Ein Rogel (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: ''ʿĒn Rōgēl'') is a spring on the outskirts of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' though some scholars dispute this view. Ein Rogel was mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as the hiding-place of

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

's spies, Jonathan and Ahimaaz, during

Absalom Absalom ( , ), according to the Hebrew Bible, was an Israelite prince. Born to David and Maacah, who was from Geshur, he was the only full sibling of Tamar. He is described in the Hebrew Bible as being exceptionally beautiful, as is his siste ...

's uprising against the rule of

King David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Damas ...

(). It may also have been a sacred place in pre-Israelite times.

Historical accounts

Ein Rogel

The name "Ein Rogel" appears in the Hebrew Bible. It is also variously transcribed as Enrogel (,

King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version (AV), is an Early Modern English Bible translations, Early Modern English translation of the Christianity, Christian Bible for the Church of England, wh ...

), En-rogel (2 Samuel 17:17,

American Standard Version The American Standard Version (ASV), officially Revised Version, Standard American Edition, is a Bible translation into English that was completed in 1901 with the publication of the revision of the Old Testament. The revised New Testament had ...

and English Standard Version), or En Rogel (, NIV and NKJV). En Rogel was one of the boundary marks between Judah and

Benjamin Benjamin ( ''Bīnyāmīn''; "Son of (the) right") blue letter bible: https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/h3225/kjv/wlc/0-1/ H3225 - yāmîn - Strong's Hebrew Lexicon (kjv) was the younger of the two sons of Jacob and Rachel, and Jacob's twe ...

(, ). During Absalom's uprising against David, Jonathan and Ahimaaz stayed at Ein Rogel, "for they dared not be seen coming into the city (Jerusalem); so a female servant would come and tell them, and they would go and tell King David". However, "a lad saw them, and told Absalom", and so they had to flee to Bahurim (). Ein Rogel lay close to a stone, Zoheleth, where Adonijah, Solomon's half-brother of, held a sacrificial feast when he attempted to assert his claims to the throne (). The obviously sacred character of the spring suggests that it is the same as the Dragon Well or Serpent Well of . As of 1901, the meaning of the name was uncertain. The interpretation 'Fuller's Well' does not bear the mark of antiquity. It is probable that, like Zoheleth, the original name had some sacred or mythic significance. The etymology according to ''

Strong's Concordance ''The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible'', generally known as Strong's Concordance, is a Bible concordance, an index of every word in the King James Version (KJV), constructed under the direction of American theologian James Strong. Strong fi ...

'' is that the word originally meant "eye of a traveller"; springs were seen as an "eye" in the landscape. Ein Rogel is mentioned in "Topography of Jerusalem", a document found in the

Cairo Geniza The Cairo Geniza, alternatively spelled the Cairo Genizah, is a collection of some 400,000 Judaism, Jewish manuscript fragments and Fatimid Caliphate, Fatimid administrative documents that were kept in the ''genizah'' or storeroom of the Ben Ezra ...

, which describes how the water breaks through to the riverbed after a winter of plentiful rainfall.

Bir Ayyub

Some scholars identify Ein Rogel with ''Bir Ayyub''. The application of the name ''Bir Ayyub'' ( ''Bir Ayoub'', also spelled ''Ayyub'', ''Ayoub'') to the site is old, which translates to "Fountain of Job" or "Job's Well", as it was used by the local inhabitants of Jerusalem in early modern times. Clermont-Ganneau was surprised when local fellahin pronounced it as "be'er" (as in Hebrew) rather than "bir" (as in Arabic). The name was used in

Mujir al-Din Mujīr al-Dīn al-ʿUlaymī (; 1456–1522), often simply Mujir al-Din, was a Jerusalemite '' qadi'' and historian whose principal work chronicled the history of Jerusalem and Hebron in the Middle Ages.Little, 1995, p. 237.van Donzel, 1994, p. ...

's 1495 work ''"The glorious history of Jerusalem and Hebron"'' as if it was already long-standing. The name, "Job's Well", is said to have been given to the site on account of an Arab legend which claimed that when the prophet Job was sick and eaten of worms, he went and bathed in a hole full of water, which stood where the well now stands, and that, at length, Job recovered his health and his body turned youthful, while the pool turned into a plenteous spring. The application of the Biblical name Ein Rogel to this well in Silwan is long-standing amongst early European travellers to Jerusalem. Israeli geographer, Zev Vilnay, brings down an etymological account of the Arabic name ''Bir Ayyub'', reporting in the name of the Jewish traveler, Moshe Yerushalmi, who visited Palestine in ''circa'' 1765 that there was a well-established tradition amongst Jews in the city that the original name of the well was called ''Be'er Yoav'' ( Eng. 'well of Joab'). Moshe Yerushalmi wrote in his book, "The Ishmaelites say that it is ''Bir Ayyub'' ('the well of Job'), but they do not know, nor do they understand, that it is the 'well of Joab' ( Heb. Yoav), for thus is the received tradition by the people of Israel, generation after generation, but the gentiles have reversed the letters."

