412 THE HOLY LAND. 
CHAP. SAID, Oh that oxe would give me drink of 
IX. 
< , ,- / THE WATER OF THE WELL OF BetH-LEHEM, 
WHICH IS Br THE GATE ! " The exclamation is 
overheard by " three of the mighty men whom 
David had ;" by ^dino, by Eleazar, and by 
Shammah\ These men, the most mighty of all 
the chiefs belonging to David's host, sallied 
forth, and, having fought their way through the 
Philistine garrison^ at Betkiehem, " drew water 
from the ivell, that w^as by the gate," on the 
other side of the town, " and took it, and 
brought it to David." Josephus lays the scene 
of action in the valley ^ calling these renowned 
warriors by the names of Jessaem, Eleazar, and 
Sehas": he further says, that as they returned 
back, bearing the water through the Philistine 
camp, their enemies, gazing in wonder at the 
intrepidity of the enterprise, offered them 
no molestation ^ Coming into the presence of 
(i) 2 Sam. xxiii. 8, 9, 11. 
(2) "And the garnson of the Philistines was then in Beth-lehem." 
Ibid. ver. 14. 
(3) Vid. Joseph. Anliq. lib. vii. c. 12. torn. I. p. 402. ed. prasced. 
(4) Vid. Joseph. Antiq. ibid. p. 401. Without attempting to 
reconcile Adino with Jessaem, it may be observed that Se\uis was 
probably Semas ; the antient Greek b and m being-, in MS, scarcely 
distinfjjuishablc from each other, 
(5) 'Cli rcivi naXanrTivsus xarxvXay'cvras avraii <ro ^patre; xx) t-/jv li^pu'^iav, 
r.fif/.'rKrai, Ktu f/.yiih It' air oh; roXfctirai, x. r. X. " Adeo ut Palw.ttini, 
eorum audacid animique fortitudine atlonili, quieverint, riihilqtie m 
^)ios ausift'.erint, Sfc." Ibid. p. 402. 
