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Hershel Shanks

The third water system, Hezekiah’s Tunnel, shown in green on the map, represents an extraordinary engineering feat. Threatened with siege by the Assyrian forces of Sennacherib in 701 B.C.E., the Judahite king Hezekiah ordered a tunnel dug through bedrock to divert water from the Gihon Spring to the Siloam Pool, on the other side of the city. Hezekiah’s idea succeeded (2 Kings 20:20; 2 Chronicles 32:30), and Sennacherib failed to capture Jerusalem. Even today, water flows from the spring to the pool through the 1,750-foot tunnel, which can be explored by tourists who don’t mind getting wet (shown here, compare with map).