IV.-SPRINGS, WELLS, AND PITS.

§ 51.

AIN, 1, a spring'-properly an eye: the spring in an Eastern country being the eye of the Landscape-and thus used for a natural burst of living water, as distinguished from Beer (§ 55), water arrived at by digging. The word was common to all the oriental tongues, and still continues in Arabic. En-gedi,the spring of the kid, now Ain-Jidy,-on the western shore of the Dead Sea, is a good instance of the object intended.

The importance of distinguishing between this word and Beer is illustrated by Exod. xv. 27, in which the word Ainoth (translated by "Wells,") is used for the springs of fresh water at Elim;-although the rocky soil of that place excludes the supposition of dug wells. In the parallel passage, Numb. xxxiii. 9, the word is rendered-with equal inaccuracy to English ears-" fountains."

The names of a large number of towns and places in Palestine are formed or compounded of Ain (En), as is natural from the importance of living springs in the East. These are as follow:

1. Ain,

the spring. Numb. xxxiv. 11; one of the landmarks on the north-east border of Palestine. The Vulgate is probably right in rendering it contra fontem Daphnin; i.e., the spring of Jordan at Dan, which was called Daphne; (Joseph. Ant. Ι. Χ. 2). LXX, ἐπὶ πηγάς.

2. Ain, one of the southernmost cities of Judah and Simeon; Josh. xv. 32; xix. 7; xxi. 16; 1 Chron. iv. 32. LXX, 'Epeμuwv. Possibly this is En-rimmon. 3. Enam, the two springs;' in the Shephelah, Josh. xv. 34. If the LXX rendering pòs Taîs múλais Alvav, of the words "in an open place," (see margin), in Gen. xxxviii. 14, 21, be correct, this place is probably intended, Timnath being a Philistine city also in the Shephelah. (Zunz: an den Eingang der Doppelquelle. De Wette ins Thor von Enaim.) Comp. Judg. xiii. 25, and xiv. 1, with Josh. xv. 33, 34.

4. En-dor, the spring of Dor'; Josh. xvii. 11; 1 Sam. xxviii. 7; Ps. lxxxiii. 10. LXX, ενδωρ.

5. En-eglaim, the spring of the two calves,' on the shore of the Dead Sea; Ezek. xlvii. 10. LXX, 'Evayaλλeíμ.

6. En-gannim, 'the spring of gardens;' a town in the Shephelah; Josh. xv. 34. 7. En-gannim, a Gershonite town in Issachar; Josh. xix. 21; xxi. 29. LXX, # Ypaμμάтwv. The modern Jenin, see Chap. IX. p. 342.

8. En-gedi, 'spring of the kid;' Josh. xv. 62; 1 Sam. xxiii. 29; xxiv. 1; 2 Chron. xx. 2; Ezek. xlvii. 10; Cant. i. 14; Eccles. xxiv. 14 (Engaddi). LXX, 'Aykadŋs, Ινγαδείν, Εγγαδδι, ἐν αἰγιαλοῖς. See Chap. VII. p. 289.

9. En-haddah, 'the strong spring;' Josh. xix. 21. LXX, AiuapÈK.

10. En-hak-Kore, the spring of the crier;' any тoû ê#ikaλovμévov. Judg. xv. 19. 11. En-hazor (Chatzor); Josh. xix. 37. LXX, wnyǹ 'Aσóp.

12. En-mishpat, spring of judgment; "which is Kadesh." Gen. xiv. 7. LXX, πηγὴ τῆς κρίσεως.

13. En-rimmon, 'spring of pomegranates;' Neh. xi. 29; unless this is formed by the erroneous combination of the two places, Ain and Rimmon; (see Josh. xv. 32; xix. 7; 1 Chr. iv. 32.)

14. En-rogel, 'spring of the foot'; possibly from fullers treading it with their feet (Targum); possibly from its waters being drawn up by a machine worked with the foot (Deut. xi. 10). Josh. xv. 7; xviii. 16; 2 Sam. xvii. 17; 1 Kin. i. 9. LXX, πηγὴ Ῥωγηλ.

15. En-shemesh, spring of the sun;' Josh. xv. 7; xviii. 17. LXX, anyǹ TOÛ Híov-. Balboauvs. Vulg., ad En-semes, id est, Fontem Solis.

16. En-tappuah,- -near the town of that name; Josh. xvii. 7. There were also:

17. The spring in Jezreel,' "a fountain which [is] in Jezreel." 1 Sam. xxix. 1, possibly the same as,

18. "The Well of Harod."

Ain-charod-'the spring of trembling.' Judg. vii. 1.

