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It is in the times of Joshua that we next read of Beersheba, when at God’s command, Joshua leads the new nation of Israel on its conquering expedition into Canaan . The records of the allocation of the lands to the twelve tribes, show the city of Beersheba amongst those given to both Judah and Simeon (See Joshua 15.28 and 19.2 - the reason for this is given in Joshua 19.9).
The importance of Beersheba in the established nation of Israel is seen later in the time of Samuel:
‘…when Samuel was old that he made his sons judges over Israel …they were judges in Beersheba ’
[1 Samuel 8.1,2].
This means it was certainly a place of worship and an administrative centre in Samuel’s time.
It was also a thriving city when the prophet Elijah fled from persecution in the times of King Ahab and his queen Jezebel.
'He arose and ran for his life, and went to Beersheba’
[1 Kings 19.3] .
Later in Israel’s history, the prophet Amos had cause to warn the people of the idolatrous practices in some of Israel’s cities, telling them not to ‘pass over to Beersheba’ [Amos 5.5 ]. The city had by this time sadly forsaken the true God of its founder, their father Abraham.
Unfortunately the warnings of Amos and the other prophets were not heeded and Israel sank into widespread idolatry. This led eventually to the nation being removed from the land and Beersheba, along with most of these ancient cities of Israel, fell into ruin and desolation.
More information in the Bible about Beersheba:
Where Abraham lived
Isaac's problems at Beersheba
Beersheba - in the times of Jacob
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