Jacob's Well ( ar, بِئْر يَعْقُوب, Biʾr Yaʿqūb; gr, Φρέαρ του Ιακώβ, Fréar tou Iakóv; he, באר יעקב, Beʾer Yaʿaqov), also known as Jacob's fountain and Well of
Sychar
Shechem ( ), also spelled Sichem ( ; he, שְׁכֶם, ''Šəḵem''; ; grc, Συχέμ, Sykhém; Samaritan Hebrew: , ), was a Canaanite and Israelite city mentioned in the Amarna Letters, later appearing in the Hebrew Bible as the first cap ...
, is a deep well constructed into the bedrock that has been associated in religious tradition with
Jacob
Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...
for roughly two millennia. It is situated inside an
Eastern Orthodox
Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism.
Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...
church and monastery, in
Balata village
Balata village ( ar, بلاطة البلد, lit= Balata al-Balad) is a Palestinian people, Palestinian suburb of Nablus, in the northern West Bank, located east of the city center. Formerly its own village, it was annexed to the municipality of N ...
on the outskirts of the
Palestinian
Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...
city of
Nablus
Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
in the
West Bank
The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...
.
[Bromiley, 1982, p. 955.][Hastings and Driver, 2004, pp. 535–537.]
Religious significance
Bromiley (1982) claims that
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
,
Samaritan,
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, and
Muslim
Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...
traditions associate the well with
Jacob
Jacob (; ; ar, يَعْقُوب, Yaʿqūb; gr, Ἰακώβ, Iakṓb), later given the name Israel, is regarded as a patriarch of the Israelites and is an important figure in Abrahamic religions, such as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. J ...
, but only mentions examples of Christian pilgrimage and Western research.
[ Samaritan and Christian interest in the site is supported by Gurevich & Harani (2017), who refute any Jewish interest in it. There is no reference yet in this article apart from Bromiley in favour of Muslims associating the well with ]Yakub
Yakub or Yaqub ( ar, يعقوب, Yaʿqūb or Ya'kūb , links=no, also transliterated in other ways) is a male given name. It is the Arabic version of Jacob (name), Jacob and James (name), James. The Arabic form ''Ya'qūb/Ya'kūb'' may be direct ...
.
Judaism
According to Gurevich & Harani (2017), "Judaism does not attribute any significance to the site", citing Yitzhak Magen (2009), ''Flavia Neapolis: Shechem in the Roman Period, vol. 1'', p. 32.[Gurevich & Harani (2017). p. 28, with note 4 sending to p. 48.] This contradicts Bromiley (1982), who states that "Although the OT does not refer to it, Jewish, Samaritan, Moslem, and Christian traditions associate this well with the patriarch Jacob."[ No well of Jacob is specifically mentioned in the ]Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
(the base of the Old Testament
The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...
); only states that when Jacob returned to Shechem from Paddan Aram
Paddan Aram or Padan-aram ( he, , ''Padan ʾĂrām'') was a region referring to the northern plain of the former kingdom Aram-Naharaim. Paddan Aram in Aramaic means ''the field of Aram'', a name that distinguishes the flatland from the mountainou ...
, he camped "before" the city and bought the land on which he pitched his tent and erected an altar.
Samaritanism
Gurevich & Harani write that " e Samaritans believe that the well was purchased by Jacob the Patriarch."[
]
Christianity
The present-day church containing the well has been built close to the archaeological
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
site of Tell Balata
Tell Balata ( ar, تل بلاطة) is the site of the remains of an ancient Canaanite and Israelite city, identified since 1913 with the Biblical city of Shechem. It is located in the West Bank. The built-up area of Balata, a Palestinian villag ...
, which is thought to be the site of biblical Shechem
Shechem ( ), also spelled Sichem ( ; he, שְׁכֶם, ''Šəḵem''; ; grc, Συχέμ, Sykhém; Samaritan Hebrew: , ), was a Canaanite and Israelite city mentioned in the Amarna Letters, later appearing in the Hebrew Bible as the first cap ...
