Hezekiah's Tunnel Research Paper

Hezekiah’s Tunnel is also referred to as the Siloam Tunnel, a conduit for water supply that is a part of Jerusalem’s water system, it is said to be about 1750 feet long and runs under the City of David connecting Gihon’s Spring with the Siloam Pool. It is believed the tunnel was dug during the reign of King Hezekiah of Judah in preparation for the attack from Sennacherib according to 2 Chronicles 32:2-4 and 2 Kings 20:20. According to Avraham Faust, A Note on Hezekiah’s Tunnel and the Siloam Inscription, an inscription was found in 1880 inside the tunnel about six to seven meters before the Siloam Pool. The inscription thought to indicate the dig occurred simultaneously, one team digging from the south and the other from the north. A few questions have been raised regarding …show more content…
According to Rabinowitz, Hezekiah wanted to redirect the Gihon Spring waters from the Kidron Valley to run under the hillside of the City of David into the pool with Jerusalem’s wall preventing the Assyrians from having access. “The tunnel which was discovered by Edward Robinson in 1838 can be walked through today from end to end.” According to Faust the “wall of the tunnel has a fine finish, straight ceilings and walls, containing markings that are believed to have been created after the pathway was cleared and the water began to flow through the city.” The height of the tunnel gets increasingly larger in the last section, although the bottom has a reasonable slope the ceiling remains consistently higher. Hezekiah’s Tunnel is considered “Jerusalem’s most impressive ancient water system.” The content of the inscription is important as it suggests for researchers that its location is the meeting place for the two tunneling