EN-ROGEL

EN-ROGEL (Heb. עֵין רׁגֵל), a spring or well southeast of Jerusalem on the border between the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, between En-Shemesh and the *Hinnom Valley (Josh. 15:7; 18:16). Jonathan and Ahimaaz, who acted as spies and runners for David when he was fleeing from Absalom, waited there for news from Jerusalem (ii Sam. 17:17). Adonijah's aborted attempt to succeed David as king took place at En-Rogel (i Kings 1:9) and it is probably identical with the "dragon's well" (Ein ha-Tannim) mentioned in Nehemiah 2:13. En-Rogel has been identified with a well, 60 ft. (18 m.) deep, called Bīr (Biʾr) Ayyūb ("Job's Well"; perhaps a corruption of "Joab's well" [Ahituv]), situated at the convergence of the Hinnom and *Kidron valleys, some 500 meters south of the city of David outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. It sometimes overflows in rainy winters, justifying its definition as a spring. Alternatively, the well was dug on the site of the ancient spring that had been stopped up.

bibliography:

Hecker, in: M. Avi-Yonah (ed.), Sefer Yerushalayim, 1 (1956), 199–200; H. Vincent, Jérusalem antique, 1 (1912), 134–8; idem, Jérusalem de l'Ancien Testament, 1 (1954), 284–8; G.A. Smith, Jerusalem, 1 (1907), 108–11; G. Dalman, Jerusalem und sein Gelaende (1930), 163–7; A.S. Marmardji, Textes géographiques arabes sur la Palestine (1951), 14; J. Simons, Jerusalem in the Old Testament (1952), 158–63. add. bibliography: S. Ahituv, Joshua (1995), 246; M. Cogan, iKings (2000), 159.

[Michael Avi-Yonah]