In Palestine, where dry weather prevails eight months of the year and springs are not abundant, the supply of water, especially in cities and towns, was assured by means of reservoirs either made by damming up a narrow valley or excavated from the rock (Hebrew: berekah). Although practically every town had its pool, yet those that were in the neighborhood of Jerusalem are mentioned much more frequently. They were:
Besides these three, 2Esdras mentions the "well made pool," probably the reservoir immediately ad- joining the spring of Gihon. Famous in history because of the pool of Gabaon, which witnessed the bloody encounter of the servants of David with the defenders of Saul's dynasty (2 Kings 2), not to mention the pool (possibly a double pool, like that of Bethsaida) of Hesebon, to which the author of the Canticle of Canticles (Canticles 7) compares the eyes of the beloved.
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