Well of Nehemiah or Well of Fire

It is also known as the Well of Nehemiah, or ''Puteus ignis'' (well of fire), in reference to the location in which the sacred fire was hidden during the Jewish captivity in 2 Macc. i. 19-22. This name started in the 16th century.

Description

Robinson, during his tour of

Palestine Palestine, officially the State of Palestine, is a country in West Asia. Recognized by International recognition of Palestine, 147 of the UN's 193 member states, it encompasses the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and th ...

in 1838, describes ''Bir Ayoub'' (Job's Well) as being "a very deep well, of an irregular quadrilateral form, walled up with large squared stones, terminating above in an arch on one said, and apparently of great antiquity. There is a small rude building over it, furnished with one or two large troughs." The well, he said, went down to a depth of . A water plant was established near ''Bir Ayoub'', which involved large expenses and a lot of labor. A canal was hewn in the rock, 2 meters high and 0.5 to 1 meter wide. The conduit is more than 600 meters long and passes under the western side of the stream channel at a depth of 23 to 30 meters below the surface. The place can be reached by a staircase that is interrupted in some places. It appears that the purpose of this conduit was to store the water flowing between the layers of limestone. It is located just south of the junction of the three valleys - Wadi er-Rababi, Central and Kidron. Today there is a modern pumping station there, drawing water from a 38 m deep well, whose stone lining may be partially of Roman date. Today the ''Bir Ayoub'' Mosque of Silwan stands above the ''Bir Ayoub'' well. Gustaf Dalman who visited

in the early 20th-century mentions a custom of the local inhabitants of Silwan to visit ''Bir Ayoub'' (Well of Job) and to recite a blessing for the coming rain. During periods of great rain downpour, as happened in February 1927, a gushing spring would issue out of the earth some downstream from the Well of Job.

Dispute

Other scholars, namely Charles Warren, thought that Ein Rogel was to be identified with the Virgin's fountain, or what is also known as Gihon Spring. As of 1901, the identification of the well with Biblical ''Ein Rogel'' was uncertain, Charles Warren being one of its skeptics. ''Bir-Ayoub'' is a well, not a spring (although it may have formerly been a spring), and is said to lie too far from ''ez-Zehweleh'', although it lies near a large stone in Siloam village called ''Zehwillat''. As ''Bir Ayoub'' is in full view of the city, it does not suit the context of , and its antiquity is uncertain. The Virgin's fountain (''ʻAin Sitti Maryam''), later ''ʻAin Umm ed-Deraj'', has also been suggested for Ein Rigel as 'the only real spring close to Jerusalem', exactly opposite to which lies ''ez-Zehweleh'', perhaps Zoheleth. The chief points in favour of this are its antiquity and the evidence of

Josephus Flavius Josephus (; , ; ), born Yosef ben Mattityahu (), was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing '' The Jewish War'', he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of pr ...

, who places the well in the royal gardens.

, ''

Antiquities Antiquities are objects from antiquity, especially the civilizations of the Mediterranean such as the Classical antiquity of Greece and Rome, Ancient Egypt, and the other Ancient Near Eastern cultures such as Ancient Persia (Iran). Artifact ...

'' vii. 14. 4. Other arguments are based upon the fact that in later times the well was used by fullers.

Gallery

File:Well of En-Rogel, (Nehemiah's Well) (28700151844).jpg, Nehemiah's Well on double, or stereoscopic photo card, Bonfils, ca. 1870. File:JOAB'S WELL AT THE FOOT OF THE SHILOAH IN JERUSALEM. (COURTESY OF AMERICAN COLONY) באר יואב למרגלות השילוח בירושלים.D826-058.jpg, Bir Ayub in 1910 File:Mount Moriah, Jerusalem, from the Well of En Rogel MET DP116364.jpg, Ein Rogel in the mid 19th century

External links

Sacred Springs and Sabils

References

* {{Authority control Hebrew Bible places Springs of Asia Silwan