Hezekiah's Tunnel

We took a field trip to the part of Jerusalem that King David would have ruled over. It's totally different from where the "Old City" is today. The Ottomans built the wall that is standing today. David's city was a lot smaller and on Mt.Ophel, which is down a little bit. They're excavating the area and hope to continue to excavate, which would mean kicking hundreds of people out of their homes... Anyways, We started at the ruins, called Area G. Then we took a trip through Warren's shaft and Hezekiah's tunnel. Here's the quick story: Hezekiah was king, and the Assyrians were about to attack. The city's water source was outside of the city wall, and they needed to secure that source during battle. So, Hezekiah managed the building of a tunnel to bring water from their source down to the pool of Siloam which was inside the city. He had men start at the source and at the pool, and work toward each other. They started chipping away, and miraculously ended only 2 1/2 feet from each other! What a feat! The tunnel has like a 2% grade or something to keep the water coming. Warren's shaft, named after the man who found it, is a shaft that was used by the people to climb down to get to the water and fill their buckets. So we started at the fresh water spring, and walked through the tunnel and ended at the pool of Siloam. The tunnel was, for the most part, about 2 feet wide and probably 5'9". Different parts varied in size, but for the most part it was pretty little! The water was to our knees most of the time, but sometimes went to our thighs. It was really fun!

Me and Amie at area G. Can you see the pillars in the background?
In Warren's shaft. I was happy b/c i got to use my headlamp again
At the end in the pool of Siloam. This pool is Byzantine.

We got so wet!

This is the Roman Pool of Siloam, which is still being excavated. It was found not too long ago. This is where Christ told the blind man to go and wash after he had put mud on his eyes. I'm so excited to study the New Testament!