Genesis 21:31

Beer-sheba LXX φρέαρ ὁρκισμοῦ : the derivation here given is "because there they sware both of them." The word in Heb. "they sware" (nishb-u) is the reflexive form of the verb shaba-. This derivation of Beer-sheba, as "the well of swearing," is clearly not a complete explanation of the word. The correct derivation "the well of seven" is probably hinted at in Abraham's pledge of the sevenlambs. At Beer sheba, there were also "seven" wells, which can even now be identified. But there is a close connexion between the Heb. word "seven," and the Heb. word "to swear"; and if, as seems probable, the Heb. nishba-"to swear" meant originally "to bind oneself by staking, or pledging, seven things," we can see that the well of "seven" and the well of "swearing" were practically identical in significance.

Beer-sheba stood on the southernmost boundary of Palestine, at the edge of the desert, about 50 miles S.W. of Jerusalem. In later days it was famous as a sacred place of pilgrimage, Amos 5:5; Amos 8:14.