Solomons Pools

Solomon's Pools

(Ec 2:6). Of the various pools mentioned in Scripture, or usually regarded as such, perhaps the most celebrated are the Pools of Solomon in Wady Urtas, between Hebron and Bethlehem, called by the Arabs el-Burak, from which an aqueduct was carried which still supplies Jerusalem with water (Ecclus. 24:30, 31). They are three in number, partly hewn out of the rock, and partly built with masonry, but all lined with cement, and formed on successive levels, with conduits leading from the upper to the lower, and flights of steps from the top to the bottom of each (Sandys, Trav. p. 150). They are all formed in the sides of the valley of Etham, with a dam across its opening, which forms the east side of the lowest pool. Their dimensions are thus given by Dr. Robinson (Bibl Res. 1, 348, 374):

(1.) Upper pool length 380 feet; breadth at the east 236 feet, at the west 229 feet; depth at the east 25 feet; distance above the middle pool 160 feet.

(2.) Middle pool: length 423 feet; breadth at the east 250 feet, at the west 160 feet; depth 39 feet; distance above the lower pool 248 feet.

(3.) Lower pool: length 582 feet; breadth at the east 207 feet, at the west 14.8 feet; depth 50 feet. They appear to be supplied in part from a spring in the ground above (see Thomson, Land and Book, 1, 311), but they are evidently filled mostly by surface water in the rainy season, as they drain the neighboring hillsides. The aqueduct has two lines, an upper and a lower level; the former tunnelling the hill, and the latter passing near the surface by way of Bethlehem (see Ordnance Survey of Jerusalem, Notes, p. 80 sq.). SEE POOL.