Enrogel

En-ro'gel (Hebrews Eyn Rcgel', עֵין רֹגֵל, fount of the treader, q.v. foot-fountain; construed by Furst, after the Targums, with the Arabic and Syriac versions, "Fullers' Spring," because fullers trode the clothes in the water; but Gesenius renders "fountain of the spy;" Sept. πηγὴ ῾Ρωγήλ, Vulg. fons Rogel), a spring which formed one of the landmarks on the boundary-line between Judah (Jos 15:7) and Benjamin (18:16). It was the point next to Jerusalem, and at a lower level, as is evident from the use of the words " ascended" and "descended" in these two passages. Here, apparently concealed from the view of the city, Jonathan and Ahimaaz remained, after the flight of David, awaiting intelligence from within the walls (2Sa 17:17), and here, "by the stone Zoheleth, which is 'close to' (אֵצֶל) En-rogel," Adonijah held the feast, which was the first and last act of his attempt on the crown (1Ki 1:9). By Josephus, on the last incident (Ant. 7:14, 4), its situation is given as "without the city, in the royal garden," and it is without doubt referred to by him in the same connection, in his description of the earthquake which accompanied the sacrilege of Uzziah (Ant. 9:10, 4), and which, "at the place called Erove" (Ε᾿ρωγῆ v.r. Ε᾿ῤῤωγῆ), shook down a part of the Eastern hill, "so as to obstruct the roads, and the royal gardens." In more modern times, a tradition, apparently first recorded by Quaresmius, would make En-rogel identical with what is now called by the Franks the well of Nehemiah, and by the natives that of Job (Bir-Eyub). Robinson describes it as "a deep well situated just below the junction of the valley of Hinnom with that of Jehoshaphat. The small oblong plain there formed is covered with an olive- grove, and with the traces of former gardens extending down the valley from the present gardens of Siloam. Indeed, this whole spot is the prettiest and most fertile around Jerusalem. The vell is very deep, of an irregular quadrilateral form, walled up with large squared stones, terminating above in an arch on one side, and apparently of great antiquity. There is a small rude building over it, furnished with one or two large troughs or reservoirs of stone, which are kept partially filled for the convenience of the people. The well measures 125 feet in depth, 50 feet of which was now full of water. The water is sweet, but not very cold, and is at the present day drawn up by the hand. In the rainy season the well becomes quite full, and sometimes overflows at the mouth. Usually, however, the water runs ,off under the surface of thie ground, and finds an outlet some forty yards below the well, whence it is said to flow for sixty or seventy days in winter, and the stream is sometimes large" (Researches, 1:490). In favor of this identification is the fact that in the Arabic version of Jos 15:7 the name of Ain-Eyub, or "spring of Job," is given for En-rogel, and also that in an early Jewish Itinerary (Uri of Biel, in Hottinger's Cippi Hebraici, page 48) the name is given as "well of Joab," as if retaining the memory of Joab's connection with Adonijah — a name which it still retains in the traditions of the Greek Christians (Williams, Holy City, 2:490). Against this general belief the following strong but not conclusive arguments are urged by Bonar in favor of identifying En-rogel with the present "Fountain of the Virgin," 'Ain Ummed-Daraj — "spring of the mother of steps"-the perennial source from which the Pool of Siloam is supplied (Land of Promise, App. 5):

1. The Bir Eyub is a wel and not a spring (En), while, on the other hand, the "Fountain of the Virgin" is the only real spring close to Jerusalem. This objection, however, as the above description shows, but partially applies.

2. The situation of the Fountain of the Virgin agrees somewhat better with the course of the boundary of Benjamii than that of the Bir Eyub, which is rather too far south. This objection, however, does not apply to the original boundary of Benjamin, which necessarily followed the valley of Siloam. SEE TRIBE.

⇒Bible concordance for EN-ROGEL.

3. Bir Eyub does not altogether suit the requirements of 2Sa 17:17. It is too far off both from the city, and from the direct road over Olivet to the Jordan, and is in full view of the city (Van de Velde, 1:475), which the other spot is not. But we may readily suppose that a more retired route and a secluded spot would have been chosen for concealment.

4. The martyrdom of St. James (q.v.) was effected by casting him down from the temple wall into the valley of Kedron, where he was finally killed by a fuller with his washing-stick (Eusebius, Hist. Eccl. 2:23). The natural inference is that the martyred apostle fell near where the fullers were at work. Now Bir Eyub is too far off from the site of the temple to allow of this, but it might very well have happened at the Fountain of the Virgin. (See Stanley's Sermons on the Apost. Age, page 333-4). But this is too remote and indirect an agreement, and one based upon a vague tradition.

5. Daraj and Rogel are both from the same root, and therefore the modern name may be derived from the ancient one, even though at present it is taken to allude to the "steps" by which the reservoir of the fountain is reached.

6. The Fountain of the Virgin is still the great resort of the women of Jerusalem for washing and treading their clothes.

7. The level of the king's gardens must 'have been above the Bir Eyub, even when the water "is at the mouth of the well, and it is generally seventy or eighty feet below; while they must have been lower than the Fountain of the Virgin, which thus might be used without difficulty to irrigate them. The last considerations, however, have little weight (see Thomson, Land and Book, 2:528). SEE JERUSALEM.