Tel Be'ersheva National Park
The tel in the Tel Be’er Sheva or Tel Sheva National Park is located about 2½ miles east of the modern city of Beersheba on a hill surrounded by two streams, Nahal Hebron and Nahal Be’er Sheva, and close to the new Bedouin town of Tel Sheva, known in Arabic at Tell es-Seba. It was also strategically situated at a junction of main roads — eastward to the Judean Desert and Dead Sea, northward to Jerusalem, westward to Gaza, and southward to the center of the Negev. Many of the buildings on the tel have been partially reconstructed, and it is not difficult to imagine what this Judean desert fortress would have looked like thousands of years ago.
This tel may be the site of the biblical Be’ersheba. The expression “from Dan to Be’ersheba” indicates that Be’ersheba was at the southern limit of the Jewish kingdom in the monarchal period, although King Solomon also conducted trade from Etzion Geber, now known as Eilat. It was a border fortress and protected the kingdom against Amalekites and Midianites to the south, and later in history against Nabateans and Arabs. It was not the only fortress in the Negev and there were numerous small outposts at the time of King Uzziah for example.
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There was a Chalcolithic settlement here from about 4,000 BCE to 3,000 BCE. There was then a gap in settlement of about 2,000 years and building was not renewed until the Israelite period. Settlement began again in the 11th century BCE during the time of either King Saul or King David.
The restoration work you see is mainly on structures from the 8th century BCE during the Kingdom of Judah, at which time it was a fortified city. The city was destroyed in 701 BCE during the campaign of the Assyrian king Sennacherib against the Judean king Hezekiah. The city remained in ruins until the Persian period when a small fortress was built. There were also fortresses here during the Herodian period, later Roman period and early Arab period.
​Directions: Enter “Tel Be’er Sheba” into Waze.
Admission: This is a site of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. During the summer, the park is open Sunday to Thursday and Saturday 8.00 a.m. to 5.00 p.m. and on Friday and holiday eves 8.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. The park closes 1 hour earlier in the winter. There are shaded picnic benches in the park near the entrance. There is no visitor center. There is an admission charge. Their phone number is 08-646 7286. This is their website
Public transport: Enter "Tel Be'er Sheba" into Moovit. There are buses from Be'ersheva. The closest bus stop is a 500-m/6-minute walk.
The well outside the Outer Gate.
Where was Abraham’s well?
No building has been found on the tel identified from the patriarchal period. This is not surprising. Abraham was a nomad and his out-reach activities were outside the main cities. There is a well just outside the city gate. It was dug during the Israelite period, perhaps for visiting nomads and other visitors. There is no evidence that it was dug by Abraham or his family. There are several wells in this area and identifying any one particular well, or even a group of wells, as being dug by Abraham is well-nigh impossible.
Be’ersheba is in a valley that is crossed by the Be’ersheba stream. The path of this stream is windy because the hills surrounding the valley slow down the stream. This leaves time for water to penetrate into the underground aquifer. There are therefore many wells in this area, anyone of which could have been built by Abraham and his descendants.
The story about Abraham’s well is told in the book of Genesis, when the servants of Abimelech, the king of Gerar, took over a well that Abraham had dug:
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Then Abraham reproached Abimelech for the well of water which the servants of Abimelech had seized. But Abimelech said, “I do not know who did this; you did not tell me, nor have I heard of it until today.” Abraham took sheep and oxen and gave them to Abimelech, and the two of them made a pact. Abraham then set seven ewes of the flock by themselves, and Abimelech said to Abraham, “What mean these seven ewes which you have set apart?” He replied, “You are to accept these seven ewes from me as proof that I dug this well.” Hence that place was called Beer-sheba, for there the two of them swore an oath. When they had concluded the pact at Beer-sheba, Abimelech and Phicol, chief of his troops, departed and returned to the land of the Philistines (Genesis 21:25-32).
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“Sheva” has the meaning in Hebrew of an oath or seven, both words having the same three root letters. Hence, Be’ersheba could mean the “well of the oath” or “the well of the seven [ewes],” or both.
The next patriarch to have resided in Be’ersheba was Abraham’s son Isaac. Isaac saw his mission as continuing the tradition of his father, to the extent that he repeated many of the journeys of his father, including to Be’ersheba. Unlike the situation with his father, however, his relationship with the Philistines was not an amicable one as they were jealous of his agricultural success:
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He [Isaac] went from there to Beersheba, and God appeared to him that night . . . Abimelech went to him from Gerar with a group of his friends and Phicol general of his legion. . . . He made them a feast and they ate and drank. They awoke early in the morning and swore to one another. . . And it was on that very day that Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well they had dug and they said to him: “We have found water.” And he named it Shivah. Therefore, the name of the city is Be’ersheba [the well of Shiva] until this very day (GenesiÅ› 26:23-33).
It is of interest that it is a city, and not just a place, of Be’ersheba that is mentioned in relation to the activities of the forefathers. Be’ersheba and another city Sheva are also mentioned in the book of Joshua in relation to the inheritance of the tribe of Simeon, who dwelt within the territory of Judah. Again, the Bible mentions cities, both located in the territory of Simeon:
And the second draw of the lottery was for Simeon, to the tribe of the Children of Simeon according to their families. Their inheritance was situated amid the inheritance of Judah. And they received for their inheritance Be’er Sheva, Sheva and Moladah … thirteen cities and their villages . . . (Joshua 19:1-6).
