Reference: Well
Easton
(Heb beer), to be distinguished from a fountain (Heb 'ain). A "beer" was a deep shaft, bored far under the rocky surface by the art of man, which contained water which percolated through the strata in its sides. Such wells were those of Jacob and Beersheba, etc. (see Ge 21:19,25,30-31; 24:11; 26:15,18-25,32, etc.). In the Pentateuch this word beer, so rendered, occurs twenty-five times.
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And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink.
And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.
And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shall you take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have dug this well. Therefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they swore both of them.
And he made his camels to kneel down outside the city by a well of water at the time of the evening, even the time that women go out to draw water.
For all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth.
And Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. And Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. read more. And the herdsmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. And they dug another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. And he removed from there, and dug another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. And he went up from there to Beersheba. And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham your father: fear not, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your descendants for my servant Abraham's sake. And he built an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants dug a well.
And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said unto him, We have found water.
Fausets
(See FOUNTAIN.) As ''Ayin, "fount," literally, "eye", refers to the water springing up to us, so beer, "well," from a root "to bore," refers to our finding our way down to it. The Bir- and the En- are always distinct. The rarity of wells in the Sinaitic region explains the national rejoicings over Beer or the well, afterward Beer-Elim, "well of heroes" (Nu 21:16-18,22). God commanded Moses to cause the well to be dug; princes, nobles, and people, all heartily, believingly, and joyfully cooperated in the work. Naming a well marked right of property in it. To destroy it denoted conquest or denial of right of property (Ge 21:30-31; 26:15-33; 2Ki 3:19; De 6:11; Nu 20:17,19; Pr 5:15). "Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running waters out of thine own well," i.e. enjoy the love of thine own wife alone.
Wells and cisterns are the two sources of oriental supply, each house had its own cistern (2Ki 18:31); to thirst for filthy waters is suicidal. Song 4:12; in Palestine wells are excavated in the limestone, with steps descending to them (Ge 24:16). A low stone wall for protection (Ex 21:33) surrounds the brim; on it sat our Lord in conversing with the Samaritan woman (Joh 4:6,11). A stone cover was above; this the woman placed on the well at Bahurim (2Sa 17:19), translated "the woman spread the covering over the well's mouth." A rope and bucket or water skin raised the water; the marks of the rope are still visible in the furrows worn in the low wall. See Nu 24:7, "he shall stream with water out of his two buckets," namely, suspended from the two ends of a pole, the usual way of fetching water from the Euphrates in Balaam's neighbourhood.
Wells are often contended for and are places of Bedouin attacks on those drawing water (Ex 2:16-17; Jg 5:11; 2Sa 23:15-16). Oboth (Nu 21:10-11) means holes dug in the ground for water. Beerlahairoi is the first well mentioned (Ge 16:14). Beersheba, Rehoboth, and Jacob's well are leading instances of wells (Ge 21:19; 26:22). They are sunk much deeper than ours, to prevent drying up. Jacob's well is 75 ft. deep, seven feet six inches in diameter, and lined with rough masonry; a pitcher unbroken at the bottom evidenced that there was water at some seasons, otherwise the fall would have broken the pitcher.
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Therefore the well was called Beerlahairoi; behold, it is between Kadesh and Bered.
And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well of water; and she went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the lad a drink.
And he said, For these seven ewe lambs shall you take of my hand, that they may be a witness unto me, that I have dug this well. Therefore he called that place Beersheba; because there they swore both of them.
And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
For all the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped them, and filled them with earth. And Abimelech said unto Isaac, Go from us; for you are much mightier than we. read more. And Isaac departed from there, and pitched his tent in the valley of Gerar, and dwelt there. And Isaac dug again the wells of water, which they had dug in the days of Abraham his father; for the Philistines had stopped them after the death of Abraham: and he called their names after the names by which his father had called them. And Isaac's servants dug in the valley, and found there a well of springing water. And the herdsmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdsmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him. And they dug another well, and strove for that also: and he called the name of it Sitnah. And he removed from there, and dug another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.
