Page 16 - Holyland Magazine - 2009 Edition
P. 16
Avnisan
Full troughs by desert wells and water holes
supported the livestock of nomads for millennia.
Ancient wells are hard to find today, since Jeremiah, who prophesized such THE SPRING
over the centuries they were filled with silt punishment (Jer 14:2-3), was among those
and neglected; however, the Hebrew word that experienced the dry cisterns from Considered to be the source of “living
be’er or its derivatives appear in dozens of within (Jer 38:6) -- since empty cisterns water,” springs were always an important
place names, indicating that they were built were also used as prisons, and he as well source of water for the cities that sprang
near a well. One such well is found in Be’er as Jacob’s son Joseph (Gen 37:22) were up nearby and were used for ritual baths
Sheva, meaning “The Well of the Oath” but two of those dumped in such pits. and baptism, as well as drinking and
or “The Well of the Seven (ewes)” (Genesis agriculture. During sieges, concealing the
21:22-33). Although many have attributed Digging waterholes (cisterns) was not easy, water source and diverting it into the city
the well to the patriarch Abraham, it was but it did help in collecting rain and runoff under the walls was a strategic advantage
actually dug many centuries later. But water to be available during the dry season. that helped the besieged population to
scholars have determined that it is at least Numerous cisterns are dotted across the withstand enemy attacks for many months.
1,100 years old, according to an inscription Holy Land and can be found in all the This was the case with the major
found inside it. Recently the Be’er Sheva ancient cities, such as Jerusalem, where waterworks of Tel Beersheba not far from
municipality has renovated the well and is they were used as recently as 50 years “Abraham’s well,” as well as Tel Hazor in
opening a Bedouin arts and crafts center ago, or the famous waterworks of Masada, the Northern Galilee and Tel Megiddo in
at the site. which helped the hundreds of zealous the Jezreel Valley. Their marvelous
Jews besieged on the desert hilltop to engineering led UNESCO to declare them
One of the wells preserved over the survive years of Roman siege over 1,900 World Heritage Sites. In all of these walled
millennia is Jacob’s well in Nablus years ago. cities, which were fortified during or shortly
(Shechem, in Hebrew), some 30 miles after the reign of King Solomon (10th
north of Jerusalem, where Jesus meets the Bedouin in the Judean desert still utilize century CE), deep stepped shafts were dug
Samaritan woman: “So he came to a town the cistern that supplied water to the from within the city to reach horizontal
in Samaria” … near the plot of ground Hashmonean and Roman fortresses of tunnels. These went under the city walls
Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's Horkania or Herodion over 2,000 years to the water source, which was concealed
well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was ago, and the Bedouin of the Negev desert from the outside.
from the journey, sat down by the well… continue to water their flocks using cisterns
When a Samaritan woman came to draw dug by the Nabatean traders over 1,900
water, Jesus said to her, Will you give me years ago.
a drink?” (John 4:1-26)
THE CISTERN
If water was God’s blessing, drought, on
the other hand, was a curse or a punishment
from God, usually followed by famine.
16
