David's Well.

Interesting

Circumstances connected with its

History.

CHAP.XVIII. part of his writings. In the same passage he makes allusion to a celebrated Well, which, both from the account given by him of its situation, and more especially from the text of Sacred Scripture', seems to have contained the identical fountain, of whose pure and delicious water we were now drinking. Considered merely in point of interest, the narrative is not likely to be surpassed by any circumstance of Pagan history. It may be related with reference both to the words of Scripture, and to the account given by Josephus. David, being a native of Bethlehem, calls to mind, during the sultry days of harvest, a well near the gate of the town, of whose delicious water he had often tasted; and expresses an earnest desire to assuage his thirst by drinking of that limpid spring. AND DAVID LONGED, AND SAID, OH THAt one WOULD GIVE ME DRINK OF THE WATER OF THE WELL OF BETH-LEHEM, WHICH IS BY THE GATE!" The exclamation is overheard by three of the mighty men whom David had;" by Adino, by Eleazar, and by Shammah'. These men, the most mighty of all the chiefs belonging to David's host, sallied forth, and, having fought their way through the Philistine garrison at Bethlehem, "drew water from the well, that was by the gate," on the other side of the town, " and took it, and brought it to David." Josephus lays the scene of action in the valley', calling these renowned

warriors

(1) 2 Sam. xxiii, 15.

(4)

"And the garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem." Ibid. ver. 14. (5) Vid. Joseph. Antiq. lib. vii. c. 12. tom. I. p. 402. ed. præced.

warriors by the names of Jessaem, Eleazar, and Sebas6: CHAP.XVIII. he further says, that as they returned back, bearing the water through the Philistine camp, their enemies gazing in wonder at the intrepidity of the enterprise, offered them no molestation". Coming into the Coming into the presence of David, they present to him the surprising testimony of their valour and affection. The aged monarch receives from their hands a pledge they had so dearly earned, but refuses to drink of water, every drop of which had been purchased by their blood. He returns thanks to the Almighty, who had vouchsafed the deliverance of his warriors from the jeopardy they had encountered; and making libation with the precious gift, pours it upon the ground, an offering to the Lord1o. The antient character and history of the early inhabitants of Judæa are beautifully illustrated by this brief record; but it

presents

(6) Vid. Joseph. Antiq. lib. vii. c. 12. tom. I. p. 401. Without attempting to reconcile Adino with Jessaem, it may be observed that Sebas was probably Semas; the antient Greek and m being, in MS, scarcely distinguishable from each other.

(7) Ὡς τις Παλαιστίνες καταπλαγέντας αὐτῶν τὸ θράσος καὶ τὴν εὐψυχίαν, ἠρεμῆσαι, καὶ μηδὲν ἐπ ̓ αὐτοὺς τολμῆσαι, κ. τ. λ. " Adeo ut Palestini, eorum audacia animique fortitudine attoniti, quieverint, nihilque in ipsos ausi fuerint, &c." Ibid. p. 402.,

(8) "Now king David was old, and stricken in years." 1 Kings i. 1.

(9) That is to say, which was the price of blood." Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives?" (2 Sam. xxiii. 17.) It was contrary to the Jewish law to use any thing which might be considered as the price of blood. Thus it is recorded by St. Matthew, (xxvii. 6.) "And the chief-priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood."

(10) Ἔσπεισε δὲ ἀπ' αὐτῷ τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ περὶ τῆς σωτηρίας τῶν ἀνδρῶν ἠυχαριστήσεν αὐτῷ. "Deo autem inde libavit, eique pro virorum incolumitate gratias egit." Joseph. Antiq. lib. vii. c. 12. tom. I. p. 402. 1726.

CHAP.XVIII.

Antiquities

of Eastern Wells.

presents a picture of manners which has not lost its prototype among the Arabs of the same country at this day. The well, too, still retains its pristine renown; and many an expatriated Bethlehemite has made it the theme of his longing and regret. As there is no other well corresponding in its situation with the description given by the sacred historian and by Josephus, and the text of Scripture so decidedly marks its locality, at the farthest extremity of Bethlehem (with reference to Jerusalem), that is to say, near the gate of the town on the eastern side', (for David's captains had to fight through all the garrison stationed within the place, before they reached it*,)-this may have been David's Well. It is well known to travellers who have seen the wells of Greece and of the Holy Land, that there exists no monument of antient times more permanent than even an artificial well; that vases of terra cotta, of the highest antiquity, have been found in cleansing the wells of Athens: and if they be natural sources, springing from cavities in the limestone rocks of a country where a well is the most important possession of the people, (in which number this well of Bethlehem may be classed,) there seems no reason to doubt the

J

(1) "Bethlehem in dorso sita est angusto, ex omni parte vallibus circumdato. Ab Occidente in Orientem mille passibus longa, humili sine turribus muro: in cujus orientali angulo quasi quoddam naturale semiantrum est," &c. Beda in libro de Locis Sanctis, cap. viii.

