Genesis says the Philistines filled Abraham's wells with earth after he died, and Isaac dug them out and gave them back his father's names

Genesis 21 says Abraham dug a well near Beersheba, and the servants of Abimelech, king of Gerar, seized it. Abraham gave Abimelech seven ewe lambs as witness that he had dug it, and the two swore an oath. The place was named Beersheba, which can mean well of the oath or well of seven. Genesis 26 says that after Abraham's death his son Isaac sowed in the land of Gerar and reaped a hundredfold. His flocks, herds and household grew, and the Philistines envied him. They filled with earth all the wells that Abraham's servants had dug. Abimelech told Isaac to leave, saying he had become too powerful. Isaac camped in the Wadi Gerar, dug out his father's wells again, and gave them the names his father had given them. When his servants found a spring, the herders of Gerar said the water was theirs. Isaac named that well Esek, contention. They fought over the next one, and he named it Sitnah, enmity. The third was not disputed, and he named it Rehoboth, room. At Beersheba Abimelech came with his army commander and asked for an oath. Isaac gave a feast, they swore, and that day his servants found water. Tel Beersheba, about 4 kilometres from the modern city, was excavated by Yohanan Aharoni from 1969 and became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2005.