Besor
Be'sor (Heb. only with the art., hab-Besor', הִבּשׂוֹר, the cool; Sept. Βοσόρ; Josephus, Βάσελος, Ant. 6, 14, '6), a torrent-bed (נִהִל, "brook") or ravine in the extreme south-west of Judah or Simeon, where two hundred of David's men staid behind, being faint, while the other four hundred pursued the Amalekites, who had burnt the town of Ziklag, not far distant (1Sa 30:9-10,21). Sanutus derives its source from the interior Carmel, near Hebron, and states that it enters the sea near Gaza (Liber Secretorum, p. 252). For other slight ancient notices, see Reland, Paloest. p. 288. It is, without doubt, the same that Richardson crossed on approaching Gaza from the south, and which he calls "Oa di Gaza" (Wady Gaza). The bed was thirty yards wide, and its stream was, early in April, already exhausted, although some stagnant water remained. The upper part of this is called Wady Sheriah, and is doubtless the brook Besor, being the principal one in this vicinity (Van de Velde, Memoir, p. 293; Schwarz, Palest. p. 52, 78).
