(1) Supply. It has been shown that the ab sence of small rivers, through the want of rain in summer, renders the people of the settled coun try, as well as of the deserts, entirely dependent upon the water derived from wells, and that pre served in cisterns and reservoirs, during the sum mer and autumn ; and gives an importance un known in our humid climate to the limited supply thus secured.
(2) Solomon's Pools. With respect to reser voirs, the articles to which reference has been made, will supply all the information necessary, except that we may avail ourselves of this oppor tunity of noticing the Pools of Solomon, near Bethlehem.
Of the pools a very good description is given by Dr. Wilde (Narrative. ii. 42o): 'At the ex tremity of the valley we arrived at three enormous tanks, sunk in the side of a sloping ground, and which from time immemorial have been consid ered to be the workmanship of Solomon; and certainly they are well worthy of the man to whom tradition has assigned their construction. 1 hese reservoirs are each upon a distinct level, one above the other, and are capable of holding an immense body of water. They are so constructed, both by conduits leading directly from one an oilier, and by what may be termed anasto-fosing branches, that when the water in the upper one has reached to a certain height, the surplus flows otT into the one below it, and so on into the third. 1 hese passages were obstructed and the whole of the cisterns were out of repair when we visited them, so that there was hardly any water in the lowest, while the upper one was nearly full of good pure water. Small aqueducts lead from each of these cisterns to a main one that conducts the water to Jerusalem. They are all lined with a thick layer of hard whitish cement, and a flight of steps leads to the bottom of each, similar to some of those in the holy city. Where the lowest cistern joins the valley of Etham it is formed by an embankment of earth, and has a sluice to draw off the water occasionally. A short distance from the upper pool I descended into a narrow stone chamber, through which the water passes from the neighboring spring on its course to the cis terns.
'On our return to the city we followed the track of the aqueduct as far as Bethlehem, and after wards crossed it in several places on the road. It is very small, but the water runs in it with con siderable rapidity, as we could perceive by the open places left in it here and there. From the very tortuous course that this conduit takes in following the different sinuosities of the ground, being sometimes above and sometimes beneath the surface, it is difficult to persuade oneself that it does not run up hill, as many have supposed. Finally, it crosses over the valley of Rephaim, on a series of arches, to the north of the lower pool of Gihon, and winding round the southern horn of Zion, is lost to view in the ruins of the city. It very probably supplied the pool of Bethesda, after having traversed a course of certainly not less than thirteen to fifteen miles.' (See JERUSALEM.) (3) Wells. With respect to wells, their im portance is very great, especially in the desert, where the means of forming them are deficient, as well as the supply of labor necessary for such undertakings, which, after all, are not always re warded by the discovery of a supply of water.
Hence in such situations, and indeed in the set tled countries also, the wells are of the utmost value, and the water in most cases is very frugally used (Num. xx :17-t9 ; Dent. ii:6; Job xxii :7). We are not, however, to seek an explanation of the contests about wells which we find in the histories of Abraham and Isaac (Gen. xxi :25, 31; xxvi :15-22) merely in the value of the well itself, but in the apprehension of the Philistines that by the formation of such wells the patriarchs would be understood to create a lien on the lands in which they lay, and would acquire an indefeasible right of occupation, or rather of possession; and it might seem to them inconvenient that so power ful a clan should acquire such a right in the soil of so small a territory as that which belonged to them. Hence their care, when Abraham after wards left their part of the country, to fill up the wells which he had digged; and hence, also, the renewal and more bitter strife with Isaac when he, on arriving there, proceeded to clear out those wells and to dig new ones himself.
Figurative. (11 Jesus Christ. his Spirit, and gospel ordinances are likened to waters, still waters, and streams, living :eater, or water of life (Rev. xxii :17; Ps. xxiii ; Is. xxxiii :21, and xxxv :6; Ezek. xlvii :1-11). (2) The waters of divine truths and ordinances are made bitter when corrupted with error and superstition (Rev. viii: i). (3) \Vhatever tends to comfort is called waters; the delight which people enjoy in the mar riage state is called waters, and running or fresh waters; more truly delightful than illicit pleasures which are stolen waters (Prov. v :t5, and ix :17). (4) 1\ lultitudes of men, as armies and persecutors, are likened to waters (Rev. xvii :15 ; Is. viii :7, and xvii :12 ; Ps. cxxiv :5). (5) Alen are as water spilt on the ground; when once dead, they cannot, without a miracle, be restored to life (2 Sam. xiv :14). (6) Wicked men are swift as the waters, and melt away as the waters; they are not to be depended upon (Job xxiv :18 ; Ps. Mil:7). (7) Job's enemies came in as a wide breaking in of waters; in great numbers, and with mighty force, to harass and overwhelm (Job xxx :14). (8) Counsel in the heart of man is as deep waters; serious thoughts and purposes are pure and settled, and hard to come at (Prov. xx :5). (9) The words of a man's mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook; good instructions are mysterious, and refreshing to men's souls (Prov. xviii :4). (to) Judgment runs down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream, when there is great uprightness and equity in judgment ; equity and holiness everywhere practiced, and iniquity made ashamed to show itself (Amos v :24). (1 t) Water occa sionally is used for tears (Jer. ix :r, 7) ; hence, figuratively, trouble and misfortune (Lam. iii :54 ; Ps !XIX :1 ; CX1X :136; CXXiV :4, 5). (12) Inner is put for children or posterity (Num. xxiv :7; Is. xlviii :I) ; for clouds (Ps. civ :3).