The works of the Reverend and learned John Lightfoot D. D., late Master of Katherine Hall in Cambridge such as were, and such as never before were printed : in two volumes : with the authors life and large and useful tables to each volume : also three maps : one of the temple drawn by the author himself, the others of Jervsalem and the Holy Land drawn according to the author's chorography, with a description collected out of his writings.

CHAP. XXIII. The Draw-Well Room. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (Book 23)

AT the West end of this famous Room Gazith, there was the House which was called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the House or Room of the Draw-Well: and the reason of the name was, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 a 1.1 Because there was a Well sunk there, with a wheel over it, and from thence they fetched up water to serve all the Court.

It was not a little water that was used and spent at the Temple for the filling of the Lavers, boiling the Offerings, washing the Sacrifices, nay for washing of the Court, and filling Cisterns for the Priests to bath in: It was not a small quantity of water that did serve these turns, and yet the Temple never wanted, but had it always in great abun∣dance: The place it self was dry, rocky, and without water, b 1.2 but they conveyed their water in pipes thither from a place at some distance where there was a spring head that lay convenient for such a purpose, which was called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The fountain Etam: Of this the Babylon Talmud discourseth in the place alledged in the Margin and to this purpose, c 1.3 The House of the Sanctuary was higher than the Land of Israel, and the Land of Israel was higher than other Lands: They knew not the like: as they produce in the Book of Joshua; It is written throughout. The border went down, and the border went up, and the border reached, &c. But of the Tribe of Benjamin it is written the border went up, but it is not written the border went down. Learn from hence, that this was a place thought ••it to build the Sanctuary in, by the Fountain Etam, because it was high: But they said, let us bring it a little l••wer, because

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it is written, And he shall dwell between his shoulders, Deut. XXXIII. 12. Their mean∣ing is this; that whereas the Sanctuary was to be higher than the rest of the Land, and whereas the tenor and scope of the Scripture holdeth out the Tribe of Benjamin to be highest, because all ascending and no going down is mentioned in the Chorography of his Tribe, therefore they thought of building the Temple by the Fountain Etam which was the highest ground of Benjamin: but when they considered upon Moses his prophecy that God should dwell between the shoulders of Benjamin and not upon his head; they thereupon chose Moriah a lower ground, and brought their water from Etam thither: d 1.4 An Aquaeduct came from Etam, saith the Jerusalem Talmud in the place quoted in the Margin: It is scarce within the bounds of the subject that we have in hand, to go about to search where this Etam was. There is a place in the Tribe of Simeon that is called by this name, 1 Chron. IV. 32. now though it is true that Simeon and Judah lay intermixed in their habitations, yet I believe this intermixture was not so near Jerusalem as our Etam was. There is mention of the Rock Etam, Judg. XV. 8. and of the City Etam, 1 Chron. XI. 6. let the Reader be his own chooser whether of these he will take for the place that we are upon, or whether he will refuse both: I only mention them; It belongeth rather to a survey of the Land, than of the Temple, to debate the matter to a determination. The Gloss upon the place of the Talmud cited above, saith e 1.5 It seemeth that the Fountain Etam was the Well of the waters of Nephtoah, of which there is mention, Jos. XVIII. 15. And to the like purpose speaketh Kimchi in this Comment upon that place of Joshua, f 1.6 They say (saith he) that the Well of the waters of Nephtoah was the Well Etam which is mentioned by our Rabbins: This place appeareth to have lain Westward of the Temple, and the Pipes from it to have come down upon that quarter, and to have passed along on the South-side of the House it self, in the place called the coming down of the waters, of which we have spoken before, and so to have been disposed of into the several Offices about the Court: and that in such abundance, as that it ran continually, and yielded water and to spare, upon all occasions: we shall have occasion to look after it again when we come to speak of the Molten Sea.

Of this conveyance of water, Aristeas, an eye-witness and spectator of it, giveth testi∣mony, in these words, g 1.7 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. There was a continual supply of water: as if there had sprung an abundant Fountain underneath. And there were wonderful and unexpressible receptacles un∣der ground, as appeared five furlongs space about the Temple: each one of which had divers Pipes, by which waters came in on every side, all these were of Lead, underground, and much earth laid upon them: And there were many vents on the Pavement, not to be seen at all, but to those that served; so that in a tri••e and easily, all the blood of the Sacrifices could be washed away, though it were never so much. And I will tell you how I came to know of these under∣ground receptacles: they brought me out more than four furlongs space out of the City, and one bad me stoop down at a certain place and listen what a noise the meeting of the waters made.