(2) This appears by the context, (2 Sam. xxiii. 14. 16.) "And the garrison of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem . . . . . . . . And the three mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the Well of Beth-lehem, that was by the gate," &'c.

for

the possibility of its existence in the remote ages whereto CHAP.XVIII. it is now referred. It has not hitherto excited the attention of any writer, writer, by whom Bethlehem is described; Quaresmius', who has written a chapter "De Cisterna Bethlehem quæ et David nuncupatur," places this upon the road to Jerusalem, at a considerable distance from the town.

The tradition respecting the Cave of the Nativity seems so well authenticated, as hardly to admit of dispute. Having been held in veneration from a very early period, the oratory established there by the first Christians attracted the notice and indignation of the Heathens so early as the time of Adrian, who ordered it to be demolished, and the place to be set apart for the rites of Adonis. The situation of the town upon the narrow ridge of a long and lofty hill, surrounded on all sides by valleys, is particularly described by the Abbot of Iona, from the account given to him by Arculfus': and for a description of the interior of the Monastery,

Account of

Bethlehem.

(3) Elucidatio Terr. Sanct. tom. II. p. 614. Antv. 1639.

(4) "Bethleem nunc nostram, et augustissimum orbis locum de quo Psalmista canit (Ps. 84. 12.) Veritas de terra orta est, lucus inumbrabat Thamus, id est, Adonidis : et in specu ubi quondam Christus parvulus vagiit, Veneris Amasius plangebatur." Hieronymus Epist. ad Paulin. p. 564.

(5) "Quæ civitas non tam situ grandis, sicuti nobis Arculfus retulit, qui eam frequentavit, quàm famâ prædicabilis per universarum gentium ecclesiam diffamata, in dorso (montis) sita est angusto undique ex omni parte vallibus circumdato. Quod utique terræ dorsum ab occidentali plaga in orientalem partem quasi mille passibus porrigitur. In cujus campestri planicie superiore humilis sine turribus murus in circuitu per ejusdem monticuli extremitatis supercilium constructus valliculis hinc et inde circunjacentibus super eminet: mediaque intercapedine intra muros per longiorem tramitem habitacula civium sternuntur." Adamnani de Loc. Sanct. lib, ii. c. 1. Vid. Mabillon. Acta Ord. Bened. Sæc. 3. L. Par. 1672.

CHAP.XVIII. Monastery, the Reader may be referred to the very recent description given by Mons. De Châteaubriand'. He considers the church as of high antiquity; being unmindful of the entire destruction of the convent by the Moslems, towards the end of the thirteenth century. We felt very little disappointment in not seeing it. The degrading superstitions maintained by all the Monkish establishments in the Holy Land excite pain and disgust. The Turks use the monastery, when they travel this way, as they would a common caravanserai; making the church, or any other part of the building that suits their convenience, both a dormitory and a tavern, while they remain. Neither is the sanctuary more polluted by the presence of these Moslems, than by a set of men whose grovelling understandings have sunk so low as to vilify the sacred name of Christianity by the grossest outrages upon human intellect. In the pavement of the church, a hole, formerly used to carry off water, is exhibited as the place where the star fell, and sunk into the earth, after conducting the Magi to the Cave of the Nativity. A list of fifty other things of this nature might be added, if either

the

(1) See Travels in Greece, Egypt, and Palæstine, vol. I. p. 392. Lond. 1811. (2) "Saincte Paule fit bastir ce Monastère pour des Religieux, ou le grand sainct Jerosme demeura plusieurs années, mais il fut ruiné par les Infidèles l'an 1263." (Doubdan Voy. de la T. S. p. 163. Paris, 1657.) PAULA was a Roman matron, one of the first women who, with MARCELLA, SOPHRONIA, and PRINCIPIA, professed a monastic life at Rome. MARCELLA had been instigated by Athanasius; but the others were instructed by Jerom. PAULA and MELANIA accompanied him to the Holy Land: the former of these erected four monasteries, three for women, and one for men, where Jerom lived for many years, as he testifies in his Epitaph of PAULA.