Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
FOUNT'AIN. Springs of water are often mentioned in the Bible. Palestine, in contrast with Egypt, was a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths, Deut 8:7. Hundreds of fountains may be counted with ease on either side of the Jordan. Some have peculiar properties. There are intermittent, thermal, brackish, sulphur, and hot springs. Perpetual fountains or springs of living water were greatly valued. Ps 36:8-9; Isa 49:10; Jer 2:13; Joel 3:18; Zech 13:1; John 4:10; Rev 7:17. In the expressive language of the Hebrews and the modern Arabs, a fountain is the "eye" of the locality.
" Damascus is the best supplied with water of all the Eastern cities; Jerusalem also had so abundant a supply that during its numerous sieges there was never a complaint on this score. Public fountains are frequent in the towns. The "fountain sealed" of Song 4:12 is a well-spring covered with a stone and sealed with the king's own signet. The word "fountain " was used figuratively; thus, Deut 33:28 and Ps 68:26, it is applied to Israel as the ancestor of the chosen people of God, and in Prov 5:18 to a beloved wife.