Bob Boyd*
*Bob Boyd is an author and speaker. He has written Boyd’s Bible Handbook, and many others. He receives mail at 1712 Academy St,, Scranton, PA 18504
Hebrew inscription found in tunnel describing the workmen’s meeting
“And the rest of the acts of Hezekiah [king of Judah], and all his might, and how he made a pool [of Siloam], and a conduit, and brought water into the city [of Jerusalem]. . .” (2 Kings 20:20). This reference to a pool and a conduit engineered by Hezekiah is all we would have known about it today if it had not been for an interesting archaeological discovery made by a little boy playing hooky from school in 1880. At the man-made Pool of Siloam (John 9:1-7), he made his way through a cave-like entrance. Noticing an inscription on the side of the wall, he told his teacher about it. Written in fine classical Hebrew, it was later deciphered by A. H. Sayce as follows:
“This is the manner of the excavation: While the workmen were still lifting up the axe [pick], each toward his neighbor, and while three cubits [4 1/2 feet] remain [to cut through], each heard the voice of one calling to the other. On the day when the tunnel [conduit] was cut through, each met his neighbor, axe to axe, and the waters flowed from the Spring [of Gihon] to the Pool [of Siloam], for a thousand and two hundred cubits [1800 feet]; and a hundred cubits [150 feet] was the height of the rock above the heads of the workmen,”
The tunnel had an average height of 6 feet and was 2 1/2 feet wide. Numerous tunnels have been found while excavating old biblical cities. The purpose of such was to have an “inside the city” water supply when city gates were
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closed during an enemy attack. Most water supplies were outside city walls, serving caravans as well as the citizens of the city.
To construct Jerusalem’s conduit, Hezekiah drew up two sets of blueprints. Giving a set to a group of men at the Pool of Siloam and a set to a group at the Spring of Gihon, Hezekiah said “start carving through rock and you will meet at the spot marked ‘X’.” When the two groups were about 4 1/2 feet from each other, the voice of one was heard calling to the other and soon they cut through the rock and met. The waters then flowed from the Spring to the Pool, thus enabling the city to have a hidden source of water.
Critics of the Bible had once doubted such a verse as 2 Kings 20:20 because (1) they doubted the possibility of such an engineering feat at that period of time, and (2) because they said such a verse was a Jewish fable written to enhance the position of an Israelite king.
One king who besieged Jerusalem was Sennacherib of Assyria. As he sought to force Hezekiah to surrender, God intervened due to Hezekiah’s prayer and Sennacherib returned to his palace in Nineveh without Conquering the city (2 Chronicles 32:1-2t).
Discovery of his palace in 1849 revealed inscriptions which tell of his campaigns “by assaults of battering rams and the blows of engines, the attack of foot soldiers, sappers [trench diggers], breaches, and axes.” He also tells of 46 of Hezekiah’s cities which fell to the Assyrians. Of Hezekiah he wrote: “Hezekiah himself, like a bird in a cage in the midst of Jerusalem, his royal city, I shut tip.” Such records do not list defeats, but due to God’s coming to Hezekiah’s rescue, the best Sennacherib could say was that when he besieged Jerusalem, Hezekiah was bound inside the city. This archaeological discovery supports the Scriptures that Jerusalem was not conquered by this Assyrian king, although Hezekiah did pay tribute to him. The clay p~sm pictures the record of Sennacherib’s mentioning Hezekiah by name, and the relief shown on Sennacherib’s palace wall shows his receiving tribute from the officers of the city of Lachish, one of Hezekiah’s cities (2 Chronicles 32:91. (See picture below.)
Jerusalem in Hezekiah’s time showing route of tunnel
beginning at Gihon Spring and ending at the Siloam Pool
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Where the pickmen actually met in completing the tunnel. They had cut through solid limestone rock for over 1800 feet. Each team started at opposite ends, yet they met this close!
The Pool of Siloam as it appears today. Note the depth of debris on the sides which has accumulated over the centuries. The Pool in Hezekiah’s day was, of course, at the present water level and many times larger.
(For further information, see “Sennacherib, Hezekiah and a Bible Problem,” and “Water Systems of Ancient Jerusalem” in Bible and Spade, Spring-Summer 1975.)
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