.[Horne, 1856, pp. 50-51/] Some Biblical scholars contend that the plot of land is the same one upon which Jacob's Well was constructed. Other Biblical scholars have made note of the well discovered in the "open country" of the "land of the Kedemites" in Genesis 29 where Jacob meets his future bride, Rachel.[
Jacob's Well is mentioned by name once in the ]New Testament
The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Christ ...
in a passage () which says that Jesus
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
"came to a city of Samaria
Samaria (; he, שֹׁמְרוֹן, translit=Šōmrōn, ar, السامرة, translit=as-Sāmirah) is the historic and biblical name used for the central region of Palestine, bordered by Judea to the south and Galilee to the north. The first- ...
called Sychar
Shechem ( ), also spelled Sichem ( ; he, שְׁכֶם, ''Šəḵem''; ; grc, Συχέμ, Sykhém; Samaritan Hebrew: , ), was a Canaanite and Israelite city mentioned in the Amarna Letters, later appearing in the Hebrew Bible as the first cap ...
, near the field which Jacob gave to his son Joseph
Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...
. Jacob's well was there."[ ]John's Gospel
The Gospel of John ( grc, Εὐαγγέλιον κατὰ Ἰωάννην, translit=Euangélion katà Iōánnēn) is the fourth of the four canonical gospels. It contains a highly schematic account of the ministry of Jesus, with seven "sig ...
goes on to describe a conversation between Jesus and a Samaritan woman
The Samaritan woman at the well is a figure from the Gospel of John. John 4:4–42 relates her conversation with Jesus in Christianity, Jesus at Jacob's Well near the city of Sychar.
Biblical account
The woman appears in ; here is John 4:4–26 ...
(called Photini
The Samaritan woman at the well is a figure from the Gospel of John. John 4:4–42 relates her conversation with Jesus at Jacob's Well near the city of Sychar.
Biblical account
The woman appears in ; here is John 4:4–26:
This episode take ...
in Orthodox tradition), which took place while Jesus was resting at the well after a tiring journey.[Becchio and Schadé, 2006. Listed under the entry for "Jacob's fountain".] () The site is counted as a Christian holy site. From a Christian perspective, the reference in John's Gospel to the well seems to hint at a deeper nuptial reading of Jesus as the Bridegroom of Israel come to reunite the divided tribes through a spiritual union with him, the long-awaited Messiah; see St. Augustine
Augustine of Hippo ( , ; la, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis; 13 November 354 – 28 August 430), also known as Saint Augustine, was a theologian and philosopher of Berber origin and the bishop of Hippo Regius in Numidia, Roman North Afri ...
's Tractate 15 on the Gospel of John.
History
The writings of pilgrim
A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) who is on Pilgrimage, a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journey (often on foot) to some place of special significance to the a ...
s indicate that Jacob's Well has been situated within different churches built at the same site over time.[ By the 330s CE, the site had been identified as the place where Jesus held his conversation with the Samaritan woman, and was probably being used for Christian ]baptism
Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...
s.[Pringle and Leach, 1993, p. 258.] By 384 CE, a cruciform
Cruciform is a term for physical manifestations resembling a common cross or Christian cross. The label can be extended to architectural shapes, biology, art, and design.
Cruciform architectural plan
Christian churches are commonly described ...
church was built over the site, and is mentioned in the 4th century writings of Saint Jerome
Jerome (; la, Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus; grc-gre, Εὐσέβιος Σωφρόνιος Ἱερώνυμος; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was a Christian priest, confessor, theologian, and historian; he is comm ...
.[ This church was most likely destroyed during the ]Samaritan revolts
The Samaritan revolts (c. 484–573) were a series of insurrections in Palaestina Prima province, launched by the Samaritans against the Eastern Roman Empire. The revolts were marked by great violence on both sides, and their brutal suppression a ...
of 484 or 529 CE.[ Subsequently, rebuilt by ]Justinian
Justinian I (; la, Iustinianus, ; grc-gre, Ἰουστινιανός ; 48214 November 565), also known as Justinian the Great, was the Byzantine emperor from 527 to 565.
