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Gerar - location profile

Location and Setting

Gerar was located in the Western Negev, about nine miles southeast of Gaza and fifteen miles northwest of Beersheba. It was situated near the southern end of the Philistine Coastal plain on the inland route of the International Coastal Highway.
The terrain around Gerar is relatively flat and dry. In spite of its very limited rainfall, the Negev produces citrus fruit, green onions, cabbage, lettuce, cotton and sunflowers.
A layer of clay fifteen to twenty feet below the surface forms a water table, drawing water down from Hebron thirty miles north in the Hill Country of Judah. This water source sustains life and crops in the dry season between May and October. It was a common practice in this region to dig wells to tap this underground water resource.

Gerar was an important city in the Negev during patriarchal times.
For a time, Abraham lived in Gerar with his wife, Sarah. Fearing that he would be killed because she was very beautiful, Abraham lied to Abimelech, king of Gerar, telling him that Sarah was his sister (Genesis 20).
Abraham’s son Isaac also lived in Gerar for a brief period. Like his father, Isaac lied about his wife, Rebekah, claiming that she was his sister (Gen 26:7-11).
Isaac remained in Gerar and the surrounding area. His herds and crops became so bountiful there that the local Philistines envied him. In an attempt to drive him away, they filled in the wells that his father Abraham had dug. When Abimelech, king of Gerar, asked Isaac to leave, he moved to the nearby valley of Gerar (Gen 26:12-17). (Abimelech, meaning "my father is king," was a dynastic title, not the personal name of these two kings who lived in different generations.)

Mare, W.H. "Gerar" The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Ed. Merrill C. Tenney. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House,1976.
Mitchell, T.C. "Gerar" The New Bible Dictionary. 2^nd ed. Ed. J.D. Douglas. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1982.