What is "gerar"

Gerar - meaning "lodging-place" – was a Philistine town and district in what is today south central Israel, mentioned in the Book of Genesis of the Hebrew Bible.

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. (, and ) 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".

According to Easton's Bible Dictionary the Biblical valley of Gerar was probably the modern Wadi el-Jerdr. Currently it is believed to be the valley of Nahal Gerar.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Dr. William Smith's Bible Dictionary, and Thompson's Chain Topics all state simply that it was "south of Gaza". The Bible Places web site says it is generally accepted that Tel Haror is the site of ancient Gerar. Archaeological evidence points to the town having come into existence with the arrival of the Philistines at around 1200 BC and having been little more than a village until 800-700 BC.

In 2 Chronicles 14:12-15, Gerar and its surrounding towns figure in the account of King Asa's defeat of Zerah's vast Cushite forces.