Siloam Tunnel

Biblical Text

The name "Siloam Tunnel" does not appear in the Bible. However, a construction project believed to be this tunnel is recorded in two places.

• 2 Kings 20:20 lists among the achievements of Hezekiah "how he made a pool, and a conduit, and brought water into the city."
• 2 Chronicles 32:30 records that Hezekiah "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 recounts how Hezekiah stopped up the water sources outside the city when Assyria invaded. Isaiah 22:9–11 likewise mentions Jerusalem gathering water and constructing a reservoir during this period.

Background

The Gihon Spring, Jerusalem's principal water source, lay outside the city walls on the Kidron Valley side. When an enemy besieged the city, the spring could not be used. By cutting through the rock to divert the spring's water into the city, the inhabitants could obtain water during a siege, while the enemy would find it difficult to do so.

The tunnel winds through the rock and is reported to be just over 500 meters long. In 1880 an inscription carved in ancient Hebrew script was discovered on the tunnel wall; it is commonly called the "Siloam Inscription." The inscription states that the workers, digging from opposite ends, heard one another's voices and met, and that the water flowed from the spring to the pool for 1,200 cubits (the cubit being an ancient unit of length based on the distance from the elbow to the fingertip). The inscription is reportedly now held in the Istanbul Archaeology Museums in Türkiye.

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

The Pool of Siloam at the end of the tunnel also appears in the New Testament. In John 9:7, Jesus tells a man blind from birth, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam," and John explains the name as meaning "Sent" (→ Healing of the Man Born Blind). In the Old Testament, Isaiah 8:6 uses "the waters of Shiloah that go softly" as a symbol of quiet trust in God. Scholars differ on whether the watercourse in this verse refers to Hezekiah's tunnel or to an earlier channel. Luke 13:4 mentions the collapse of "the tower in Siloam."

Interpretations and Debates

• Who dug it and when: Most scholars hold that it was dug in the time of Hezekiah, in anticipation of the invasion by the Assyrian king Sennacherib. However, the inscription does not name a king, and some have therefore argued that it was dug in a different period.
• The reason for its winding course: Opinions differ as to why the tunnel curves rather than running straight. Proposed explanations include that the diggers followed the grain or fissures of the rock, or that the route was dictated by the terrain.
• Distinguishing the text from later embellishments: The Bible records only the bare fact of the project. The duration of the work, the number of laborers involved, and the method by which the workers kept their bearings are not mentioned in Scripture and are largely conjecture.

In the Korean Church

Itineraries for Holy Land pilgrimages to Israel commonly include walking through the tunnel as water flows through it. Pilgrims there often recall both the account of Hezekiah and John 9. In addition, the name "Siloam," drawn from John 9, is regarded as signifying healing and restoration and is used in the names of many Korean churches and Christian institutions.