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Fountain
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foun'-tin (eye of the water desert)
RELATED: Cistern, Well |
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Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Hebrew. 'ain; i.e., "eye" of the water desert), a natural
source of living water. Palestine was a "land of brooks of water, of fountains,
and depths that spring out of valleys and hills" ( Deuteronomy
8:7 ; 11:11
).
These fountains, bright sparkling "eyes" of the desert, are remarkable for their
abundance and their beauty, especially on the west of Jordan. All the perennial
rivers and streams of the country are supplied from fountains, and depend comparatively
little on surface water. "Palestine is a country of mountains and hills, and it
abounds in fountains of water. The murmur of these waters is heard in every dell,
and the luxuriant foliage which surrounds them is seen in every plain." Besides
its rain-water, its cisterns and fountains, Jerusalem had also an abundant supply
of water in the magnificent reservoir called "Solomon's Pools" (q.v.), at the
head of the Urtas valley, whence it was conveyed to the city by subterrean channels
some 10 miles in length. These have all been long ago destroyed, so that no water
from the "Pools" now reaches Jerusalem. Only one fountain has been discovered
at Jerusalem, the so-called "Virgins's Fountains," in the valley of Kidron; and
only one well (Hebrew. beer), the Bir Eyub, also in the valley of Kidron, south
of the King's Gardens, which has been dug through the solid rock. The inhabitants
of Jerusalem are now mainly dependent on the winter rains, which they store in
cisterns. (See WELL)
Hitchcock's Dictionary of Bible Names
(no entry)
Smith's Bible Dictionary
(a spring in distinction from a well). The springs of
Palestine, though short-lived, are remarkable for their abundance and beauty,
especially those which fall into the Jordan and into its lakes, of which there
are hundreds throughout its whole course. The spring or fountain of living water,
the "eye" of the landscape, is distinguished in all Oriental languages from the
artificially-sunk and enclosed well. Jerusalem appears to have possessed either
more than one perennial spring or one issuing by more than one outlet. In Oriental
cities generally public fountains are frequent. Traces of such fountains at Jerusalem
may perhaps be found in the names of Enrogel, ( 2
Samuel 17:17 ) the "Dragon well" or fountain, and the "gate of the fountain."
( Nehemiah
2:13 , 2:14
)
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
foun'-tin, foun'-tan:
In a country where no rain falls for half of the year, springs sume an importance
unknown in more favored lands. In both eastern and western Palestine and even
in Lebanon there are many villages which depend entirely upon reservoirs or cisterns
of rain water. Others are situated along the courses of the few perennial streams.
But wherever a spring exists it is very apt to be the nucleus of a village. It
may furnish sufficient water to be used in irrigation, in which case the gardens
surrounding the village become an oasis in the midst of the parched land. Or there
may be a tiny stream which barely suffices for drinking water, about which the
village women and girls sit and talk waiting their turns to fill their jars, sometimes
until far in the night. The water of the village fountain is often conveyed by
a covered conduit for some distance from the source to a convenient spot in the
village where an arch is built up, under which the water gushes out. See CISTERN;
SPRING; WELL; EN-, and place-names compounded with EN-.
Figurative:
(1) of God (Psalms 36:9 ; Jeremiah 2:13 ; 17:13);
(2) of Divine pardon and purification, with an obvious Messianic reference (Zechariah
13:1);
(3) of wisdom and godliness (Proverbs 13:14 ; 14:27);
(4) of wives (Proverbs 5:18);
(5) of children (Deuteronomy 33:28 ; compare Psalms 68:26 ; Proverbs 5:16);
(6) of prosperity (Psalms 107:35 ; 114:8 ; Hosea 13:15);
(7) of the heart (Ecclesiastes 12:6 ; see CISTERN);
(8) of life everlasting (Revelation 7:17 ; 21:6).
Alfred Ely Day
Tags:
bible commentary, bible history, bible reference, bible study, define, figurative meaning, fountain, spring
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