2. Again, DSX (Isa. xiv, 23; xxxv, 7; xli, 18; xlii, 15) ; elsewhere " pond" (q. v.).
3. Mikveh, StJpB (Exod. vii, 19), a gathering together (i. e. of water), as rendered Gen. i, 10.
4. In the New Test. /co\uju/3»/3-p«, only in John v, 2 ; ix, 7.
The following are the principal reservoirs mentioned in the Bible :
a. A pool of Hezehiah , 2 Kings xx, 20 (comp. Sirach. xlviii, 17 [19]). It was a basin which that king had opened in the city, and fed by a watercourse (TlbvV), " conduit"). In 2 Chron. xxxii, 30 it is said more def- initely that Hezekiah conducted the water from the upper pool of Gihon in the west of the city. This pool of Hezekiah, called by the Arabs Birket el-Hauimam. is pointed out by tradition in the north-western part of the modern city, not far east of the Jaffa gate (Robin- son, ii, 134 sq.). And there is no doubt that this is the true location, since the waters of the upper pool of Gi- hon (Birket el-Mamilla) How through small, roughly
built aqueducts in the vicinity of the Jaffa gate, and thus reach the Birket el-Hammfim (Robinson, i, 396). See Hezekiah's Pool.
b. The tipper pool (TlSi^S i"1?^) and the lower pool (l-13'innri ilZ'iS), the former lying near the full- er's field, and on the road to it, outside of the city (Isa. vii, 3; xxxvi, 2; 2 Kings xviii, 17), and connecting with a watercourse. The lower pool is named in Isa. xxii. 9. There still remain in the west of the city two water -basins, an upper and a lower; the one called Birket el-Mamilla, at the head of the valley of Gihon, and the other Birket es-Sultan, somewhat farther down the valley southward, almost in a line with the south wall of the city (Robinson, ii, 129 sq.). They are gen- erally known as the upper and the lower pool of Gihon. It supports the identification of these with " the upper and lower pools" that there are no other similar or corresponding reservoirs in the neighborhood; and the western position of the upper pool suits well the cir- cumstances mentioned in Scripture (see Isa. xxxvi. 2; 2 Kings xviii, 17 ; comp. Knobel, Isa. p. 153, 257). It may be added that a trustworthy tradition places the fuller's field westward of the city (Robinson, ut sup. p. 128). See Gihon.
c. The old pool (tl3ia^ FlS'lSl), not far from the double wall (O^nah, " tu-o walls"), Isa. xxii, 11. This double wall was near the royal garden (2 Kings xxv, 4 ; Jer. xxxix, 4), which must be sought in the south- east of the city, near the fountain of Siloam (Neh. iii, 15). Near the mouth of the Tyropceon there are still two reservoirs or cisterns (Robinson, i, 384; ii, 146), a smaller one hollowed out in the rock, and the other, a little larger, lying a short distance to the south of the former, and receiving its water. The water flows from an opening in the rock a few feet north of the lesser basin ; i. e. from the fountain of Siloam. The larger of these basins is doubtless the pool of Siloam, and the smaller is possibly the " old pool,'" and the same with the artificial pool named in Neh. iii, 16 as in this vicinity (Robinson, ii, 146 ; comp. Thenius, in Illgen's Zeitschr. 1844, i, 22 sq.). Perhaps, however, we may rather understand the passage in Isaiah as referring to
Pool of Hezekiah.
POOLE
400
POOH
a mere damming up of the Tyropoeon itself between the two parallel parts of the old wall lining the sides of the valley, for the purpose of containing (temporarily dur- ing the siege I the waters of the then "old" | i. e. super- seded) pool of Gihon outside the city, thus diverted into a n< w channel. Si e Ji m salem.
d. The king's pool (Tj!?fifi ~ = ". Neh.ii,14) isprob- ahly i" be found in the fountain of the Virgin .Mary, on the easl side ofOphel i Robinson, ii. 102, 1 19), and is
perhaps the same with the pool of Solon {KoXvfi-
(3t)Spa EoXofi&voe) mentioned by Josephus as on this side of the city | War, v, 1. 2; comp. Thenius, op. cit. p. 25). With less probability Schultz {Jems, p.58) takes the pool which lies south of Siloam, and which is now half clinked with earth, for the king's pool. Sec Jeru- salem.
In Josephus, besides the foregoing, we find the spar- row's pool {to 2rpov$iov, which maj have a differenl meaning: see Beekman, Erfmd. i\. 19), opposite the Castle of Antonia, in the north of the city | War, v. 11. 4), now Birkel 1-rail. or perhaps Birkel el-Hejjah; the pool of almonds (dpvySaXov), on the easl Bide, at some distance from the city {War, ul sup.); the pool of st //" nfs tKaXr/ijiii'-pa twv uipftor). mar I [erod's mon- ument (Joseph. War, \. 3, 2), between Scopus (a hill seven stadia, or a mile, from the city, Joseph. War, ii. L9, l i and the city, and hence to the north, perhaps near the road to Shechem i Robinson, i. 400; ii. 43, 189 sq.). This must, then, be differenl from the dragon well {serpent well) in Neh. ii. 13, which lay between the dung-gate in the south-west and the valley (comp. Thenius, op.cit. p. 17). There is no trace ofil now to be found, lor Birket eUJMamiUa is to be identified with the upper | 1. as above (Schultz, p. 67). See Ji ri - mi u.