Hezekiah’s Tunnel was cut through bedrock in 701 BC under the City of David, curving and weaving for 1750 feet. If the same tunnel were cut in a straight line, it
would be 40% shorter at only 1070 feet. This tunnel was designed and cut to bring water from the Gihon Springs in the Kidron Valley located on the east side
of the Eastern Hill outside the city’s walls, through the bedrock of the Eastern Hill to the west side, where Hezekiah’s city of Jerusalem was expanding and
protected by the new Broad Wall.
After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, thinking
to conquer them for himself. When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come and that he intended to make war on Jerusalem, he consulted with his
officials and military staff about blocking off the water from the springs outside the city, and they helped him. A large force of men assembled, and
they blocked all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. ‘Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?’ they said.
Then he worked hard repairing all the broken sections of the wall and building towers on it. He built another wall outside that one and reinforced
the supporting terraces (Millo) of the City of David. He also made large numbers of weapons and shields. . . It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper
outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water down to the west side of the City of David. He succeeded in everything he undertook.
- 2 Chronicles 32:1-5, 30
As for the other events of Hezekiah’s reign, all his achievements and how he made the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city, are
they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? - 2 Kings 20:20
The pick marks of Hezekiah’s workers are still visible on the rock walls and ceiling of this 1,750 foot tunnel.
Hezekiah’s Tunnel is about 2 feet wide and 5 feet high at the entrance near the Gihon Springs, as seen in this photo. Notice the fresh water still moving through this tunnel as it has for 2,700 years.
The tunnel ceiling is only 5 feet high at the entrance, but reaches 16 feet toward the end, near the Pool of Siloam. The water is generally knee deep at the
beginning but only to mid calf throughout the rest of the tunnel. At times the water in the tunnel can be chest deep, depending on the circumstances.
The water naturally flows from the Gihon Springs to the Pool of Siloam because the tunnel was cut using a 12 inch (0.6‰) gradient altitude difference between each end of the 1,750 foot tunnel.
This tunnel was discovered by Edward Robinson in 1838 and was cleared by Montague Parker’s team during the years 1909-1911. The water had continued
flowing through this tunnel for 2,000 years. In fact, before its rediscovery, people thought the water in the area of the Pool of Siloam came from its own spring. It
was not until later that people realized the water in the Pool of Siloam is actually water from the Gihon Springs over a third of a mile away. Water still flows naturally
from the Gihon Springs today through Hezekiah’s Tunnel and to the Pool of Siloam.
The Siloam Inscription was written in 701 BC and discovered in 1880. It was engraved in the wall of the tunnel, but later chiseled out of the bedrock and taken
to a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. Inscribed by one of Hezekiah’s workmen near the western end of the tunnel close to the Pool of Siloam, it reads:
[…when] (the tunnel) was driven through. And this was the way in which it was cut through: While [ . . .] (were) still [ . . . ] axes, each man toward his fellow, and while there were still three cubits to be cut through, [there was heard] the voice of a man calling to his fellows, for there was an overlap in the rock on the right [and on the left]. And when the tunnel was driven through, the quarrymen hewed (the rock), each man toward his fellow, axe against axe; and the water flowed from the spring toward the reservoir for 1200 cubits, and the height of the rock above the heads of the quarrymen was 100 cubits. - Siloam Inscription, engraved in 701 BC
More at:
http://www.generationword.com/jerusalem101/25-hezekiah-tunnel.html
