Pool
Pool
is the rendering in the A. V. of the following Heb. and Greek words:
1. Usually , berekh (Sept. or ), or , berekh (Psa 84:6, SEE BERACHAH ), from , to fall on the knees (see Jdg 7:5-6). This word is akin to the Arabic Birkeli, and its Spanish form Al-berca. In the Old Test. it stands for the larger reservoirs of rain or spring water; while bor, cistern, is used for the smaller domestic tanks, of which every house had one or more. Some are supplied by springs, and some are merely receptacles for rain-water (Burckhardt, Syria, p. 314). It is thus applied to the large public reservoirs, corresponding to the tanks of India, belonging to the towns of Gibeon (2Sa 2:13), Hebron (2Sa 4:12), Samaria (1Ki 22:38), and Jerusalem; the upper pool, 2Ki 18:17; Isa 7:3; Isa 34:2 (now the Birket el-Mamilla); the lower pool, Isa 22:9; Isa 22:11 (Birket es- Sultan); Hezekiah’s pool, 2Ki 20:20 (Birket el-Hammhm); the king’s pool, Neh 2:14 (the fountain of the Virgin); the pool of Siloah, Neh 3:15 (Birket Silwan); and the old pool, Isa 22:11. We read also (Ecc 2:6) of the pools or cisterns made by Solomon to irrigate his gardens. The importance of these reservoirs in a country possessing scarcely more than one perennial stream, and where wells are few and inconsiderable, can hardly be estimated by those accustomed to an unfailing abundance of the precious fluid. In Jer 14:3 we have a powerful description of the disappointment caused by the failure of the water in the cisterns (; A. V. pits; comp. Isa 42:15; Jer 2:13). In modern Palestine they are often very filthy, although in constant use (Thomson, Land and Book, 1, 316). SEE WATER.
2. Agm, (Isa 14:23; Isa 35:7; Isa 41:18; Isa 42:15); elsewhere pond (q.v.).
3. Mikvh, (Exo 7:19), a gathering together (i.e. of water), as rendered Gen 1:10.
4. In the New Test. , only in Joh 5:2; Joh 9:7.
The following are the principal reservoirs mentioned in the Bible:
a. A pool of Hezekiah, 2Ki 20:20 (comp. Sir 48:17 [19]). It was a basin which that king had opened in the city, and fed by a watercourse (, conduit). In 2Ch 32:30 it is said more definitely that Hezekiah conducted the water from the upper pool of (Cihon in the west of the city. This pool of Hezekiah, called by the Arabs Birket el-Hanlunenz, is pointed out by tradition in the north-western part of the modern city, not far east of the Jaffa gate (Robinson, 2, 134 sq.). And there is no doubt that this is the true location, since the waters of the upper pool of Gihon (Birket el-Mamilla) flow through small, roughly built aqueducts in the vicinity of the Jaffa gate, and thus reach the Birket el- Hanum (Robinson, 1, 396). SEE HEZEKIAH’S POOL.
b. The upper pool ( ) and the lower pool ( ), the former lying near the fuller’s field, and on the road to it, outside of the city (Isa 7:3; Isa 36:2; 2Ki 18:17), and connecting with a watercourse. The lower pool is named in Isa 22:9. There still remain in the west of the city two water-basins, an upper and a lower; the one called Biuket el-amnzilla, at the head of the valley of Gihon, and the other Birket es-Sultcan, somewhat farther down the valley southward, almost in a line with the south wall of the city (Robinson, 2, 129 sq.). They are generally known as the upper and the lower pool of Gihon. It supports the identification of these with the upper and lower pools that there are no other similar or corresponding reservoirs in the neighborhood; and the western position of the upper pool suits well the circumstances mentioned in Scripture (see Isa 36:2; 2Ki 18:17; comp. Knobel, Isaiah p. 153, 257). It may be added that a trustworthy tradition places the fuller’s field westward of the city (Robinson, ut sup. p. 128). SEE GIHON.
c. The old pool ( ), not far from the double wall (, two walls), Isa 22:11. This double wall was near the royal garden (2Ki 25:4; Jer 39:4), which must be sought in the southeast of the city, near the fountain of Siloam (Neh 3:15). Near the mouth of the Tyropoeon there are still two reservoirs or cisterns (Robinson, 1, 384; 2, 146), a smaller one hollowed out in the rock, and the other, a little larger, lying a short distance to the south of the former, and receiving its water. The water flows from an opening in the rock a few feet north of the lessen basin; i.e. from the fountain of Siloam. The larger of these basins is doubtless the pool of Siloam, and the smaller is possibly the old pool, and the same with the artificial pool named in Neh 3:16 as in this vicinity (Robinson, 2, 146; comp. Thenius, in Illgen’s Zeitschr. 1844, 1, 22 sq.). Perhaps, however, we may rather understand the passage in Isaiah as referring to a mere damming up of the Tyropoeon itself between the two parallel parts of the old wall lining the sides of the valley, for the purpose of containing (temporarily during the siege) the waters of the then old (i.e. superseded) pool of Gihon outside the city, thus diverted into a new channel. SEE JERUSALEM.
