were “sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, of the sons of Benjamim.” (2 Sam. 4:2, 5, 9) Naharai, one of David’s maighty men, is also listed as a Beerothite.—2 Sam. 23:37; called “the Berothite” at 1 Chronicles 11:39.

BEER-SHEBA

(Beʹer-sheʹba) [well of the oath or of seven].

The place of a well and, later, of a city in southern Judah. It is usually identified with modern Bir es-Sabaʽ on the N side of the Wadi es-Sabaʽ, or with Tell es-Sabaʽ a couple of miles to the E. It thus lies about midway between the Mediterranean coast and the southern end of the Dead Sea, about twenty-eight miles (45 kilometers) SW of Hebron and about the same distance SE of Gaza. Beer-sheba came to stand for the southernmost point in describing the length of Palestine, as expressed in the proverbial phrase “from Dan down to Beer-sheba” (Judg. 20:1), or, in a converse direction, “from Beer-sheba to Dan.” (1 Chron. 21:2; 2 Chron. 30:5) After the division of the nation into two kingdoms, Beer-sheba continued to be used to indicate the southern extremity of the kingdom of Judah in the expressions “from Geba as far as Beer-sheba” (2 Ki. 23:8) and “from Beer-sheba to the mountainous region of Ephraim” (where the northern kingdom of Israel began). (2 Chron. 19:4) In postexilic times the expression was used in a yet more limited form to refer to the area occupied by the repatriated men of Judah, extending from Beer-sheba “clear to the valley of Hinnom.”—Neh. 11:27, 30.

In reality, there were other towns of the Promised Land that lay to the S of Beer-sheba, even as there were Israelite towns N of Dan. However, both Dan and Beer-sheba were situated at natural frontiers of the land. In the case of Beer-sheba, its position was below the mountains of Judah on the edge of the desert. Additionally, it was one of the principal cities of Judah (along with Jerusalem and Hebron), and this was not only because it had an excellent supply of water as compared with the surrounding region, thus allowing for both farming and grazing of herds and flocks, but also because important roads converged on it from several directions. From Egypt an ancient route led up by the “Way of the Wells” through Kadesh-barnea to Beer-sheba, being joined by another road over which traveled the camel caravans from the “Spice Kingdoms” of the Arabian Peninsula, heading for Philistia or Judah. From Ezion-geber, at the head of the Gulf of Aqabah, another route led up through the Arabah and then turned W, climbing the Ascent of Akrabbim to Beer-sheba. At Gaza, in the Philistine Plain, a road branching from the highway led SE to Beer-sheba. And, connecting it with the rest of Judah, a road ran from Beer-sheba to the NE, climbing the plateau up into the mountains of Judah to Jerusalem and points farther N.

The site is first mentioned in connection with Hagar, who wandered with her son Ishmael “in the wilderness of Beer-sheba” when dismissed by Abraham. (Gen. 21:14) Expecting her son to die of thirst, she withdrew from Ishmael, but God heard the boy and directed Hagar to a well. (Gen. 21:19) This may have been a well dug earlier by Abraham, but at that time still unnamed, in view of the account that follows. Some of the Philistines had seized a well in this area by violence, seemingly unknown to Abimelech the king of Gerar, who approached Abraham with Phicol the chief of his army to propose a covenant of peace. When Abraham severely criticized Abimelech for his servants’ act of violence, Abimelech avowed his ignorance, concluded a covenant with Abraham and accepted seven female lambs from him in evidence of Abraham’s title to the well. To commemorate the event, Abraham called the place “Beer-sheba” because there “both of them had taken an oath.” (Gen. 21:31) Abraham then planted a tamarisk tree there and called upon “the name of Jehovah the indefinitely lasting God.” (Gen. 21:33) It was from here that Abraham went to Moriah to offer Isaac as a sacrifice and here he returned to dwell.—Gen. 22:19.

When Abraham died, the Philistines stopped up the wells he had dug, but when Isaac later took up dwelling here he began to reopen them and call them by the names that his father had given them. (Gen. 26:18) Opposed by the Philistines, he withdrew from place to place until he found ample room at Rehoboth and later returned to Beer-sheba. (Gen. 26:22, 23) While Isaac’s servants were excavating a well at Beer-sheba, Abimelech, possibly another king of Gerar (by the same name or title as the one that had covenanted with Abraham, or perhaps the same one), came with Phicol the chief of his army to Isaac to propose a covenant of peace with him. After feasting and drinking, they arose early the next morning and made sworn statements one to another. That same day the well produced water, and Isaac called its name Shibah, meaning “seven” and referring to an oath or statement sworn to by seven things. (Gen. 26:33; see SHIBAH.) It would seem that Isaac was thus preserving the name, Beer-sheba, that Abraham had given to the place, and the possibility of this being the same well previously dug by Abraham and re-excavated by Isaac’s men is shown by Genesis 26:18, previously cited. During the years that Isaac lived here he blessed Jacob in place of Esau and sent him away to Haran to take a wife from the daughters of Laban, his mother’s brother. (Gen. 28:1, 2, 10) Fifty-three years later Jacob, now known as Israel, offered sacrifices to the God of Isaac at Beer-sheba on his way to join Joseph, his son, in Egypt.—Gen. 46:1-5.

