Hezekiah's Tunnel: an Awe-Inspiring Feat of Engineering

Step into Hezekiah’s Tunnel, a water channel built around 701 BC to secure Jerusalem’s water supply during the Assyrian siege led by Sennacherib. Ordered by King Hezekiah and referenced in 2 Kings 20:20 and 2 Chronicles 32, this impressive feat of ancient engineering brought water from the Gihon Spring safely into the city.

In this episode of Digging Deeper, we walk through the very tunnel dug by Hezekiah’s men and explore how this historical site aligns with both archaeological evidence and biblical accounts. Discover how faith, history, and ingenuity come together beneath the streets of Jerusalem.

Transcript

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If you are an ancient king and there's an invading army attacking your northern neighbor, laying siege to their capital, what would you do to prepare? Knowing that they will likely be taken and you are next on the list to be conquered. Join us today as we talk about Hezekiah and his plans. Welcome to Digging Deeper, the podcast where we talk about the geography, archeology, people, cultures of the lands of the Bible. By exploring these areas, we hope to broaden your understanding of the biblical narrative. You can learn more about all of us here at Appian Media and watch our free video series at appianmedia.org. Our sponsors for today's episodes are CDI Bookstore and Sacred Connections. We'll be more than happy to tell you a little bit more about them later in our show. So, Barry, we had an episode that we talked about the kiss, right? Right. So who was this Hezekiah? When did he reign? Tell me about. Him. Well, Hezekiah was one of the the kings of Judah. He's kind of known among students of the Bible as one of the good kings. He was one of the kings that really, we can look up to and learn a lot of lessons from. He was the 12th descendant from Solomon. He was the son of a gentleman named Ahaz, who was also king. He was the the father of Manasseh, who, oddly enough, as good as Hezekiah was, Manasseh was kind of the opposite. He was also the great grandfather, Josiah, another one of the, kings that we're familiar with. He ruled around 716 to 687 BC, and he, was in power and witnessed, firsthand the capture of Sargon the Second from Assyria of his northern neighbors, the northern kingdom of Israel, in 722 BC. So he was fully aware of what the Assyrians could and would do. he knew the Syrians were coming. And, as you know, the Assyrians, they captured the northern kingdom of Israel, but they were coming for Judah as well. And so Hezekiah, fortified the walls around Jerusalem, tried to make it, harder, more difficult for the Syrians to get in. And he also, for instance, in Second Kings, the 20th chapter, verse 20, it says that he made the pool and the conduit. He brought water into the city. Normally, water from the Gihon Spring would have flown down an ancient channel and would have funneled into the Kidron Valley. And so inhabitants of Jerusalem would have grown crops and things in the Kidron Valley. And this water from the Gihon Spring would have, would have watered that entire area. And so when the Assyrians came, this would have given them access to the water, because a lot of the water was flowing outside the city walls, you know, into the crops. And so Hezekiah asked the question, why should this Syrians have this water, you know, when they come? Because that would have been one of the first things that the Syrians would have, would have done when they arrived was if they cut off the water supply, that would have they would have put them in a real pickle there. And in the, in the city. And so the first thing he wanted to do was capture that water. And so one of the things he did was he built a tunnel under what we commonly referred to as the eastern hill, to redirect the water from the Gihon Spring to the western side of that hill and let it pool up inside the city walls, so that not only gave the inhabitants of Jerusalem access to that water, but it also kept the Assyrians from getting it as well. That's very strategic. Yeah, absolutely brilliant idea. You know, about 2 or 3 times a year, I try to lead a tour over to Israel. And one of the questions I get is, can we walk through Hezekiah's tunnel? And the answer is, yes, we can. it is a really, really interesting thing. to walk through it. And there's always some things that you need to know before you do that. it's something that I always encourage my people to try to do because it is such an interesting thing to see and experience. And it's interesting, too, from just a time element, because this tunnel was dug 2700 years ago for the sole purpose of redirecting this water. And guess what? 2700 years later, water still flows through this tunnel. I wish you could say the same about some of our interests. And that's exactly right that they were much better with this back then than we are today. I want to take a moment and talk to you about our sponsors during the entire history of Happy Media. We have had several companies reach out and offer to sell our products. And one of the first to contact us was CTA bookstore. C bookstore has been in business for over 70 years, and they are a nonprofit religious bookstore, and they are a retail supplier of books, Bibles, church supplies, and other religious resources. They're located in Athens, Alabama, but they serve customers all across the US. If you're in need of any of their wonderful products that they offer, we encourage you to reach out to them through their website at Truth books.com. Sacred connections is a safe online space for Christians to connect and build meaningful relationships, with a focus on community and channels dedicated to various interests and events. There is something for users in every life stage right now. If you download the app. Use the code digging deeper to receive a special discount for all the listeners that are digging deeper. Podcast. We invite you to start your journey by going to their website today and learning more. Their address is Sacred connections.com. Now back to the show. Okay, Dan, you and have been fortunate enough to walk through Hezekiah's tunnel a number of times. In fact, we've actually, drug our wives and children through through the tunnel as well. Some of them were anxious about going and excited about going. Others less so. with that being said, we we got them all through there. So take a few minutes here and describe to me give me some