And he removed from there, and dug another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the LORD has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. And he went up from there to Beersheba. read more. And the LORD appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham your father: fear not, for I am with you, and will bless you, and multiply your descendants for my servant Abraham's sake. And he built an altar there, and called upon the name of the LORD, and pitched his tent there: and there Isaac's servants dug a well. Then Abimelech went to him from Gerar, and Ahuzzath one of his friends, and Phicol the chief captain of his army. And Isaac said unto them, Why come you to me, seeing you hate me, and have sent me away from you? And they said, We saw certainly that the LORD was with you: and we said, Let there be now an oath between us, even between us and you, and let us make a covenant with you; That you will do us no hurt, as we have not touched you, and as we have done unto you nothing but good, and have sent you away in peace: you are now the blessed of the LORD. And he made them a feast, and they did eat and drink. And they rose up early in the morning, and swore one to another: and Isaac sent them away, and they departed from him in peace. And it came to pass the same day, that Isaac's servants came, and told him concerning the well which they had dug, and said unto him, We have found water. And he called it Shibah: therefore the name of the city is Beersheba unto this day.
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
And if a man shall open a pit, or if a man shall dig a pit, and not cover it, and an ox or a donkey fall in it;
Let us pass, I pray you, through your country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king's highway, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your borders.
And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the highway: and if I and my cattle drink of your water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing anything else, go through on my feet.
And the children of Israel set out, and encamped in Oboth. And they journeyed from Oboth, and encamped at Iye Abarim, in the wilderness which is opposite Moab, toward the sun rising.
And from there they went to Beer: that is the well of which the LORD spoke unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. Then Israel sang this song, Spring up, O well; sing you unto it: read more. The princes dug the well, the nobles of the people dug it, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah:
Let me pass through your land: we will not turn into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink of the waters of the well: but we will go along by the king's highway, until we are past your borders.
He shall pour the water out of his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters, and his king shall be higher than Agag, and his kingdom shall be exalted.
And houses full of all good things, which you filled not, and wells dug, which you dug not, vineyards and olive trees, which you planted not; when you shall have eaten and be full;
They that are delivered from the noise of archers in the places of drawing water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the LORD, even the righteous acts toward the inhabitants of his villages in Israel: then shall the people of the LORD go down to the gates.
And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground grain thereon; and the thing was not known.
Hearken not to Hezekiah: for thus says the king of Assyria, Make an agreement with me by paying a tribute, and come out to me, and then eat you every man of his own vine, and everyone of his fig tree, and drink you everyone the waters of his cistern:
Drink waters out of your own cistern, and running waters out of your own well.
A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.
Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
The woman said unto him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where then have you that living water?
Hastings
Smith
Well.
Wells in Palestine are usually excavated from the solid limestone rock, sometimes with steps to descend into them.
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 drawing water. It was on a curb of this sort that our Lord sat when he conversed with the woman of Samaria,
Joh 4:6
and it was this, the usual stone cover, which the woman placed on the mouth of the well at Bahurim,
where the Authorized Version weakens the sense by omitting the article. The usual methods for raising water are the following:
1. The rope and bucket, or waterskin.
Ge 24:14-20; Joh 4:11
2. The sakiyeh, or Persian wheel. This consists of a vertical wheel furnished with a set of buckets or earthen jars attached to a cord passing over the wheel. which descend empty and return full as the wheel revolves.
3. A modification of the last method, by which a man, sitting opposite to a wheel furnished with buckets, turns it by drawing with his hands one set of spokes prolonged beyond its circumference, and pushing another set from him with his feet.
4. A method very common in both ancient and modern Egypt is the shadoof, a simple contrivance consisting of a lever moving on a pivot, which is loaded at one end with a lump of clay or some other weight, and has at the other a bowl or bucket. Wells are usually furnished with troughs of wood or stone into which the water is emptied for the use of persons or animals coming to the wells. Unless machinery is used, which is commonly worked by men, women are usually the water-carriers.
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And let it come to pass, that the damsel to whom I shall say, Let down your pitcher, I pray you, that I may drink; and she shall say, Drink, and I will give your camels drink also: let the same be she that you have appointed for your servant Isaac; and thereby shall I know that you have showed kindness unto my master. And it came to pass, before he had done speaking, that, behold, Rebekah came out, who was born to Bethuel, son of Milcah, the wife of Nahor, Abraham's brother, with her pitcher upon her shoulder. read more. And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up.
And the damsel was very fair to look upon, a virgin, neither had any man known her: and she went down to the well, and filled her pitcher, and came up. And the servant ran to meet her, and said, Let me, I pray you, drink a little water of your pitcher. read more. And she said, Drink, my lord: and she hastened, and let down her pitcher upon her hand, and gave him drink. And when she had finished giving him drink, she said, I will draw water for your camels also, until they have finished drinking. And she hastened, and emptied her pitcher into the trough, and ran again unto the well to draw water, and drew for all his camels.
And the woman took and spread a covering over the well's mouth, and spread ground grain thereon; and the thing was not known.
Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.
The woman said unto him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from where then have you that living water?