NEPHTOAH, WATERS OF (nint) 'Waters of Opening ;' Na09L6 ; Nephthoa),;foUntain, and apparently a streamlet issuing from it (or perhaps a watering-place for cattle), on the border of Judah. Its position is described with considerable minute ness. From the valley of Hinnom the border was drawn to the top of the hill on the west, that is, in the direction of the Convent of the Cross ; and the border was drawn from the top of the hill ?Oda the fountain of the water of Nephtoah, and thence to Kirjath-jearim (Josh. xv. 8, 9). A similar de scription of the southern border of Benjamin is given in Josh. xviii. 14-16 ; and the name is not again mentioned in Scripture. Its site appears to have been unknown to Jerome and Eusebius, as they simply mention it as a fountain in the tribe of Benjamin. From the above passages it might be inferred that the Waters of Nephtoah lay some where in or near a direct line between Jerusalem and Kirjath-jearim, but there is another passage which must considerably modify that conclusion. We read in I Sam. x. 2 that Rachel's sepulchre lay near the border of Benjamin, and it is nearly three miles south of the valley of Hinnom. Conse quently, from the top of the hill on the west of Hinnom the border must have turned southward, and we must look for the Waters of Nephtoah on the south or south-west of Jerusalem. Recent geographers have pretty generally agreed to identify Nephtoah with Ain .Lzfla, a fountain near the village of that name, two and a half miles north west of Jerusalem (Barclay, City of the Great fang p. 544 ; Tobler, Dritte p. 202 ; cf. Topographic', 343, seq. ; Stewart, Tent and Khan, p. 349). This, however, cannot be reconciled with the statement of Samuel, which these writers appear to have overlooked. About a mile and a half from Jerusalem, on the road to Rachel's tomb, and close to the convent of Mar Elyas, is an old well, which some have identified with Nephtoah (Narrative of Mission to 7ews, June 13). It is, however, a mere well. A much more probable site is Ain Yalo, in Wady el-Werd, three miles south-west of the city. It is a small fountain,
whose waters flow into a large pool, and are drawn off to irrigate some gardens. Its water is esteemed at Jerusalem, whither it is conveyed in skins on the backs of donkeys (Handbook, p. 232 ; Robin son, B. R.,iii. 265). In front of the fountain are some ruins. There is another larger and much more beautiful fountain a mile farther down the valley, called Ain Haniyeh, said by tradition to be the fountain in which Philip baptised the eunuch (Handbook, 1. c. ; Barclay, p. 548). It is orna mented with a niched facade and Corinthian pilasters.—J. L. P.
NER ; Sept. N*), the grandfather of king Saul. The accounts which are given of the re lationship of this individual are, at first sight, somewhat discrepant ; but it is not impossible to re concile them. According to I Sam. xiv. 50, 51, he was the son of Abiel and the father of Abner, the brother of Kish the father of Saul. But in I Sam. ix. 1, Kish, the father of Saul, is made the son of Abiel. This, however, may be got over by regarding son here as meaning grandson, according to the lax use of the Heb. 11. When we turn to Chronicles, we find (viii. 33) the same order of succession Ner,—Kish,—Saul ; only that another Kish appears as a brother of Ner (3o), and their father is described as Abi-Gibeon, the father of Gibeon, i, e., the stem-father of the Gibeonites, or the proprietor of Gibeon. But in 1 Chron. ix. 33-39, we have the name of Nees father given as Jehiel ; in other respects the genealogy agrees with viii. 29.33. We may regard Abiel and Jehiel as names of the same person who was also by title Abi-Gideon ; and there seems no reason why there should not have been two in his family of the name of Kish—one his son, and the other his grandson. The family-tree, then, stood thus :— Abiei or Jehiel Abi Gideon.
Kish Ner and others.
Kish. Saul.
From Abiel the genealogy ascended through Zeror, Aphiah or Abiah, and Bechorath or Bechor, to Benjamin (I Sam. ix. i ; i Chron. vii: 6-8), from whom Saul was thus seventh in descent.—W. L. A.