19. "The Dragon Well." Ain-tannim-' the spring of dragons.' Neh. ii. 13.

20. "The spring' of water in the wilderness-the 'spring' in the way to Shur." Gen. xvi. 7.

21. In the New Testament the word appears as Enon, i. e. 'springs;'". John ii. 23. Αινών.

near to Salim":

When applied to water, the word Ain is translated in the E. V. "well," with the following exceptions, in which it is rendered "fountain."

Gen. xvi. 7; Numb. xxxiii. 9; (comp. Exod. xv. 27 "wells;") Deut. viii. 7; xxxiii. 28; 1 Sam. xxix. 1; 2 Chron. xxxii. 3; Neh. ii. 14; iii. 15; xii. 37; Prov. viii. 28.

§ 52.

MA'AN, 1, 'a collection of springs,' or place watered by springs: from 1, a spring. Topographically used, the word occurs in

Gen. vii. 11; viii. 2; Lev. xi. 36; Ps. lxxiv. 15; cxiv. 8; Prov. v. 16; viii. 24; xxv. 26; Cant. iv. 12, 15; Isai. xli. 18; Hos. xiii. 15; Joel iii. 18, Ps. lxxxiv. 6; Isai. xii. 3, "well ;" and Ps. lxxxvii.

all rendered "fountain."

7; civ. 10, "springs."

[all]

§ 54.

MAKOR,, wellspring:' from, to dig for water (2 Kings xix. 24), a word used only in the poetical and rubrical books, and variously rendered by spring, fountain, well, well-spring and issue. See Jer. li. 36; Ps. xxxvi. 9; Prov. x. 11; xvi. 22; Lev. xii. 7, &c. &c.

§ 55.

GULLOTH, b, bubblings: from, to tumble or roll over, in allusion perhaps to the globular form in which springs bubble up. Used only to designate the two springs given by Caleb to his daughter Achsah. Josh, xv. 19; Judg. i. 15. LXX, Josh. δός μοι τὴν Βοτθανις. καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτῇ τὴν Γυναιθλὰς τὴν ἄνω καὶ τὴν Γ. τὴν κάτω: Judg. λύτρωσιν μετεώρων καὶ λ. ταπεινών. Symm. ἀρδείαν.

The word occurs in the shorter form of

GAL, 72, (strictly 'heap,' ') in Cant. iv. 12 ("spring"), and also in Ps. xlii. 7; cvi. 25; Isai. xlviii. 18; Jonah ii. 3, and elsewhere, for the "billows" or "waves" of the sea.

Possibly Gallim (1 Sam. xxv. 44; Isai. x. 30) derived its name from the neighbourhood of such bubbling springs.

The word commonly used for a "heap" of water, as in Exod. xv. 8; and Ps. lxxviii. 13, is Ned (2). See Chap. VII. p. 298, note.

§ 56.

MABBOOK, Y, 'a gushing spring'; from 2, to gush forth. See Isaiah xxxv. 7; xlix. 10 ("springs"), and Eccl. xii. 6 (“fountain"). LXX,

§ 57.

B'ER,, from, to dig, (the same root as forare, and bore): 'a well,' that is, a dug pit, usually with water at the bottom. The meaning of the word is fixed by the numerous vestiges of such wells still remaining and bearing their ancient names. They have a broad margin of masonry round the mouth, and often a stone filling up the orifice. See Chap. II. p. 146.

1

The following are the Beers named in the Bible:

1. Beer-lachai-roi, the well of the vision of life,' Gen. xvi. 14; xxiv. 62; xxv. 11. 2. Beer-sheba, the well of swearing,' according to Gen. xxi. 31, and xxvi. 33; or according to De Wette, 'the well of seven.' (Comp. xxi. 29, 30: Sheba=seven.) 3. Beeroth-bene-Jaakan, 'the wells of the sons of Jaakan,' in the Desert; Deut. x. 6. In Numb. xxxiii. 31, "Bene-Jaakan" only.

4. Beeroth, Wells,' one of the cities of the Gibeonites. Josh. ix. 17 ; Ezra ii. 25, &c. 5. Beer, the well dug by the children of Israel close to the border of Moab (Num. xxi. 16), and therefore probably the same as

6. Beer-elim, 'Well of heroes;' Isai. xv. 8.

Compare the expression in old English poetry; "the heaped spring"; "the heaped water."

7. Beer; Judges ix. 21.

8. Baalath-beer, 'the lady of the well;' Josh. xix. 8.

9. Berothah; Ezekiel xlvii. 16; and

10. Berothai, 2 Sam. viii. 8, both apparently the same place, which has been conjectured to be the city Berytus. See Gesenius, p. 176.

