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Hezekiah's Tunnel Review
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Hezekiah's Tunnel 
- Address: Off Ophel Rd., Silwan, Jerusalem
- Phone: 02/626–2341
- www.cityofdavid.org.il
- Category: Archaeological Sites
- Location: Silwan
Fodor's Review:
Wading through a 2,700-year-old tunnel that once supplied water to the city is a great adventure for those who like a little exercise with their history. The Assyrians invaded Judah in 701 BC, 20 years after they had destroyed its sister-kingdom of Israel to the north. According to the Bible, King Hezekiah attempted to protect Jerusalem's precious water supply in order to meet the imminent assault on the capital. He instructed his men to "stop the water of the springs that were outside the city" (II Chronicles 32). Racing against time, they dug a water tunnel a third of a mile long through solid rock, one team starting from the Gihon Spring and another from a new inner-city reservoir. Miraculously, considering the serpentine course of the tunnel, the two teams met in the middle. The chisel marks, the ancient plaster, and the zigzags near the halfway point as each team sought each other by sound bear witness to the remarkable project. With the spring now diverted into the city, its original opening was blocked to deny enemy access. Hezekiah, says the same biblical chapter, "closed the upper outlet of the waters of Gihon and directed them down to the west side of the city of David."
In the 19th century, an inscription in ancient Hebrew was found chiseled into the tunnel wall near the exit (since removed). "This is the story of the boring through…" it began, echoing the biblical account; "the tunnelers hewed the rock, each man toward his fellow… And the water flowed from the spring toward the reservoir for 1,200 cubits [577 yards]."
If you don't want to get your feet wet, you can still view the spring and marvel at the ingenuity of the ancient engineers. If you do decide to enter the spring and wade through the long narrow tunnel, you can easily imagine the dull digging of the ancient teams, and relive the electric moment when the work was done, the water flowed, and the city saved. The tunnel emerges in the Pool of Siloam, mentioned in the New Testament as the place where a blind man had his sight restored (John 9). What you see today is a latter-day construction, but the original, impressive 1st-century reservoir has been discovered, and (at press time) was being excavated.
- Cost: NIS 23, guided tour NIS 50 (includes admission)
- Open: Sun.–Thurs. 9–5, Fri. and Jewish holiday eves 9–1, last entrance 1 1/2 hours before closing.
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