It is possible that the ancient Bronze Age Be’ersheba was located in another site in the Be’ersheba valley, and not in what we regard as Tel Be’ersheba. Ruins have been found in the old section of the modern city of Beersheba by the Bedouin market, but extensive excavations have not been possible because of surrounding structures.
The Judean fortress at Tel Sheva
The partially restored buildings provide a picture of a typical fortified Israelite city from the Judean period, albeit a fairly small one.
The city was surrounded by a casement wall. Casement walls are a typical feature of fortified Israelite cities in the Iron Age, and are seen at Hazor, Gezer, Megiddo and Lachish. They are not an exclusively Jewish design and are found elsewhere in the Middle East in some Assyrian and Hittite cities. They consisted of two parallel walls with a space between them divided into compartments or “casemates” — hence the name casement wall. The space between the walls was used for storage and at time of need for defensive purposes. It could be filled with dirt and stones, and this would strengthen the wall against battering rams. Homes within the fortress abutted the inner casement wall. The wall itself was made of mudbricks on a foundation of stone.
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A 4-chambered gate (two each side), as seen at the Inner Gate, was also common in Israelite cities. It led to a large open City Square and this is where judicial and commercial business was carried out and where the city elders would meet.
The wall was made of mudbricks on a foundation of stones.
There are also ruins here of partially reconstructed 4-roomed Israelite homes. A four-roomed house is very typical of this Israelite period: These houses typically had a rectilinear plan with four spaces or rooms, with a broad room at the back and three long spaces extending forward from the. The large central space in the middle was separated from the other rooms by stone pillars and walls, and these may have supported a roof or second floor. The entrance to the house was from an exterior courtyard into the central space. The central courtyard was used for daily activities, such as food preparation and domestic chores, and may have been open to let in light, since there were no windows in the house. The side rooms functioned as storage areas and stables and the back room was used for living and sleeping quarters.
Partially reconstructed ruins of a typical 4-roomed Israelite home.
A water system was needed for daily use and in case of a siege. The system here is in the northeast corner of the city and is a large and impressive reservoir hewn into the soft chalk. It was constructed in the 9th century BCE. It has a 20-meter-deep stone-faced shaft, with a flight of stairs set into its wall, and a 700 m³ reservoir hewn in the chalk rock with five compartments. Most of the tunnel and the stone steps are original. The reservoir was fed from floodwaters from the Hebron Stream. An aqueduct led from the stream, which was at a slightly higher level than the reservoir, and can be seen when exiting the system from a tunnel. The water system fell out of use at the end of the Hellenistic period, apparently because of an earthquake that blocked the channel..
The 20-meter stone-faced shaft to the reservoir.
The aqueduct that brought winter floodwater from the Hebron Stream to the reservoir inside the city.
Close to the entrance to the city is a four-horned altar. This is a model of a reconstruction, the original reconstructed altar being in the Israel Museum. It is from the 8th century BCE, or even earlier. The altar was not found intact, but its pieces were in secondary use in a wall of a building. This wall was destroyed during Sennacherib’s campaign. The horns were an important part of the altar in that blood of sacrifices was sprinkled upon them.
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It is of interest to compare this altar to the four-horned incense altar found at Tel Arad, also in the desert and located before the Holy of Holies of a temple. This altar was built of small stones, faced with unchiseled stones, and the horns were also unchiseled. The entire structure was buried together with its temple. There a biblical mandate to make altars to God only of whole stones and not to raise iron upon them (Deuteronomy 27:6). The presumption is that Hezekiah closed down the temple at Arad when he centralized worship in Jerusalem. Because it was an altar to God, he respectfully buried the altar. The temple was also decommissioned and buried with its altar.
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A major difference between the altar at Tel Be’er Sheva and the one at Arad is that the altar in Tel Be’ersheba is made of quarried ashlars and chiseled horns. It may well be, therefore, that the altar here was for pagan ritual. This would not be surprising as a number of the kings of Judah were pagan worshipper, including Hezekiah’s father Ahaz. If this were the case, Hezekiah would have destroyed this altar without providing it any respect and its ashlars were later used in other buildings.
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Compared to many other Israelite cities, this tel is relatively small and has an oval shape. Your tour starts from the Outer Gate. The path leading from the ticket office and restrooms is lined by a mudbrick wall, but this is not ancient.
Four-horned altar made of quarried ashlars.
TOUR OF THE TEL:
Compared to many other Israelite cities, this tel is relatively small and has an oval shape. Your tour starts from the Outer Gate. The path leading from the ticket office and restrooms is lined by a mudbrick wall, but this is not ancient.
The Outer Gate: This gate was in addition to the inner gate and was dismantled in the 8th century BCE so that only the inner gate remained. Its base is made of rough stones and its upper section of sun-baked mud bricks.
The Inner Gate: This had a protective function and had two chambers on each side and thick-walled towers. The towers have not been preserved. Plastered benches were found in one of the chambers around its sides. The gate led into the City Square, a large open space. All the streets also led into this area, including two concentric streets around the city and streets perpendicular to these.
The Storehouses. Hundreds of clay vessels were recovered in this structure.
The Tower. There is an observation tower with a spiral staircase in the center of the mound. It is in the former Roman part of the city. It leads to a balcony from which can be viewed the entire ruins and also the area around the park.
The storehouses
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