Gerar
Encyclopedia
Gerar - meaning "lodging-place" - was a Philistine town and district in what is today south central Israel
. Archaeological evidence points to the town having come into existence with the arrival of the Philistines at around 1200 BC and having been little more than a village until 800-700 BC.
Biblically, the town features in two of the three wife-sister narratives
in Genesis. The Bible records that Abraham
and Isaac
each stayed at Gerar, near what became Beersheba
, and that each passed his wife off as his sister, leading to complications involving Gerar's Philistine king, Abimelech
. ( , and ) The Haggada identifies the two references to Abimelech as two separate people, the second being the first Abimelech's son, and that his original name was Benmelech["son of the King"], but he changed his name to his father's, which clearly evidences that the name means "my father is the king".
According to Easton's Bible Dictionary the Biblical valley of Gerar was probably the modern Wadi
el-Jerdr. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Dr. William Smith's Bible Dictionary , and Thompson's Chain Topics all state simply that it was "south of Gaza". The Bible Places web site says it is generally accepted (by whom it does not say) that Tel Haror is the site of ancient Gerar.
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
. Archaeological evidence points to the town having come into existence with the arrival of the Philistines at around 1200 BC and having been little more than a village until 800-700 BC.
Biblically, the town features in two of the three wife-sister narratives
Wife-sister narratives in Genesis
There are three wife-sister narratives in Genesis, part of the Torah, all of which are strikingly similar. At the core of each is the tale of a Biblical Patriarch, who has come to be in the land of a powerful foreign overlord who misidentifies the Patriarch's wife as the Patriarch's sister, and...
in Genesis. The Bible records that Abraham
Abraham
Abraham , whose birth name was Abram, is the eponym of the Abrahamic religions, among which are Judaism, Christianity and Islam...
and Isaac
Isaac
Isaac as described in the Hebrew Bible, was the only son Abraham had with his wife Sarah, and was the father of Jacob and Esau. Isaac was one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites...
each stayed at Gerar, near what became Beersheba
Beersheba
Beersheba is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the seventh-largest city in Israel with a population of 194,300....
, and that each passed his wife off as his sister, leading to complications involving Gerar's Philistine king, Abimelech
Abimelech
Abimelech was a common name of the Philistine kings.Abimelech was most prominently the name of a king of Gerar who is mentioned in two of the three wife-sister narratives in Genesis...
. ( , and ) The Haggada identifies the two references to Abimelech as two separate people, the second being the first Abimelech's son, and that his original name was Benmelech["son of the King"], but he changed his name to his father's, which clearly evidences that the name means "my father is the king".
According to Easton's Bible Dictionary the Biblical valley of Gerar was probably the modern Wadi
Wadi
Wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some cases, it may refer to a dry riverbed that contains water only during times of heavy rain or simply an intermittent stream.-Variant names:...
el-Jerdr. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Dr. William Smith's Bible Dictionary , and Thompson's Chain Topics all state simply that it was "south of Gaza". The Bible Places web site says it is generally accepted (by whom it does not say) that Tel Haror is the site of ancient Gerar.