Commentaire sur La Genèse 26:33

שבעה [AND HE CALLED IT] SHIBAH (swearing), in allusion to the Covenant (cf. v.31; “And they swear” etc.).

על כן שם העיר באר שבע this was not the same Beer Sheva we read about in connection with Avraham. There were two towns called Beer Sheva, as we know from Kings I 19,3 ויבא באר שבע אשר ליהודה, “he came to Beer Sheva in Yehudah.” [If there had not been another Beer Sheva the additional words “which is in Yehudah” would have been unnecessary. Ed.]

ויקרא אותה שבעה, on account of the oath that Yitzchok and Avimelech had sworn there. Avraham had done the same. (21,31) Even though he had not named the well itself שבעה, he named the entire region Beer Sheva, both on account of the oath and on account of the seven sheep which had been the physical symbol of that oath. Both Avraham and Yitzchok named the event in the presence of Avimelech.

על כן שם העיר באר שבע, “this is why the town became known as באר שבע.” The fact that both Avraham the father, and Yitzchok the son, had called the well באר שבע resulted in the urban center surrounding it becoming known by the name given to it by these two prominent people. From a mystical perspective, this name is an allusion to the Tabernacle which stood at Shiloh for over 300 years When the Philistines captured the holy ark which Eli’s sons had taken to war with them, they stopped up that well again, until the Israelites, once the Hoy Ark was returned by the Philistines, reopened it. Ibn Ezra comments that there were two separate reasons why the well and the town were called Beer Sheva. On the other hand, seeing that this is somewhat unlikely, it is possible that the city Beer Sheva is not the site at which this well was dug and the treaty concluded.

Abraham hatte למקום, den Ort, die Gegend באר שבע genannt, Jizchak den Brunnen שבעה — entweder von dem dort geleisteten Eide, oder weil ihm dort Gott sichtbar im Bunde mit seinen konkreten, irdischen Verhältnissen (das Siebte mit den Sechsen), sich gezeigt; es war dies der Glanzpunkt in Jizchaks Leben — durch beides erhielt die später dort gebaute Stadt ihren Namen.

על כן שם העיר באר שבע, “this is why the name of the town was B’eer sheva. If you were to question that that name for this well (site) had already been given to it by Avraham, so why does the Torah let us think that this was something new? We must understand the meaning of the verse as follows: Yitzchok named the well mentioned in verse 32 shivah, “seven,” because he had named the town B’eer sheva. Actually, originally the name was a reminder of the “oath” שבועה, not the “number” שבע. As to the question how Yitzchok could enter into a business arrangement with a pagan, the Talmud Avodah Zarah considers the prohibition based only on such deals leaving a wrong impression on other Jews, something that was not relevant as yet. This was also the reason that the Philistines came to Yitzchok there, as they wanted to renew the oath at the place it had been concluded originally. There is also the problem of Exodus 23,13 that “the name of an alien deity shall not cross your lips,” i.e. you must not be heard uttering it. [I have not understood how Yitzchok could have become guilty of this in this connection. Ed.]

As to the Torah writing: על כן שם העיר באר שבע, and we know that the place had been known by that name already since the days of Avraham, the Torah informs us that the name Avraham gave it might not have endured, but that this event now ensured that the name would be permanent. When a certain location commemorates two historic events both in the life of the father and that of the son, this will be remembered for far longer as everyone recognises that more than coincidence was the reason why the historic event which produced the name occurred precisely there.