been the object of considerable speculation. The most important evidence seems to point to Tell Abu Hureira, located on the north side of Wadi esh-Shariʿah. The biblical text indicates that Gerar was near a big wadi in whose bed the patriarchs dug their wells. Gerar’s omission from the list of cities belonging to the tribes of Simeon and Judah (Josh. 15:19; 1 Chron. 4) may indicate that the area was still largely under the control of the Philistines, as it was in Abraham’s day. Gerar is not mentioned