The importance of wells is verj' great, especially in the desert, where the means of forming them are deficient, as well as the supph^ of labor
necessary for such undertakings, which, after all, are not always rewarded by the discovery of a su])])ly of water. Hence in such situations, and indeed in the settled coun- tries also, the wells are of the utmost value, and the water in most cases is very frugally used (Numb, xx, 17-19; Deut. ii, 6, 28 ; Job xxii, 7). It is, however, not merely the value of the well itself, but certain other considera- tions that explain the contests about wells which we find in the histories of Abraham and Isaac (Gen. xxi, 25- 31 ; xxvi, 15-22). The special necessity of a supply of water (Judg. i, 15) in a hot climate has always involved among Eastern nations questions of property of the highest importance, and sometimes given rise to serious contention. To give a name to a well denoted a right of property, and to stop or destroy one once dug was a military expedient, a mark of conquest, or an encroach- ment on territorial right claimed or existing in its neighborhood. Thus, the well Beersheba was opened, and its possession attested with special formality by Abraham (Gen. xxi, 30, 31). In the hope of expelling Isaac from their neighborhood, the Philistines stopped up the wells which had been dug in Abraham's time and called by his name, an encroachment which was stoutly resisted by the followers of Isaac (xxvi, 15-33 ; see also 2 Kings iii, 19; 2 Chron. xxvi, 10; comp. Bnrckhardt, Xoies on the Bed. ii, 185, 194, 204, 27G). The Koran notices abandoned wells as signs of desertion (sur. xxii). To acquire wells which they had not themselves dug was one of the marks of favor foretold to the He- brews on their entrance into Canaan (Deut. vi, 11). To possess one is noticed as a mark of independence (Prov. v, 15), and to abstain from the use of wells belonging to others, a disclaimer of interference with their propert}' (Numb. XX, 17, 19 ; xxi, 22). Similar rights of posses- sion, actual and hereditary, exist among the Arabs of the present day. Wells, Bnrckhardt says, in the inte- rior of the desert, are exclusive property, either of a whole tribe, or of individuals whose ancestors dug the wells. If a well be the property of a tribe, the tents are pitched near it, whenever rain-water becomes scarce in the desert; and no other Arabs are then permitted to water their camels. But if the well belongs to an individual, he receives presents from all strange tribes who pass or encamp at the well, and refresh their camels with the water of it. The property of such a well is never alienated ; and the Arabs say that the possessor is sure to be fortunate, as all who drink of the water bestow on him their benedictions
Well at Beei>heba.
(Xotes on the Bed. i, 228,229; comp. Numb, xxi, 17, 18, and Judg. i, 15).
It is thus easy to understand how wells have become in many cases links in the historj^ and landmarks in the topography both of Palestine and of the Arabian Peninsula. The well once dug in the rocky soil of Pal- estine might be tilled with earth or stones, but was with difficulty destroyed, and thus the wells of Beersheba, and the well near Nablus, called Jacob's Well, are among the most undoubted witnesses of those transactions of sacred history in which they have borne, so to speak, a prominent part. On the other hand, the wells dug in the sandy soil of the Arabian valleys, easily destroyed, but easily renewed, often mark, bj' their ready supply, the stations at which the Hebrew pilgrims slaked their thirst, or, as at Marah, were disappointed by the bitter- ness of the water. In like manner the stations of the Mohammedan pilgrims from Cairo and Damascus to Mecca (the Haj route) are marked by the wells (Robin- son, i, 66, 69, 204, 205 ; ii, 283 ; Bnrckhardt, ,Sp-in, p. 318, 472, 474; App. iii, 656, 660; Shaw, Trai'. p. 314; Niebuhr, Descrip. de VAruhie, p. 347, 348; Wellsted, Trnr. ii, 40, 43, 64, 457, App.).
Wells in Palestine are usually excavated from the solid limestone rock, sometimes with steps to descend into them (Gen. xxiv, 16 ; see Bnrckhardt, Syria, p. 232 ; Col. Ch. Chron. 1858, p. 470). The brims are furnished with a curb or low wall of stone, bearing marks of high antiquity in the furrows worn by the ropes used in draw- ing water (Robinson, i, 204). This curb, as well as the stone cover, which is also very usual, agrees with the directions of the law, as explained by Philo and Jose- phus, viz. as a protection against accident (Exod. xxi, 33 ; comp. Josephus, Ant. iv, 8, 37 ; Philo, De Spec. Le(j. iii, 27 ; ii, 324, ed. Mangej' ; see Maundrell, in Early Trav. p. 435). It was on a curb of this sort that our Lord sat when he conversed with the woman of Sama- ria (John iv, 6) ; and it was this, the usual stone cover, which the woman placed on the mouth of the well at Bahurim (2 Sam. xvii, 19), where the A. V. weakens the sense by omitting the article Cnc^rt; Sept.ro trnKa- Xvufia ; Vulg. velamen). Sometimes the wells are cov- ered with cupolas raised on pillars (Burckhardt, App. v, p. 665).