Now whereas it seemeth by this testimony, that water came to the Temple from several other places about Jerusalem, as well as from Etam, we shall not be much scrupulous about it, though among the Talmudicks I meet with no such intimation, but since they name Etam as the most eminent, and from whence the chiefest Vessels in the Temple were continually supplied, it may suffice to look after that only, and this may be enough to have spoken of it.

The Draw-Well, which and whose room we are now surveying h 1.8 is said to have been sunk or digged by the Children of the captivity upon their return and building of the Temple. But whether to a Spring that was in that place, or whether as a Cistern to re∣ceive the water from Etam, if it shall be questioned, there might be several reasons given ••o prove that it was for the later purpose: As, 1. Because it is not easie to conceive a Spring in that rocky place as Mount Moriah was, especially there having been none there looked after under the first Temple. 2. Because both the Talmudists and Aristeas cited before, do bring all the supply of water from other places. 3. Because the Laver is said in the testimony alledged out of the Jerusalem Talmud, to be supplied from the Well Etam, which that it was supplied from this Draw-Well we shall see hereafter. And, 4. Because there is mention of 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The place of the coming down of the water on the South side of the Temple, which hath been shewed in its due place, not capable of any construction so proper as this, that the Pipes from Etam came down along there.

The waters then from that Fountain Etam being gathered into this Well or great Cistern, were from hence dispersed into the several Offices and places where water was necessary (as the new River from the Water house into London) a Wheel being used to raise it and force it up into the Pipes or conveyances that were to carry it into the several receptacles and uses: For in some places there were Baths on the very top of the Gates, and buildings, as we shall observe as we go along, and to keep them full and in a continual supply of water, was required, some inforcing of the water up, which was done by the use and activity of this Wheel.

Now over this Well there was a fair building, suitable to the rest of the buildings about the Court, and it had a Door into the Court, that the Priests might readily and without going about, step out of the Court into it, when they had occasion to fetch up water for any use. And so are we to understand of that passage in the Treatise Ta∣mid, where speaking of him to whose lot it had fallen to cleanse the Burnt-offering Altar in a morning, it saith thus: i 1.9 He that had it allotted to him to cleanse the Altar must cleanse it: And they say to him, Take heed that thou touch not the Vessel, until thou hast wash∣ed thy hands and thy feet: (now the dish into which he was first to take up the ashes, was set between the rise of the Altar and the Altar in a corner on the West-side of the rise:) No Man went into the Court with him (for all the rest of the Priests staid still in the Lottery room) nor had he any Candle in his hand, but he went by the light of the fire on the Altar: and they saw him not, neither heard they his voice, until they heard the noise of the Engine that Ben Kattim made, namely the Engine of the Laver: and then they said he is about wash∣ing his hands and feet at the Laver. Now whatsoever this Engine of Ben Kattim's ma∣king was, which we shall inquire into afterward, it is undoubted that the water in which he washed at the Laver, was drawn out of the Draw-Well and conveyed into it after what manner we shall see anon, for the water might not stand in the Laver all night: And so it is apparent that this Priest that thus washed his hands and feet, was got into the Well∣room out of the Court, when the Gates of the Court were not yet opened, but went into it through a Door that went into that Room out of the Court.

This helpeth to understand that passage of Ezekiel of the living waters, Ezek. XLVII. which are said there to come down on the right side of the House on the South side of the Altar, vers. 1. alluding to the coming of the water into the Temple from Etam a Spring shut up and a Fountain sealed for that purpose: for the Pipes that brought the water from it, came down on the South side of the Temple, in the place that was called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 The coming down of the water, of which we have spoken already, and so into this Cistern in the Well-room, just over against the Altar, on the South side of it, and so was carried into the several Offices of the Temple, &c.

Notes

• a 1.1

  Mid. per. ••.
• b 1.2

  Maym. in B••••••h. Mikda••h. per. 5.
• c 1.3

  Z••vachin, per. 5. fol. 54. fac. 2.
• d 1.4

  Talm. Ierus. in Io••a per. 3. fol. 41.
• e 1.5

  Gloss. in Z••∣vachin ubi supr.
• f 1.6

  Kimch. ••n Josh. XVIII.
• g 1.7

  Aristeas Hist. ••xx. Interp. in Biblioth. patr. Tom. 2. Gr••co∣lat. pag. 866.
• h 1.8

  Gloss. in ••i••••n••ioth in o••••••v. in ••id. p••r 5.
• i 1.9

  Tal••. in Ta∣mid. per. 1.