Beer
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(well) — the name of two localities: a) (Judg. 9:21) a city between Jerusalem and Shechem, to which Jotham, son of Gideon, fled, escaping from his brother Abimelech. It is now the deserted settlement of el-Bireh, four hours’ journey southwest of Jerusalem; b) (Num. 21:16–18) one of the last stations of the Israelites on the border of Moab, during the forty years’ wandering of the Hebrews in the Arabian wilderness. It was so named from the well dug here by the leaders of the people of Israel to quench thirst, which gave rise to the following joyful national song: “Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it: the well, which the princes digged, the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves” (v. 17, 18).