Jacob's Well

Coordinates: 32°12′34.06″N 35°17′7.19″E / 32.2094611°N 35.2853306°E / 32.2094611; 35.2853306
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For other uses, see Jacob's Well (disambiguation).
Jacob's Well
Jacob's Well in 2013.
Map showing the West Bank
Map showing the West Bank
Shown within the West Bank
LocationNear Balata village, West Bank
Coordinates32°12′34″N 35°17′07″E / 32.209461°N 35.285331°E / 32.209461; 35.285331
TypeWell
Jacob's Well, 1912
The Greek Orthodox St. Photini Church at Bir Ya'qub in 2008
The dome of St. Photini Church at Bir Ya'qub (2008)

Jacob's Well,

Eastern Orthodox church and monastery, has been associated in religious tradition with the biblical patriarch Jacob
for roughly two millennia.

Religious significance

Jacob's Well is named in the New Testament Gospel of John as the scene of Jesus's encounter with the Samaritan woman:

So [Jesus] came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well.[3]

The location of Sychar is uncertain; it may have been a town on the eastern slopes of Mount Ebal, or it may be another name for Shechem.[4] Jacob is an Old Testament patriarch whose story is told in the Hebrew Book of Genesis. There is no specific mention in the Hebrew Bible of a well owned by Jacob, but the plot of ground described as the location of the well is considered by biblical scholars to be identical with the plot purchased by Jacob in Genesis 33, which was said to be "within sight" of Shechem.[2][5]

The present-day church at Balata village is close to the archaeological site of Tell Balata, traditionally identified with Shechem.[6] The well within this church has long been associated with the New Testament narrative, and Christian tradition therefore holds this well to have been dug by Jacob.[2] The same belief is found among the Samaritans.[2][7] Scholars such as James Hastings and Geoffrey W. Bromiley assert that Jewish tradition likewise connects the well with Jacob,[2][1] but David Gurevich and Yisca Harani claim that "Judaism does not attribute any religious significance to the site".[7]

History

The writings of

Byzantine era church was still standing in the 720s AD, and possibly into the early 9th century AD.[8]

The Byzantine church was definitely in ruins by the time the

Battle of Hittin in 1187.[1][2]

In March 1697, when

St. Photini the Samaritan, was built in 1893 along with a small monastery.[13] The 1927 Jericho earthquake
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, 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.[13][14][15][16] In 2009, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem 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.[10]

Physical description and location

Jacob's Well is located 76 meters (249 ft) from Tell Balata in the eastern part of the city of Nablus within the grounds of the Bir Ya'qub monastery.[1][10] The well is accessed by entering the church on the monastery grounds, and descending the stairs to a crypt where the well still stands, along with "a small winch, a bucket, ex-voto icons and lots of lit candles."[17]

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, and the well appears to have been sunk through a mixture of alluvial soil and limestone 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."[1]

Based on a measurement made in 1935, the total depth of the well is 41 meters (135 ft).[1]

Notes and references

Notes
  1. Arabic: بِئْر يَعْقُوب, romanized: Biʾr Yaʿqūb; Greek: Φρέαρ του Ιακώβ, romanized: Fréar tou Iakóv; Hebrew: באר יעקב, romanized
    : Beʾer Yaʿaqov
References
  1. ^ a b c d e f g Bromiley 1982, p. 955
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Hastings & Driver 2004, pp. 535–537
  3. ^ "John 4 (NIV)". Biblica.
  4. ^ Douglas, Tenney & Silva 2011, p. 1403
  5. ^ "Genesis 33:18-20 (NIV)". Biblica.
  6. ^ Rast 1992, p. 31
  7. ^ a b Gurevich & Harani 2017, p. 28
  8. ^ a b c d e f Pringle 1993, p. 258
  9. ^ Brewer 2001, p. 1150
  10. ^ a b c "Bir Ya'qub (Jacob's Well)". PUSH. Archived from the original on 15 December 2008.
  11. ^ Maundrell 1836, pp. 105–106
  12. ^ Robinson & Smith 1856, p. 132
  13. ^ a b Gurevich & Harani 2017, pp. 26–54
  14. ^ "Charges Filed in Nablus Axe Murder Case". Jerusalem Post. 15 December 1982.
  15. ^ "TA eccentric 'confesses' to 1979 murders, police say". Jerusalem Post. 2 December 1982.
  16. ^ "Psychiatric Test for Confessed Slayer". The Jerusalem Post. 17 December 1982.
  17. ^ "Nablus, Holy Land". Atlas Tours. Retrieved 7 December 2008.
Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jacob's Well, Nablus.

32°12′34.06″N 35°17′7.19″E / 32.2094611°N 35.2853306°E / 32.2094611; 35.2853306

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