His reign is marked by the ambitious but only partly realized ''renovat ...
, this second Byzantine
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
era church was still standing in the 720s CE, and possibly into the early 9th century CE.[
The Byzantine church was definitely in ruins by the time the ]Crusaders
The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...
occupied Nablus
Nablus ( ; ar, نابلس, Nābulus ; he, שכם, Šəḵem, ISO 259-3: ; Samaritan Hebrew: , romanized: ; el, Νεάπολις, Νeápolis) is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a populati ...
in August 1099 CE; early 12th-century accounts by pilgrims to the site speak of the well without mentioning a church.[ These include the appointment of Sir Henry Maleverer as guardian of the well under the ]King of Jerusalem
The King of Jerusalem was the supreme ruler of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, a Crusader states, Crusader state founded in Jerusalem by the Latin Church, Latin Catholic leaders of the First Crusade, when the city was Siege of Jerusalem (1099), conqu ...
. There are later 12th-century accounts of a newly built church at Jacob's Well. The first such definitive account comes from Theoderic
Theodoric is a Germanic given name. First attested as a Gothic name in the 5th century, it became widespread in the Germanic-speaking world, not least due to its most famous bearer, Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths.
Overview
The name ...
, who writes: "The well ... is a half a mile distant from the city Nablus: it lies in front of the altar in the church built over it, in which nuns devote themselves to the service of God. This well is called the Fountain of Jacob."[ This Crusader era church was constructed in 1175, likely due to the support of Queen Melisande, who was exiled to Nablus in 1152 where she lived until her death in 1161.][ This church appears to have been destroyed following ]Saladin
Yusuf ibn Ayyub ibn Shadi () ( – 4 March 1193), commonly known by the epithet Saladin,, ; ku, سهلاحهدین, ; was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. Hailing from an ethnic Kurdish family, he was the first of both Egypt and ...
's victory over the Crusaders in the Battle of Hittin
The Battle of Hattin took place on 4 July 1187, between the Crusader states of the Levant and the forces of the Ayyubid sultan Saladin. It is also known as the Battle of the Horns of Hattin, due to the shape of the nearby extinct volcano of t ...
in 1187.[
In March 1697, when ]Henry Maundrell
Henry Maundrell (1665–1701) was an academic at Oxford University and later a Church of England clergyman, who served from 20 December 1695 as chaplain to the Levant Company in Syria. His ''Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem at Easter A.D. 1697' ...
visited Jacob's Well, the water stood at deep of the well's total depth of .[ Edward Robinson visited the site in the mid-19th century, describing the "remains of the ancient church," lying just above the well to the southwest as a "shapeless mass of ruins, among which are seen fragments of gray, granite columns, still retaining their ancient polish."][Robinson and Smith, 1856, p. 132.] Local Christians continued to venerate the site even when it was without a church. In 1860, the site was obtained by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate and a new church, consecrated to St. Photini the Samaritan, was built in 1893 along with a small monastery.[Gurevich & Harani (2017). p. 26–54.] The 1927 Jericho earthquake
The 1927 Jericho earthquake was a devastating event that shook Mandatory Palestine and Transjordan on July 11 at . The epicenter of the earthquake was in the northern area of the Dead Sea. The cities of Jerusalem, Jericho, Ramle, Tiberias, and Nab ...
destroyed that building.
In November 1979, at a time of increased tensions on the West Bank, the custodian of the well, Archimandrite Philoumenos, was found hatcheted to death inside the crypt housing the well. The assailant, a mentally ill resident of Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...
, was apprehended three years later and confessed to that slaying and others, including an assault on a nun at the monastery and the axe murder of a Jewish psychiatrist in Tel Aviv. In 2009, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem
The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, el, Πατριαρχεῖον Ἱεροσολύμων, ''Patriarcheîon Hierosolýmōn;'' he, הפטריארכיה היוונית-אורתודוקסית של ירושלים; ar, كنيسة الرو ...
declared Philoumenos a saint thirty years after his death.
