JACOB'S WELL.

A pleasant walk of 1/2 h. down the valley from Nâbulus, brings us to this interesting well. We pass on the rt., in a nook of Gerizim, a Muslem wely; then we observe a little wady on each side of the vale—one breaking down from Ebal, and the other from Gerizim; looking like a vast amphitheatre through which the vale has cut. Might not this be the ‘scene of the reading of the Law?  “And all Israel, and their elders, and officers, and their judges, stood on this side the ark and on that side before the priests the Levites, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord .... half of them over against mount Gerizim, and half of them over against mount Ebal .... And afterwards he read all the words of the law, the blessings and cursings.…  There was not a word of all that Moses commanded which Joshua read not before all the congreqation of Israel.” (Josh. viii. 33-35.) The whole description applies admirably to this spot. The ark stood in the centre of the vale; the people were ranged round the recesses in the mountains, 6 tribes on one side and 6 on the other. The law could thus be read in the hearing of all; and after each command the solemn response was given by the appointed tribes.

Here in the centre of the valley is a fountain with a reservoir, called ‘Ain Defneh, sending forth a little stream. In 10 min. more we come to a wretched hamlet, containing some half-a-dozen rickety hovels. It is called Belát ; and about 200 yds. below it is the cell. A low spur projects from the base of Gerizim in a
north-eastern direction, between the plain and the opening ‘of the valley. On the point of this spur is a little mound of shapeless ruins, with several fragments of granite columns. Beside these is the well. Formerly there was a square hole opening into a carefully built vaulted chamber, about 10 ft. square, in the floor of which was the true mouth of the well. Now a portion of the vault has fallen in and completely covered up the mouth, so that nothing can be seen but a shallow pit half filled with stones and rubbish. It is to be hoped, however, that some generous antiquarian will have it cleared out and saved from utter destruction. “The well is deep” —75 ft. when last measured, and there was probably a considerable accumulation of rubbish at the bottom. Sometimes it contains a few feet of water, but at others it is quite dry. It is entirely excavated in the solid rock, perfectly round, 9 ft. in diameter, with the sides hewn smooth and regular.

One’s first feeling in looking at this well, and the valley round it, is that of surprise. ‘“ What,” we ask, “led any man to dig for water at such enormous cost of time and labour in a region abounding with fountains? There is the large fountain of Defneh only 1/2 m. up the valley, sending forth a stream sufficient to turn a mill within a few yds. of the well itself. Up in the town there are 2 other large springs; there is another still more copious a little west of it; and there is still another, famous for its excellent water, in the glen that comes down from Gerizim—What need was there for a well here?’ The very same question we might ask in every section of the plain of Damascus. Nowhere in Syria are running waters more abundant, and nowhere in Syria are wells more common. One acquainted with the E. understands the mystery in a moment, Water is here the most precious of all commodities. Land is almost useless without it. It may serve for pasture; but the flocks that roam over it must have water. The soil may be fertile; but the fertility can only be fully developed by irrigation. Every proprietor, therefore, wishes to have a fountain or well of his own. A stream may run past, or even through his field, and yet he dare not touch a drop of it. Jacob bought a field here; doubtless a section of the rich plain at the mouth of the valley ; but this gave him no title to the water of the neighbouring fountains. He therefore dug a well for himself in his own field;.and indeed the field may have been bought chiefly with a view to the digging of a well. Every attentive reader of the Bible will observe that the Patriarchs in wandering through Canaan had no difticulty about pasture; their herds and flocks were numerous, but the land was wide, the inhabs. few, and the pasture was more than enough for all, But they had often serious difficultics and quarrels about water. The natives would not share their scanty supplies with strangers, and they were thus compelled to dig wells for themselves; often at the risk of losing them. (Gen, xxi. 25-30; xxvi. 13-15, 18-22, &c.) This is the case still in many parts of Syria. The pastures are free because they are plenty; the little wells and fountains are jealously guarded because they are few. In the Haurân, for instance, the vast flocks of the Bedawîn are permitted to crop at will the rich pastures of Bashan; but the brave Druzes will not let them near one of their little springs or reservoirs. Such was the origin of Jacob's Well.

