BERED (2)
be'-red (beredh; Barad): A place in the Negeb mentioned in the story of Hagar (Ge 16:14). The well Beer-lahai-roi was "between Kadesh and Bered." The Onkelos Targum renders it Chaghra', which is the usual equivalent of Shur, while the Jerusalem Targum renders it Chalutsah, which is also Shur (Ex 15:22). Chalutsah is clearly the city of Elusu mentioned by Ptolemy and from the 4th to the 7th centuries by various ecclesiastical writers. It was an important town on the road from Palestine to Kadesh and Mount Sinai. This is without doubt the very large and important ruin Kh. Khalasa, some 70 miles South of Jerusalem on the road from Beersheba and Rehoboth. "These ruins cover an area of 15 to 20 acres, throughout which the foundations and enclosures of houses are distinctly to be traced. .... We judged that here there must have been a city with room enough for a population of 15,000 to 20,000 souls" (Robinson, BR, I, 201).

E. W. G. Masterman

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