Beer

Fausset's Bible Dictionary

1. A "dug well", whereas EN or AIN is a "fountain" or "spring". Israel's last halting place was so-called, from the well dug there, beyond the Arnon, by the princes and nobles. A poetical fragment celebrates the fact ( Numbers 21:16-18): "Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it. The princes digged the well; the nobles of the people digged it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves". What a contrast was this Beer, digged amidst the people's joyous songs in honor of their princes, to the miraculous smiting of the rock amidst their murmuring against God and their leaders ( Numbers 20:2).

Perhaps the Beer-Elim "well of the princes," of  Isaiah 15:8, on the border of Moab southwards. The howling ( Yillelathah ; Beer-elim is chosen as similar in sound) shall reach even that remote point. Tradition made this the last appearance of the water that "followed" the people before their entrance into Canaan; compare  1 Corinthians 10:4.

2. A place whither Jotham, Gideon's son, fled from Abimelech ( Judges 9:21).

Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible

BEER (‘a well’). 1 . A station in the journey from Arnon to the Jordan, mentioned   Numbers 21:18 , with a poetical extract commemorating the digging of a well at this spot. The context indicates the neighbourhood, but further identification is wanting. Perhaps the words translated ‘and from the wilderness,’ which immediately follow this extract (  Numbers 21:18 ), should be translated (following the LXX [Note: Septuagint.] ) ‘and from Beer,’ or ‘the well.’ It is generally identified with Beer-elim (‘well of mighty men’?), mentioned   Isaiah 15:8 , and in the second part of the compound name it may be conjectured that there is reference to the event commemorated in the song (  Numbers 21:17-18 ). 2 . The place to which Jotham ran away after uttering his parable (  Judges 9:21 ). Its position is unknown.

King James Dictionary

BEER, n.

1. A spirituous liquor made from any farinaceous grain but generally from barley, which is first malted and ground, and its fermentable substance extracted by hot water. This extract or infusion is evaporated by boiling in caldrons, and hops or some other plant of an agreeable bitterness added. The liquor is then suffered to ferment in vats. Beer is of different degrees of strength, and is denominated small beer, ale, porter, brown stout, &c.,according to its strength, or other peculiar qualities. 2. Beer is a name given in America to fermenting liquors made of various other materials and when a decoction of the roots of plants forms a part of the composition, it is called spring-beer, from the season in which it is made.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

A town in the tribe of Judah to which Jotham fled for fear of Abimelech (  Judges 9:21 ). Some have identified this place with Beeroth.

Copyright Statement These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., DD Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition, published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain.

Bibliography Information Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Beer'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/b/beer.html. 1897.

Morrish Bible Dictionary

1. A station of the Israelites when they drew near the Land, so called because of a well (which the word signifies) being sunk there, from which God gave them water. They sang -

"Spring up, O well; sing ye to it:

The princes digged the well,

The nobles of the people digged it

By the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves."

 Numbers 21:16-18 . Probably the same as BEER-ELIM of  Isaiah 15:8 .

2. Place to which Jotham fled for fear of his brother Abimelech.  Judges 9:21 . Its position unknown.

Smith's Bible Dictionary

Be'er. (A Well).

1. One of the latest halting-places of the Israelites, lying beyond the Arnon.  Numbers 21:16-18. This is possibly the Beer-Elim of  Isaiah 15:8.

2. A place to which Jotham, the son of Gideon, fled for fear of his brother, Abimelech.  Judges 9:21.

American Tract Society Bible Dictionary

A well,

1. A station of the Hebrews in Moab, where God gave them water,  Numbers 21:16-18;  Isaiah 15:8 .

2. A town in Judah, according to Eusebius and Jerome a few miles west of Jerusalem, near Beth-shemesh. Jotham took refuge there from his brother Abimelech,  Judges 9:21 .

Webster's Dictionary

(1): (n.) A fermented extract of the roots and other parts of various plants, as spruce, ginger, sassafras, etc.

(2): (n.) A fermented liquor made from any malted grain, but commonly from barley malt, with hops or some other substance to impart a bitter flavor.