The tradition about Jacob’s Well is one in which Jews and Samaritans, Mohammedans and Christians, are all agreed; and it is at least as old as the beginning of the 4th centy., being mentioned very distinctly by both Eusebius and the Bourdeaux Pilgrim. Jerome, 70 yrs. later, speaks of the ch. built at the foot of Gerizim, over Jacob’s Well. The ch. was destroyed during the crusades ; but its ruins are still here. There cannot be a doubt, therefore, that this is the well referred to by the early Christian writers; and its position and appearance unite with tradition in proving it to be that beside which Our Lord conversed with the woman of Samaria. He left Judæa to go into Galilee, “ and He must needs go through Samaria,”— the direct road led through that province. He probably followed the same road we have followed from the Holy City. He came up the plain of Mukhna, and about noon reached the well. Wearied with his journey, and opprese with the heat, he sat down beside it, while his disciples went up the valley to the neighbouring town to buy bread. Down the valley the woman came to draw. “ Jesus said unto her, ‘ Give me to drink;’”’ and no stronger proof of the bitter enmity between the 2 sects could be given than the woman's reply. Never yet, during many years’ residence in Syria, and many a long day's travel, have I been refused a draught of water by a single individual of any sect or race. The Bedawy in the desert has shared with me the last drop in his water-skin. Yet the only reply of the woman to the request of the weary traveller was, “How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria?” Around them where they talked was that “ parcel of ground which Jacob gave to his son Joseph;” and beside them was Jacob's well—suggesting the woman's question, “Art thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?’’ Over their heads rose Gerizim; the very sanctuary on the summit full in view, as the little Moslem wely is now. This suggested another question—“ Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain ; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” Before the eyes of the Saviour and his disciples as they sat by the well’s mouth was spread out the plain, verdant with young corn. The sight suggested that beautiful figure— Say not ye, ‘There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest’? behold I say unto you, Lift up your heads and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest.”—It was the harvest of the Gentile world was in his mind’s eye, of which the first-fruits —the Samaritans whom the woman had called—were now flocking towards him. (John iv. 3-42.)

Some have objected to the identity of this well, that it is too far from the town, that there are fountains of water much nearer and more accessible, and that the woman would not have taken the unnecessary trouble to come so far to draw from a well so deep. Those who use such arguments know little of the East. The mere fact of the well having been Jacob’s would have brought numbers to it had the distance been twice as great. And even independent of its history, some little superiority in the quality of the water, such as we might expect in a deep well, would have attracted the Orientals, who are, and have always been, epicures in this element. There is a well called ez-Zenabîyeh, a mile or more outside St. Thomas’s Gate, Damascus, to which numbers of the inhabitants send for their daily supply, though they have fountains and wells in their own houses far more abundant than ever existed in the city of Shechem. Some again suppose that the Roman Neapolis was not built upon the site of ancient Shechem, but westward of it; and they refer in proof to statements of Eusebius and other ancient writers. But a careful examination of those confused statements leads one to the suspicion, if not conclusion, that, like modern theories on the same subject, they were invented to get over an imaginary difficulty arising from the distance of the well from the city. That the city was once larger than it is now, and consequently extended somewhat farther eastward, can scarcely be doubted; but that Shechem was situated at the entrance of the valley, we have not a particle of trustworthy evidence to show. De Saulcy places Shechem on the top of Gerizim, Sichem at the mouth of the valley, and Neapolis on the site of the present town! Most people believe, however, that Sichem and Shechem were merely variations of the same name, like Askelon and Ashkelon and Ascalon; and farther that Neapolis, the “new city,” was built on the site of the old one.