=5. At this time=, about B. C. 1800, the Philistines had not arrived at that condition of power and wealth which they possessed in later centuries. They afterward became most formidable enemies of the Israelites, and possessed at least five grand cities. In this era of their history Gerar seems to be the residence of the king, Abimelech, as it was of his father of the same name in the time of Abraham, 90 years before. Being a small tribe, its king was anxious to form an alliance with Isaac, whose household and possessions had become very great, and, judging from the context, his retinue of servants and his wealth exceeded all that Abraham had possessed before him. =6. There are=, at present, two wells at Beersheba of the same general architecture, and both seem to be very ancient. The one about 300 feet off from the large one, spoken of before, is only about five feet in diameter. As the men of Gerar, at Abraham’s death, filled up “all the wells” built by the patriarch, it is probable that the second well was dug by the servants of Isaac and called also Beersheba as commemorative of the second oath of treaty made by Abimelech, the second of that same name mentioned in Scripture, and his commander-in-chief, as Phicol means. The life of Isaac seems to have been spent chiefly in the region of Beersheba, but he died at Hebron, at the age of 180 years. Esau and Jacob are his only sons named in the sacred history. JACOB. =7. Jacob= was a native of Beersheba, and, having incurred the displeasure of his brother Esau by the practice of a deceitful act towards his father, as narrated in the text, Gen. 27, fled to the same region whence his father obtained his own wife, and there found his wives Leah and Rachel in Mesopotamia. In that act of deceit he was aided by his mother, who probably never lived to see again the son she loved so much. Jacob returned not for many years, although when his mother parted with him she supposed it was for “a few days,” Gen. 27:44. He returned to Hebron shortly before the death of his father, in whose burial, in the cave of Machpelah, both his sons, Esau and Jacob, united, Gen. 35:29. =8. Jacob and his twelve sons= remained near Hebron for some time after the death of his father Isaac, when an event occurred which changed the history of the entire family and led to their long residence in the land of Egypt. =Joseph=, the son of Jacob’s old age, because of jealousy on the part of his brethren, was sold by them to a party of trading merchants, called “=Ishmaelites=.” These “came from Gilead, with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.” =Gilead= was the large district east of the Jordan, beginning some 15 miles southwest of Damascus, and whose southern limit was a few miles north of the Dead Sea. Their way towards Egypt was by Dothan, where the brethren were tending their father’s flock.