Bered

The name Bered attaches to two distinct things in scripture: a place in the southern wilderness near a well, and a man in the genealogy of Ephraim. The two are unrelated apart from sharing a name.

A Place Near Beer-lahai-roi

The town of Bered appears as a geographic landmark fixing the location of the well where Hagar met the angel of Yahweh. "Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; look, it is between Kadesh and Bered" (Gen 16:14). The name serves to triangulate the site between two known places in the south.

A Son of Shuthelah

In the Ephraimite genealogy of Chronicles, Bered is listed as a son of Shuthelah and an ancestor in the descending line. "And the sons of Ephraim: Shuthelah, and Bered his son, and Tahath his son, and Eleadah his son, and Tahath his son" (1Chr 7:20). The parallel census in Numbers traces Ephraim's families through Shuthelah, Becher, and Tahan rather than Bered. "These are the sons of Ephraim after their families: of Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites; of Becher, the family of the Becherites; of Tahan, the family of the Tahanites" (Num 26:35). Where Chronicles names Bered in the line of descent, the Numbers list reads Becher in the equivalent slot of the Ephraimite family roster.