards the Lake of Merom. Here Jeroboam set up one of the golden calves (1 Kings 12:29-30), but shortly afterwards it was sacked by Benhadad (1 Kings 15:20), and we hear no more of it. Its name, however, probably survives to this day. Dan = judge, and the hill is still called Teil-el-Kady= "mound of the judge," while the stream bears the name el-Leddân, which may possibly be a corruption of Dan. See Robinson's Biblical Researches in Palestine, III. 390 ff.

Beer-sheba = "well of the oath," so named from the covenant which Abraham and Abimelech made there (Genesis 21:31; cp. Genesis 26:31-33): or possibly = "well of seven," in allusion to the sevenewe lambs with which die covenant was ratified (Genesis 21:29-30). It was situated at the southernmost extremity of the land, on the confines of the desert. It was a notable place in the history of the patriarchs.

(1) Here Abraham, Isaac and Jacob often dwelt (Genesis 22:19; Genesis 28:10; Genesis 46:1). (2) Here Samuel's sons were established as judges (1 Samuel 8:2). (3) Hither came Elijah when he fled from Jezebel (1 Kings 19:3). (4) It was apparently the seat of an idolatrous worship in the days of Amos (Amos 5:5; Amos 8:14). (5) It is mentioned for the last time as one of the towns reoccupied by the Jews on their return from the Captivity (Nehemiah 11:27).

The site of Beer-sheba is beyond question, for the name still survives in the Arabic Bîr es-Sebâ= "well of seven," or "well of the lion." There are two principal, and five lesser wells. "The water in both [the principal wells] is pure and sweet and in great abundance: the finest indeed we had found since leaving Sinai. Both wells are surrounded with drinking-troughs of stone for camels and flocks; such as were doubtless used of old for the flocks which then fed on the adjacent hills. The curbstones were deeply worn by the friction of the ropes in drawing up water by hand." Robinson, Bib. Res. I. 204. But Lieutenant Conder made the disappointing discovery that the masonry is not very ancient. There is a stone in the large well with an Arabic inscription bearing a date in the twelfth century a.d. Tent Work, II. 96.

was established or, "found faithful," "approved." The Heb. word is the same as that which, in ch. 1 Samuel 2:35, is rendered -a faithfulpriest," -a surehouse;" and the use of it here seems to indicate that Samuel's call was the beginning of the fulfilment of that prophecy.