In the 261 years that intervened until Canaan was apportioned to the twelve tribes of Israel, a city had grown up at Beer-sheba (Josh. 15:21, 28), which was assigned to the tribe of Simeon as an enclave city in the territory of Judah. (Josh. 19:1, 2) Here Samuel’s sons officiated as judges. (1 Sam. 8:1, 2) Elijah, fleeing from Queen Jezebel’s wrath, left his attendant at Beer-sheba and headed southward across the Negeb toward Horeb. (1 Ki. 19:3) Zibiah, the mother of King Jehoash of Judah, came from this place. (2 Ki. 12:1) Beer-sheba was named as the terminating point of David’s registering of the people throughout Israel (2 Sam. 24:2, 7) and the starting place of Jehoshaphat’s reforms in worship. (2 Chron. 19:4) The references of Amos to Beer-sheba in his day strongly suggest that it was then a place of unclean religious activities (Amos 5:5; 8:14), perhaps associated in some way with the idolatrous northern kingdom. Figurines of the goddess Astarte have been excavated there, as in many other parts of Palestine. From this time forward, except for the brief mention of the reoccupation of the city and its dependent towns after the Babylonian exile (Neh. 11:27), the name disappears from the Bible record.

Beer-sheba is described by secular writers of the fourth century C.E. as then existing as a large village or town and a Roman garrison. Today, it retains its position as a crossroads town and an important meeting and market place. Though the Beer-sheba basin is steppeland, receiving only about six to eight inches (15 to 20 centimeters) of rainfall a year, the soil is productive and there are good farms in the area. Some seven wells are to be found there, the largest of which is about twelve feet (3.7 meters) in diameter, the lower part being cut through sixteen feet (almost 5 meters) of solid rock.

BEESHTERAH

(Be·eshʹte·rah) [house of Ashterah].

A city E of the Jordan, given to the Gershonites of the tribe of Levi. (Josh. 21:27) The parallel passage at 1 Chronicles 6:71 indicates it to be the same as Ashtaroth. Beeshterah is evidently a contraction of Beth-ashtoreth, comparable to the contraction of Beth-shan to the modern form Beisan.—See ASHTAROTH.

BEGGAR, BEGGING

While the English word “begging” may mean simply to implore or plead, the discussion here deals primarily with begging in the sense of the habitual practice of publicly asking for charity.

The patriarchal arrangement, which the Bible indicates existed prior to and after the global flood of Noah’s day, doubtless served greatly to prevent situations where individuals would find themselves isolated, in dire straits, and dependent upon public charity, and thus it worked against the development of a pauper class. From ancient times hospitality to strangers or travelers seems to have been quite freely practiced; such hospitality is at least reflected in the Biblical accounts, with rare exceptions. (Gen. 19:1-3; Ex. 2:18-20; Judg. 19:15-21) The development of cities is considered to have contributed to the weakening of the patriarchal arrangement and possibly this, together with a selfish tendency to take undue advantage of the hospitality or charity of others, led to the development of begging among humankind.

Begging or mendicancy is apparently of very ancient origin in the lands of the Orient. This makes all the more notable the fact that in the Hebrew Scriptures there is no indication that begging existed to any degree or constituted a particular problem in the nation of Israel from the time of its formation until its going into exile in Babylon. When moving out of Egypt and their slavery in that land, the Israelites “went asking [a form of the Hebrew verb sha·ʼalʹ] from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold and mantles. . . . and they stripped the Egyptians.” (Ex. 12:35, 36) This, however, was in accord with God’s command and prophecy and was evidently viewed as just compensation for their long years of slave labor and the injustices endured by them at the hands of the Egyptians. (Ex. 3:21, 22; compare Deuteronomy 15:12-15.) It set no precedent for the practice of begging.

The Mosaic law contained forceful legislation on behalf of the poor, which, when observed, removed all cause for begging. (Lev. 19:9, 10; Deut. 15:7-10; 24:19-21; see GIFTS OF MERCY.) The Hebrew Scriptures strongly express trust in God’s providence for those adhering to righteousness, even as David in his old age exclaimed: “I have not seen anyone righteous left entirely, nor his offspring looking for [“begging,” AV; a form of the Hebrew ba·qashʹ] bread,” even though such righteous ones themselves are shown to be openhanded in their generosity. (Ps. 37:25, 26; contrast with the experience of apostate Jerusalem at Lamentations 1:11; 4:4.) On the other hand, Proverbs (20:4) portrays the lazy man as “begging in reaping time,” and the psalmist (109:10) describes the execution of punishment on the wicked as obliging “his sons [to] go wandering about; and they must do begging, and they must look for food from their desolate places.” In these two latter texts the word “begging” translates the Hebrew sha·ʼalʹ, which term basically means simply to ask or request (as at Exodus 3:22); however, in these two cases the implication is that the asking is done in the active, and perhaps public, manner characterizing begging.

