ivfz 
BETHLEHEM. 411 
each other \ There is at present a particular c^^^'- 
reason for wishing to establish the accuracy of > v-— ' 
Josephiis in this part of his writings. In the 
same passage he makes allusion to a celebrated 
Well, which, both from the account given by nnvid's 
him of its situation, and more especially from 
the text of Sacred Scripture% seems to have 
contained the identical fountain, of whose pure 
and delicious water we were now drinking. 
Considered merely in point of interest, the nar- 
rative is not likely to be surpassed by any cir- 
cumstance of Paoran history. It shall be related intcebt 
Circuni- 
both with reference to the words of Scripture, stances 
and to the account given by Josephus. ' David, with its 
being a native of Bethlehem, calls to mind, during 
the sultry days of harvest^ a icell near to the 
gate of the town, of whose delicious water he 
had often tasted; and expresses an earnest 
desire to assuage his thirst by drinking of that 
limpid spring. "And David loxged, and 
(5) "Sed error hie non est Josepbi, verum ex verbis ejus mal^ iutel- 
lectis natus. Inspice verba Graeca. Illud aorixovirris refertur ad vol^ai; 
Bn^Xiift,, sic ut scnsus sit urbem Bethleem distare 20 stadiis ab urbe 
HierosolymitanA : Sed refer illud ad vocem -ra^iftPtaXy,;, et hostilem ex- 
ercituni ; atque ita Josepbus scripsit castia inimicorum, quae erant in 
valle se extenJeiite usque ad urbem Bfcthleeni, abfuisse Hierosolymis 20 
stadia ; non ipsam urbem Bethleem Hierosolymis abfuisse 20 stadiorum 
intervallum. Peccant itaque versiones quae Josephum ita loquenteni 
inducunt." Reland. Pal. Illust. lib. ii. c. 9. 
(6) 2 Sam. xxiji. 15. (t) Ibid. ver. 13. 
Plibtorv. 
