Trekin' Through Hezekiah's Tunnel

The Gihon Spring was Jerusalem’s main original water supply.  Jerusalem had the Siloam Channel which would take water from the Gihon spring to the south where it would enter a pool that was used for irrigation.  However, it was possible that people could have entered the Siloam Channel which passed under the city wall to be able to enter the city.  This is what many people believe 2 Samuel 5:8 talks about when Joab and his men could “getteth up to the gutter and smiteth the Jebusites.”

The ability to do this obviously created a problem.  There were also other problems Hezekiah faced with it during 701 BC when the Assyrians were laying siege on the city.  Some of these other problems include  the excess water that could be followed up to the Siloam Channel and be traced back to its source.  The water source could also be blocked or poisoned.

This has been the common perception of why Hezekiah built the tunnel that brought the water from the Gihon spring “straight to the west side of the City of David.” However due to recent excavations, watch towers were discovered.  This makes it seem that the water had been fortified pretty well.  This led some people to believe that perhaps Hezekiah built the tunnel to bring water to the west side of the city so they didn’t have to travel so far to get water two or three times a day. 

They let people walk through Hezekiah’s tunnel which still has water in it.  This is one of the fun adventures the Jerusalem Study Abroad program lets you do. The tunnel is not very wide or high.  It makes sense considering how it was hand carved. In fact, they had a group of people start at one end of where the tunnel should be(southwest end), and a group start at the spring.  They then dug towards each other and met in the middle. That is incredible to me that they could meet in the middle.  The diggers followed the “fissure”, or crack, from the spring that had some water leaking through. 

The tunnel is about 1/3 of a mile.  It is pitch dark.  That is why we got to wear head lamps in it.  I don’t know if it is just me or what, but you feel so official when wearing a head lamp.  I loved it. The water wasn’t as cold as I thought it would be.  The depth of the water varied.  Sometimes it was just around the calves, and others it was mid thigh.   We went through the tunnel single file and it was a blast.  My fellow JC students around me sung Les Miserable and Shania Twain.  It doesn’t get much better than that!

When we came out of Hezekiah’s tunnel there was the Siloam pool.  I loved this pool and the story that goes along with it.  In the Bible, John 9:1-7, it talks about Jesus healing a blind man at this pool.  He used old clay and the dirty water from the pool.  Christ did not use any fancy oil, or pure water.  Perhaps Christ was showing to the people that it was him that healed the man, and not some special remedy.

I love getting principles out of the stories that can apply to me today.  This is the principle I learned from this story. There are many times in our lives when the world can seem to “blind” us spiritually.  However if we seek Christ and believe in him, He can heal our spiritual blindness so that we can see.  The man that was healed said  “Lord, I belive” (John 9: 38.) He believed in the Lord.  We must believe also so that we can spiritually see. 

Essentially that is why I am here in Jerusalem. I am away from my family, my friends, and everything that is familiar to me.  I have traveled thousands of miles away from my home not to see cool sights, not to go on fun field trips, and not to live in a unique culture. All of those things are wonderful and I am so grateful I get to do them. But when it comes down to it I am here to help me open my eyes spiritually.  I want to see.  I want to learn more about the Savior’s life.  I want to be the one who can yell at the top of my lungs “Lord, I believe” and to be able to SEE with an eternal perspective.  This trip is not something that is mandatory in order for this to happen.  It can happen anywhere.  So I challenge all of us to have our eyes spiritually opened, so we can believe and see beyond just this mortal realm.