It appears that, during the period from the time of the Jews’ return from exile (537 B.C.E.) down to the time of Jesus’ appearance on the earthly scene, the concept developed among the Jews that the act of giving “alms” or gifts of charity had merit in itself toward salvation. This is evidenced by the statement contained in the apocryphal book of Ecclesiasticus (3:30) (believed to have been written about the second century B.C.E.) that “almsgiving atones for sins.” Such view undoubtedly served to encourage begging. (Compare the much publicized giving denounced by Jesus in Matthew 6:2.)

Domination by the foreign powers brought oppression to the Jewish people and doubtless caused considerable disruption of the application of the Mosaic law concerning ancestral land rights and similar provisions. This, together with false religious philosophies, which failed to inculcate a genuine and principled love of neighbor (Matt. 23:23; Luke 10:29-31), also likely shared responsibility for the growth of begging in Palestine. Thus we find a number of references in the Christian Greek Scriptures to beggars in that land.

The blind, the lame and the diseased figure among the beggars described in the time of Jesus and the apostles. Ophthalmia (a disease of the eyes still common in the Near East) perhaps caused some of the blindness among these men. (Mark 10:46-49; Luke 16:20, 22; 18:35-43; John 9:1-8; Acts 3:2-10) Like beggars today, they often situated themselves along public thoroughfares or near places frequented by crowds, as at the temple. Despite the prominence given to almsgiving, beggars were looked down upon, so that the steward of Jesus’ parable said, “I am ashamed to beg [from Gr., e·pai·teʹo, an intensified form of the verb ai·teʹo, meaning ‘to ask’].”—Luke 16:3.

The Greek word pto·khosʹ, used by Luke (16:20, 22) in recording Jesus’ reference to Lazarus as a beggar, describes one who crouches and cringes and refers not merely to the poor but to the very poor, the destitute, the beggars. It is noteworthy that this same term is used at Matthew 5:3 with regard to those “conscious of their spiritual need [‘those who are beggars for the spirit,’ ftn. 1950 ed.]” (“poor in spirit,” AV), and concerning the use of pto·khosʹ in this text Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament comments: “. . . it is very graphic and appropriate here, as denoting the utter spiritual destitution, the consciousness of which precedes the entrance into the kingdom of God, and which cannot be relieved by one’s own efforts, but only by the free mercy of God.”

This same term is also used by Paul at Galatians 4:9 in expressing his concern over those who were “turning back again to the weak and beggarly [pto·khaʹ] elementary things” formerly practiced. Such things were “beggarly” in comparison with the spiritual riches obtainable through Christ Jesus.

Although Jesus and his apostles showed kindness to beggars, they did not encourage begging; though they gratefully accepted hospitality, they did not beg. Jesus told those who followed him merely to obtain bread that their concern should be, not for “the food that perishes, but for the food that remains for life everlasting.” (John 6:26, 27) Peter told a lame beggar at the temple: “Silver and gold I do not possess, but what I do have is what I give you,” using his spiritual gifts to heal the man. (Acts 3:6) Though at times hungry, lacking clothing and homeless, the apostles toiled, ‘working with their own hands, night and day, so as not to be a burden on others.’ (1 Cor. 4:11, 12; 1 Thess. 2:9) The standard among Christians was: “If anyone does not want to work, neither let him eat.”—2 Thess. 3:10-12.

BEHEADING

A mode of capital punishment not prescribed by the Mosaic law. It was one form of execution that existed in most of the nations. In Israel, when a beheading was performed, it was usually after slaying the individual and was generally done to bring the person’s death before public attention as a reproach or as a public notice of judgment or warning.

Pharaoh ‘lifted up the head from off’ his chief baker, evidently beheading him. (Gen. 40:19) David, after felling Goliath with a stone from his sling, took Goliath’s sword and “definitely put him to death” by beheading him before the armies of Israel and the Philistines. This threw great fear into the Philistine army and resulted in a mighty rout. (1 Sam. 17:51, 52) The Philistines cut Saul’s head from his body after his death, then hung his body with that of his sons on the wall of the city of Beth-shan. (1 Sam. 31:9, 12) Rechab and Baanah, wicked men, killed Saul’s son Ish-bosheth, and beheaded him in order to take his head to David, thinking they would gain David’s favor. For this David had them put to death. (2 Sam. 4:5-12) In order to save their city, the people of the city of Abel of Beth-maacah acted on the counsel of a wise