Spring of Gihon

Fountain Gate

20:20-21. The formula that concludes the account of Hezekiah's life follows the usual format of the writer of 2 Kings. The reference to the pool and the tunnel by which he brought water into the city is a reference to the remarkable 1,770-foot tunnel that took water from the Gihon Spring to the Pool of Siloam in the lower part of Jerusalem. Built to enable the city to withstand the Assyrian siege (2 Chr. 32:30), it still can be seen today. However, the achievements of Hezekiah that mattered most were not physical but spiritual and political. He instituted spiritual reforms in a nation that had long wallowed in spiritual rebellion. 1

1 Inrig, G. (2003). I & II Kings. (M. Anders, Ed.) (Vol. 7, pp. 332–333). Nashville, TN: Holman.

SILOAM, POOL OF (PLACE) [Gk kolymbēthra tou Silōam (κολυμβηθρα του Σιλωαμ)]. Siloam, and its related forms (Heb silōaḥ [Isa 8:6]; šelaḥ [Neh 3:15]) probably applied originally to the earliest reservoir, and later to any other reservoirs which collected water from the channels or aqueducts on the W side of the Kidron valley. It also referred to an area apparently near the reservoirs as reflected in “the tower in Siloam” (Luke 13:4). The modern village, Silwan, located opposite the City of David, carries the name.

A. Siloam before Hezekiah

The GIHON Spring (1 Kgs 1:33, 38, 45), later known as the Virgin’s Fountain, was the major source of water for the one or more pools which carried variants of the name Siloam; water also was channeled from the intermittent supply of water from the valley bed itself. Traces of a partially covered and partially open aqueduct or channel exist which passes southward from the Gihon along the W side of the Kidron valley. This channel was called Canal II by early explorers and excavators at the turn of the 20th century. The canal had a number of openings in its E wall to allow water to irrigate the gardens on the floor of the valley (Simons 1952:175–77). See KING’S GARDEN. This aqueduct may have carried the water referred to in Isa 8:6 as “the gently flowing waters of Shiloah”; the vertical descent is only a few feet from the Gihon to the lower (Siloam) Old Pool (Isa 22:9–11; now known as Birket el Hamra) below the City of David (Mare 1987:106). “The aqueduct of the Upper Pool” (2 Kgs 18:17; Isa 7:3; 36:2) may be identified with the present Pool of Siloam (i.e., Birket es Silwan), located about 100 feet NW of the Lower Pool.

B. Siloam in Hezekiah’s Time

The threat of a siege by Sennacherib prompted Hezekiah to secure Jerusalem’s water supply and to rob the Assyrians of a water supply. He therefore “stopped all the springs and the brook that flowed through the land” (2 Chr 32:4) and “closed the upper outlet of the waters of the Gihon” (2 Chr 32:30a); and “directed them [i.e., the waters] down to the west side of the city of David” (2 Chr 32:30b). The redirection of the water was accomplished by tunneling through the rock under the city to the SW corner of the City of David. 2 Kgs 20:20 summarizes how Hezekiah “made the pool” (the Pool of Siloam) and the tunnel (Hezekiah’s Tunnel) by which he brought water into the city (see also Sir 48:17–19). Kenyon (1965) has argued that the pool of Hezekiah was originally an underground cistern inside the city walls.

From Gihon, the tunnel (with an average width of 2 feet and an average height of 6 feet) was cut in a circuitous course, with a length of ca. 1,750 feet (a direct route of ca. 1,090 feet) to the Pool of Siloam (possibly the Upper Pool). For the construction and technical details of Hezekiah’s tunnel, see DAVID, CITY OF, section E, and Shiloh, 1984. See also SILOAM INSCRIPTION. The statement in 2 Chr 32:30 that Hezekiah “blocked the upper outlet of the Gihon spring and channeled the water …” may imply that, besides the use of the new tunnel to store water in the Upper Pool (i.e., the present Pool of Siloam; 2 Kgs 18:17; Isa 7:3; 36:2), the king may have camouflaged the old Canal II and allowed it also to deliver water down to the earlier Old or Lower Pool (cf. Isa 22:9–11), thus providing an additional source of water when under siege (although procuring water from the Lower Pool might present considerable danger). Ben Sira’s statement that Hezekiah “built pools for water” (Sir 48:19) seems to indicate that there were additional water sources. An alternate view suggests that Hezekiah’s tunnel actually emptied into another pool in the Kidron valley, a pool about 360 feet E of the Pool of Siloam, and that this old pool was forgotten when Empress Eudocia in the 5th century a.d. identified the present Pool of Siloam as the reservoir for the water of Hezekiah’s tunnel. This view is somewhat problematic because it would put Hezekiah’s pool outside the city walls on the E slope and would be at variance with 2 Chr 32:30 which states that Hezekiah directed the water to the W side of the City of David (i.e., toward the modern Pool of Siloam). The majority of scholars believe that the water of Hezekiah’s tunnel emptied into the modern Pool of Siloam (Mare 1987:105).

