The Upper Fountain of Siloam. Valley of Jehosophat.

THE UPPER FOUNTAIN OF SILOAM.

Siloam consists of two basins or fountains, the upper one of which is a fissure in the solid rock. A flight of steps leads down on the inside to the water, and close at hand, on the outside, is the reservoir.1) This seems to be generally acknowledged as

"Siloa's brook that flowed
Fast by the oracle of God."

The drawing of the water from Siloam in the Feast of Tabernacles (though no direction on the subject is to be found in the Mosaic Law) became a remarkable ceremonial in the latter ages of Judea.

The priest with his attendants received it from the fountain in a golden vessel, and then, returning to the Temple, mingled it with wine, and poured it on the altar. The origin of the custom has been the subject of much discussion among the rabbis, but it is generally supposed to have originated in the verse of Isaiah (xii. 3), “With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”

Interieur de la Piscine de Siloé à Jérusalem (Pool of Siloam). Illustration par Bouton tiree de l ouvrage de Forbin (1777-1841). Voyage dans le Levant by Louis Nicolas Philippe Auguste comte de Forbin (1777-1841). Paris: De l’Imprimerie royale, 1819.

Much exhibition of popular rejoicing, with sounding of trumpets and horns, accompanied this ceremony. The whole Feast of Tabernacles was peculiarly a display of popular exultation, as it occurred in the finest season of the year, after the gathering of all the harvests; was under tents and bowers, reminding the people of the happiest scenes of the national life; and was typical of the period when earth is to be paradise again, and Israel is to be restored for ever.

The water from Siloam was drawn on every day of the seven during which the feast continued. But the most solemn outpouring was on the last, the chief day of this memorable celebration. Our Lord refers to it, as prefiguring the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (John, vii. 39.)

1) Robinson, Biblical Researches, vol. i. p. 497.

Source: The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, & Nubia, by David Roberts, George Croly, William Brockedon. London: Lithographed, printed and published by Day & Son, lithographers to the Queen. Cate Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, 1855.

Continuing

Lower Pool of Siloam, Valley of Jehoshaphat.

Bethlehem. Historical views and description of its sites.

The Holy Land. Jerusalem from the road leading to Bethany.

View of the Damascus Gate, leading into Jerusalem.

The Tomb of St. James in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

The Greek Church of the Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.

Convent of Mar Saba. The Holy Laura of Saint Sabbas. Palestine.

The largest of the cedars of Lebanon. Mount Lebanon.

General view of Beirut with a wide view over the sea and Mount Lebanon.

Jaffa, ancient Joppa, as the chief harbour of Judaea.

Hebron. The Cave of Machpelah. Oriental and Sacred Scences.

The Pool of Hezekiah, and the Domes of the Church of the Resurrection.

The Rock temple of El Deir at Petra. The Holy Land by David Roberts.

The Nilometer on the Isle of Rhoda, Cairo, rebuilt in 861.

The ancient ruins of the Villa of Maecenas in Tivoli, Italy.

Al-Andalus. Interior of the Mosque at Córdoba, Spain.

Aswan the ancient Syene and the island of Elephantine.

Alexandria the metropolis of Egypt. The Holy Land, Asia Minor illustrated.

The cemetery of Jaffa, the ancient Joppa, Israel 1836.

The Hypaethral Temple at Philae, called the Bed of Pharaoh.

Front Elevation of the Great Rock Temple of Abu Simbel, Nubia.

Oriental street in the Egyptian capital Cairo with the Al Azhar Mosque.

Yerebatan Serail – The Subterranean Palace. Basilica Cistern, Istanbul.

The Pyramids of Giza. The Great Pyramid of Cheops.

View of the Parthenon on the Athenian Acropolis, from the Propyleae.

Sorrento, a coastal town in southwest Italy on the Bay of Naples.

The Approach to the Island of Philae, Egypt, from the North.