Pools in Easton's Bible Dictionary
a pond, or reservoir, for holding water (Heb. berekhah;
modern
Arabic, birket), an artificial cistern or tank.
Mention is made
of the pool of Gibeon (2 Sam. 2:13); the pool of
Hebron (4:12);
the upper pool at Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:17; 20:20);
the pool of
Samaria (1 Kings 22:38); the king's pool (Neh.
2:14); the pool
of Siloah (Neh. 3:15; Eccles. 2:6); the fishpools of
Heshbon
(Cant. 7:4); the "lower pool," and the "old pool"
(Isa.
22:9,11).
The "pool of Bethesda" (John 5:2,4, 7) and the "pool
of
Siloam" (John 9:7, 11) are also mentioned. Isaiah
(35:7) says,
"The parched ground shall become a pool." This is
rendered in
the Revised Version "glowing sand," etc. (marg.,
"the mirage,"
etc.). The Arabs call the mirage "serab," plainly
the same as
the Hebrew word _sarab_, here rendered "parched
ground." "The
mirage shall become a pool", i.e., the mock-lake of
the burning
desert shall become a real lake, "the pledge of
refreshment and
joy." The "pools" spoken of in Isa. 14:23 are the
marshes caused
by the ruin of the canals of the Euphrates in the
neighbourhood
of Babylon.
The cisterns or pools of the Holy City are for the
most part
excavations beneath the surface. Such are the vast
cisterns in
the temple hill that have recently been discovered
by the
engineers of the Israel Exploration Fund. These
underground
caverns are about thirty-five in number, and are
capable of
storing about ten million gallons of water. They are
connected
with one another by passages and tunnels.
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