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The only permanent water source of the city in this period, the
monumental Pool of Siloam, is clearly distinguishable in the model. It was
fed by waters of the Gihon Spring diverted through Hezekiah's Tunnel,
built in the 8th century BC. Today, King Hezekiah is a better engineer
than we thought. King David captured
Jerusalem in 1000 BC. That's why Jerusalem is
called "The City of David." But there's something very odd about the way
he did it. He called on a volunteer to lead a group into the city through
some kind of underground tunnel.
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The intermittent spring that constituted
Jerusalem's most
ancient water supply, situated in the Kidron Valley just below the eastern
hill (Ophel). This abundant source of water was entirely covered over and
concealed from outside the walls and was conducted by a specially built
conduit to a pool within the walls where a besieged city could get all the
water it needed. "Why should the kings of Assyria come and find abundant
water?" the people queried in the time of Hezekiah (2 Chron 32:2-4). |
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Hezekiah's Tunnel, 1,777 feet long, hewn out of the solid
rock and comparable to the tunnels at Megiddo and Gezer, conducted the water
to a reservoir within the city. From the top of Ophel the ancient Jebusites
(c. 2000 BC) had cut a passage through the rock where waterpots could be let
down a 40-foot shaft to receive the water in the pool 50 feet back from the
Gihon.
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Early excavations at Jerusalem by the Palestine
Exploration Fund under the direction of Sir Charles Warren (1867) resulted
in finding the 40-foot rock-cut shaft. It is now known as
Warren's Shaft.
Conrad Shick in 1891 discovered an ancient surface canal that conveyed
water from the Gihon Spring to the old pool of Siloam, located just within
the SE extremity of the ancient city. Isaiah seems to have alluded to the
softly flowing waters of this gentle brook when he spoke poetically of
"the gently flowing waters of Shiloah" (Isa 8:6). |
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