In the four Gospels, Jacob’s well (in Greek: pêgê tou Iakôb; Vietnamese: Giếng Gia-cóp; French: le puits de Jacob) appears 1 time in Jn 4:6. The narrator describes Jesus’ journey in Jn 4:3-6: “3 He [Jesus] left Judea and departed again to Galilee. 4 He had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there, and so Jesus, wearied as he was with his journey, sat down beside the well. It was about the sixth hour.”
“The well of Jacob,
which is still to be seen today in the same place where it was shown to earlier
pilgrims, is undoubtedly genuine, though it is not mentioned in the Old
Testament” (SCHNACKENBURG, The Gospel, vol. I, p. 424). This is a photo of the Jacob’s well
in 1894:
From http://hitch.south.cx
Bishop John H.
Vincent commented about this photo in his writing “Earthly Footsteps of the Man
of Galilee”, after he visited the well in 1894: “Jacob’s Well now belongs to a
Greek Church (…). The well is now seventy-five feet deep and seven feet six
inches in breadth. The diameter of the opening is seventeen and a half feet. A
ruined vault stands above the well twenty feet long, ten feet broad and six
feet high. The pieces of broken marble you see in the front belong to some
ancient church” (http://hitch.south.cx/biblesidenotes-e20%20Jacobs%20Well.htm).
The Greek Orthodox
purchased the ruins of churches that was the site of Jesus’ meeting with the
Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well (Jn 4). The construction of the new church
began before the First World War, but after only portions of the exterior walls
were constructed, the construction was halted by the war. This photo shows
the construction in 1999.
Photo in Nov 1999, from
http://welcometohosanna.com
After lying dormant
for over 80 years, the church was completed in 2007. This is the Orthodox
Church of Saint Photina nowadays:
From http://welcometohosanna.com
Photo by ssiatravani
The interior of the Greek Orthodox Church:
Photo by Ferrell Jenkins 2009
Jacob’s well is in the crypt of this Orthodox
church:
Photo from post card
Photo by ssiatravani
This is Jacob’s well from wellhead:
Photo by ssiatravani
Wells are
unmovable, so we can be fairly confident that this well marks the precise spot
where Jesus sat down and talked to the Samaritan woman (Jn 4). As she rightly
said, ‘the well is deep’ (4:11). Indeed, it goes down over 70 feet (21 metres)
and it still provides chill, clear water for drinking (WALKER, In the
Steps of Jesus, 2006, p. 87-88). In Jesus’ time the well may have been
deeper. Jewish, Samaritan,
Christian and Muslim traditions all associate the well with Jacob./.
October 27, 2012
Email: josleminhthong@gmail.com
See the article:
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire