Hezekiah's Tunnel

Biblical Text

2 Kings 20:20 lists among the achievements of Hezekiah that he made a pool and a conduit and brought water into the city. 2 Chronicles 32:30 records that he stopped the upper watercourse of Gihon and brought it straight down to the west side of the city of David. 2 Chronicles 32:2–4 explains the background: when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, invaded, Hezekiah stopped up the water sources outside the city so that the enemy army could not obtain water. The Hebrew word te'alah, rendered "conduit" in 2 Kings 20:20, means a trench or watercourse.

Background and Structure

The Gihon Spring, located in the Kidron Valley east of the city of David, was the principal water source of Jerusalem. Because it lay outside the city walls, it was difficult to use during a siege. The tunnel, cut through solid rock, carries this water south to the Pool of Siloam. Its total length is generally given as about 530 meters. It is considerably longer than the straight-line distance between its two ends and winds along an S-shaped course.

The Siloam Inscription and Dating

In 1880 an inscription carved in ancient Hebrew script was discovered inside the tunnel. It describes how workers digging through the rock from opposite ends heard one another's voices and met in the middle, and it states that the watercourse was 1,200 cubits long. The inscription does not name a king. It is reported to be housed today in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums in Türkiye. On the basis of the biblical record, a date in the late eighth century BC is widely accepted for the tunnel. However, some scholars argue for a later or an earlier date, so the question cannot be settled with certainty.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

The Pool of Siloam, where the tunnel ends, also appears in the New Testament. Jesus told a man who had been blind from birth to go and wash in the pool of Siloam, and John 9:7 explains that "Siloam" means "Sent" (Healing of the Man Born Blind). Whether the Pool of Siloam of Jesus' day occupied the same site as the pool of Hezekiah's time is uncertain.

Interpretation and Debates

• Kings and Chronicles record the tunnel as one of Hezekiah's accomplishments. By contrast, Isaiah 22:9–11 rebukes the people of Jerusalem for gathering water and making a reservoir while failing to look to God, who had brought it about. Interpreters differ on whether this passage refers directly to the construction of the tunnel. Nevertheless, it is often read alongside the tunnel accounts as a text for reflecting on the relationship between human preparation and trust in God.
• The identification of the present-day tunnel with the "conduit" mentioned in the Bible is widely accepted among scholars. The inscription itself, however, does not mention Hezekiah by name.
• The "gutter" (water shaft) that David is said to have used when he conquered Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:8) is considered distinct from this tunnel.