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| Inside Hezekiah's Tunnel |
We entered the tunnel single file. The tunnel was only wide enough for one person to walk. As we stepped into the tunnel the water was pretty cold and went to about my knees. As we begin walking the temperature became more comfortable and the depth of the water subsided. The height of the tunnel changed drastically. Some areas we had to crouch and other times the top was a few feet above our heads. Fortunately there was no one close behind me, so I was able to walk at my own pace and take in what I saw. Albeit we were in the tunnel for about 20 minutes, so there was a lot of time to experience it. It was pretty dark as well but most of us had flashlights in addition to cameras. I videotaped the whole walk with someone's flip video camera. They had warned us that if were claustrophobic we may not enjoy the tunnel and there were some people in our group who were claustrophobic and were anxious to get out right away. I am a bit that way too, but I wasn't stationary and alone in a dark small space so I was alright.
A few facts about Hezekiah's Tunnel: It is 1750 ft long, considered a great example of water engineering for its time. Was constructed by one group starting at one end and another group at the other end finding their way to the middle. Thus that is why it is not perfectly straight and the width and height are sometimes drastic.
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| Display showing water level in Hezekiah's Tunnel |
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| City of David After the tunnel we came out to the Pool of Siloam. A 1st century pool. It is associated with John 9: 6... Jesus says to the blind man, "go wash in the Pool of Siloam." The actual portion of the pool is now protected by a garden on the property of an Eastern Orthodox Church. No excavation has been done there. What we are able to see was the steps leading down into the pool. That day we also visited excavations in the city of David. (Meaning nothing to anyone who reads this except those who were there, we saw the lg. stone structure and stepped stone structure.) In Jeremiah 11:13 it speaks to the idea that there was a prevalence of idol worshipping among the people. There is an abundance of archeological evidence that proves this; many fertility gods were found here. In this time there was a high infidelity rate among the men. We also visited a "wall" known as the Broad Wall or Hezekiah's Wall. The discovery of the wall by a man named Avigard actually proved to archeologists, historians and theologians that Jerusalem was in fact the kind of remarkable city is described as being in the Bible. Avigard interestingly enough was persuaded by his own discovery to discard previous theories about the description of Jerusalem in the Bible and take on a new perception of Jerusalem as a great city. See: Isaiah 22:10; Nehemiah 3:8; 2 Chronicles 32:2-5 |
Class Time! God's amazing design even over the weather pattern, geography and geology helped secure water for Jerusalem which was amidst dry land. We learned about the Eocene, Senonian and Cenomanian strata deposits. These layers or deposits are highly influenced by the rain shadow that is present in the east. The storms from the Mediterranean come from the west and the presence of the Mt. of Olives and Watershed Ridge allow for rain to continue in Jerusalem. The rain shadow thus appears on the eastern side of the hills.
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| Getting Ready to enter the Tunnel |
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