BETIiLSi-IEM. 
&1P 
!ly of theEr valour and affection. The aged monarch* receives 
irvMji their hands a pledge they had so dearly earned, but re¬ 
fuses to drink of water, every drop of which had been purchas¬ 
ed by their blood.f He returns thanks to the 'Almighty, who 
had vouchsafed the deliverance of Ills warriors from the jeop¬ 
ardy they had encountered ; and making libation with the 
precious gift, pours it upon the ground, an offering to the 
Lord.J Tire ancient character arid history of the early inhabi¬ 
tants of Judaea are beautifully illustrated by this brief record ; 
but it presents a picture of manners which has not lost its pro¬ 
totype among the Arabs of the same country at this day. The 
well, too, still retains its pristine renown; and many an expa¬ 
triated Beihiehemite has made it the theme of his longing and 
regret. As there is no other well corresponding in its situa¬ 
tion with the description given by the sacred historian and by 
Josephus—and the text of scripture so decidedly marks its lo¬ 
cality, at the farthest extremity of Bethlehem (with reference 
to Jerusalem,) that is to say, near die gate of the town on tire 
eastern side,§ {for David’s captains had to Eg lit through all 
the garrison stationed within the place, before they reached 
it,)!}*—this ma 7 have been David’s Well. It is well known to 
travellers who have seen the wells of Greece and of the Holy 
Land, that there exists no monument of ancient times more 
permanent than even an artifice 1 well; that vases of Jcrm 
cottfa of the highest antiquity, have been found in cleansing 
the wells of Athens; and if they be natural sources, springing 
from cavities in the limestone rocks of a country where a well 
is the most important possession of the people, (in which num¬ 
ber this well of Bethlehem may be classed,) there seems no rea¬ 
son to doubt the possibility of its existence in the remote ages 
whereto it is now referred. It has not hitherto excited the 
f “Notv king David was old, and stricken in years.” 1 Kings, i. 1. 
| That is to say, which was the price of blood. “Is not this the blood of the 
men that went in jeopardy of their lives (2 Sam. xxiib 17.) It was contrary to- 
the Jewish law to use any thing which might be considered as the price of blood. 
Thus it is recorded by St Matthew, (xxvii. 6.) “ And the chief priests took the silver" 
pieces, and said, it is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the 
price of blood.” 
| ’'EaTrcicridt dir‘ > outS tw 0fw, xal rrepl t ns crwrnpias rwv dv$p£jvr>v%GptcrTr)(T£vau7U}, 
il Deo autern inde libavit,'eique pro virorum incolumitate gratias egit.” Joseph, 
Antiq. lib. vii, c. 12. tom. I. p. 402.1726. 
§ “ Bethlehem in dorso sita est augusto, ex omni parte vallibus circumdato. Ab 
Occidente in brientem mille passibus longa, humili sine turribus muro; in cujus cri- 
entali angulo quasi quoddam naturale semiantrum est,” etc. Beda in libro de Locis 
Sanctis, cap. viii. 
fj This appears by the context, (2 Sam. xxiii. 14. 16.) “ And the garrison of the 
Philistines was then in Beth-lehem.And the three mighty men brake 
through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of BetMeh&m 
that wa& by the gate,” &c, 
