If you were to think of two well know wells, which would they be?

Today we do not think too much about wells as most of us have water piped into our homes.

However, in the time of the Bible wells were very important as they were often the only source of water.

My inspiration for the post tonight came from my distant cousin Gertrude who wrote a post titled: To Quarrel or to Dig – That is the Question

The post is about the wells that Isaac disputed with the servants of Gerar about. Her post made me think about wells and my mind wandered to two well known wells in Israel.

The first well is a well at the gate of Tel Be’er Sheva or Beersheba. This well served the Iron Age II city of Beersheba. There is debate about exactly where the city was located at the time of Abraham and Isaac, but it would have not been far away.

The well above does illustrate that Beersheba was known for the wells associated with the patriarchs and that the name of the city comes from these wells.

In the picture above there is also a tamarisk tree. We know that Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Beersheba, but definitely not this one 🙂

There is a sign by the well that relates the account from Genesis where Isaac and Abimelech made a pact.

When Abimelech went to him from Gerar with Ahuzzath his adviser and Phicol the commander of his army, Isaac said to them, “Why have you come to me, seeing that you hate me and have sent me away from you?” They said, “We see plainly that the Lord has been with you. So we said, let there be a sworn pact between us, between you and us, and let us make a covenant with you, that you will do us no harm, just as we have not touched you and have done to you nothing but good and have sent you away in peace. You are now the blessed of the So he made them a feast, and they ate and drank. In the morning they rose early and exchanged oaths. And Isaac sent them on their way, and they departed from him in peace. That same day Isaac’s servants came and told him about the well that they had dug and said to him, “We have found water.” He called it Shibah; therefore the name of the city is Beersheba to this day.

Genesis 26:26-33 – ESV

Here is a picture looking down into the well. The well is 70 meters deep, so reaches down to the base of the tel.

The second well known well is Jacob’s Well.

Jacob’s Well is in modern day Nablus. I visited this well back in September 2012 while on a tour with Ferrell Jenkins.

The well is located in a crypt below a Greek Orthodox convent.

We know that the well is deep as the Samaritan woman tells us so in John chapter four. One measurement from 1935 gave a depth of about 135 feet.

For more information about Jacob’s Well visit the following post by Ferrell Jenkins: Jacob’s Well – From Jacob to Jesus

There is a really nice picture of the well in Ferrell’s post.

Well, that is all I have about wells tonight.

Steven