Jacobs well in Biblical History

Schaff's Bible Dictionary

Definitions in Biblical History
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What is Jacobs well?
JA'COB'S WELL
, the well at which Jesus sat and talked with the Samaritan woman, John 4:5-6, near Shechem; comp. Gen 33:19; Josh 24:32. Here our blessed Lord, weary of travel, but not of his work of saving love, offered to a poor woman the living water of eternal life and revealed to her the sublime truth of the true worship of God, who is a Spirit, in spirit and in truth. Here he sowed the seed for the harvest of the apostles. Acts 8. This is one of the few places in the Holy Land which can be identified with certainty. Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, Samaritans, all agree in regard to the site of Jacob's well. It is situated a mile and a half south-east of the town of Nablus, the ancient Shechem, at the eastern base of Mount Gerizim, near the edge of the plain of Moreh (Mukun), and close to the highway from Jerusalem to Galilee. The well is in an almost square enclosure, which measures 192 feet by 151 feet; the wall of this enclosure is almost Jacob's Well. entirely destroyed, and the ground is covered with shapeless ruins forming a large mound. The well is now 75 feet deep, 7 feet 6 inches in diameter, and the upper part lined with rough masonry. It must have been very much deeper in ancient times, for in the course of 10 years it decreased 10 feet in depth, and Robinson in 1838 found it 105 feet deep. Captain Anderson estimates that it has been filled up to probably more than half of its original depth by the stones thrown into it by visitors for the sake of hearing them strike, and by the debris from the ruined church built over the well during the fourth century. The bottom of the well is at times entirely dry, but in some seasons it contains water. Money has been contributed to the British Palestine Exploration Fund for the purpose of clearing out the well and preserving its sacred associations.

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Schaff, Philip, Dr. "Biblical Definition for 'jacobs well' in Schaffs Bible Dictionary".
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