WELL. The rendering of the following Hebrew and Greek words: 1. Be-ayr' (Heb; a pit), something dug, and having the meaning of the English word cistern (Gen. xvi:t4; xxi:to, sq.; xxvi:19, sq.; 2 Sam. xvii: 18, etc.).
2. Mak-yawn' (Heb. a fountain, as in Ps. lxxxiv :6.
3. Ah' yin (Heb. rX, an eye), a fountain ; whether so called from its resemblance to the eye, or, vice versa, the eye, from its resemblance to a fountain, may be doubtful (Gen. xxiv:t3, 16; xlix :22; Neh. ii:13); a living spring.
4. Bore (Heb. I Sam. xix:22; 2 Sam. iii: 26; xxiii:15, 16;I Chron. xi:17, 18).
5. Freh'ar (Gr. q5plap, hole, John ivat, 12), a pit dug, and thus distinguished from a living spring.
6. Pay-gay' (Gr. irn-H, gushing), a fountain gushing from a spring (John iv:6, 14; 2 Pet. ii: 17). (Mc. & Str. Cyc.) (1) Importance. Wells were very essential in a dry and hot country like Palestine, and were generally provided at each place of pasturage with a great outlay of labor. They were deep (John iv:It), and difficult both to dig and preserve, and hence were a valuable part of the husbandman's property (Num. xx:17-19). They were some times owned in common (Gen. xxix :2, 3).
(2) Protection. To protect them from the sand and from being used by others, they were cov ered, usually with a stone, and surrounded with a low wall (Gen. xxix :2, 8). To stop them up was, and still is, regarded as an act of hostility (Gen. xxvi:15), and to invade the right of prop erty in them was often the cause of sharp con tention (Gen. xxi:25).
(3) Drawing Water. It appears fin Scripture that the wells were sometimes owned by a number of persons in common, and that flocks were brought to them for watering on appointed days, in an order previously arranged. A well was often covered with a great stone, which, being removed. the person descended some steps to the surface of the water, and on his return poured into a trough that which he had brought up (Gen. xxiv:II-I6; xxix :3-1o; Exod. ii :16 ; Judg. v :It ). There is, in fact, no intimation of any other way of drawing water from wells in Scripture. But as this could only be applicable in cases where the well was not deep, we must assume that they had the use of those contrivances which are still employed in the East. and some of which are known from the Egyptian monuments to have been very ancient.
This conclusion is the more probable as the wells in Palestine are mostly deep (Prov. xx :5 ; John iv :II). Jacob's well near Shechem is said to be 12o feet deep, with only fifteen feet of water in it (Maundrell, Journey, March 24) ; and the labor of drawing from so deep a well probably origi nated the first reluctance of the woman of Sama ria to draw water for Jesus: 'Sir, thou hast noth ing to draw with, and the well is deep.' From this deeper kind of well the water is drawn by hand in a leathern bucket not too heavy, sometimes by a windlass, but oftener, when the water is only of moderate depth, by the sI:adoof, which is the most common and simple of all the machines used in the East for raising water, whether from wells, reservoirs, or rivers. It consists of a tapering lever unequally balanced upon an upright body variously constructed, and from the smaller end of which is suspended the bucket by a rope. This, when lowered into the well, is raised full of water by the weight of the heavier end. By this con trivance the manual power is applied in lowering the bucket into the well, for it rises easily, and it is only necessary to regulate the ascent. This machine is in use under slight modifications from the Baltic to the Yellow Sea, and was so from the most remote ages to the present day. The speci men in the annexed woodcut occurs in the neigh borhood of Jaffa. The water of wells, as well as of fountains, was by the Hebrews called `living water,' translated `running water,' and was highly esteemed (Lev. xiv :5 ; Num. xx :17). It was thus distinguished from the water preserved in cisterns and reservoirs. (See FOUNTAINS.) Figurative. (1) Wells furnished an appropri ate emblem of rich blessings (Jer. :13 ; xvii :13). (2) Wells are metaphorically used of God as the source of salvation (Is. xii :3 ; comp. Jer. :13 ; John iv :1o) • (3) of the mouth of the righteous (Prov. x ; (4) of wisdom and understanding in a man (xvi :22 ; XViii :4) ; (5) of drinking from one's domestic happiness (v :15) ; (6) false teach ers are "wells without water ;' they promise men much instruction, edification, and comfort ; and yet can afford nothing but fleshly errors, corrupt ex amples and enticements (2 Pet. ii :17).