Rising in the Kidron Valley, the Gihon Spring was Jerusalem’s only water source throughout its long history. The second book of Samuel 5, tells how David infiltrated men through the Jesubite’s water shaft as he moved to conquer the city.
Centuries later in 701 BC, King Hezekiah faced the approach of the invading Assyrian army as described in the Old Testament books of 2 Kings 18 and 2 Chronicles 32.
Fearful of the coming siege, he set two gangs of men to excavate an underground tunnel from the spring to within the safety of the walls. Working non-stop day and night, incredibly the two groups met precisely – meters under the earth. Having secured Jerusalem’s water supply, Hezekiah’s Tunnel allowed the city to outlast the Assyrian siege. Till today experts are baffled by this feat of ancient engineering, and visitors can walk the length of this underground tunnel that stretches from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam.
In the Gospel of John we read that it was to the Pool of Siloam (also called Siloah) that Jesus sent a blind man to wash and regain his sight. The waters of the pool are still believed by many to have therapeutic effects, and people from all religions gather here to be healed.
*I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam … he went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. John 9:4-7
This page is part of the book The Holy Land of Jesus
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