Abuna (meaning "Father") Ioustinos, a Greek Orthodox priest from Nablus, later spearheaded a huge reconstruction project. Jacob's Well has since been restored and a new church modelled along the designs of the Crusader-era church houses the well inside it, in a crypt on a lower level.[
]
Physical description and location
Jacob's Well is located from ''Tell Balata'' in the eastern part of the city of Nablus within the grounds of the Bir Ya'qub monastery. The well is accessed by entering the church on the monastery grounds, and descending the stairs to a crypt
A crypt (from Latin ''crypta'' "vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, sarcophagi, or religious relics.
Originally, crypts were typically found below the main apse of a chur ...
where the well still stands, along with "a small winch, a bucket, ex-voto icons and lots of lit candles."
According to Major Anderson, who visited the site in 1866, the well has: "...a narrow opening, just wide enough to allow the body of a man to pass through with arms uplifted, and this narrow neck, which is about 4 ft. long, opens into the well itself, which is cylindrically shaped, and opens about 7 ft. 6 in. in diameter. The well and upper part of the well are built of masonry
Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry construction are bricks, building ...
, and the well appears to have been sunk through a mixture of alluvial soil and limestone
Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...
fragments, till a compact bed of mountain limestone was reached, having horizontal strata which could be easily worked; and the interior of the well presents the appearance of having been lined throughout with rough masonry."
Based on a measurement made in 1935, the total depth of the well is .[
]
See also
*Bir Ma'in
Bir Ma'in was a Palestinian Arab village in the Ramle Subdistrict. It was depopulated during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War on July 15, 1948 during the second phase of Operation Danny by the First and Second Battalions of the Yiftach Brigade. It was l ...
, Arab village near Ramle, connected by a foundation legend to Jacob/Ya'kub and Daughters of Jacob Bridge/Jisr Benat Ya'kub.
*Daughters of Jacob Bridge
Daughters of Jacob Bridge ( he, גשר בנות יעקב, ''Gesher Bnot Ya'akov''; ar, جسر بنات يعقوب, ''Jisr Benat Ya'kub''). is a bridge that spans the last natural ford of the Jordan at the southern end of the Hula Basin between ...
on the Jordan, associated with biblical Jacob due to a misunderstanding
*Jubb Yussef (Joseph's Well)
Jubb Yussef ( ar, جُبّ يُوسُف, he, גוב יוסף), also known as "Joseph's Well" in English, is an archaeological site in Ramat Korazim in Galilee, Israel. It is believed by Muslims to be the site of the pit into which Joseph in Is ...
, site associated with biblical Joseph in Muslim tradition
*Levantine archaeology
Levantine archaeology is the archaeological study of the Levant. It is also known as Syro-Palestinian archaeology or Palestinian archaeologyDavis, 2004, p. 146.Dever, 2001, p. 61. (particularly when the area of inquiry centers on ancient Palestin ...
*Philoumenos (Hasapis) of Jacob's Well
New Martyr Archimandrite Philoumenos (Hasapis) of Jacob's Well (; ; or , 15 October 1913 – 29 November 1979) was the Hegumen of the Greek Orthodox monastery of Jacob's Well,in the city of Nablus (''Neapolis''), in the West Bank. He was murdered ...
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
* Maundrell, H. (1836).
A Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem: At Easter, A.D. 1697 : to which is Added an Account of the Author's Journey to the Banks of the Euphrates at Beer, and to the Country of Mesopotamia
'. 271 pages.
*
*
External links
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Religion in Palestine (region)
Jacob
Churches in the West Bank
Buildings and structures in Nablus
Water wells
Tourist attractions in the State of Palestine
Church buildings in the Kingdom of Jerusalem
State of Palestine in the Roman era
The original story of the discovery of the well, by Jacob, and of his meeting Rachel. Specifically, verses 2,3,10,11 of Chapter 29 of Genesis.[{{cite web , title=King James Bible: King James Version (KJV) , url=https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis-Chapter-29/ , website=King James Bible Online , publisher=King James Bible Online , access-date=June 15, 2021]