Besor

The brook Besor is a watercourse near Gaza that figures in a single episode of David's pursuit of the Amalekite raiders who had sacked Ziklag. The brook serves as a natural dividing line between those who could continue the chase and those whose strength gave out.

The Brook of the Pursuit

David's pursuing force halts at the brook Besor when fatigue thins their ranks. "So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind had stopped. But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stopped, who were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor" (1Sam 30:9-10). The brook marks the cutoff: two-thirds of the men cross and continue, one-third stay back, too spent to ford the wadi.

The Return at the Brook

After the rescue, the brook becomes the meeting place where the pursuers rejoin the men they had left behind. "And David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had left at the brook Besor; and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him: and when David came near to the people, he greeted them" (1Sam 30:21). The reunion at Besor sets up David's ruling that the share of those who stayed with the baggage was equal to the share of those who fought.