Only mentioned in the Old Testament, Beersheba was situated in the territory of the tribe belonging to Simeon (modern day Israel) after the conquest of Canaan. The name seems to indicate a disagreement between 2 people.
The first references to Beersheba were in Genesis in the time of Abraham when he sent Hagar and Ishmael away after
Isaac was born. Genesis 21:14,22-33:
14. Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the desert of Beersheba.
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22. At that time Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces said to Abraham, "God is with you in everything you do.
23. Now swear to me here before God that you will not deal falsely with me or my children or my descendants. Show to me and the country where you are living as an alien the same kindness I have shown to you."
24. Abraham said, "I swear it."
25. Then Abraham complained to Abimelech about a well of water that Abimelech's servants had seized.
26. But Abimelech said, "I don't know who has done this. You did not tell me, and I heard about it only today."
27. So Abraham brought sheep and cattle and gave them to Abimelech, and the two men made a treaty.
28. Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs from the flock,
29. and Abimelech asked Abraham, "What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs you have set apart by themselves?"
30. He replied, "Accept these seven lambs from my hand as a witness that I dug this well."
31. So that place was called Beersheba, because the two men swore an oath there.
32. After the treaty had been made at Beersheba, Abimelech and Phicol the commander of his forces returned to the land of the Philistines.
33. Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the name of the LORD, the Eternal God.
Genesis 22:19:
19. Then Abraham returned to his servants, and they set off together for Beersheba. And Abraham stayed in Beersheba.
In Genesis 26 during a famine, Isaac moved to Gerar which was Philistine territory.
After several spates over Isaac's use of wells in the area, he moved away from the Philistines towards Beersheba. Isaac named the wells including the one in
verse 33.
33. He called it Shibah, and to this day the name of the town has been Beersheba.
Isaac' son, Jacob, left Beersheba after tensions rose with his brother, Esau, in Genesis 28. During his journey, he was renamed Israel to extend God's blessing to the family line as he did with his grandfather, Abraham.
Genesis 46:
1. So Israel set out with all that was his, and when he reached Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
2. And God spoke to Israel in a vision at night and said, "Jacob! Jacob!" "Here I am," he replied.
3. "I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.
4. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes."
5. Then Jacob left Beersheba, and Israel's sons took their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him.
6. They also took with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan, and Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt.
7. He took with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons and his daughters and granddaughters--all his offspring.
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During the time Joshua led the Israelites into victory in Canaan, Beersheba was named as one of the "southernmost towns of the tribe of Judah in the Negev" in
Joshua 15:21-32. While partitioning the land taken by the Canaanites, Joshua 19:1-8 stated:
1. The second lot came out for the tribe of Simeon, clan by clan. Their inheritance lay within the territory of Judah.
2. It included: Beersheba (or Sheba), Moladah,
3. Hazar Shual, Balah, Ezem,
4. Eltolad, Bethul, Hormah,
5. Ziklag, Beth Marcaboth, Hazar Susah,
6. Beth Lebaoth and Sharuhen--thirteen towns and their villages;
7. Ain, Rimmon, Ether and Ashan--four towns and their villages--
8. and all the villages around these towns as far as Baalath Beer (Ramah in the Negev). This was the inheritance of the tribe of the Simeonites, clan by clan.
1 Chronicles 4:24-31:
24. The descendants of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah and Shaul;
25. Shallum was Shaul's son, Mibsam his son and Mishma his son.
26. The descendants of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son and Shimei his son.
27. Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children; so their entire clan did not become as numerous as the people of Judah.
28. They lived in Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar Shual,
29. Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad,
30. Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag,
31. Beth Marcaboth, Hazar Susim, Beth Biri and Shaaraim. These were their towns until the reign of David.
The Israelites mostly worked together as the phrase "from Dan to Beersheba" was stated in Judges 20:1; 1 Samuel 3:20; 2 Samuel 3:10, 17:11, 24:2,15; 1 Kings 4:25 and 2 Chronicles 30:5.
As Israel's period of judges approached the end, they yearned for a king as told in 1 Samuel 8:1-5:
1. When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges for Israel.
2. The name of his firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abijah, and they served at Beersheba.
3. But his sons did not walk in his ways. They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.
4. So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah.
5. They said to him, "You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have."
King David prepared for war as he saw unrest in his kingdom - 2 Samuel 24:1-9 &
1 Chronicles 21:1-5:
1. Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go and take a census of Israel and Judah."
2. So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, "Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are."
3. But Joab replied to the king, "May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?"
4. The king's word, however, overruled Joab and the army commanders; so they left the presence of the king to enroll the fighting men of Israel.
5. After crossing the Jordan, they camped near Aroer, south of the town in the gorge, and then went through Gad and on to Jazer.
6. They went to Gilead and the region of Tahtim Hodshi, and on to Dan Jaan and around toward Sidon.
7. Then they went toward the fortress of Tyre and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to Beersheba in the Negev of Judah.
8. After they had gone through the entire land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
9. Joab reported the number of the fighting men to the king: In Israel there were eight hundred thousand able-bodied men who could handle a sword, and in Judah five hundred thousand.
When fleeing for his life, the prophet Elijah stopped in "Beersheba in Judah" in 1 Kings 19.
Both 2 Kings 12:1 & 2 Chronicles 24:1 stated Joash's mother, Zibiah, was from Beersheba.
2 Kings 23:8 also had this to say:
8. Josiah brought all the priests from the towns of Judah and desecrated the high places, from Geba to Beersheba, where the priests had burned incense. He broke down the shrines at the gates--at the entrance to the Gate of Joshua, the city governor, which is on the left of the city gate.
2 Chronicles 19:4:
4. Jehoshaphat lived in Jerusalem, and he went out again among the people from Beersheba to the hill country of Ephraim and turned them back to the LORD, the God of their fathers.
Nehemiah 11:25-30:
25. As for the villages with their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath Arba and its surrounding settlements, in Dibon and its settlements, in Jekabzeel and its villages,
26. in Jeshua, in Moladah, in Beth Pelet,
27. in Hazar Shual, in Beersheba and its settlements,
28. in Ziklag, in Meconah and its settlements,
29. in En Rimmon, in Zorah, in Jarmuth,
30. Zanoah, Adullam and their villages, in Lachish and its fields, and in Azekah and its settlements. So they were living all the way from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom.
The last instances of Beersheba occurred in Amos 5:5 and 8:14.