After the Exile, the Old or Lower Pool in Hebrew was called Shelah, translated Pool of Siloam in the NIV ; Neh 3:15), and was probably still used as a reservoir for the waters coming down from the Gihon through the Kidron valley through Canal II, and for the overflow of water coming from the newer Upper Pool fed from Hezekiah’s tunnel.

C. Siloam in the Roman Period

Of the two references to Siloam in the NT, John 9:7 simply states that Jesus sent the blind man to “wash in the Pool of Siloam,” giving the impression that the pool was a well-known landmark. Josephus (JW 5.4.2 §145) specifically calls Siloam a pēgē, a “fountain,” [not a spring; Siloam received its water from the Gihon] and indicates it was at the S end of the Tyropoeon valley. This would place it in the vicinity of either the Lower, Old (earlier) Pool or at the nearby Upper Pool which Hezekiah made, the modern Pool of Siloam. There is, however, a difference of opinion as to which pool Josephus means. In the other reference, Luke 13:4, we are told that there was a tower in a place called “the Siloam” (Gk tōi Silōam), with the implication that everyone knew of its location. Presumably it was built on the S end of the ridge of the old City of David, just above the pool of the same name.

At the Lower, Old Pool some remains of a Herodian bath have been found. The Talmud (Sukk. 4.9) states that at the Feast of Tabernacles, water was taken in a golden vessel from the Pool of Siloam to the Water Gate and carried in the procession up to the Temple and the altar. In reference to the ceremonies at the Feast of Tabernacles in John 7:37–38 Jesus, in speaking about his dispensing “streams of living water,” may be comparing his activity with this ceremony of carrying the water from the Pool of Siloam to the Temple.

D. Siloam in the Byzantine Period

The Bordeaux Pilgrim (a.d. 333; CChr .SL, 175.16) states that there was a four-sided colonnade above the Pool of Siloam, but says nothing about a church. But in the 6th century a.d., Antoninus Martyr (CChr .SL, 175.142) describes the pool and a church, which is also depicted on the Madaba Map (a.d. 575), a structure built by the Empress Eudocia (ca. a.d. 440). The ruins have been investigated by archaeologists and consist of a central apse, a nave, and atrium; these were built over the N part of the colonnade (Mare 1987:241–43).

E. The Pool of Siloam Today

The remains of the Lower, Old Pool are called the Birket el Hamra (the “red pool”) and is dry. The Upper Pool (modern Pool of Siloam) is NW of the Old Pool. The S end of Hezekiah’s tunnel, conveying water from the Gihon spring, empties into the reservoir, and the water is still used by the local residents. A mosque now stands on the remains of the Byzantine church.

Bibliography

Kenyon, K. 1965. Excavations in Jerusalem. PEQ 97:9–20.

———. 1967. Jerusalem. New York.

Mare, W. A. 1987. The Archaeology of the Jerusalem Area. Grand Rapids.

Shiloh, Y. 1984. Excavations At the City of David, I, 1978–1982. Qedem 19. Jerusalem.

Simons, J. 1952. Jerusalem in the Old Testament. Leiden.

Smith, G. A. 1907. Jerusalem, I. London.

W. Harold Mare 1

W W west (ern)

W W west (ern)

E E east (ern); or “Elohist” source

NW NW northwest (ern)

SW SW southwest (ern)

ca. ca. circa (about, approximately)

ca. ca. circa (about, approximately)

E E east (ern); or “Elohist” source

E E east (ern); or “Elohist” source

W W west (ern)

NIV NIV New International Version

JW JW Josephus, The Jewish War (= Bellum Judaicum)

S S south (ern)

S S south (ern)

Sukk. Sukk. Sukka

CChr CChr Corpus Christianorum

CChr CChr Corpus Christianorum

ca. ca. circa (about, approximately)

N N north (ern)

NW NW northwest (ern)

S S south (ern)

PEQ PEQ Palestine Exploration Quarterly, London

W. Harold Mare W. Harold Mare Professor of NT, Covenant Theological Seminary, St. Louis, MO

1 Mare, W. H. (1992). Siloam, Pool of (Place). In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 6, pp. 24–26). New York: Doubleday.

Fountain of the Virgin Also the Virgin’s Fountain. A modern name for the Spring of Gihon.1

1 Barry, J. D., Bomar, D., Brown, D. R., Klippenstein, R., Mangum, D., Sinclair Wolcott, C., … Widder, W. (Eds.). (2016). Fountain of the Virgin. In The Lexham Bible Dictionary. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.