IRRIGATION
Egyptian painting from tomb of Ipui, Thebes, 13th century BC, showing slave working an irrigation machine.
ir-i-gā´shun:
No equivalent for this word is found in Biblical writings, although
the use of irrigation for maintaining vegetable life is frequently
implied (Ecc_2:5,
Ecc_2:6;
Isa_58:11).
To one familiar with the methods of irrigation practiced in
Palestine, Syria and Egypt, the passage, “where thou sowedst thy
seed, and wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs”
(Deu_11:10),
is easily explained. The water is brought in channels to the gardens,
where it is distributed in turn to the different square plots bounded
by banks of earth, or along the rows of growing vegetables planted on
the sides of the trenches. In stony soil the breach in the canal
leading to a particular plot is opened and closed with a hoe. Any
obstruction in the trench is similarly removed, while in the soft,
loamy soil of the coastal plain or in the Nile valley these
operations can be done with the foot; a practice still commonly seen.
The
remains of the great irrigation works of the ancient Egyptians and
Babylonians leave no doubt as to the extent to which they used water
to redeem the deserts. In Palestine and Syria there was less need
(Deu_10:7;
Deu_11:11)
for irrigation. Here there is an annual fall of from 30 to 40 inches,
coming principally during the winter. This is sufficient for the main
crops. The summer supply of vegetables, as well as the fruit and
mulberry trees, requires irrigation. Hardly a drop of many mountain
streams is allowed to reach the sea, but is used to water the gardens
of the mountain terraces and plains. This supply is now being
supplemented by the introduction of thousands of pumps and oil
engines for raising the water of the wells sufficiently to run it
through the irrigation canals. Where a spring is small, its supply is
gathered into a birket,
or cistern, and then drawn off through a large outlet into the
trenches, sometimes several days being required to fill the cistern.
In Ecc_2:6,
Solomon is made to say, “I made me pools of water, to water
therefrom the forest.” This passage helps to explain the uses of
the so-called Pools of Solomon, South of Jerusalem. In this same
district are traces of the ancient terraces which were probably
watered from these pools. See AGRICULTURE; GARDEN.
To
one familiar with the methods of irrigation practiced in Palestine,
Syria and Egypt, the passage, “where thou sowedst thy seed, and
wateredst it with thy foot, as a garden of herbs” (Deu_11:10),
is easily explained. The water is brought in channels to the gardens,
where it is distributed in turn to the different square plots bounded
by banks of earth, or along the rows of growing vegetables planted on
the sides of the trenches. In stony soil the breach in the canal
leading to a particular plot is opened and closed with a hoe. Any
obstruction in the trench is similarly removed, while in the soft,
loamy soil of the coastal plain or in the Nile valley these
operations can be done with the foot; a practice still commonly seen.
The
remains of the great irrigation works of the ancient Egyptians and
Babylonians leave no doubt as to the extent to which they used water
to redeem the deserts. In Palestine and Syria there was less need
(Deu_10:7;
Deu_11:11)
for irrigation. Here there is an annual fall of from 30 to 40 inches,
coming principally during the winter. This is sufficient for the main
crops. The summer supply of vegetables, as well as the fruit and
mulberry trees, requires irrigation. Hardly a drop of many mountain
streams is allowed to reach the sea, but is used to water the gardens
of the mountain terraces and plains. This supply is now being
supplemented by the introduction of thousands of pumps and oil
engines for raising the water of the wells sufficiently to run it
through the irrigation canals. Where a spring is small, its supply is
gathered into a birket,
or cistern, and then drawn off through a large outlet into the
trenches, sometimes several days being required to fill the cistern.
In Ecc_2:6,
Solomon is made to say, “I made me pools of water, to water
therefrom the forest.” This passage helps to explain the uses of
the so-called Pools of Solomon, South of Jerusalem. In this same
district are traces of the ancient terraces which were probably
watered from these pools.
Ecc
2:6
I
made me pools of water,....
For cascades and water works to play in, as well as to keep and
produce fish of all kinds: mention is made of the king's pools,
Neh_2:14;
the fish pools at Heshbon, by the gate of Bathrabbim, perhaps
belonged to Solomon, Son_7:4;
Little more than a league from Bethlehem are pools of water, which at
this day are called the fish pools of Solomon; they are great
reservatories cut in the rock, the one at the end of the other; the
second being a little lower than the first, and the third than the
second, and so communicate the water from one to another when they
are full (c);
and of which Mr. Maundrell (d)
gives the following account:
"They
are about an hour and a quarter distant from Bethlehem, southward;
they are three in number, lying in a row above each other, being so
disposed, that the waters of the uppermost may descend into the
second, and those of the second into the third; their figure is
quadrangular; the breadth is the same in all, amounting to above
ninety paces; in their length there is some difference between them,
the first being about an hundred sixty paces long; the second, two
hundred; the third, two hundred twenty; they are all lined with a
wall, and plastered, and contain a great depth of water.''
And
to these, he observes, together with the gardens adjoining, Solomon
is supposed to allude, Ecc_2:5.
There are to be seen, he says (e),
some remains of an old aqueduct, which anciently conveyed the waters
from Solomon's pools to Jerusalem; this is said to be the genuine
work of Solomon, and may well be allowed to be in reality what it is
pretended for. So Rauwolff (f)
says,
"beyond
the tower of Ader, in another valley, not far from Bethlehem, they
show still to this day a large orchard, full of citron, lemon,
orange, pomegranate, and fig trees, and many others, which King
Solomon did plant in his days; with ponds, canals, and other water
works, very pleasantly prepared, as he saith himself, Ecc_2:5;
this is still in our time full of good and fruitful trees, worthy to
be seen for their sakes, and ditches there: wherefore I really
believe it to be the same Josephus (g)
makes mention of, called Ethan, about twelve mile from Jerusalem;
where Solomon had pleasant gardens and water pools, to which he used
to ride early in a morning.''
to
water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees;
the young nurseries, which in time grew up to large fruit bearing
trees; which, being numerous and thick, looked like a wood or forest,
as the word is; and which canals and nurseries both added greatly to
the delight and pleasure of those places. In this manner the Indians
water their gardens; who commonly have in them a great pit, or kind
of fish pool, which is full of rain water; and just by it there is a
basin of brick, raised about two feet higher than the ground: when
therefore they have a mind to water the garden, it is filled with
water from the fish pool, or pit; which, through a hole that is at
the bottom, falls into a canal, that is divided into many branches,
proportionable in size to their distance from the basin, and carries
the water to the foot of each tree, and to each plot of herbs; and
when the gardeners think they are watered enough, they stop up, or
turn aside, the canals with clods of earth (i).
The beauty of a plant, or tree, is thus described by Aelianus (k);
"branches
generous, leaves thick, stem or trunk firm and stable, roots deep;
winds shaking it; a large shadow cast from it; changing with the
seasons of the year; and water, partly brought through canals, and
partly coming from heaven, to water and nourish it; and such
beautiful, well watered, and flourishing trees, contribute much to
the pleasure of gardens.''
(c)
Thevenot's Travels, B. 2. ch. 47. p. 202. (d)
Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, p. 88. edit. 7. (e)
Ibid. p. 90. (f)
Travels, part 3. ch. 22. p. 322. Vid. Egmont and Heyman's Travels,
vol. 1. p. 367, 368. (g)
Antiqu. l. 8. c. 7. s. 13. (h)
Ut supra, p. 50, 51. (Journey from Aleppo to Jerusalem, edit. 7.) (i)
Agreement of Customs between the East Indians and Jews, Art. 21. p.
78. (k)
Var. Hist. l. 2. c. 14.
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