The well is described as being close by Sychar, ' near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph ' (Gn 48^). If, as seems certain, this v/as the plot spoken of in Gn 33'^ it lay before, i.e. to the east of, the city of Shechem, where, in the plain, the patriarch had chosen his residence. It became, according to St. Stephen (Ac 7"), the burying-place of those that went down to Egj'pt ; and here the bones of Joseph were laid to rest (Jos 24**). The modem town of Nablus, repre- senting the old Shechem, lies in the hollow between Ebal and Gerizim, less than 2 miles to the west, and is apparently farther distant than was the ancient city. The traditional tomb of Joseph is seen in the vale close by to the northeast ; and jnst beyond this, to the lower slopes of Mount Ebal clings the village of Askar, which probably repre- sents the town of Sychar mentioned in the narra- tive (see ' The Question of Sychar ' in G. A. Smith's HGHL pp 367-375). Eastward and southward stretches the rich plain which attracted Jacob and his flocks, whose whitening fields arrested the Saviour's eye, and where valuable crops are grown to-day.
Mount Gerizim throws its rugged crags steeply against the sky, immediately to the south, ancf, crowning the heights, just behind the Moslem Wely seen from the well s mouth, are the ruins uf Justinian's fortress and the Samaritan place of ■acrilice, enshrined in the sacred memories of
millenniums. The dark clilTs seem almost to im- pend over the spot, so that it would be most natural, standing at the brink of the well, to speak of it as ' this mountain.' In these respects the situation of Bir Yakub exactly meets the remiirenients of the history, 'rlie mouth of the well is some feet below the
E resent surface, in the midst of a vaulted cham- er, about 15 ft. square, the roof of which haa fallen in. Major Anderson made a descent into the well in ISUG, an account of which he gives in the Ki'cufcry of Jerusalem, p. -105. ' The mouth of the well,' he says, 'has a narrow opening, just wide enough to allow the body of a man to pass through with arms uplifted, anil this narrow neck, which is about 4 ft. long, opens into the well itself, which is cylindrically shaped, and about 7 ft. 0 in. in diameter. The mouth and ujiper part of the well is built of masonry, and the well appears to have been sunk througli a mixture of alluvial soil and limestone fragments, till a com- l)act bod of mountain limestone was reached, having horizontal strata which could easily be worked ; and the interior of the well presents the ap|icaiance of having been lined throughout with rough masonry.' Tlie estimates of depth have varied widely, from Arculfus (a.d. 670), who gives it as about 240 ft., to Maundrell (16i)7), who puts it at 105 ft. ; and Major Anderson, who found it to be 75 ft. No doubt it was origin.ally much deeper than it is now. In the decay of the several buildings that have stood over it, much rubbish must have fallen into it, and the habit travellers have of droppin" a stone into a pit and watching how long it takes to reach the bottom, that so they may judge of the depth, contributed to the same result. This now, however, is carefully guarded against. Some years ago the well, and ground around it, were acquired by the authorities of the Greek Church in Nablus. A dry-stone wall surrounds the plot, which has been planted out as an orchard, the keeper being accommodated in a small hovel by the gate. Over the well itself a hut has been built, the key of which is in charge of a neighbouring priest, in whose company the well ma,\- be visited.
A succession of churches stood on this spot, as we gather from the narratives of pil":rims. The last .appears to have been destroyed after the crushing defeat of the Crusaders in 1187. An excellent account of the ruins of these buildings will be found in the PEF Mem. ii. p. 174, etc. A stone was found in 1881 (see PEFSt, p. 212), which may have been the original cover of the well.
"fhe water now usually lasts until the month of May, and sometimes later. Then it disappears until the return of the rainy season. If the well were cleaned out, doubtless it would last much longer. Maundrell found 15 ft. of water in May 1697. The supply is therefore probably derived from percolation and rainfall ; and apparently it haa never risen near to the surface — the woman saya ' the well is deep.' This possibly suggested to Jesus the phrase 'living water' as descriptive of His truth. For ' li\ ing water ' is, in the language of the East, that of the fountain or stream a.s con- trasted with that collected in cistern or well. In Jn 4'' the name used is indeed TrrfyT) toS 'laKu^, the well or fountain of Jacob ; but in vv."- " the woman uses the strictly accurate term to (ppiap, the water-tank or cistern. For most jiurposes, living water is preferred ; but where this is very ' hard ' or ' heavy,' like that ' gushing from the very bowels of rocky (limestone) Mount Ebal,' the ' light ' water that descends from heaven is greatly valued. Thus tlie water of Jacob's well is highly esteemed by the modern inhabitants of N.lblus and district (see letter from Dr. Bailey, a former mi*