specifics about the tunnel first. So. Well, if you go to the city of David, the original city. Right. The modern city, Jerusalem, it's actually south of the Ottoman walls. It's on the east side. And that's where Gihon Spring Springs, right? Has, doesn't flow continuously. It kind of pulsates. Right? So changes over over the course of the day or the month. But this tunnel goes from the given spring and it runs about 1800 feet long. It's up to 150ft underground. And it's only about 2520 six inches wide. So pretty narrow it is. If you're claustrophobic, you can get through it. As I've had family members do what they did not appreciate it. But at the end, it definitely gets a lot taller because it starts off pretty short, right? Ducking to go under it. And then by the end it's got, you know, 18ft ceiling. with all that change, though, the water level only goes down one foot in that 1800 feet. So it's kind of very slow. Wow. That's amazing. Yeah. I don't know how they were able to do that. Yeah. But it only drops a foot as you walk that. Wow. A mile. Yeah. It ends in a pool, a salon. From the New Testament. From the new test. Sure. There are two pools. It drops into the one that we originally thought was a pool of salt. And now the one that we know is the pool, a salon. And then this was first described in modern times in the 1600s. Okay, I mentioned it, but it was full of debris. And so it was later explored in 1838 by Edward Robinson. After that, someone was walking through in 1884 and they slipped. They fell. And when they happened to look up, they said, it looks like there's words on the wall. That turned out to be the Solomon's version. And. Yeah, we know about that. It was later illegally removed from the wall in 1890. The Ottomans, who were in power at the time, said, oh, we need that back. So they went and got it and is now in the Istanbul Museum It was a description of actually how the tunnel was made. It's one of those where we will, you know, put up a little placard. Yeah. Okay. They did the same thing. Yeah. It described to two teams of workers starting at opposite sides and working towards, listening for the sound of the pickaxes. And if you actually go to where the meeting of the the builders was, you can actually see the tunnel does a 90 degree turn about where they kind of. Yeah. Yeah. Now, you've talked about the length of it and you've talked about, you know, how narratives, stuff like that. What's it like to walk through it and, and how long does it take? And and what does that whole experience. It all depends on if you're claustrophobic. It also depends on how many people are ahead of you. Okay. Because there's no turning around. It's a one way. Okay. And when you go in, you've got to just have the mentality that we're going to get through this without a headlamp. It is pitch black. Oh, wow. Yeah. Yeah. My children, the second time we went through, they decided they were going to do it without their headlamps. And so they turned them off and walked. Really? So some people do it. Wow. I've heard some people getting through in five minutes because there was nobody ahead of them, and they just booked it. Wow. Normally it's going to take you 15, 20 minutes to get through. Okay. When you first step in, you have water, cold water. It's a little. This is spring water, right? Right. Spring water is cold. Is up to your mid-thigh. And the floor. It used to be pretty. Even, but it's starting. You have to wear shoes because it's starting to get some pockmarks where the different type of rock is eroding. Okay. so you might step in some little tiny holes. You got to duck. If you don't, you're going to bang your head and you got a second. Or if you're a little bit bigger, like I was, you don't make it through that. But it's it's fascinating because as you walk, you can see all the pick marks of axes, and they all go in one direction. But after you get to the meeting point, you notice they all slope in the other direction. You can actually see evidence from the building from that many years ago. Wow. That's incredible. Now, you mentioned when you got in, it was like up to your mid thighs. Is it like that the whole way or. No. That's just really at the front part. Okay. And it drops down below your knees for most of the rest of the trip. They, they tell you have to go through shoes. You have to have a flashlight. But to be honest, one of the times I was planning on going. My luggage was lost. So I just tied my shoes and socks around, put them around my neck and I use. I use my cell phone. Oh, wow. Okay. Hezekiah's tunnel does show us the ingenuity of man and how much was accomplished during ancient times. We still don't fully understand how they were able to accomplish building it, but it has stood the test of time for over 2700 years. as amazing as it is to see and walk through, we are reminded that it likely was displeasing to God for Hezekiah to make it as he was relying on himself instead of God. Isaiah 22, in verse 11 states, you also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you did not look at its maker, nor did you have respect for him who fashioned it long ago. Hezekiah gave tribute to Assyria to break the siege, but the Assyrians still came. It wasn't until he realized he couldn't do it alone. And he laid out the letter from Sennacherib before God and prayed to God that Assyria was sent back to their country without taking Jerusalem. We need to learn from Hezekiah that we can fortify walls, dig tunnels, and prepare. But it is only God who gives us a victory in life. If we depend on ourselves, we will fail. Digging deeper is production of Appian Media. We're a nonprofit media production company that is 100% crowdfunded. If you are interested in learning more about how you can support Appian Media, so we can continue to create more great and free content, visit us at appianmedia.org/listen. If you'd like to contact Barry or I, you can reach him at barry.britnell@appianmedia.org. You can reach me at Dan Kingsley at dan.kingsley@appianmedia.org. We would love to hear from you and answer any questions that you might have. Like to once again give a special thanks to the entire Appian Media team who are working hard, doing their part to make this a success. Join us next time as we talk about how important fingernail sized impressions of clay can be to our faith as we discuss Ebola in seals. Until then, thank you for joining. We look forward to seeing you on the next episode of Digging Deeper.