—I was born in Brussels, Belgium as was Audrey Hepburn; attended the same high school as Matthew McConaughey; and lived for years in “Stephenville, TX,” which doubles as a song title by the versatile “Jewel” Kilcher, which she wrote while married to local boy and nine-time PRCA rodeo champion, Ty Murray. What famous people share your birthplace, your hometown or the place you now call home?

—In the Bible you’ll find Bethlehem on David’s birth certificate and you may even recognize Bethsaida as the hometown of Philip, Peter and Andrew, but when I say “Beersheba,” does anyone come to mind?

—In the beloved, unofficial anthem, “America the Beautiful,” we sing of our country’s beauty “from sea to shining sea,” and we could summarize our nation’s west-to-east dimensions as “from the City of Angels to the Big Apple” or our north-to-south dimensions as “from the Rust Belt to the Bible Belt.” In the Old Testament the Jews likewise used a similar idiom, “from Dan to Beersheba” (Judges 20:1; 1 Samuel 3:20; et al), with Dan being their northernmost city and Beersheba being their southernmost city for all practical purposes.

—Situated astride the treeless, unforgiving Negev Desert, Beersheba often gets ignored by tour groups who prefer day trips to Israel’s glorious hill country northwest of Beersheba or to the Dead Sea, En Gedi and Masada northeast of the city, yet three of the Old Testament’s greatest names lived at least for a time in Beersheba—Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and hearty groups who make the trek will gain tremendous insight into the lives of the patriarchs.

—Abraham called this city “The Well of the Oath,” sometimes translated as “The Well of Seven,” after having agreed with Abimelech to purchase the land rights for a well that Abraham had dug on the site and where he sacrificed seven lambs to seal the deal (Genesis 21:25-34). Isaac doubled down on the name when he himself found water there and dug his own well (Genesis 26:26-33). Do you remember Jacob’s deal with Esau to exchange a pot of lentil stew for the family’s birthright (Genesis 27:30-28:10)? That too took place at Beersheba. Later Jacob stopped at Beersheba to offer sacrifices before leaving his homeland for Egypt along “The Way of Shur,” the busy caravan route that passed through Beersheba.

—I’m starting to think that someone should write a song about Beersheba too. How about you?

–Daniel McCabe