Page:Keil and Delitzsch,Biblical commentary the old testament the pentateuch, trad James Martin, volume 1, 1885.djvu/250

 is the present large desert of et-Tih, which stretches along the southern border of Canaan, from the western fringe of the Arabah, towards the east to the desert of Shur ( Jifar), on the frontier of Egypt, and extends southwards to the promontories of the mountains of Horeb (vid. Num. 10:12). On the northern edge of this desert was Beersheba (proleptically so called in ver. 14), to which Abraham had removed from Gerar; so that in all probability Hagar and Ishmael were sent away from his abode there, and wandered about in the surrounding desert, till Hagar was afraid that they should perish with thirst. Lastly, in pre-paration for chap. 25:12-18, it is mentioned in ver. 21 that Ishmael married a wife out of Egypt.

verses 22-34
Vers. 22-34. Abimelech’s Treaty with Abraham. — Through the divine blessing which visibly attended Abraham, the Philistine king Abimelech was induced to secure for himself and his descendants the friendship of a man so blessed; and for that purpose he went to Beersheba, with his captain Phicol, to conclude a treaty with him. Abraham was perfectly ready to agree to this; but first of all he complained to him about a well which Abimelech’s men had stolen, i.e. had unjustly appropriated to themselves. Abimelech replied that this act of violence had never been made known to him till that day, and as a matter of course commanded the well to be returned. After the settlement of this dispute the treaty was concluded, and Abraham presented the king with sheep and oxen, as a material pledge that he would reciprocate the kindness shown, and live in friendship with the king and his descendants. Out of this present he selected seven lambs and set them by them- selves ; and when Abimelech inquired what they were, he told him to take them from his hand, that they might be to him (Abraham) for a witness that he had digged the well. It was not to redeem the well, but to secure the well as his property against any fresh claims on the part of the Philistines, that the present was given ; and by the acceptance of it, Abraham’s right of possession was practically and solemnly acknowledged. — Ver. 31. From this circumstance, the place where it occurred received the name בְּאֵ֣ר שָׁ֑בַע, i.e. seven-well, “because there they sware both of them.” It does not follow from this note, that the writer interpreted the name “oath-well,” and took שָׁ֑בַע in the