Exploring Be'er Sheva: A City Tied to Abraham's Legacy

Abraham was the patriarch of many nations: Israel, Ishmael, Edom, Midian, Ammon, and Moab.

Interestingly, we don't find that people were named after him, not during the times of the prophets, nor during the eras of the Tannaim and Amoraim. There's a similar name—"Abiram", but not Abraham.

However, it seems there was a city in the Be'er Sheva region named after him. In Be'er Sheva, as we know, Abraham lived and acted, hosting angels and his many guests.

How do we know this?

During the time of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, for the first time since the Exodus, Pharaoh of Egypt invaded Israel. He sensed the weakness that arose with the death of the great King Solomon, the kingdom was divided, and he saw an opportunity to plunder the treasures of the Kingdom of Judah.

And as the prophet recounts: "In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of Hashem and the treasures of the king's house; he took everything, and he took all the golden shields that Solomon had made", (1 Kings 14).

Interestingly, Shishak himself left an inscription describing this campaign, which took place nearly three thousand years ago. Shishak built an enormous temple in Karnak, Egypt, where he elaborately describes his campaign to Israel with illustrations and descriptions of the objects he plundered from the Temple.

In Shishak's inscription, there is also a list of cities he conquered, following a geographical order, and on his journey in the Negev, between Yeruham and Arad, he passes through a city called "Abram" (the cities are mentioned as "Chagr", from the word "belt", fortification, circumference, like the later "Hakra", hence the full name is "Chagr Abram"). Some speculate this is Be'er Sheva itself, which according to the Book of Genesis Abraham founded, but even if it's not Be'er Sheva, it's certainly in the Be'er Sheva area and likely named after Abraham.