The Wellspring of a Hidden Name

There is a name in the pages of Scripture that appears but twice, and yet its waters run deeper than the ocean. The name Bᵉʼêrîy (בְּאֵרִי) is spoken in only two places in the Tanakh, yet it carries a gematria of two hundred and thirteen — a number that the ancient sages have linked to the word "light" (אוֹר) in its fullness. This is a name that means "fountained" or "belonging to a well," drawn from the root Bᵉʼêr (בְּאֵר), which speaks of a well of living water. Two men bear this name in the sacred record, and both are fathers — one to a bride, and one to a prophet. Their stories are not told for their own sake, but for what they reveal about the Living Water that was to come.

The Hittite Who Gave a Daughter to Isaac

The first appearance of Bᵉʼêrîy is found in the book of Genesis, in the genealogy of Esau. There it is written: "And Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon the Hittite" (Genesis 36:2). Yet the sages of old observed that the text also names Oholibamah as the daughter of Anah, and in another place, the lineage traces back to Bᵉʼêrîy the Hittite (Genesis 26:34). Jewish tradition holds that this Bᵉʼêrîy was a man of the land, a Hittite whose very name proclaimed a hidden source of refreshment. His daughter, Judith, became a wife to Esau, and through that union, the bloodlines of the nations mingled with the chosen line. Yet the name itself — "fountained" — whispers of something greater than a mere family tree. It speaks of a source that cannot be exhausted, a well that the patriarchs dug in the desert and called by the name of the Living God.

The Father of Hosea: A Prophet Born from a Well

The second Bᵉʼêrîy is far more significant, for he is named as the father of the prophet Hosea. The Scripture declares: "The word of the LORD that came to Hosea the son of Bᵉʼêrîy" (Hosea 1:1). Here the name takes on prophetic weight, for from this "well" came a man whose entire life was a parable of God's relentless love. The rabbis of old taught that a father's name in Scripture often reveals the nature of the son's calling. Bᵉʼêrîy means "my well" or "from the wellspring," and Hosea became the prophet who would cry out to a dry and thirsty Israel, "Come, and let us return unto the LORD; for He hath torn, and He will heal us" (Hosea 6:1). The well of Bᵉʼêrîy did not produce water for the body, but a river of words that would wash over a faithless bride and call her back to her first love.

The Hidden Meaning of the Letters

When you look upon the Hebrew letters of Bᵉʼêrîy — בְּאֵרִי — you see a picture that reaches back to the paleo-Hebrew script. The Bet (ב) is a house, a dwelling place. The Aleph (א) is the ox, the strong leader, the first. The Resh (ר) is the head of a man, the highest thought. And the Yod (י) is the hand, the work of God. Together, these letters speak of "the house of the strong leader who is the head of man's work" — or more simply, "the dwelling place of the source." The ancient sages observed that the name contains within it the word Bᵉʼêr (well) and the possessive Yod, making it "my well." This is not a well that belongs to the earth, but a well that belongs to the One who called it forth. Every time the name is spoken, it echoes the promise of Jeremiah: "For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13).

Gematria of Two Hundred and Thirteen

The numerical value of Bᵉʼêrîy is two hundred and thirteen, a number that resonates with the Hebrew word Ohr (אוֹר), meaning "light," which has a gematria of two hundred and seven. But the sages of Israel noted that the difference of six points to the letter Vav (ו), the nail, the connector, the bridge between heaven and earth. Two hundred and thirteen is also the value of the word Rosh (רֹאשׁ) when spelled in its full form — "the head" or "the beginning." This is no accident, for the well of Bᵉʼêrîy points to the Head of all things, the Source from which all creation flows. Jewish tradition holds that the number two hundred and thirteen is also the sum of the letters in the phrase "He shall be called Wonderful" (Isaiah 9:6), a Messianic title that speaks of the One who would come as both light and living water.

The Well That Points to Yeshua

Now lift your eyes, beloved reader, to see how this hidden name prefigures the Messiah. Yeshua stood in the Temple on the last day of the Feast of Sukkot and cried out, "If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water" (John 7:37-38). He is the true Bᵉʼêrîy — the Well of God, the Father who gives the living water. Hosea, son of Bᵉʼêrîy, was called to marry a harlot as a sign of God's covenant love for unfaithful Israel. Yeshua, the Son of the Living Well, came to marry a bride made clean by His own blood. The first Bᵉʼêrîy gave his daughter to Esau, a man who despised his birthright. But the true Bᵉʼêrîy gives His Son to a bride who was once not a people, but now is the people of God (1 Peter 2:10). The well of the Hittite was a dry well, but the Well of Heaven is eternal and overflowing.

The Father Who Reveals the Son

In the apostolic tradition, the fathers of the church have long seen in the name Bᵉʼêrîy a shadow of the Father who sends the prophet. Hosea's father is named only once, and yet that single mention is enough to remind you that every prophet comes from a source. Yeshua Himself said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6). The Father is the well, and the Son is the stream. Bᵉʼêrîy means "my well," and the Father says to His Son, "You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Mark 1:11). The well of the Father's pleasure is the source of the Son's mission. When you drink from that well, you are drinking from the very heart of God.

A Charge to You Who Thirst

And so, dear one, I leave you with this: you have been given a name that appears only twice in the sacred scroll, but it holds the key to unending life. The well of Bᵉʼêrîy is not a relic of the past — it is a living spring that calls to you today. Do not dig for yourselves broken cisterns that hold no water. Do not seek refreshment in the wells of the Hittites, in the empty promises of this world. Instead, come to the Well that is Yeshua, the Son of the Living God. Let the gematria of two hundred and thirteen remind you that He is your Light and your Head. Let the letters of His name write themselves upon your heart. For the Father who is the Well has opened His heart to you, and the Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." Will you drink today from the fountain that never runs dry?