Holman Bible Dictionary

 Numbers 21:16 2 Judges 9:21

Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature

(Heb. Beer', בְּאֵר , A Well ) , a local proper name, denoting, whether by itself or in composition, BEER-, the presence of an Artificial well of water. (See Well). It was thus distinguished from the frequent prefix (See En)- (q.v.), which: designated a Natural spring. There were two places known by this name simply. See the compounds in their alphabetical order.

1. (With the art., הִבְּאֵר ; Sept. Ὁ Φρέαρ . ) A place in the desert, on the confines of Moab, where the Hebrew princes, by the direction of Moses, dug a well with their staves, being the forty-fourth station of the Hebrews in their wanderings from Egypt to Canaan ( Numbers 21:16-18). It seems to have been situated in the south part of the plain Ard Ramadan, not very far north-east of Dibon. (See Exode). The "wilderness" ( מִדְבָּר ), which is named as their next starting-point in the last clause of  Numbers 21:18, may be that before spoken of in 13, or it may be a copyist's mistake for מִבְּאֵר . So the Sept., who read Καὶ Ἀπὸ Φρέατος — and from the well, i.e. "from Beer." Probably the same place is called more fully Beer-elim in  Isaiah 15:8. (See Ortlob, Defonte baculis fosso, Lpz. 1718.)

According to the tradition of the Targumists — a tradition in part adopted by the apostle Paul ( 1 Corinthians 10:4), this was one of the appearances, the last before the entrance into the Holy Land, of the water which had "followed" the people, from its first arrival at Rephidim, through their wanderings. The water, so the tradition appears to have run, was granted for the sake of Miriam, her merit being that, at the peril of her life, she had watched the ark in which lay the infant Moses. It followed the march over mountains and into valleys, encircling the entire camp, and furnishing water to every man at his own tent door. This it did till her death ( Numbers 20:1), at which time it disappeared for a season, apparently rendering a special act necessary on each future, occasion for its evocation. The striking of the rock at Kadesh ( Numbers 20:10) was the first of these; the digging of the well at Beer by the staves of the princes, the second. Miriam's well at last found a home in a gulf or recess in the sea of Galilee, where at certain seasons its water flowed, and was resorted to for healing purposes (Targums of Onkelos and Pseudo-Jon.,  Numbers 20:1;  Numbers 21:18, and also the quotations in Lightfoot on  John 5:4). — Smith, s.v.

2. (Sept. Vat. Βατνπ ; the Alex. entirely alters the passage — Καὶ Ἐπορεύθη Ἐν Ὁδῷ Καὶ Ἔφυγεν Εἰς ῾Ραρά ; Vulg. In Bera. ) A town in the tribe of Judah, to which Jotham fled for fear of Abimelech ( Judges 9:21). Eusebius and Jerome (Onomast. s.v. Βηρά , Bera) place Beer in the great plain eight Roman miles north of Eleutheropolis; perhaps the well near Deir Dubban. By many this place is identified with BEEROTH (See Beeroth) (q.v.).

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblial Literature

Beer, a well; a local proper name, denoting, whether by itself or in composition, the presence of a well of water. There were two places so called— 1. A place in the land of Moab, which was one of the encampments of the Israelites ( Numbers 21:16).— 2. A town in the tribe of Judah. It is mentioned only once in Scripture ( Judges 9:21), as the place to which Jotham fled. It is supposed to be the same with the modern Bireh, a large village situated on the ridge, running from east to west, which bounds the northern prospect, as beheld from Jerusalem and its vicinity, and may be seen from a great distance north and south. It contains a population of 700 Muslims. The houses are low, and many of them half underground. Many large stones and various substructions evince the antiquity of the site; and there are remains of a fine old church of the time of the Crusades.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

bē´ẽr ( בּאר , be'ēr  ; φρέαρ , phréar  ; Latin puteus = "well"):

(1) A station on the march of the Israelites to the North of the Arnon ( Numbers 21:16 ). Here it was that they sang round the well this song:

'Spring up O well; greet it with song,

Well, that the princes have dug,

The nobles of the people have bored,

With the scepter - with their staves' ( Numbers 21:16 ).

The place is not identified.

(2) The town to which Jotham fled from his brother Abimelech after declaring his parable from Mt. Gerizim ( Judges 9:21 ). This may be identical with Beeroth .