Jacob's well

5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the field that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob's well was there; so Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well. It was about the sixth hour (Jn 4:5-6).

Here is irrefutable evidence that Bible writers thought the earth was flat. This passage obviously alludes to tacit belief in the triple-decker universe. You see, people in the ANE thought there was water under the earth. And this carries over into the Bible.

Take the legendary town of Beersheba. I say it’s legendary because it’s named after a well (“the well of seven”). Needless to say, a town named after a well is about as real as Shangri-La. Just try finding Beersheba on a modern map.

Back then, primitive people dug wells, imagining that there were actually underground sources of water. Hard to believe, I know, but we mustn’t judge them too harshly. Belief in subterranean water tables was part of their obsolete prescientific cosmography. They didn’t know any better. How could they? Thankfully, modern, science-minded men and women have been emancipated from that quaint mythological picture of the universe. Like the fountain of eternal youth, well water is clearly fabulous.