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“Unfortunately, the well of Jacob has not escaped that misplaced religious veneration which cannot be satisfied with leaving the object of it as it is, but must build over it a shrine to protect and make it sacred. A series of buildings of various styles, and of different ages, have cumbered the ground, choked up the well, and disfigured the natural beauty and simplicity of the spot. At present the rubbish in the well has been cleared out; but there is still a domed structure over it, and you gaze down the shaft cut in the living rock and see at a depth of 70 feet the surface of the water glimmering with a pale blue light in the darkness, while you notice how the limestone blocks that form its curb have been worn smooth, or else furrowed by the ropes of centuries” (Hugh Macmillan).
At the entrance of the enclosure round the well is planted in the ground one of the wooden poles that hold the telegraph wires between Jerusalem and Haifa.
•JADDUA known. (1.) One of the chiefs who subscribed the covenant (Nehemiah 10:21).
(2.) The last high priest mentioned in the Old Testament (Nehemiah 12:11, 22), sons of Jonathan.
•JADON judge, a Meronothite who assisted in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 3:7).
•JAEL mountain-goat, the wife of Heber the Kenite (Judges 4:17-22). When the Canaanites were defeated by Barak, Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, fled and sought refuge with the friendly tribe of Heber, beneath the oaks of Zaanaim. As he drew near, Jael invited him to enter her tent. He did so, and as he lay wearied on the floor he fell into a deep sleep. She then took in her left hand one of the great wooden pins (“nail”) which fastened