d. The king’s pool ( , Neh 2:14) is probably to be found in the fountain of the Virgin Mary, on the east side of Ophel (Robinson, 2, 102, 149), and is perhaps the same with the pool of Solomon ( ) mentioned by Josephus as on this side of the city (War, 5, 4, 2; comp. Thenius, op. cit. p. 25). With less probability Schultz (Jerus. p. 58) takes the pool which lies south of Siloam, and which is now half choked with earth, for the king’s pool. SEE JERUSALEM. In Josephus, besides the foregoing, we find the sparrow’s pool ( , which may have a different meaning; see Beekman, Emfind. 4, 19), opposite the Castle of Antonia, in the north of the city (War, 5, 11, 4), now Birket Israil, or perhaps Birket el-Hejjah; the pool of almonds (), on the east side, at some distance from the city (War, ut sup.); the pool of serpents ( ), near Herod’s monument (Joseph. War, 5, 3, 2), between Scopus (a hill seven stadia, or a mile, from the city, Joseph. War, 2, 19, 4) and the city, and hence to the north, perhaps near the road to Shechem (Robinson, 1, 400; 2, 43, 189 sq.). This must, then, be different from the dragon well (serpent well) in Neh 2:13, which lay between the dung-gate in the south-west and the valley (comp. Thenius, op. cit. p. 17). There is no trace of it now to be found, for Birket el-Mamilla is to be identified with the upper pool, as above (Schultz, p. 67). SEE JERUSALEM.
For the pools of Gibeon, Hebron, Samaria, Solomon, Bethesda, and Siloam, see those words respectively. SEE FOUNTAIN.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Pool
a pond, or reservoir, for holding water (Heb. berekhah; modern Arabic, birket), an artificial cistern or tank. Mention is made of the pool of Gibeon (2 Sam. 2:13); the pool of Hebron (4:12); the upper pool at Jerusalem (2 Kings 18:17; 20:20); the pool of Samaria (1 Kings 22:38); the king’s pool (Neh. 2:14); the pool of Siloah (Neh. 3:15; Eccles. 2:6); the fishpools of Heshbon (Cant. 7:4); the “lower pool,” and the “old pool” (Isa. 22:9, 11).
The “pool of Bethesda” (John 5:2, 4, 7) and the “pool of Siloam” (John 9:7, 11) are also mentioned. Isaiah (35:7) says, “The parched ground shall become a pool.” This is rendered in the Revised Version “glowing sand,” etc. (marg., “the mirage,” etc.). The Arabs call the mirage “serab,” plainly the same as the Hebrew word _sarab_, here rendered “parched ground.” “The mirage shall become a pool”, i.e., the mock-lake of the burning desert shall become a real lake, “the pledge of refreshment and joy.” The “pools” spoken of in Isa. 14:23 are the marshes caused by the ruin of the canals of the Euphrates in the neighbourhood of Babylon.
The cisterns or pools of the Holy City are for the most part excavations beneath the surface. Such are the vast cisterns in the temple hill that have recently been discovered by the engineers of the Palestine Exploration Fund. These underground caverns are about thirty-five in number, and are capable of storing about ten million gallons of water. They are connected with one another by passages and tunnels.
Fuente: Easton’s Bible Dictionary
Pool
berakah. Reservoir for water, whether supplied by springs or rain (Isa 42:15). The drying up of the pools involved drought and national distress. The three pools of Solomon near Bethlehem are famous, and still supply Jerusalem with water by an aqueduct (Ecc 2:6). Partly hewn in the rock, partly built with masonry; all lined with cement; formed on successive levels with conduits from the upper to the lower; with flights of steps from the top to the bottom of each: in the sides of Etham valley, with a dam across its opening, which forms the eastern side of the lowest pool. The upper pool is 380 ft. long, 236 broad at the E., 229 at the W., 25 deep, 160 above the middle pool. This middle pool is 423 long, 250 broad at the E., 160 at the W., 39 deep, 248 above the lower pool. The lower pool is 582 long, 207 broad at the E., 148 at the W., 50 deep. A spring above is the main source (Robinson, Res. 1:348, 474).
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Pool
Of Samaria
1Ki 22:38
Of Jerusalem:
– Upper pool
2Ki 18:17; Isa 36:2
– Lower pool
Isa 22:9
Siloah
Neh 3:15; Joh 9:7; Joh 9:11
Of Heshbon
Son 7:4
Fuente: Nave’s Topical Bible
Pool
Pool. Pools, like the tanks of India, are in many parts of Palestine and Syria, the only resource for water, during the dry season, and the failure of them involves drought and calamity. Isa 42:15. Of the various pools mentioned in Scripture, perhaps the most celebrated are the pools of Solomon near Bethlehem called by the Arabs el-Burak, from which an aqueduct was carried, which still supplies Jerusalem with wafer. Ecc 2:6; Sir 24:30-31.
Fuente: Smith’s Bible Dictionary
Pool
denotes “a swimming pool” (akin to kolumbao, “to swim,” Act 27:43), Joh 5:2 (Joh 5:4 in some mss.), Joh 5:7; Joh 9:7 (Joh 9:11 in some mss.).