JACOB’S WELL AT SHECHEM. 
Tins most memorable Well is universally honoured by the Jews and Samaritans as the 
Well of Jacob, and by the Christians as the Bir-es-Samiriyeh (the Well of the Samaritan 
Woman). The conviction of its identity with the latter alone could have prompted the 
zeal of the early Christians to build a Church over it, but which is now to be scarcely 
distinguished in its heap of ruins. The broken shafts of some granite columns, half buried 
in the soil, mark where their zeal and devotion had acknowledged the truth of the tradition 
in favour of this Well; for, two other fountains, within three or four hundred yards, might 
have disputed the interest, and the honour of being the historic Well; but, as in the 
case already shown, of the Tomb of Joseph, which lies in the inclosure seen in this view, all 
agree as to which is the true object of reverence. The Church is supposed to have been 
built in the fourth century, “ though not by Helena, as reported in modern times; for 
Eusebius and the Bordeaux Pilgrim mention, as early as A.d. 333, the Well, but not the 
Church.” It is, however, spoken of by writers of the fifth and sixth centuries. At present 
only the broken columns of the scattered ruins mark that such a structure existed there. 1 
Robinson enters, with his usual intelligence, into the investigation of the subject: he 
says, — “ Before the days of Eusebius, there seems to be no historical testimony to the 
identity of the Well with that which our Saviour visited, and the proof must therefore rest, 
so far as it can be made out at all, on circumstantial evidence. I am not aware of anything 
in the nature of the case, that goes to contradict the common tradition; but on the other 
hand, I see much in the circumstances, tending to confirm the supposition, that this is 
actually the spot where our Lord held his conversation with the Samaritan woman. Jesus 
was journeying from Jerusalem to Galilee, and rested at the well, while ‘ his disciples were 
gone away into the city to buy meat.’ 2 The well, therefore, lay apparently before the city, 
and at some distance from it. In passing along the eastern plain, our Lord had halted at 
the well, and sent his disciples to the city, situated in the narrow valley, intending, on their 
return, to proceed along the plain on his way to Galilee, without entering the city. All 
this corresponds exactly with the present character of the ground. The well, too, was 
Jacob’s Well, of high antiquity; a known and venerated spot, which, after having lived for 
so many ages in tradition, woidd not be likely to be forgotten in the two and a half centuries, 
intervening between St. John and Eusebius. I think we may thus rest with confidence in 
the opinion that this is Jacob’s Well, and here the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his 
son Joseph. Here the Saviour, wearied with his journey, sat upon the well, and taught 
the Samaritan woman those great truths, which have broken down the separating wall 
between Jews and Gentiles: 4 God is a Spirit; and they that worship him, must worship 
him in spirit and in truth.’ Here, too, as the people flocked to him from the city to hear 
him, he pointed his disciples to the waving 3 fields which decked the noble plain around, 
1 Biblical Researches, iii. 109. Roberts’s Journal. 2 John, iv. 3—8. 
3 The epithet “ waving,” if it imply the maturity of the crop, wants the Author's habitual 
accuracy. Our Lord’s allusion was obviously to the contrast between the physical nakedness of the field 
at that moment, and the spiritual harvest, which his eye saw ripening. 
