En-rogel

En-rogel (Hebrew: ‛êyn rôgêl עין רגל) was a famous land-mark near Jerusalem. It was the hiding-place of David's spies, Jonathan and Ahimaaz (2 Sam. 17:17), and lay close to the stone Zoheleth where Adonijah held a sacrificial feast when he attempted to assert his claims to the throne (1 Kings 1:9). In later times it was one of the boundary marks between Judah and Benjamin (Josh. 15:7, 18:16). The obviously sacred character of the spring suggests that it is the same as the Dragon Well of Neh. 2:13.

There can be little doubt of its antiquity, and it may well have been a sacred place in pre-Israelite times. The meaning of the name and its identification are uncertain. The interpretation 'Fuller’s Well' does not bear the mark of antiquity. It is probable that, like Zoheleth, the original name had some sacred or mythic significance.

Two identifications of the place have met with considerable favour:

(1) the Virgin’s fountain (‘Ain Sitti Maryam), later ‘Ain Umm ed-Deraj, ‘the only real spring close to Jerusalem,' exactly opposite to which lies ez-Zehweleh, perhaps Zoheleth; and

(2) Bir-Eyyub, otherwise known as the Well of Nehemiah, at the junctiion of the W. er-Rababi and Kedron.

Against the latter it is urged that Bir-Eyyub is a well, not a spring, that it lies too far from ez-Zehweleh, although it lies near a large stone in Siloam village called Zehwillat, that it is in full view of the city, and does not suit the context of 2Sam. 17:17, and that its antiquity is uncertain. The chief points in favour of (1) (which Baed. identifies with Gihon spring) are: its antiquity and the evidence of Josephus. (Anti. vii. 14 4), who places the well in the royal gardens. Other arguments based upon the fact that in later times the well was used by fullers are necessarily precarious.

References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopaedia Biblica, a publication now in the public domain.