18- Gihon Springs |
The main water source of the original City of David was the Gihon Springs located at the base of the eastern slope of the city in the Kidron Valley. The Gihon Springs provided water year round by gushing forth several times a day. This water then naturally flowed into the Kidron Valley. In the earliest days of Jerusalem’s occupation, reservoirs where built to collect the water from the Gihon Springs. Three systems were eventually designed to use this water:
- Warren's Shaft
- Siloam Channel (Tunnel)
- Hezekiah's Tunnel
These three water systems continued to bring water to the city of Jerusalem until the days of the Hasmoneans and Herod. During the last century BC and the first century AD, aqueducts were built to transfer water into Jerusalem from the southern hill country of Judea from around Hebron and Bethlehem. |
Jerusalem, the City of David, as it appeared around 1000 BC. Notice the location of the Gihon Springs.
The City of David, formerly called Salem and Jebus,sits on the southern part of the Eastern Hill or the eastern ridge with Mount Moriah further up on this
same ridge to the north. |
An artist's visualization in 2010 of the guard towers that protected the Gihon Springs during the days of the kings of Judah in the Old Testament.
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The archaeological remains of the guard towers at the source of the Gihon Spings. |
An artists drawing (in 2007) of the recreated Gihon Towers as they appeared during the days of the kings of Judah.
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Excavation work of the Gihon Towers at the Gihon Springs.
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Looking down at the Gihon Springs and the remains of the outer guard towers
Warren’s Shaft was discovered in 1867 by Charles Warren. The shaft has a rock-hewn opening with steps descending into a horizontal tunnel that runs for about
135 feet to a depth of about 42 feet. The tunnel ends at the top of a vertical shaft that goes straight down into the Gihon Springs about 40 feet below. This 40
foot vertical shaft was used to draw or pump water up the shaft where it could be collected by people who had descended down the stairs and though the 135
foot horizontal tunnel. A hydrogeological survey of this water system revealed that both the vertical shaft and the horizontal tunnel were natural openings that were
adapted and cut wider by ancient city planners. This is the water shaft used by David and his men to enter and attack Jerusalem when it was occupied by the
Jebusites in 2 Samuel 5:8:
“And David said on that day, ‘Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack.’"
The water from the Gihon Springs followed a natural tunnel to the base of the shaft discovered by Warren. This shaft was developed from a natural sinkhole that
extended down to the natural tunnel of water from the Gihon Springs. City planners widened the sinkhole and developed a tunnel to reach it from the upper ground
level of the city from within the city’s walls. Warren’s Shaft functioned like a well. A person at the top of the shaft in the inclined tunnel could lower a bucket on
a rope to the bottom of the 40 foot shaft to get fresh water from the reservoir below. A person could reach this inclined tunnel by entering a vaulted chamber from the ground level, walking down a steep, stepped tunnel, then using a ladder to descend a nine-foot scarp drop to arrive in the inclined tunnel. The entrance
to this water system was within the city walls, while the Gihon Springs were outside the walls. Joab could have entered the city through Warren's
Shaft, or he may have used the natural tunnel before it was blocked (see diagram and photo above), to access the inclined plane and ascend into the city. |
Details of the natural water supply from the Gihon Springs and the water system developed by the Jebusites, David, Hezekiah and others.
This Gihon Spring still fills the water system today. |
The Natural Tunnel (seen in diagram above) is blocked. Here the blocked entrance is seen from the inside.
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Warren's Shaft that Joab used to enter the Jebusite city through the Gihon Springs...2 Samuel 5:8:
“And David said on that day, ‘Whoever would strike the Jebusites, let him get up the water shaft to attack.”
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Looking down into Warren's Shaft
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UPDATED! 2022 - JERUSALEM: HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGY AND APOLOGETIC PROOF OF SCRIPTURE - Revised Edition (2022)
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Original 2010 - JERUSALEM: HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGY AND APOLOGETIC PROOF OF SCRIPTURE
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