Now the pit was it which Asa had made, &c. The word בור, here and elsewhere rendered pit, frequently signifies, a cistern, basin, or, reservoir; a large place made for receiving rain-water; which seems to be the meaning of the word here. This pit, or reservoir, Asa, who built and fortified Mizpah, at the time he was at war with Baasha king of Israel, caused to be made in the midst of the city, in order that the people might not be in want of so necessary an article as water in case of a siege. Reservoirs of this kind were much in use in Palestine, as Jerome tells us, in his commentary upon Amos 4:7-8. And Josephus testifies the advantage of them to the besieged when he tells us that, when Masada was reduced to the greatest distress for want of water, it was relieved by a fall of rain in the night, which filled all the reservoirs, Antiq. lib. 14. cap. 14. Each private family seems also to have had one of these reservoirs for its own use. Drink ye every one the waters of his own cistern, בורו, his pit, or, reservoir, says Rabshakeh to the people of Jerusalem, Isaiah 36:16.
Related Commentaries of Jeremiah 41:9
Jeremiah 41:9
9 Now the pit wherein Ishmael had cast all the dead bodies of the men, whom he had slain becauseb of Gedaliah, was it which Asa the king had made for fear of Baasha king of Israel: and Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with them that were slain.