And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate!
The well of Beth-lehem. An ancient cistern, with four or five holes in the solid rock, at about ten minutes' distance to the north of the eastern corner of the hill of Beth-lehem, is pointed out by the natives as Bir-Daoud-that is, David's well. Dr. Robinson doubts the identity of the well; but others think that there are no good grounds for doing so. Certainly, considering this to be the ancient well, Beth-lehem must have once extended ten minutes further to the north, and must have lain in times of old, not as now on the summit, but on the northern rise of the hill; because the well is by or (1 Chronicles 11:7) at the gate. 'I find in the descriptions of travelers that the common opinion is, that David's captains had come from the southeast, in order to obtain, at the risk of their lives, the so-much-longed-for water; while it is supposed that David himself was then in the great cave that is not far to the southeast of Beth-lehem; which cave is generally held to have been that of Adullam. But (Joshua 15:35) Adullam lay "in the valley" - that is, in the undulating plain at the western base of the mountains of Judea, and consequently to the southwest of Beth-lehem. Be this as it may, David's three men had in any case to break through the host of the Philistines in order to reach the well; and the position of Bir-Daoud agrees well with this' (Van de Velde).