I'ools are mentioned in tlie Bible at Hebron (2 S 4'=), Gibeon ('2S 2'^), Sanuiria (1 K 22**), and Hesh- bon (Kc2'); and in general terms in Is 14^19'" and Nail 2". At or near Jerus. there were several pools : the Upper P. (2 K 18", Is 7" 36-) ; the Lower P. (Is 22») ; the Old P. (Is 22") ; the King's P. (Neh 2") ; the P. of Siloali, KV Shelah (Neh 3'»), appar- ently the same as the P. of Siloam (Jn 9'); the • P. that was made' (Neh 3'«) ; 'a' P., KV ' the ' P. made by Hezekiah (2 K 20-'") ; and the P. of Bethesda (Jn 5" *• '). josephus also mentions the Serpents' P. (BJ\. iii. 2) ; Solomon's P. (/i./V. iv. 2); the P. Amygdalon, and the P. Struthius (BJ V. xi. 4). Many of the ancient pools may still be seen in Palestine. The best known are those at Hebron and Jerusalem, and the ' poolsof Solomon,' near Bethlehem, w liicli are possibly the ' pools of water' (Ec 2*) that Solomon constructed to irri- gate his gardens and orchards. These pools are three in number, and they have been formed by building solid dams of masonry across the valley of Urtas. They have a total capacity of 44,147,000 gallons, and are so arranged that the water from each of the higher pools can be run oil' into the one immediately below it. The water was conveyed to Jerusalem by a conduit.
C. W. Wilson.
POOR. — 1. This word, especially when it repre- sents the Heb. 'H', is used sometimes with a semi- religious connotation, the nature of which it is the object of the present article to e.\plain. In order to understand the term satisfactorily, it is neces- Bary to bear in mind the meaning of the cognate veil), Heb. nj];, Arab, 'anil (ana'"). The Arab, ana means to he Imvhj, submisiive, obedient, especially by becoming a captive, and so the ]itcp. is often used simply in the sen.se of a captive ' : tlie Heb. n;j; means analogously /o be humbled, Is 31* (KV 'abase himself'), in the cau.sative conj. tu liiiinblc, mishandle, es]). by depriving of independence, or liberty, or recognized rights (EV usually 'alllict') : of. Gn 16«(KV • dealt hardly'), Jg 19»* (' humble'), — in both, parallel with 'do to her (them) that which is good in thy (your) eyes,' Gn 31*" (of the maltreatment of wives by a husband), Ex 22---'^' (of the ill-treatment of a widow or or])han), Jg jgj. 0. Ill (of ill.usiii^. Samson) ; and often of the ill- treatment of a nation in bondage, as Gn 15" (1| ' to serve'). Ex !"• ■- (if. v." 'make to serve'); see also 2 S 7'° (Ps 89-''), Ps 94».t
2. The subst. 'iinl (EV mostly 'afllicfcd,' or ' poor') thus means proiierl3' one humhlcd or bovxd dinrn, especially by oiipression, deprivation of rights, etc., but also, more generally, by mis- fortune : as the persons thus ' humbled ' would commonly be the ' poor,' the term came to denote largely the class whom we should call the ' |ioor,' and ' poor ' is thus one of tlie conventional render- ings of the word : it must, however, be remem- bered that V>Hi does not really mean 'poor,' and that while in the English word ' jxior the jno- minent idea is the poverty of the ]ierson or persons so de.scribed, in the Heb. '«ni the piomiiiciit iilea is that of the ill-treated, or the iiiiHeiable : in other words, the 'dni, while often, no doubt, a person in need, was primarily a person sutlering some kind of social disahility or distress.
3. w"i rt'mh, J9 the Heb. word which expreBSts ilistinctlvely the idea of poverty ; but tliia occurs only I S IS-', 2 S 121- »■ *, P« 823 (KV ■destitute), Kc i'* !)», and 15 times in Proverbs.
* See Rohlh, "jy und ljj( in den Ptatmen, 1802, pp. 07-69. t Comp. the cognate subst. 't'ini, itaU nj beinn hu}fti/ie4i or kowed down, EV ' allliction,' On 10" ill'iK Ex »'■ ", U 48iJ al.
POOR
19
It 18 worth noticing (Kahlfs, p. 75) that 'athir, 'rich,' nevel appears as the opposite of 'cini, while it is the true antithesis ol rush (2 S 121 i •', I'r 14*1 is23 222- ' 2S'>).
'Poor* is also sometimes the tr. of 'ebt/ijn, * needy'; and often that of dal (prop. Ihin, reducM, feeble): c(. Driver, Parallel Psalter, pp. 450, 452. 'Kbynn is once opposed U> 'ttxhir, Ps 49*^ : and dal is opposed to it 5 times. Ex 30I» Pr 1015 22i«2Sli Ku3io.
It is to be regretted that there is no English word which would both suit all the passages in which 'unl occurs, and also indicate its connexion with dnCih, 'inndh, and 'dni.
4. In the laws of Ex 22=*, Lv 19'» ( = 23'-''), Dt 15" 24'^- '*■ ", now, 'anl is used as a purely colour- less designation of the per.sons whom we should describe as the 'poor.' But in the projihets and poetical books, esp. the Psalms, we see gradually other ideas attaching themselves to tlie term. Thus allusions are made, especially by the pro- phets, to the ojipression of the '(Xniyylni, at the hands of a high - handed and cruel aristocracy (Am 8* [Heb. marg.]. Is S'-"- " 10= 32' [Heb. iiiarg.J, Ezk 16*" [in Sodom], 18" 22-» ; Job 24-'- "■ ", Pr 30") ; so that they become the objects of special regai<l on the jiart of a righteous king (Jer22'", Pa 72-- *■ '-), or individual (Ezk 18", Is 5S', Zee 7'", Ps 82^ Pr 22-- 319. « . cf J.J 1421 [Heb. text], Dn 4"), and especi- ally of Jehovah (Is 14*-, ef. v.** ; implicitly, also, in the other passages quoted).