BESOR, TORRENT VALLEY OF

(Beʹsor) [perhaps, cold water].

A torrent valley mentioned only in connection with David’s pursuit of the raiding Amalekites who had captured and burned the city of Ziklag. (1 Sam. 30:1, 10, 21) It is evident that the raiders then headed south toward their home territory in the Negeb, but their precise direction of movement is not stated. Hence, the torrent valley of Besor, the point at which two hundred of David’s army stopped due to exhaustion, cannot be identified with any certainty. Generally, however, it is considered likely to be connected with the Wadi Ghazzeh, a large wadi to the SW of Ziklag that empties into the Mediterranean below Gaza, or else with Wadi esh Sheriʽa, one of its tributaries.

David’s action, following his victory over the Amalekites, in sharing the spoils with those of his warriors who had remained in the valley guarding the baggage, evidently followed the principle stated earlier by Jehovah at Numbers 31:27, after the Israelite victory over Midian. David, thereafter, kept this practice “set as a regulation and a judicial decision for Israel.”—1 Sam. 30:21-25.