Wells were necessary in a dry and hot country like Palestine. They were deep, John 4:11, and difficult both to dig and preserve, and hence were a valuable part of the husbandman's property. Numbers 20:17-19. They were sometimes owned in common. Genesis 29:2-3. To protect them from the sand and from being used by others, they were covered, usually with a stone, and surrounded with a low wall. Genesis 29:2; Genesis 29:8. To stop them up was, and still is, regarded as an act of hostility, Genesis 26:15, and to invade the right of property in them was often the cause of sharp contention. Genesis 21:25. The water was generally drawn by pitchers and a rope. The well naturally became the halting-place of the traveller, Genesis 24:11; the camping-place of armies, Judges 7:1, etc.; and it furnished an appropriate emblem of rich blessings. Jeremiah 2:13; Jeremiah 17:13.