NELC 150

Introduction to the Bible

Slide 7


Siloam water tunnel, where the Siloam inscription was found (see next slide). The Bible mentions excavation of the tunnel under Hezekiah, King of Judah (727-697 BCE) to divert water into Jerusalem in preparation for attack by Assyrian King Sennacherib in 2 Kings 20:20 and 2 Chronicles 32:3-4. According to an article in the journal Nature in September, 2003, geologists from the Cave Research Center at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, using radiocarbon testing to analyze the age of stalactite samples from the ceiling of this tunnel and plant material recovered from its plaster floor, have confirmed that the tunnel was indeed excavated at the time of the King Hezekiah and is therefore the one built by him.