Three wells digged by Isaac's herdsmen, and called Esek (strife), Sitnah (hatred), and Rechoboth (room), are named in Gen. xxvi. 20, 21, 22; and a memorable well in the court of a house at Bachurim is mentioned in 2 Sam. xvii. 18 (LXX, λákkos).

In our version Beer is throughout rendered "well," with four exceptions. These are Gen. xiv. 10; Ps. lv. 23; lxix. 15; and Prov. xxiii. 27, where it is translated 'pit.' In the LXX it is generally ppéap. Vulg. Puteus.

§ 58.

AGAM, D, pond,' of stagnant water: from DN, to be warm like boiling water specially of the pools left by the inundations of the Nile. Exod. vii. 19; viii. 5. LXX, diapuyas. Such pools were reedy, and thus in Jer. li. 32, the word is put for "reeds." Ps. cvii. 35, and cxiv. 8, "standing water."

MIK’VEH,, or (once) Mikvah,

$ 59.

, reservoir'; a place where waters flow together: from, to be collected. This word occurs as follows in relation

B'RECAH, 72, 'pool' or artificial tank; (derivation uncertain); hence the Arabic Birket, and the Spanish Al-berca. are actual examples of the meaning of the uniformly rendered "pool." Such tanks

The pools still remaining at Hebron word. In the English Version it is existed at various places;

2 Sam. ii. 13.
Ditto, iv. 12.

1 Kings xxii. 38.

2 Kings xviii. 17; Isai. vii. 3; xxxvi. 2.

Isai. xxii. 9.

Ditto, xxii. 11.

Neh. ii. 14; Eccl. ii. 6.

e. A fifth appears to be mentioned in Neh. iii. 16.

The LXX have translated the word oftenest by коλvμßhера; but also by кρhŋ, and once by λίμνη,

§ 61.

C'ROTH,, cisterns' or dug wells for sheep; from 3, to dig: only used once, Zeph. ii. 6, and there translated "cottages." From the same root is derived

§ 62.

MIC'REH, 77, which likewise occurs but once, in Zeph. ii. 9, where it is rendered (salt) "pit."

:

§ 63.

MASH'ABIM, ND from , to draw water: used only in Judg. v. 11, probably for the troughs into which the water for the cattle was poured (the verb is used with this special signification in Gen. xxiv. 19, 20, 44, 45, &c.). LXX, vôpevóμeva; De Wette, schöpfrinnen; E. V. "the places of drawing water.",

$ 64.

BOR, 2, and 12, a cistern' or 'pit': from the same root as Beer, and with nearly the same signification. Bor, however, is often used for a pit not containing water, a sense in which Beer is only once found (possibly 2 Sam. xvii. 18).

Such was the "pit" into which Joseph was cast, Gen. xxxvii. 20. Pits without water are also named in 1 Sam. xiii. 6; 2 Sam. xxiii. 20; 1 Chron. xi. 22; and the house of the pit' occurs with the meaning of dungeon in Gen. xl. 15; xli. 14; Exod. xii. 29, and in Jer. xxxvii. 16 and xxxviii. In Zech. ix. 11, "the pit" dungeon. (Compare puteus, which also has this double meaning.)

Bor is however used for a receptacle for water-whether springing or collected is not indicated-though the "broken cisterns" of Jer. ii. 13, and the "stones of the pit," in Isaiah, xiv. 19, show that such cisterns were sometimes built, and not always "digged," as in Deut. vi. 11; 2 Chron. xxvi. 10; Exod. xxi. 33.

The name is borne by

1. ""The' great well in Sechu," 1 Sam. xix. 22; TOû Opéaros Toû åλw Toû év Tŷ Zepi. 2. "The well of Sirah," 2 Sam. iii. 26; 2, ppéap τoû Zeeipáμ.

3. "The well of Bethlehem," 2 Sam. xxiii. 15, and 1 Chron. xi. 17.

4. "The pit" at Mizpah, Jer. xli. 7, 9, (comp. 2 Kings xxv. 25).

The word is extensively used in the poetical parts of the Scripture; as Ps. vii. 15; Isaiah, xiv. 15; Ézek. xxvi. 20, &c. În Jer. vi. 7, it is translated "fountain." The Keri, however, in this place reads Bair.

Other words of this class, but not employed with topographical exactness, are

§ 65.

GEB, 22, or ?, a 'ditch' or 'trench.' 2 Kings, iii. 16; Isaiah, xxx. 14; Jer. xiv. 3; Ezek. xlvii. 11, ("marshes "). A place of this name, Gebim, near Jerusalem, is mentioned in Isaiah, x. 31.