Editing Gerar

{{Short description|Philistine Town}}
[[File:Elias van Nijmegen - Bijbelse voorstelling, Abimelech geeft Sara aan Abraham terug - 11096 - Museum Rotterdam.jpg|thumb|Abimelech, King of Gerar, returns Sarah to Abraham; painting by [[Elias van Nijmegen]] (1667-1755), Museum Rotterdam]]

'''Gerar''' ({{Langx|he|גְּרָר}} ''Gərār'', "lodging-place") was a [[Philistine]] town and district in what is today south central [[Israel]], mentioned in the [[Book of Genesis]] and in the Second Book of Chronicles of the [[Hebrew Bible]].

==Identification==
According to the [[International Standard Bible Encyclopedia]], the biblical ''valley of Gerar'' ({{bibleverse||Genesis|26:17|HE}}) was probably located in the area of a valley known in [[Arabic]] as Wady Sheri'a,<ref>[https://biblehub.com/topical/g/gerar.htm Gerar] -- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia at biblehub.com</ref> and in [[Modern Hebrew]] as [[Nahal Gerar]].<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8Tq7UcPMwacC&pg=PA520 'Gerar'] in the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Zondervan Academic, 2011, p. 520</ref> Most commentators see the mound of [[Tel Haror]] (Hebrew) or Tell Abu Hureyra (Arabic) as representing the ancient Gerar.{{cn|date=October 2021}}

Some older commentaries, such as [[Smith's Bible Dictionary]],<ref>Smith's Bible Dictionary published 1884</ref> stated simply that Gerar was located "south of Gaza". Also, a ninth century rabbinical source, [[Saadia Gaon]], identified Gerar with [[Elusa (Haluza)|Haluza]], which is located along the [[Besor Stream]] in the [[Negev]].<ref>Rabbi [[Saadia Gaon]]'s ''Tafsīr'' ({{langx|jrb|אלי כ̇לוץ, אלכ̇לוץ}} = ''al-Khalūṣ'') in the Pentateuch (''Tafsir''), s.v. Genesis 10:19, Genesis 20:2, Genesis 26:17, 20.</ref><ref>On Haluza's proximity to Gerar, see: M. Naor, Gerar — Tell el Far'a, Bulletin of the Israel Exploration Society (1955), pp. 99–102 (Hebrew)</ref> However, according to recent archaeological research, Haluza only dates to the period of the [[Nabataean Kingdom]].

==Biblical accounts==
Biblically, the town features in two of the three [[wife-sister narratives in Genesis]]. These record that [[Abraham]] and [[Isaac]] each stayed at Gerar, near what became [[Beersheba]], and that each passed his wife off as his sister, leading to complications involving Gerar's Philistine king, [[Abimelech]]. ({{bibleverse||Genesis|20:1|HE}}, and {{bibleverse||Genesis|26:1|HE}})

The ''[[Haggadah]]'' identifies the two references to Abimelech as two separate people, the second being the first Abimelech's son, and that his original name was Benmelech ["son of the King"], but he changed his name to his father's, meaning "my father is king".

In [http://biblehub.com/esv/2_chronicles/14.htm 2 Chronicles 14:12-15], Gerar and its surrounding towns figure in the account of [[Asa of Judah|King Asa]]'s defeat of Zerah's vast [[Cush (Bible)|Cushite]] forces.
==See also==
*[[Tell Jemmeh]]
==References==
<references/>

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[[Category:Hebrew Bible valleys]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Israel]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Palestine]]
[[Category:Vayeira]]
[[Category:Philistine cities]]