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, I Kings (2000), 159. (Michael Avi-Yonah)